2000 Annual Review for the European Union level

In addition, the European Commission proposed, in June 2000 (EU0007266F) a new five-year social policy agenda, in which it sets out its aims in all major social policy areas and invites the social partners to take a pivotal role in social policy development.

The organisation and role of the social partners

Social partner and social dialogue developments continued throughout 2000 at both intersectoral and sectoral level. The structure of sectoral social dialogue has been reorganised following the European Commission's Communication on Adapting and promoting the social dialogue at Community level, issued on 20 May 1998 (EU9806110F).

Following the Commission's Communication, a reform of the sectoral dialogue took place in 1999 (EU9902150F). The Commission's most recent round-up of social dialogue activities was published in May 2000 and relates to 1999. It states that 23 new sectoral dialogue committees had been or were in the process of being set up by the end of 1999. Of these, nine were former joint committees, 11 former informal working parties and three were entirely new - in culture (live performance), personal services (hairdressing) and tanning (EU0009269F). The European-level social partners in the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) industry decided in October 2000 to create a permanent social dialogue forum (EU0012283N). Under this process, regular meetings between employer and employee representatives in the industry will take place, and a steering committee will meet once a year.

At intersectoral level, social partner negotiations began between the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE) (plus the European Association of Craft and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, UEAPME) and the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP) on the issue of the regulation of temporary agency work. This follows UNICE's decision in May 2000 to enter into social partner talks on this issue (EU0005245N). Negotiations were still ongoing at the end of 2000 on this, the third and final subject to be discussed by the social partners under the umbrella of the European Commission's original 1995 social partner consultation on "atypical work". This consultation has so far yielded the 1997 agreement on part-time work (EU9706131F) and the 1999 agreement on fixed-term contracts (EU9901147F).

The social partners are currently looking at the issue of "modernising and improving employment relations", following a first-stage consultation by the Commission on this subject in June 2000 (EU0007259N). The issues which the Commission believes should be given early consideration by the social partners are teleworking and "economically dependent" workers. The social partners have established a teleworking working party which met in November to develop a more precise definition of the concept of teleworking, draw up a list of questions to be dealt with and assess their cross-border dimension.

Other issues discussed in the intersectoral social dialogue in 2000 included:

• the outcomes of the March 2000 Lisbon European Council meeting (see above under "Political developments"). The social partners expressed their support for the Lisbon strategic objective in a joint declaration adopted on 15 June. On 21 November, they adopted a joint declaration asking that an annual meeting with the social partners be organised before the annual spring European Councils agreed at Lisbon, in order to assess the progress of the Lisbon implementation strategy for economic growth and full employment, and to make their contribution to it;

• the Commission's employment package (see below under "European employment strategy"). In October, the partners adopted a "compendium of relevant good practices for employment", which will be supplemented and followed up through regular reports;

• the macroeconomic dialogue set up by the European employment pact approved at the Cologne European Council in June (EU9906180N), involving the social partners, Member States, and European institutions including the European Central Bank. The social partners' macroeconomic committtee examined issues such as economic forecasts and the impact of the rise in oil prices;

• the EU observatory on change (see below under "Other developments"). The social partners made a joint contribution on the tasks and scope of the observatory and called for it to be set up within the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions;

• training. The partners' training working party examined identifying ways of promoting access to lifelong training and the development of skills; and

• health and safety. The social partners adopted a joint text on the procedures of the Health and Safety Advisory Committee for presentation to the Commission.

At European sectoral level, notable joint texts included the following:

• a working time agreement concluded by the social partners in the civil aviation sector - the Association of European Airlines (AEA), the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), the European Cockpit Association (ECA), the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) and the International Air Carrier Association (IACA) - on 22 March (EU0004238N), which was subsequently given legal effect by means of a Directive (see above under "Legislative developments");

• a [joint declaration on employment promotion](http://www.union-network.org/UNIsite/Sectors/Commerce/Social dialogue agreements/2000_Employment_joint_statement_Lisbon.htm) and a [joint statement on combating racism and xenophobia](http://www.union-network.org/UNIsite/Sectors/Commerce/Social dialogue agreements/Racism_and_xenophobia_English.htm) concluded by the commerce sector social partners - EuroCommerce for employers and Uni-Europa Commerce (the European commerce section of Union Network International, UNI) for trade unions - in April and May respectively (EU0005243N);

• a joint declaration on the social implications of liberalisation in their industry signed by the social partners in the electricity industry - Eurelectric for employers and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers' Federation (EMCEF) - on 27 November (EU0101289N); and

• a joint statement on EU employment policy agreed by the social partners in regional and local government - the Employers Platform of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and EPSU - on 15 November.

