Publications

The integrated police law adopted in December 1998, based on agreement
between Belgium's main political parties, provides for the overhaul of the
various law-and-order forces (the gendarmerie, criminal-investigation
department and municipal police), establishing federal and local levels and
defining a new unified statute for the entire force. Because of the
importance of the issues at stake, the police reform has caused an
unprecedented labour dispute during 1999 between police unions and the
Interior Ministry, leading to a breakdown in negotiations and highlighting
the complexity of police trade unionism in Belgium.

At a conference on 10 June 1999, Hans Skov Christensen, the managing director
of the Confederation of Danish Industries (Dansk Industri, DI) presented a
proposal for a new system of collective bargaining in Denmark. "It has to be
a marked exception that a dispute breaks out, and if it occurs it has to be a
logical consequence of the system's rules", said Mr Christensen. While,
undoubtedly, disputes could still occur, the possibility of traditional
industrial action would not not be the basis for all bargaining. Such action,
according to DI, belongs to the past. Accordingly, DI proposes that the
current automatic process, whereby notice of an impending dispute is issued
during the bargaining round, be reconsidered.

In summer 1999, at the half-way point of the Spanish social partners'
four-year pact for employment stability, later endorsed by parliament, the
parties have evaluated its results. After two years, employment - and
especially stable employment - has increased significantly. However, there
has been no substantial decrease in the level of temporary employment and
contract turnover continues to increase.

/It seems inevitable that increasing economic integration and competition
within Europe will have some influence on national collective bargaining. The
aim of this comparative study is to provide an assessment, as of summer 1999,
of the extent to which the processes and outcomes of bargaining in the 15
Member States of the EU, plus Norway, are developing a cross-border, European
dimension. The study outlines the diverse processes, both implicit and
explicit, which can be said to be leading towards a "Europeanisation" of
collective bargaining. Developments across the 16 countries concerned are
examined at intersectoral, sectoral and enterprise levels, with a special
focus on metalworking and financial services, and the views of the social
partners are summarised./

In July 1999, the joint employer-trade union administrative board of France's
National Sickness Insurance Fund (CNAM) approved, by a large majority, a
strategic reform plan. This package of measures is designed to reduce
spending and improve the quality of healthcare. CNAM hopes that the
government will give legislative effect to the plan.

In June 1999, the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE) expressed its
total opposition to proposals from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to
reduce the wages of new entrants to the labour market and to cut labour
costs.

On 2 July 1999, the provisions of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 [1]
were brought into force, one year after receiving Royal Assent (UK9807137N
[2]). The Act has been described as the most far-reaching "whistleblowing"
legislation in the world. It provides remedies to workers who are dismissed
or subjected to detriment by their employer for making certain categories of
disclosure, ie a disclosure of information which, in the reasonable belief of
the worker making the disclosure, concerns:

[1] http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980023.htm
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/whistleblowers-charter-becomes-law

In June 1999, an agreement was signed on the reorganisation of Rome's public
environmental services company, Ama, leading to differences between the three
main trade union confederations. Cisl and Uil disagree with Cgil on the way
in which 2,200 people will be recruited by the newly-established company, Ama
city.

An informal Labour and Social Affairs Council of Ministers meeting was held
under the Finnish Presidency in Oulu, Finland from 8 to 10 July 1999, with
the participation of the European-level social partners and the European
Parliament. In line with the priorities of Finnish labour market policy in
recent years (FI9708125F [1]), the Finnish government - which took over the
EU Presidency in July 1999 - was keen to shift the focus of labour market
policy away from youth unemployment towards the problems facing older
workers. Ministers expressed concern at the lack of older workers in the
labour market.

[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined-social-policies/finland-launches-a-five-year-national-programme-for-older-workers

The total number of requests to terminate employment contracts declined in
the Netherlands in 1998, according to the Annual Report on termination
statistics, issued in summer 1999. However, the number of requests related to
occupational disability has increased.