A "national agreement" between the Italian Government and trade unions,
signed in March 1997, has established harmonised rules for almost all
employment in the public and private sectors.
On 13 March 1997, Handelsanställdas förbund (Commercial Employees' Union)
sued the company behind the 7-Eleven chain of shops for SEK 1 million
compensation for breach of the collective agreement. The agreement in
question is in fact a combination of two, which were agreed last summer in an
attempt to settle a dispute concerning the unsocial hours bonus.
Two separate strikes have been hitting the French hospital sector over
February and March 1997. On the one hand, certain unions are campaigning
against cuts in hospital budgets while, on the other hand, numerous trainee
doctors and senior consultants are on strike, demanding the revision of the
medical agreement co-signed by the health insurance office (CNAM) and the
medical profession, which in their opinion hinders the practicing of
professional medicine.
On 19 March 1997, the general meeting of the Fachgemeinschaft Bau Berlin und
Brandenburg, the regional industry and employers' association for the
building industry in the federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg, decided to
quit the Zentralverband des Deutschen Baugewerbes (Central Association of the
German Building Trade, ZDB) and the Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie
(Federal Association of the German Building Industry, HDB). In future, the
regional association will no longer participate in the highly centralised
collective bargaining system of the building industry, which includes central
framework agreements (Manteltarifverträge) and national wage agreements
(Lohntarifverträge).
Negotiations to revise the important collective agreement in Portugal's
banking sector are deadlocked. The industry's largest trade union will soon
hold its elections, but its socialist members are divided, while substantial
workforce reductions have been announced for the coming years.
According to the yearly wage statistics from the Danish Employers'
Confederation (DA), 1996 was the most conflict-free year for the private
sector labour market in the 1990s. From 1995 to 1996, the number of
unofficial strikes - defined as those in contravention of a collective
agreement - fell from 1,740 to 791 and the number of working days lost
decreased by 70% to 52,808 in 1996. Although there was an overall decrease in
working days lost, the proportion of working days lost due to wage
disagreements increased from 45% to 52% and conflicts related to redundancies
and dismissals increased from 5% to 13%. Between 1995 and 1996 secondary
action fell drastically, from 34% to 9% of the total number of working days
lost. This can be attributed to the 1995 bus conflict ("RiBus-konflikten"),
one of the longest disputes in post-war Danish industrial relations.
A protest march on the Dail by rank-and-file members of the Irish police
force, the Garda Siochana, was due to take place on 16 April to highlight
their demand for the first independent review of police pay since 1981.
Over the past decade there has been increasing concern among the institutions
of the European Union about the rising tide of racism across the member
states. In a recent address to a conference on combating racism organised by
the ETUC, social affairs commissioner Padraig Flynn highlighted the
importance of the fight against racism in "achieving improved working
conditions, creating jobs, improved industrial relations, the use of human
resources to the best possible effect, social justice, equal opportunities,
wealth and tolerance".
On Thursday 27 February 1997 Renault announced - completely unexpectedly -
the closure of its Belgian production plant in Vilvoorde by July of this
year. As a result, more than 3,000 Renault employees and an estimated 1,500
employees in direct supply companies will lose their jobs. There is a general
consensus that the decision ignored all legal rules and procedures concerning
factory closures. This includes ILO and OECD procedures as well as national
codes of conduct, and European Union and national legislation on collective
redundancies and works council rights. These regulations lay down that
employees have to be notified before a decision about a factory closure is
made and informed about the ways in which the company plans to deal with the
consequences for the employees.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise in telework and other flexible working patterns has increased concerns about the ‘always on’ work culture, which can result in extra – often unpaid –working hours. One way of tackling this is for workers to have the right to disconnect. Drawing on a survey of HR managers and employees, this report explores legislation across EU Member States introducing the right to disconnect. It assesses its implementation in company policies and its impact on working time, work–life balance, health and well-being and workplace satisfaction.
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.
Are the policies required to meet the commitments outlined under the EU’s plan for a green transition, the Fit-for-55 package, and the associated budgetary commitments – the Green New Deal – likely to lead to positive or negative employment outcomes by 2030? What types of jobs will be created or destroyed? Will shifts in employment be skewed towards the bottom, middle or top of the job–wage distribution? This report aims to provide answers to these questions, using macro-modelled estimates of the likely impacts of these policies on the structure of employment.
This report highlights the prevalence of psychosocial risks across countries, sectors and occupations during the later phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. It outlines the specific working conditions that can lead to work-related health problems. In particular, the report investigates the potential pitfalls related to the expansion of telework, the role of job and income insecurity as a psychosocial risk and the phenomenon of adverse social behaviour and discrimination at work. In addition, it offers policy pointers on tackling the increase in work absenteeism due to mental health problems.
This report – published every two years – covers important developments resulting from legislative reforms in collective bargaining at national or sectoral level in 2021 and 2022. It examines the average weekly working hours set by collective agreements, both across national economies and in five sectors: education, health, transport, retail and public administration.
This policy brief provides facts and figures on the working life and job quality of so-called ‘essential workers’ and is based on data from the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS) extraordinary edition 2021. It will define various subgroups of essential workers, describe the challenges they face and outline the type of responses provided, or being developed, to address those challenges.
Minimum wages protect workers against unduly low pay, but to function effectively the mechanism depends on compliance by employers and enforcement by the state. This report examines the different approaches to measuring non-compliance and presents an estimate of the extent of non-compliance across the EU Member States. It discusses the different tools, regulations and institutions that Member States apply to enforce the minimum wage. And it presents findings from an analysis of 21 case studies of Member States that investigated the factors driving and discouraging non-compliance.
This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the professional football sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation in the European sectoral social dialogue and their capacity to negotiate agreements. The aim of this Eurofound’s study on representativeness is to identify the relevant national and European social partner organisations in the professional football sector in the EU Member States.
This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in European sectoral social dialogue taking place at cross-sectoral level. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation in the European sectoral social dialogue and their capacity to negotiate agreements. The aim of this Eurofound’s study on representativeness is to identify the relevant national and European social partner organisations at cross-sectoral level in the EU Member States.
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.