Publications

The leaders of the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions (LO) and the
Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (AF), Yngve Hågensen (LO)
and Magne Songvoll (AF), made headlines on 1 December 1997 when they called
for their members to boycott Norway's largest commercial bank, Den Norske
Bank (DnB). This followed DnB's decision to introduce new service charges and
to raise existing service charges from 1 November 1997. This is only the
latest of many clashes between the trade unions and the banking sector in
Norway on the issue of service charges. An opinion poll commissioned by LO
and AF revealed that a majority of the people asked expressed dissatisfaction
with existing service charges in the banking sector in general. The proposed
boycott was not directed at the DnB alone, but the bank was made the main
target due to its size and the scale of its service fees. DnB later
reconsidered its original decision, and decided to lower charges on some
services.

Austria's current pensions reform aims to reduce the level of early
retirement. However, since the late 1970s, early retirement has been serving
as the main means to reduce the labour market participation rate among older
workers and thus make room for younger workers who would otherwise have been
unemployed. With early retirement now being squeezed, the social partners and
the Government have been looking for other measures to keep the participation
rate among older workers, and thus unemployment, at a relatively low level. A
new device - in the Austrian context - is a greater use of part-time work,
especially among men, which does not take workers off the labour market
altogether but reduces their hours of presence within it. As part of this
effort, the Government and the social partners agreed in November 1997 to
create, by law, the so-called "solidarity premium model"
(Solidaritätsprämienmodell).

A study recently published by the Ministry for Qualification and Employment
reveals that between 1974 and 1995 there was a sharp drop in union membership
in Portugal.

"Personnel secondment "(personaluthyrning) is the Swedish term for the
situation whereby persons under an employment contract with one firm are
leased to work in another firm. It covers arrangements known variously as
hiring-out of labour or temporary agency work in other countries. The
practice was deregulated in Sweden in 1991 and has since increased
considerably. This led to the Social Democratic Government appointing a
commission in July 1996 to evaluate and analyse the consequences of the 1993
Act on private employment agencies and secondment of personnel. The
commission was headed by Björn Rosengren, former president of the
white-collar workers trade union federation, TCO. The Act of 1993, which was
designed by the then non-socialist government, removed the requirement that a
firm had to have a licence to be allowed to lease workers. Previously such
licences had been given to very few firms. The new Act contains only two
restrictive provisions: that the employee must not be restrained from
accepting employment in the client enterprise; and that a person who has left
his or her employment to work for a leasing firm must not be leased to his or
her previous employer until at least six months have passed.

In the last days of the campaign for the December 1997 election of the
members of France's Prud'hommesindustrial tribunals, the level of support for
each trade union is still uncertain. They have all been running intense local
campaigns since the beginning of 1997.

The Greek Government's proposals for the Luxembourg Jobs Summit in November
1997, drawn up following dialogue with the social partners, focused on two
groups of the population in need of special protection: young and long-term
unemployed people.

On 17 November 1997, the Finnish social partners reached an agreement on the
so-called "EMU buffers", following negotiations which have been in progress
all autumn. In order to balance out cyclical economic changes within EMU, a
total sum of up to FIM 7 billion will be collected in two buffer funds
created in the occupational pension scheme and the unemployment insurance
system.

A serious crisis between the two principal Spanish trade union confederations
has erupted following CC.OO's decision in October 1997 to sign the second
general agreement for the construction sector the day before the general
strike in the sector called by UGT to protest against the high industrial
accident rate.

National employers' and employees' organisations in the Netherlands
established guidelines in November 1997 for future collective bargaining. The
most important items on the bargaining table are the introduction of flexible
payment schemes and agreements regarding training and leave.

The second "European Health and Safety at Work Week" took place from 20-25
October 1997. This year the focus of the event was on assessing potential and
actual workplace risks, with a particular emphasis on risks within small and
medium-sized enterprises.