Inauguration of European social dialogue in the hospital sector
In September 2006, the first joint meeting of the European-level social partners in the hospital sector took place, which marked the establishment of a European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the sector. As a result, the social partners have adopted a work programme for 2006–2007 which focuses on recruitment and retention, age profiles within the sector, and new skills requirements.
Over the past five years, the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association (HOSPEEM) have been working together, as social partners for the hospital sector, to formalise sectoral social dialogue at European level. Their work, which is supported by the European Commission, culminated in a joint meeting on 20 September 2006, signalling the end of an ‘informal stage’ of encounters and the beginning of what the social partners recognise is a ‘genuine social partner engagement at the European level for the sector’ (see EPSU press release). The establishment of a European Social Dialogue Committee in the hospital sector had been announced on 17 March 2006 and signified the official recognition of the parties involved as European social partners (AT0609019I).
Work programme
At the joint meeting the social partners adopted a work programme for 2006–2007 (49Kb PDF) with the following objectives:
- to promote quality hospital services based on the values of social responsibility and accountability;
- to contribute actively to the shaping of European level debate on the delivery and organisation of hospital services;
- to organise activities to strengthen social dialogue within the sector;
- to complement, where appropriate, the work of cross-sectoral partners;
- to address European Commission initiatives in the field of employment policy where these have an impact on the sector;
- to participate in the Commission’s policymaking and activities regarding European sectoral social dialogue.
- participants also agreed to set up three working groups on recruitment and retention, the ageing workforce, and new skills needs for the sector.
- General Secretary, Godfrey Perera, described the establishment of the committee as ‘a tremendous achievement’, stating that his organisation is ‘fully confident that this collaborative process will make a valuable contribution to the issues facing the hospital sector in the EU’. EPSU General Secretary, Carola Fischbach-Pyttell, welcomed the identification of the three key areas, stating that they ‘will [all] benefit from being tackled collectively’. She added that ‘this process will be a cornerstone in any EU debate on the hospital sector’, according to an EPSU press communication on 20 September 2006.
Impact of ageing population
- population is getting older, with one in four people over the age of 65 (for further details, see Dall, ‘Medicine in Europe: The greying of Europe’, in BMJ, November 1994). Although individuals may be living longer they are not necessarily in good health, and most EU countries have seen a growing demand for the care of older people, which has to be supported by a decreasing proportion of people of working age. These demographic changes are reflected in the medical profession, and the social dialogue committee has been set up specifically to look at the impact that the ageing population has on the delivery of hospital services.
Role of European Commission
- European Commission has welcomed the formation of this new social dialogue committee. In a press release on 20 September 2006, the Commission acknowledges the committee’s contribution to social partner dialogue at European level and its focus on promoting quality services, based on values of social responsibility and realistic active ageing measures.
At sectoral level, social dialogue underwent an important development in 1998, when the Commission decided to establish committees for the promotion of dialogue between social partners in various economic sectors at European level, as set out in the Commission’s report on Transitional collective bargaining past, present and future. Detailed specifications were laid out concerning the establishment, composition and operation of new sectoral committees, which were intended to act as central bodies for consultation, joint initiatives and negotiation. In order to take part in a social dialogue at European level, social partner organisations must apply jointly to the European Commission. The committees are structured in a way which acknowledges the autonomy of the social partners. Since the establishment of the first European sectoral social dialogue committees at the end of the 1990s, there are now 33 such committees within the EU, covering a wide range of sectors.
Sonia McKay, Working Lives Research Institute for AWWW GmbH