Европейска фондация за подобряване на условията на живот и труд
Тристранната агенция на Европейския съюз предоставя знания в помощ за разработването на по-добри социални политики и политики в областта на заетостта и труда
Тристранната агенция на Европейския съюз предоставя знания в помощ за разработването на по-добри социални политики и политики в областта на заетостта и труда
As part of the European Year against Racism, a collective agreement signed in
the temporary work sector in Belgium has laid down a "Code of Best Practice"
on the prevention of racial discrimination against foreign temporary workers.
We review the agreement, signed in May 1996, and its background.
A Presidential Decree on the establishment of European Works Councils (EWCs)
in Greece was signed on 20 March 1997. Its purpose is to transpose into Greek
law EC Directive 94/45/EC on the provision of information and consultation to
employees in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of
undertakings, which, under the terms of the Directive, should have been
transposed by 22 September 1996. The Presidential Decree takes up the option
provided in the Directive of not applying its provisions to maritime workers.
Under a novel provision in the Finance Bill, 1997 which gives effect to this
year's Budget, employees are now entitled to tax relief on individual
lump-sum payments paid in the context of company restructuring. The payments
can be made by companies to their employees for agreeing to pay
restructuring, which must involve overall pay reductions of at last 10% of an
employee's average salary for the previous two years and must remain in force
for at least five years. While it is possible that basic pay could be hit by
the measure, the sort of payroll reductions envisaged are more likely to
effect non-basic pay items such as overtime, bonus payments and shift
allowances.
The cases have been hailed as a major victory for all National Health Service
(NHS) staff by the Manufacturing, Science and Finance (MSF) trade union,
which represented the workers involved in their cases. The union's national
secretary, Roger Kline said that the: "case is a momentous one. It has
implications for women staff throughout the NHS and other industries. It is a
landmark decision and is the biggest single breakthrough on equal pay for
women for many years."
An Intergovernmental Conference is the method used by the Member States of
the European Union (EU) to agree on basic changes to the Treaties which
govern the workings of the Union. Changes to the Treaties are not carried out
within the framework of the EU itself, but by direct negotiations between the
governments of the Member States within the context of the IGC. The current
IGC is the sixth in the history of European integration.
In the Netherlands, there has been a long struggle over how responsibilities
for administering social security should be divided between social partners
and the government. The Dutch social security administration has been
reorganised - most recently from March 1997 - under pressure of criticism
about organisations in which the social partners play a dominant role.
Financing the social security system has become a structural problem in the
relations between the Government and the social partners. This has become
especially manifest in conflicts concerning the level at which social
security contributions should be set.
In France, regulation of the working week is based on a piece of legislation
passed in 1936, which laid down a work schedule spread over five days.
Decrees on the application of this law made special provision, in each
sector, for the way in which these hours would be organised. The one
concerning banking dates from 1937.
The incidence of collective bargaining across a variety of sectors in
Portugal has tended slightly to decrease in the first quarter of 1997.
However, at the same time, the number of strikes has been increasing - often
to enforce reductions in working time
According to the report /Reported industrial injuries in the building and
construction sector, 1993-1995/, from the Labour Inspectorate, the sector
experienced a 22% increase in industrial accidents over the course of
1993-1995. The general increase in industrial accidents in the period was
11%. Whereas approximately 5% of the workforce are employed in the building
and construction sector, this sector reported 8% of all industrial accidents.
Every month one fatal and 50 serious accidents occur in the sector, and 84
fatal accidents took place at all Danish workplaces in 1995. The increased
number of accidents in the building and construction sector, according to the
Labour Inspectorate, can largely be explained by the sector's 9% job-growth
and the improved reporting of industrial accidents.
The Belgian Defence Minister, Jean-Pol Poncelet, has announced measures that
will prompt far-reaching changes in the personnel structure of the Belgian
armed forces, covering the army, navy and airforce. The policy directly or
indirectly affects about 40,000 military personnel. Mr Poncelet's plans are
innovative and rather unusual for the armed forces, which are not normally
known for their swift changes in organisational structure and personnel
management. The Minister feels, however, that the armed forces should not be
exempt from moves towards greater flexibility, currently a prominent theme in
labour negotiations in Belgium. Moreover, changes in the armed forces can
serve as an example for other sectors of the Belgian economy.
Eurofound’s European Company Survey (ECS) maps and analyses company policies and practices which can have an impact on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, as well as the development of social dialogue in companies. This series consists of outputs from the ECS 2009, the second edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2004–2005 as the European Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance.
