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  • Article
    27 Květen 1997

    Total Quality Management (TQM) has been a leading development of the 1990s in
    Britain. Surveys find that almost three-quarters of organisations claim to
    have formal quality programmes, which are believed to work by increasing
    employees' interest in their jobs and their understanding of how their work
    contributes to organisational goals. Many of these programmes have been
    introduced in the past five years. Definitions of TQM vary but its core
    comprises: a focus on the customer; the improvement and inter-linking of
    business processes; and continuous improvement ("Making quality critical", A
    Wilkinson and H Willmott, eds, London, Routledge, 1995.).

  • Article
    27 Květen 1997

    On 28 April 1997, the German Public Services, Transport and Traffic Union
    (Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr, ÖTV) and the
    German White-Collar Workers' Union (Deutsche Angestellten-Gewerkschaft, DAG)
    announced the foundation of a new joint subsidiary union for the employees of
    international and European organisations which are located in Germany.
    Through the newly established "International Public Servants Organisation"
    (IPSO), both unions want to create an effective interest representation for
    the employees working in organisations like the European Monetary Institute
    in Frankfurt or the European Patent Office in Munich. The foundation of IPSO
    should also avoid competition between ÖTV and DAG in the recruitment of
    members in international and European organisations, and should lead to a
    closer cooperation between the unions. The latter is particularly important
    because of the fact that the DAG is the only significant German trade union
    which is not a member of the German Federation of Trade Unions (Deutscher
    Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB).

  • Article
    27 Květen 1997

    In Greece, temporary work, especially in the form of fixed-term contracts,
    constitutes a policy widespread amongst enterprises in both private and
    public sectors. Although the phenomenon of temporary work has decreased
    considerably in comparison with the early 1990s, when its incidence was twice
    that of the EU average (18% and 9% respectively), it is still quite high
    (10.5% and 11% respectively). A factor contributing to this decrease was the
    decision of the Government in the course of 1990 to dismiss 50,000 temporary
    public employees as part of its attempt to rationalise the functioning of the
    public sector.

  • Article
    27 Květen 1997

    On 7 May, the Dutch Government withdrew a bill that would have allowed
    employers exemptions from paying the statutory national minimum wage [1]
    (NL9702103F [2]). Discussions in Parliament had arrived at a political
    impasse.

    [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/minimum-wage-4
    [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/proposal-to-exempt-long-term-unemployed-people-from-legal-minimum-wage

  • Article
    27 Květen 1997

    One of Ireland's smallest banks, the Ulster Bank, is seeking to replace its
    incremental-based pay system with a new performance-related reward scheme for
    most of its 1,000 staff in the Republic of Ireland. The bank's proposals have
    been resisted by members of the banking union, the Irish Bank Officials
    Association (IBOA). They have, however, been accepted by its staff in
    Northern Ireland who are part of the British industrial relations system.

  • Article
    27 Duben 1997

    The sabbatical leave pilot scheme, which was agreed as part of Finland's last
    incomes policy agreement, has begun as planned. So far, 5,500 employees have
    taken advantage of the scheme. The Ministry of Labour's target of
    5,000-10,000 employees per year appears likely to be achieved.

  • Article
    27 Duben 1997

    During the 1990s, the tendencies within Italian enterprises towards a greater
    participation of workers and their representatives have become more
    pronounced. This has applied to direct, economic/financial and institutional
    participation, and here we review recent developments, focusing on the second
    and third types of participation.

  • Article
    27 Duben 1997

    In 10 sessions over the course of five months, the Metals, Mining and Energy
    Workers trade union (Gewerkschaft Metall-Bergbau-Energie, GMBE) and eight
    associations together comprising the metalworking sector within the
    Bundessektion Industrie of the Austrian Chamber of the Economy
    (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKÖ) have thrashed out a collective
    agreement on working time flexibilisation covering 229,000 employees (162,000
    waged, 67,000 salaried) in industrial establishments. However, one of the
    eight associations - Fachverband der Metallwarenindustrie- has been blocking
    ratification of the deal since mid-March.

  • Article
    27 Duben 1997

    At the end of March 1997, Ericsson Telecom (part of the Swedish Ericsson
    Group) workers in Norrköping learned that their employer had made a
    preliminary agreement with two US companies, SCI Systems and Solectron, to
    sell the production of printed circuit cards part of the business. The
    company wanted the sale to take place before the summer.

Series

  • European Restructuring Monitor

    The European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) has reported on the employment impact of large-scale business restructuring since 2002. This publication series include the ERM reports, as well as blogs, articles and working papers on restructuring-related events in the EU27 and Norway.

  • European Working Conditions Telephone Survey 2021

    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 European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS) 2021, an extraordinary edition conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was first carried out in 1990.

  • Developments in working life, industrial relations and working conditions in the EU

    This publication series gathers all overview reports on developments in working life, annual reviews in industrial relations and working conditions produced by Eurofound on the basis of national contributions from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents (NEC). Since 1997, these reports have provided overviews of the latest developments in industrial relations and working conditions across the EU and Norway. The series may include recent ad hoc articles written by members of the NEC.

  • COVID-19

    Eurofound’s work on COVID-19 examines the far-reaching socioeconomic implications of the pandemic across Europe as they continue to impact living and working conditions. A key element of the research is the e-survey, launched in April 2020, with five rounds completed at different stages during 2020, 2021 and 2022. This is complemented by the inclusion of research into the ongoing effects of the pandemic in much of Eurofound’s other areas of work.

  • Sectoral social dialogue

    Eurofound's representativeness studies are designed to allow the European Commission to identify the ‘management and labour’ whom it must consult under article 154 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). This series consists of studies of the representativeness of employer and worker organisations in various sectors.

  • Minimum wages in the EU

    This series reports on developments in minimum wage rates across the EU, including how they are set and how they have developed over time in nominal and real terms. The series explores where there are statutory minimum wages or collectively agreed minimum wages in the Member States, as well as minimum wage coverage rates by gender.  

  • European Working Conditions Surveys

    The European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) launched in 1990 and is carried out every five years, with the latest edition in 2015. It provides an overview of trends in working conditions and quality of employment for the last 30 years. It covers issues such as employment status, working time duration and organisation, work organisation, learning and training, physical and psychosocial risk factors, health and safety, work–life balance, worker participation, earnings and financial security, work and health, and most recently also the future of work.

  • Challenges and prospects in the EU

    Eurofound’s Flagship report series 'Challenges and prospects in the EU' comprise research reports that contain the key results of multiannual research activities and incorporate findings from different related research projects. Flagship reports are the major output of each of Eurofound’s strategic areas of intervention and have as their objective to contribute to current policy debates.

  • European Company Survey 2019

    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 2019, the fourth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2004–2005 as the European Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance. 

  • National social partners and policymaking

    This series reports on and updates latest information on the involvement of national social partners in policymaking. The series analyses the involvement of national social partners in the implementation of policy reforms within the framework of social dialogue practices, including their involvement in elaborating the National Reform Programmes (NRPs).

Forthcoming publications