Arrowsmith, James

This report reviews the present situation regarding the use of temporary agency work (TAW) in European Union Member States. It examines arrangements for social dialogue and collective bargaining at national level across the EU. It examines the role of collective bargaining in determining such matters as length of assignment, the use of TAW in strikes, and the proportion of agency workers allowed; it also examines the role of collective bargaining in determining equality of treatment in pay, training and other conditions of employment. In addition the report reviews other forms of regulation, and national variations, including the composition of companies in the field of TAW, its sectoral and occupational distribution, and the duration of temporary assignments.

The objectives of the report are to investigate how companies in three sectors: the automobile industry, the banking business and road haulage experience EMU with regard to the practicalities of the introduction of the EURO, industrial relations, pay, employment, working conditions, restructuring of the companies and forms of business organisation.

Workers at the Grangemouth oil refinery on the east coast of Scotland staged a 48-hour strike in April 2008 over plans by the chemicals company INEOS [1] to change its pension scheme arrangements. The strike began in the early hours of Sunday 27 April and involved about 1,200 employees who are members of the trade union Unite [2]. INEOS said it could take up to three weeks for Grangemouth to reach full plant capacity, although this claim was disputed by the trade union. [1] http://www.ineos.com/index.php [2] http://www.amicustheunion.org/

In 2007, the Trades Union Congress (TUC [1]) established the Commission on Vulnerable Employment (CoVE [2]) (*UK0707019I* [3]). Its 16 members include academics and representatives of employer and civil society groups, as well as trade unionists. The commission aimed to investigate the problems being faced by vulnerable workers – those who are in unsafe, insecure or low-paid employment. This definition includes temporary and agency workers, migrant workers, home workers, informal workers, young workers and unpaid family workers. [1] http://www.tuc.org.uk/ [2] http://www.vulnerableworkers.org.uk [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/trades-union-congress-launches-commission-to-monitor-vulnerable-workers

The remit of the Low Pay Commission (LPC [1]), which was established in 1997 (*UK9711177F* [2]), is to review the impact of the national minimum wage (NMW) and to make recommendations concerning its level and application. Its ninth report on the minimum wage (1.5Mb PDF) [3] was published in March 2008. [1] http://www.lowpay.gov.uk/ [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined-social-policies/the-national-minimum-wage-an-update [3] http://www.lowpay.gov.uk/lowpay/report/pdf/2008_min_wage.pdf

In March 2008, the Ford Motor Company announced the sale of its British luxury car marques Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors for approximately USD 2.3 billion (about €1.5 billion as at 28 April 2008). The US carmaker Ford bought Jaguar [1] in 1989 and Land Rover [2] in 2000, and the sale reflects fierce competition, as well as high pension and healthcare costs. The transfer is expected to come to a close later in the year, when Ford will contribute up to USD 600 million (€384.1 million) to Jaguar’s and Land Rover’s pension funds. The two companies employ 16,000 workers directly, as well as thousands of other workers depending on the supply and support chains of the car manufacturers. The Indian conglomerate Tata, which also owns the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus (*UK0703049I* [3]) and Tetley Tea, stated that it did not ‘anticipate any significant changes to Jaguar Land Rover employees’ terms of employment on completion of the takeover’. Furthermore, Tata emphasised that current production plans would be unaffected. [1] http://www.jaguar.com/ [2] http://www.landrover.com [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/steel-union-seeks-assurances-in-corus-takeover

In March 2008, the National Union of Teachers (NUT [1]) balloted members over a one-day strike to take place in England and Wales on 24 April. Nearly 200,000 ballot papers were issued to trade union members, of which a third were returned. The resulting vote was three to one in favour of industrial action. The strike would be the first national teachers’ strike since 1987, although the two other teaching trade unions – the Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT [2]) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL [3]) – stated that they will not take part. [1] http://www.teachers.org.uk/ [2] http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/ [3] http://www.atl.org.uk/

On 29 June 2007, up to 130,000 postal workers at Royal Mail [1] took part in a nationwide one-day strike. The representative trade union, the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU [2]), warned that the strike would be the first in ‘a continued series of postal strikes’, unless Royal Mail engaged in ‘fresh and meaningful talks’. The strike affected mail distribution services, the supply chain including cash handling and some 458 ‘Crown’ post offices employing Royal Mail staff. A second 24-hour strike took place on 12 July. [1] http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm [2] http://www.cwu.org/

On 18 April 2007, two UK general trade unions, Amicus and the Transport and General Workers’ Union (T&G [1]), announced plans to merge with the North American-based United Steelworkers (USW [2]) union. USW is the largest industrial trade union in North America with 850,000 members. With a total membership of over 3.4 million workers in the US, Canada, the Caribbean, the UK and Ireland, the merged international trade union would, union leaders claim, be the largest in the world. [1] http://www.tgwu.org.uk/ [2] http://www.uswa.org/uswa/program/content/index.php

In April 2007, the Trades Union Congress (TUC [1]) launched an information campaign, which targets small and medium-sized non-union enterprises. The aim of the campaign is to promote the business benefits of trade unions for such companies. It involved the distribution of 2,000 copies of a new leaflet on An employer’s introduction to trade unions (391Kb PDF) [2]. The leaflet was distributed through the official government service, Business Link [3], and regional offices of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS [4]). It coincided with the annual publication of the latest union membership statistics 2006 (2.34Mb PDF) [5] by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI [6]). These showed that union membership density for UK employees fell by 0.6 percentage points to 28.4% in 2006; this represents the largest annual decline since 1998. [1] http://www.tuc.org.uk/index.cfm [2] http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/employersintro.pdf [3] http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ [4] http://www.acas.org.uk/ [5] http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file39006.pdf [6] http://www.dti.gov.uk/