Eurofound’s European Company Survey (ECS) maps and analyses company policies and practices which can have an impact on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, as well as the development of social dialogue in companies. This series consists of outputs from the ECS 2013, the third edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2004–2005 as the European Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance.
Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. This series consists of outputs from the EQLS 2003, the first edition of the survey.
Eurofound's European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. This series consists of outputs from the EQLS 2007, the second edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2003.
Eurofound's European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. This series consists of outputs from the EQLS 2012, the third edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2003.
Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) paints a wide-ranging picture of Europe at work across countries, occupations, sectors and age groups. This series consists of findings from the EWCS 2005, the fourth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 1990.
Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) paints a wide-ranging picture of Europe at work across countries, occupations, sectors and age groups. This series consists of findings from the EWCS 2010, the fifth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 1990.
This publication series explores scenarios for the future of manufacturing. The employment implications (number of jobs by sector, occupation, wage profile, and task content) under various possible scenarios are examined. The scenarios focus on various possible developments in global trade and energy policies and technological progress and run to 2030.
In 2022, the European Semester was streamlined to integrate the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) established on 19 February 2021 (Regulation (EU) 2021/241). While facing the geopolitical and economic challenges triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Member States have been implementing the national Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs) for more than one year and around 100 billion euro in RRF funds have already been disbursed.
This report explores the association between skills use and skills strategies and establishment performance, and how other workplace practices, in terms of work organisation, human resources management and employee involvement, can impact on this. It looks at how skills shortages can be addressed, at least in part, by creating an environment in which employees are facilitated and motivated to make better use of the skills they already have. This further supports the business case for a more holistic approach to management.
With the expansion of telework and different forms of hybrid work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important for policymakers to consider both the opportunities and the negative consequences that may result. This report will explore potential scenarios for such work. In doing so, it will identify trends and drivers, and predict how they might interact to create particular outcomes and how they are likely to affect workers and businesses. Policy pointers will outline what could be done to facilitate desirable outcomes and to avoid undesirable ones.
This paper provides an analytical summary of state of the art academic and policy literature on the impact of climate change and policies to manage transitions to a carbon neutral economy on employment, working conditions, social dialogue and living conditions. It maps the key empirical findings around the impact of climate change and the green transitions on jobs, sectors, regions and countries in Europe, identifying the opportunities and risks that climate change policies bring to European labour markets.
This report explores the drivers of economic and social convergence in Europe, using a selected set of economic and social indicators to examine trends in the performance of individual Member States. It also investigates what role the Economic and Monetary Union plays in convergence, particularly in southern and eastern Member States. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on convergence is analysed and initial conclusions are drawn about the impact of EU recovery packages and their ability to prevent divergence.
As economies emerge from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, labour shortages are becoming increasingly evident. These include shortages exacerbated by the crisis in some sectors and professions where they had been endemic for some time. This report will look at measures implemented at national level to tackle labour shortages in the health, care and information and communications technology sectors, as well as those arising from the twin digital and green transitions.
Adequate, affordable housing has become a matter of great concern, with an alarming number of Europeans with low or lower household incomes unable to access any, especially in capital cities. Housing was a key factor in people’s experience of the COVID-19 pandemic: its quality and level of safety significantly affected how lockdowns and social distancing measures were experienced, with those who had no access to quality housing at higher risk of deteriorating living conditions and well-being.
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an extraordinary level of provision of social services across the EU. Healthcare and care providers carried much of the burden and, together with essential services, played a crucial role in getting citizens through the crisis. This report explores how public services adapted to the new reality and what role was played by the digital transformation of services. The aim is to contribute to the documentation and analysis of changes in funding, delivery and use of healthcare and social services during the pandemic.
The urban-rural divide in EU countries has grown in recent years, and the depopulation of certain rural areas in favour of cities is a challenge when it comes to promoting economic development and maintaining social cohesion and convergence. Using data from Eurofound and Eurostat, this report will investigate the trends and drivers of the urban-rural divide, in various dimensions: economic and employment opportunities, access to services, living conditions and quality of life.
Building on previous work by Eurofound, this report will investigate intergenerational dynamics over time. During the 2008 double-dip recession, worrying intergenerational divides appeared in many Member States, and while some of the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is universal, early data suggests disparities across demographic cohorts. Eurofound will examine how different age groups may have been affected in terms of their health, labour market participation, quality of life and financial needs, both in the short term and in the long term.