On the trade union side, a number of European and international organisations examined the future development of the social dialogue and collective bargaining, or issued notable statements on issues of relevance. For example, in December 2000, the ETUC executive committee endorsed a guideline on the coordination of collective bargaining, including a formula for wage claims, drawn up by a special committee on this issue (EU0101291N). The guideline's aims include: the avoidance of social and wage dumping and wage divergence in Europe; and the coordination of wage claims, especially in the euro-zone, to encourage an "upward convergence" of living standards.

In the public sector, EPSU agreed a policy statement entitled Public service trade unions and collective bargaining in a European environment on 18 April at its sixth general assembly, held in Lisbon (EU0007261F). The statement aims to put into place a framework for joint collective action, which it hopes could pave the way for a coordinated system of collective bargaining in Europe's public services. The social dialogue process in the graphical industry received a boost following a report, issued in September 2000, looking at ways in which to strengthen both the social dialogue process and cross-border trade union networks in the sector (EU0011282F). Other developments included a position paper on the issue of "green cards" for information technology professionals, adopted by the Industry, Business Services and Information Technology (IBITS) sector committee of UNI-Europa in September 2000 (EU0010272N).

Industrial action

2000 saw a number of coordinated actions at European level, organised by trade unions in response either to specific events or to Community policies which are perceived to have implications for workers in Europe.

One of the first was a day of action in the rail sector on 29 March (EU0004239N), coordinated by ETF. The aim of the protest was to criticise EU plans, in the form of a draft Directive, to introduce a "European rail freight network" which, according to the unions, could lead to "social dumping" and lower safety standards. One of the major focuses of the day of action in Europe was the organisation of three international "campaign train" journeys, with accompanying press conferences, which involved railway workers' unions in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Luxembourg.

On 10 April, the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) staged a day of action in Brussels to protest against the restructuring plans of the Franco-Swiss power-generation equipment company ABB Alstom Power (EU0005247N). Trade unions estimated that the plans would result in the loss of some 10,000 jobs across Europe.

On a narrower scale, a row broke out in September 2000 over the issue of trade union recognition at the European Central Bank (ECB) (EU0011279N). Two international civil service unions, theInternational Public Servants' Organisation (IPSO) and Union Syndicale (USE) have been trying to gain recognition at the ECB for some time. UNI-Europa Finance, the European finance branch of UNI, issued a statement on 20 September that is was prepared to mount a legal challenge if the ECB continued to refuse recognition.

European employment strategy

Unemployment levels in the EU appear to be decreasing. The rate for December 2000 was 8.7% in the EU as a whole, and 8.1% in the single currency zone, a significant fall when compared with an EU 15 rate of 9.6% in December 1999.

Thus, the European employment strategy, launched at the special European employment summit held in Luxembourg in November 1997 (EU9711168F), appears to be having the desired effect. 2000 saw the completion of the third annual cycle of the strategy, under which annual Employment Guidelines are issued in the autumn by the EU institutions to the Member States. These are then implemented through the Member States' National Action Programmes (NAP s) on employment, which are forwarded to the Commission for assessment. The Commission then draws up an employment report on Member States' implementation of its guidelines and, if it deems necessary, proposes recommendations to Member States on how they could improve their implementation of the guidelines.

The Commission's 2000 draft "employment package", containing the joint employment report, recommendations to Member State s on the implementation of the 2000 Employment Guidelines, and the 2001 Employment Guidelines, was issued in September 2000 (EU0010276F). The Commission's overall assessment of Member States' 2000 employment performance was generally positive, noting that substantial progress had been made in terms of structural reforms which are designed to increase "the dynamism and adaptability of Europe's labour markets". However, the Commission concluded that governments "can and must do more". Although it conceded that long-term unemployment appears to be on the decrease, it noted that it still accounts for almost half of unemployment in the EU. Thus, it issued a number of recommendations to Member States on how they can improve their performance in 2001 in the following areas:

• youth and long-term unemployment. Member States should aim by 2002 to offer a new start to young people within six months of becoming unemployed and to all adults within 12 months. The Commission noted that progress in this area was uneven across Member States, and in particular in Greece and Italy. It proposed recommendations to Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and the UK;

• tax and benefit reforms. The Commission noted that the only countries which had comprehensively reviewed their tax and benefit systems were Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK. It proposed recommendations on this point to Belgium, Finland, Greece, Spain, and Sweden. In the area of taxes on labour, it noted that the reduction process was slow and that the average tax on employment was 39%, 15 percentage points above that in the USA. It proposed recommendations on this point to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and Sweden;

• skills and lifelong learning. Although it acknowledged that progress had been made, the Commission believed that there was still more to be achieved and it therefore proposed recommendations to 10 Member States (the exceptions were Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden);

• older workers. The Commission highlighted the differences in the labour market participation rates of older workers in individual countries. It praised Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands for their current or envisaged policies in this area, but nevertheless issued recommendations to Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and Italy;

• gender mainstreaming and equal opportunities. Noting the difference in employment rates of men and women, the Commission highlighted the situation in countries such as Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain, where the gender gaps in the labour market were greater than 20 percentage points. It also drew attention to the continuing differential between male and female earnings and singled out Spain and Greece as having taken only limited action to improve both the participation rate and the pay of women. It proposed recommendations to 11 Member States (the exceptions are Belgium, France, Greece and the Netherlands);

• service sector. Stating that the services sector is a key net jobs creator in the EU, the Commission proposed recommendations on this point to Greece and Portugal; and

• modernisation of work. The Commission noted that there was relatively little evidence of comprehensive efforts to modernise work organisation and issued recommendations to Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK.

