Hall, Mark

Industrial relations developments in Europe 2007 highlights the most significant industrial relations developments over the past year – both at national and EU level. It first outlines the main political and legislative initiatives taken in the Member States over the past year and goes on to examine the key issues covered by collective bargaining – pay, working time, occupational pensions and training. It focuses in particular on initiatives taken regarding temporary agency work, efforts to close the gender pay gap and action in the area of migration.

On 2 July 2008, Unite [1], the UK’s largest trade union, and the United Steelworkers (USW [2]), North America’s largest private sector union, finalised an agreement creating a new international organisation which they describe as ‘the world’s first global union’. The agreement was signed at USW’s constitutional convention in Las Vegas and represents the culmination of discussions that have been underway for some years (*UK0706039I* [3]). The new organisation, known as Workers Uniting [4], will represent some three million members in the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada and the Caribbean, covering workers from ‘virtually every sector of the global economy, including manufacturing, services, mining and transportation’. [1] http://www.unitetheunion.org.uk/ [2] http://www.usw.org/ [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/first-steps-in-creation-of-transatlantic-super-union [4] http://www.workersuniting.org/

On 20 May 2008, the UK government announced that it had reached an agreement with the Confederation of British Industry (CBI [1]) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC [2]) on the implementation of equal treatment [3] for temporary agency workers in the context of the long-running EU-level negotiations over the proposed directive on the issue. The move paved the way for political agreement on the directive at the EU’s Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO [4]) meeting on 9 June. [1] http://www.cbi.org.uk/ndbs/staticpages.nsf/StaticPages/home.html/?OpenDocument [2] http://www.tuc.org.uk/ [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/equal-treatment [4] http://www.consilium.europa.eu/cms3_fo/showPage.asp?id=411&lang=en

On 15 May 2008, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR [1]) published an independent review (137Kb PDF) [2] of the UK’s legislation enabling employees with young children or carers of adults to request flexible working arrangements from their employer. The review found that the legislation is working well and recommended its extension to cover parents of children aged up to 16 years. The government has accepted this recommendation and will consult on implementing legislation to be introduced in the next session of parliament, which is due to begin in the autumn of 2008 (*UK0806019I* [3]). [1] http://www.berr.gov.uk/ [2] http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file46092.pdf [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/draft-legislative-programme-heralds-extension-of-workers-rights

On 14 May 2008, the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, made a statement to the House of Commons outlining the government’s draft legislative programme (428Kb PDF) [1] for the next session of parliament beginning in November. Prime Minister Brown highlighted that the legislative programme aimed to make Britain ‘a fairer, more prosperous society’. Proposals for new employment rights featured prominently in the programme. [1] http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm73/7372/7372.pdf

In November 2007, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR [1]) published an independent evaluation (446Kb PDF) [2] of the economic impact of the employment relations services provided by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas [3]). The report was commissioned by Acas, against the background of cuts to its budget and resulting job losses in the period since 2003–2004. [1] http://www.niesr.ac.uk/about/about.php [2] http://www.niesr.ac.uk/pdf/141107_91327.pdf [3] http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=301

In October 2007, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR [1]) published a report (1.27Mb PDF) [2] outlining initial findings from a research project examining the implementation of the UK’s Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations 2004 [3] (UK0502103N [4]). The research is being undertaken by academics at the University of Warwick [5] and the University of the West of England (UWE [6]), and is co-sponsored by BERR, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS [7]) and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD [8]). [1] http://www.berr.gov.uk [2] http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file41647.pdf [3] http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2004/20043426.htm [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/employee-consultation-legislation-finalised [5] http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/ [6] http://www.uwe.ac.uk/ [7] http://www.acas.org.uk/ [8] http://www.cipd.co.uk/default.cipd

In September 2007, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI [1]) published the results of its tenth annual Employment trends survey ‘Fit for business’ (2Mb PDF) [2], conducted in conjunction with the Jobs Pertemps recruitment agency. The survey, carried out in May 2007, records the responses of over 500 employers across all sectors of the economy, including 19% of public sector employers. This article gives an overview of the report’s main findings in the industrial relations sphere. [1] http://www.cbi.org.uk/ [2] http://www.skillsnortheast.co.uk/lib/liDownload/12026/Employment Trends Survey 2007.pdf?CFID=7065596&CFTOKEN=53144318

The annual conference of the Trades Union Congress (TUC [1]), held on 10–13 September 2007, adopted a resolution calling for a UK referendum on the EU Draft Reform Treaty [2]. Union leaders also urged the UK government to drop the ‘opt-out [3]’ it has secured from legal enforceability of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is to be granted under the reform treaty (*UK0707049I* [4]). The ‘solidarity’ chapter of the charter guarantees a range of rights for trade unions and employees. [1] http://www.tuc.org.uk/ [2] http://europa.eu/reform_treaty/index_en.htm [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/opt-out [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/mixed-reaction-to-opt-out-from-eu-charter-of-fundamental-rights

On 17 August 2007, the opposition Conservative Party’s economic competitiveness policy review group published a wide-ranging report entitled Freeing Britain to compete [1]; among other things, the report proposes extensive measures to cut business regulation. [1] http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=138067