Publications

At a time when industrial accidents are an increasingly important problem in
Spain, in June 1999 the CC.OO and UGT trade union confederations claimed that
the government is failing to fulfil its commitments on the prevention of
occupational risks.

The collective agreement for France's banking sector has to be renegotiated
by 1 January 2000, following the decision in 1998 by the AFB employers'
organisation to terminate the accord. In June 1999, AFB tabled a draft of a
new agreement, which has been deemed unacceptable by all the trade unions
involved.

In June 1999, the Institute of Labour of the Greek General Confederation of
Labour (INE-GSEE) published a study examining the prevalent orthodox thinking
in Greece that increases in real wages reduce profitability, investments,
employment and competitiveness. The study claims that this belief is not
borne out by the statistical data for Greece.

On 14 July 1999, the European Commission adopted a Communication entitled A
concerted strategy for modernising social protection [1] (COM(99)347 final).
The Communication emphasises the key role played by social protection systems
in supporting public health and well-being and in redistributing wealth. It
is argued that, without social security transfers, nearly 40% of EU
households would be living in relative poverty (compared with the actual rate
of 17%). Spending on social protection accounts for an average of 28.5% of
GDP.

[1] http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/soc-prot/social/com99-347/com99-347_en.pdf

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.

On 20 July 1999, the national council of the Confederation of British
Industry (CBI) adopted a policy statement [1] reaffirming that the CBI is "in
favour in principle of UK entry into European Economic and Monetary Union
once key conditions for success are in place". The CBI believes that UK
membership of EMU"has the potential to deliver significant benefits to the UK
economy", but that further progress is needed towards "sound fiscal
conditions in all major euro-zone countries", together with a shift in labour
market policies towards more flexibility. The new policy statement is the
culmination of a three-month consultation process involving voting on CBI
regional and national committees and a survey of wider membership opinion
carried out by polling organisation MORI.

[1] http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/content.nsf/802737aed3e3420580256706005390ae/53dbaab1a1943690802567b4003febd4?OpenDocument

In June 1999, a first agreement was signed between Italian (Fillea-Cgil,
Filca-Cisl, Feneal-Uil) and German (GHK) trade unions representing wood and
furniture workers. The agreement calls for the establishment of a European
collective bargaining committee aimed at defining common bargaining
objectives.

In late May 1999, the Dutch Minister of Health and State Secretary for Social
Affairs adopted a standpoint on the issue of privatised healthcare and
possible priority treatment for employees. Politicians have thus given the
green light for offering employees specialised care on a commercial basis for
work-related medical complaints. Private outpatient centres have long offered
specialised care, treating problems such as stress and "burn-out".

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.