Publications

On 31 October 2013, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS [1]) in the
Netherlands published new figures on union density.

[1] http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/home/default.htm

The latest annual CBI/Accenture employment trends survey (343 KB PDF) [1] was
published on 17 December 2013 by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI
[2]).

[1] http://www.cbi.org.uk/media/2521218/cbi_employment_trends_survey_2013.pdf
[2] http://www.cbi.org.uk/

At the end of 2013, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment in the
Netherlands (SZW [1]) published its annual report [2] on collective
agreements in the country. The report covers developments in collective
agreements in the Netherlands in 2012 and, where information is available, in
2013.

[1] http://www.government.nl/ministries/szw
[2] http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten-en-publicaties/rapporten/2013/12/02/rapportage-cao-afspraken-2012.html

In common with the rest of Europe, the workforce in the Netherlands is
ageing. The formal retirement age in the Netherlands recently increased from
65 to 67. Surveys based on the earlier retirement age showed that an
increasing percentage of employees were willing to work until the official
retirement age and this proportion has been increasing since employees were
first asked about their retirement preferences in 2005.

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the quality of employment conditions and employment relations in the European employed workforce. Employment in the report is viewed as the contractual relationship between an employer and a worker, specifically how the rights and duties embedded into the relationship are translated into real rights. The analysis is mainly based on data from the fifth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), conducted in 2010. Where appropriate, comparisons with earlier waves of the EWCS are made.

The Danish Crown [1] group specialises in meat and meat products for the
global market. It is a co-operative meat company owned by Danish farmers. In
2012–2013 the group had a revenue of DKK 58 billion (€7.7 billion, as of
12 February 2014) and a net profit of DKK 1.7 billion (€0.23 billion). In
recent years, market share has been lost to emerging markets like China and
Russia.

[1] http://www.danishcrown.com/Danish-Crown.aspx

On 7 January 2014, a new round of collective bargaining started in Denmark in
the private sector, under the auspices of the Danish Confederation of Danish
Trade Unions (LO [1]) and the Confederation of Danish Employers (DA [2]). The
negotiations covers almost 600,000 employees.

[1] http://www.lo.dk
[2] http://www.da.dk

A general election was held in Austria in September 2013 at the end of the
five-year parliamentary term. As in 2008, the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ
[1]) and the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP [2]) won the largest share
of the vote, although both parties lost seats. The right-wing Freedom Party
(FPÖ [3]) came third but increased its share of the vote. After several
weeks of negotiations, a new ‘grand coalition’ was agreed between the
SPÖ (with 26.8% of the vote) and ÖVP (24%). The two parties now hold 99 out
of 183 seats in parliament.

[1] http://www.spoe.at/
[2] http://www.oevp.at
[3] http://www.fpoe.at/

The annual report by the Labour Institute of the Greek General Confederation
of Labour (INE/GSEE [1]) has made an evaluation of the Greek Government’s
response to the economic crisis in the country, now in its sixth year.

[1] http://www.inegsee.gr/

The economic crisis has forced many of Greece’s private sector enterprises
to close or suspend operations. There have also been employment cuts in the
public sector. This means that there is a rising youth unemployment problem
in Greece, as young people are leaving school and university to find there is
a lack of employment opportunities. Half of those aged 29 or under do not
have a job, and this age group makes up one in three of all unemployed
workers. Around half of this group have never had a job, and just over half
have been out of work for more than a year.