Social partners discuss flexicurity-related changes in labour legislation

In March 2008, the Bulgarian government and social partners started a process of discussing what changes need to be made to labour and employment legislation in order to implement the ‘flexicurity’ principles recently adopted at EU level. Issues such as temporary agency work and working time are likely to be prominent in the talks.

On 21 March 2008, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy organised a conference of social partner representatives and labour law experts (BG0803029I) to discuss the national mechanisms for implementing the common principles on flexicurity adopted by the Council of the EU in December 2007. The EU-wide common principles aim to combine flexibility in labour markets, work organisation and employment relations with both employment security and social security. They seek to combine flexible and reliable contractual arrangements, comprehensive lifelong learning strategies, effective active labour market policies, and modern, adequate and sustainable social protection systems.

Expert group

Following the March meeting, an expert group on flexibility was set up, composed of representatives of the government and of nationally representative trade union and employers’ organisations. At its first workshop on 27 March, the group discussed possible changes to the Labour Code and other legislation in order to implement flexicurity in Bulgaria. During the discussion, it was proposed to:

• organise a number of debates on the four components of the EU flexicurity initiative (see above), aimed at clarifying the scope for possible common decisions, and on this basis developing a common conceptual position;

• propose Labour Code amendments that are not of a controversial or conflictual character, which the social partners can accept until the adoption of a joint conceptual framework.

Concrete proposals in this area were discussed on 15 April by representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP), the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) and the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB). Matters discussed included the introduction of: an information system for the registration of collective agreements; a clear legal regime for keeping employment records; regulations governing employees’ personal files kept by employers; and paternity and adoptive leave.

Trade union views

Trade unions argue that the key issues surrounding the introduction of a flexicurity approach in Bulgaria include:

• identifying the representative social partner organisations mandated to negotiate on the issues involved – this concerns mainly some employer associations, whose representativeness is questioned by the unions;

• adopting the principle of ‘security through the law, flexibility through collective agreements’;

• introducing and developing proper employees information and consultation systems;

• providing legal guarantees on the constitutional right to strike**;**

• assessing carefully the need for temporary agency work and the ways that it might be introduced.

For the unions, there is also a range of closely connected, complex issues and problems that require an overall approach and a commitment to seeking and finding decisions that will lead to legislative change. These include matters relating to: strike rights; collective bargaining; social partnership; working time organisation; homeworking; telework; employment contracts and their termination, including temporary forms of employment; social insurance; lifelong learning; qualification and prequalification.

Employer positions

Employer organisations prioritise the following issues in the debate on introducing flexicurity:

• Removing the limitations concerning the use of fixed-term employment contracts;

• Simplifying the registration procedures for employment contracts;

• Lifting restrictions on overtime work;

• ‘Optimising’ working time organisation;

• Making it easier to terminate employment contracts;

• Introducing temporary agency work.

Government opinion

The Ministry of Labour states that all questions should be carefully discussed in order to find mutually acceptable and balanced ways to implement the four components of flexicurity. The government believes that the Labour Code is already harmonised with EU standards and that radical legal changes are not necessary. At the same time, government experts consider that there some provisions may need to be amended in order to promote workers’ mobility while providing guarantees on security.

The government wants to launch discussions aimed at finding common ground on issues that are obviously a source of conflict, such as fixed-term and temporary agency work and a possible new law ‘regularising’ the employment status of temporary agency workers. The government made a commitment to take this approach in the 2006-2009 tripartite ‘Pact on economic and social development (BG0609029I).

Commentary

The achievement of a balanced agreement on introducing flexicurity in Bulgaria will be very difficult without the preliminary debates on the issues that have now begun. The detailed discussions between unions and employers will make clear what is possible to implement and what is not.

Chavdar Hristov, CITUB