Publications

Both the trade unions and the employers' organisations have reacted to the
Spanish Government's position at the special EU Employment Summit held in
Luxembourg in November 1997. The former have expressed their profound
dissatisfaction, while the latter support the attitude of the Government, but
would like to see more measures that would allow companies to generate
employment. The reaction of the opposition parties and public opinion in
general was also very critical.

Worker representatives at Transmediterranea - the principal Spanish shipping
line - called an indefinite strike as from 5 December 1997 to protest against
redundancies and the announcement that six cargo ships will be sold.

In November 1997, La Caixa - a prominent Spanish savings bank - signed an
agreement with the trade unions to promote the creation of permanent jobs.
This agreement is a model that will be followed in five other banks with
which the CC.OO trade union is negotiating similar terms.

Spain's UGT and CC.OO trade union confederations want to put employment at
the top of their collective bargaining agenda in 1998. Job creation and
promoting secure employment are the main demands.

Denmark has experienced five years of uninterrupted economic recovery, and in
1997 economic growth was estimated at approximately 3%. This has led to
sizeable reductions in unemployment rates which have few parallels in Europe
during this decade. Unemployment has been reduced from a record-high rate of
12.4% in 1993 to 7.4% in December 1997 - a reduction equal to 205,800
unemployed persons. The reduction has been beneficial for all groups, and
especially for women. These positive tendencies are mirrored by an
improvement in general government finances. Denmark will be one of the first
countries in Europe to be able to show a surplus on the general government
account in 1997. The current surplus of 0.7% is expected to increase to DKK
14 billion (ECU 1.9 billion) or 1.2% of GDP in 1998. Inflation stood at 1.9%
in 1997.

In 1993, the Restaurants and Brewery Workers Union in Denmark (Restaurations-
og Bryggeriarbejder Forbund i Danmark, RBF) signed a collective agreement
with a nationwide restaurant chain. RBF was able to come to terms with the
restaurant chain, which was not a member of an employers' organisation, only
by agreeing to less favourable terms and conditions (in terms of flexible
working hours and overtime premia) than those specified in its main agreement
with the sectoral employers' association, the Association of the Hotel,
Restaurant, and Leisure Industry in Denmark (Hotel, Restaurations- og
Turisterhvervets Arbejdsgiverforening, HORESTA).

At a tripartite meeting held on 17 December 1997 to discuss the spring 1998
collective bargaining round, Danish government representatives advised the
social partners to keep pay increases at a moderate level in order to
stimulate job creation. However, the government representatives were
reluctant to specify a precise figure for pay increases, stating that it was
not the aim of government to tie the social partners to a certain figure or
to intervene in the collective bargaining process, which they regarded as the
sole prerogative of the social partners.

As part of an experiment with a new salary system for civil servants, due to
begin on 1 January 1998, senior civil servants were to negotiate part of
their salaries on a personal basis without the participation of their trade
union. This, according to Danish Confederation of Professional Associations
(Akademikernes Centralorganisation, AC), was in conflict with the Crown
Servants Act, which provides for a right to collective bargaining. The Crown
Servants Court upheld AC's contention in a ruling issued on 5 December 1997,
which in practice will exclude 2,800 of the 3,200 civil servants concerned
from taking part in the experiments from 1 January 1998.

HK/Industri- the industrial section of the Union of Commercial and Clerical
Employees in Denmark (Handels- og Kontorfunktionærernes Forbund, HK) - has
published a comprehensive proposal on a "European collective industrial
relations system". The aim is to initiate a debate on how European-wide
industrial relations issues can be resolved. The union proposes the
conclusion of transnational agreements, with an industrial tribunal to
adjudicate on matters of dispute. These proposals were presented at a
conference in Denmark on 28-29 November and at a press conference in Brussels
on 8 December.

According to the Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt), German
real GDP grew at a rate of 2.2% in 1997. As regards the Maastricht
convergence criteria, the budget deficit reached 2.7% of GDP, whereas public
debt amounted to 61.3% of GDP. On average, unemployment stood at 11.4% of the
civilian labour force - 9.8% in the west and 18.1% in the east. Inflation, as
measured by the consumer price index, amounted to 1.8%.