Weiler, Anni

The third report in the series analyses, provides examples of, and promotes agreements that are innovative from the point of view of equal opportunities. It gives concrete examples of some agreements which have good potential for equality. This report is based on more than 250 provisions in collective agreements in all 15 Member States of the European Union.

The Foundation project ‘Attractive workplace for all: A contribution to the Lisbon Strategy at company level’ aims at identifying pioneer company practices, policies and agreements and showing how the Lisbon strategy is being implemented on the ground at company level. Examples of innovative company practice were gathered from several Member States. In this report, case examples for Germany are organised under the following six thematic headings: fostering employability; increasing labour market participation of underemployed groups; integration into the labour market of people at risk of exclusion; make work pay, make work attractive; towards a balanced flexibility; and business creation and entrepreneurship.

The key objective of this report is to update the inventory of data collection systems on working conditions at national and international level established by INSHT. The main aims are to: establish a repository of working conditions survey-related information as a basis for comparative analysis of survey methodologies, questionnaire design and findings; provide a resource for researchers, policymakers and social partners with a professional interest in working conditions; complement the Foundation’s own European survey data with similar data at national level; build closer links and working relationships with relevant bodies at Member State level; and establish an international network of experts on survey methodology and development.

Industrial relations developments in Europe 2006 highlights the most significant industrial relations developments over the past year – both at national and EU level. It examines the key issues covered by collective bargaining – pay, working time, job security, training, and equal opportunities – and looks at developments in the area of social partner activity, industrial action, cross-border activity and reconciliation of work,family and private life. A special thematic chapter explores the theme of gender and career development, looking in particular at workplace segregation, the underrespresentation of women in managerial posts and the prevalence of women’s involvement in part-time work.

On 4 July 2006, the European Court of Justice [1] (ECJ) issued a judgement on successive fixed-term employment contracts in Konstantinos Adeneler and Others v Ellinikos Organismos Galaktos (ELOG), Case-212/04 [2]. The ruling is based on the ECJ’s interpretation of the clauses of the framework agreement on fixed-term work (92.4Kb PDF) [3] concluded on 18 March 1999 by the cross-sector European social partners [4] and implemented through Council Directive 1999/70/EC [5]. The European social partners involved included the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC [6]), the Industrial and Employers’ Confederation of Europe (Union des industries des pays de la Communauté Européenne, UNICE [7]) and the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP [8]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/european-court-of-justice [2] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62004J0212:EN:HTML [3] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_dialogue/docs/300_19990318_agreement_fixed_term_work_en.pdf [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/european-social-partners [5] http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31999L0070:EN:HTML [6] http://www.etuc.org/ [7] http://www.unice.org/ [8] http://www.ceep.org/

On 22 November 2006, the European Commission presented the Green Paper Modernising labour law to meet the challenges of the 21st century (77Kb PDF) [1], which had been announced in the Social Agenda 2005–2010 (2.3Mb PDF) [2] and in the Communication on Restructuring and employment (262Kb PDF) [3]. At the presentation of the Green Paper, the Commission also launched a public consultation [4] on the need to review current labour law systems, addressed to Member States, social partners and other stakeholders (IP/06/1604 (17Kb PDF) [5]). The consultation will run until 31 March 2007 and will complement a Commission communication on flexicurity [6] announced for June 2007. [1] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/labour_law/docs/2006/green_paper_en.pdf [2] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/publications/2005/ke6605062_en.pdf [3] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/news/2005/apr/com_restruct_en.pdf [4] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/labour_law/green_paper_en.htm [5] http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/1604&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en [6] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/flexicurity

On 12 October 2006, the European Commission launched the first-stage consultation (65.4Kb PDF) [1] of the European social partners [2] on the reconciliation of professional, private and family life, following the procedure laid down in article 138 of the EC Treaty. The Commission emphasises that European institutions and the European social partners have constantly called for EU-level policies to improve work–life balance [3]. Very few EU Member States have achieved the targets in terms of childcare facilities set at the 2002 Barcelona Summit and summarised in the Presidency conclusions (299Kb PDF) [4]. Moreover, reconciliation issues are addressed in the new Guideline 18 (59.7Kb PDF) [5] of the Integrated guidelines for growth and jobs (2005–2008) (362Kb PDF) [6], in the European pact for gender equality (253Kb PDF) [7] approved by the March 2006 European Council (7775/1/06 REV 1, Annex II), and in the Roadmap for equality between women and men 2006–2010 (211Kb PDF) [8]. The European Parliament has consistently called for improvements to the existing legislation and adopted a resolution on reconciling professional, family and private lives (115Kb PDF) [9] in 2004. [1] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_dialogue/docs/reconciliation06_1st_en.pdf [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/european-social-partners [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/worklife-balance-0 [4] http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/71025.pdf [5] http://europa.eu/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2005/l_205/l_20520050806en00210027.pdf [6] http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/pdf/integrated_guidelines_en.pdf [7] http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/89013.pdf [8] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2006/com2006_0092en01.pdf [9] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML TA P5-TA-2004-0152 0 DOC PDF V0//EN&language=EN

Directive 2006/123/EC (213Kb PDF) [1] on services in the internal market aims to facilitate the provision of cross-border services. On 15 November 2006, the European Parliament voted on the directive at second reading. The final text adopted by the Parliament broadly reflects the consensus reached in first reading in February 2006 and in the Council Common position (10003/4/2006 – C6-0270/2006) (932Kb PDF) [2] of 24 July 2006. The European Parliament adopted the text (P6_TA-PROV(2006)0490) [3] with three amendments to the Common position. On 16 November 2006, the European Commission accepted these three amendments in its opinion (COM(2006) 718) (110Kb PDF) [4] pursuant to Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty (488Kb PDF) [5]. [1] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/l_376/l_37620061227en00360068.pdf [2] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/commonpositions/2006/pdf/c6-0270-06_en.pdf [3] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?Type=TA&Reference=P6-TA-2006-0490&language=EN [4] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2006/com2006_0718en01.pdf [5] http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/treaties/dat/EC_consol.pdf

On 7 November 2006, an extraordinary session of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) [1] was held (see press release 14634/06 (148Kb PDF) [2]), in an attempt to seek political agreement on a draft directive aimed at amending Directive 2003/88/EC [3] concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time [4]. This marks another failed attempt by EPSCO to attain a qualified majority in favour of one of the compromise texts tabled by the Finnish presidency (14676/06 (135Kb PDF) [5]) and by delegations. [1] http://www.consilium.europa.eu/cms3_fo/showPage.asp?id=411&lang=en [2] http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/lsa/91539.pdf [3] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003L0088:EN:HTML [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/working-time [5] http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/06/st14/st14676.en06.pdf

On 11 October 2006, the cross-sector social partners at European level presented their implementation report (1.36Mb PDF) [1] on the framework agreement on telework (107Kb PDF) [2] (press release (80Kb PDF); [3] IP/06/1351 (73Kb PDF) [4]). The parties involved comprised the: European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC [5]); the Industrial and Employers’ Confederation of Europe (Union des Industries des pays de la Communauté européenne, UNICE [6]); the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME [7]); and the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP [8]). [1] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/news/2006/oct/telework_implementation_report_en.pdf [2] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_dialogue/docs/300_20020716_agreement_telework_en.pdf [3] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/news/2006/oct/press_release_telework_en.pdf [4] http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/1351&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en [5] http://www.etuc.org/ [6] http://www.unice.org/ [7] http://www.ueapme.com/ [8] http://www.ceep.org/