As for the 2001 Employment Guidelines to the Member States, in general the Commission saw no reason radically to alter the basic format of the Guidelines, which are based on four pillars (employability, entrepreneurship, adaptability and equal opportunities), but felt that specific focus could be applied to the following areas:

• tackling labour shortages, bottlenecks and skills gaps;

• abolishing the so-called poverty trap and avoiding the creation of the "working poor" and marginalised people;

• eradicating illiteracy;

• boosting education policy targets;

• establishing comprehensive strategies to promote "active ageing" and to help older workers;

• increasing investment in human resources;

• investing in education and training in order to build a knowledge-based society;

• identifying and combating discrimination on the grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation;

• developing equal opportunities policies by means of consultation with equal opportunities bodies; and

• considering the establishment of targets for childcare.

The employment package was subsequently endorsed by the Council of Ministers on 27–28 November 2000 (EU0012287F).

Equal opportunities and diversity issues

2000 was a year in which much progress was made at European level on the issues of equal opportunities and diversity. The year began with the Council of Ministers debating the package of measures – two Directives and a proposal for a Community action programme to combat discrimination – issued in late 1999 by the Commission (EU9912218F). The proposals were issued with the new Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty as their legal base. Although these measures were subject to unanimous approval in the Council, they were progressed extremely rapidly.

The first measure to be adopted, on 29 June, was Directive 2000/43/EC implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, on which political agreement had been reached on 6 June (EU0006256F). Member States have three years from the coming into force of this Directive – ie until 19 July 2003 – to implement its provisions

The second Directive, 2000/78/EC establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation- which covers discrimination based on age, disability, sexual orientation and religion/belief - was adopted on 27 November (EU0102295F), following political agreement on 17 October (EU0010274F). Member States have three years from the coming into force of this Directive – ie until 2 December 2003 – to implement its provisions, although they may, if requested, have an additional three years in the case of the provisions relating to discrimination based on age and disability.

The accompanying Council Decision (2000/750/EC) establishing a Community action programme to combat discrimination (2001 to 2006) was also formally adopted on 27 November.

Thus, in the space of one year, the EU-level legislative framework in the area of equal treatment has been expanded from issued related to gender to a wide range of other issues, such as race, ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation and disability.

2000 also saw the drawing up of a long-awaited proposal aimed at formulating a legal framework at EU level for the regulation of sexual harassment at the workplace. This is an issue on which the Commission originally – in 1996 – consulted the European-level social partners. Although ETUC was willing to negotiate, the agreement of the employers to enter into negotiations could not be secured, so the onus to act returned to the Commission. After a hiatus, the Commission finally – in June 2000 – issued its proposal for the amendment and modernisation of Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions, aiming to update it in line with some 25 years of case law in the area of equal treatment made by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) (EU0006255F). This proposal also included the topic of sexual harassment, defining this as a form of discrimination. The proposal was not debated at any length in the Council in 2000, but there are hopes that it will be on the social agenda in 2001.

Finally, 2000 was the year in which the Commission issued a proposal for a fifth Community framework strategy on gender equality (EU0007264F). This should follow on from the fourth programme, which expired at the end of 2000, and run from 2001 to 2005. The main aim of the programme is to promote gender equality by means of exchange of information and best practice. Although this programme does not contain many firm commitments to issue new legislative, it does include a commitment to review the 1975 equal pay Directive. It is intended that this gender equality action programme and the abovementioned programme to combat discrimination should complement each other.

Information and consultation of employees

The main event of 2000 in the area of information and consultation of employees was without doubt the political agreement reached on 20 December on the proposed Directive containing worker involvement provisions relating to the European Company Statute. Discussion of this particular proposal had been intensifying over the past two or three years, following the work carried out on this dossier in 1997 by the high-level group chaired by Etienne Davignon (EU9705128N). Successive Council Presidencies issued compromise texts, on the basis of which discussions in the Council came tantalisingly close to an agreement (EU9911211F). The final breakthrough – which won over the opposition from the Spanish delegation – was achieved at the Nice European Council on 7–11 December 2000 (EU0012288F), which paved the way for the political agreement reached on 20 December. The text was to be forwarded to the EP for an opinion. Formal adoption is now expected to take place in 2001, thus providing firms with an option to set up a company incorporated under EU law.

2000 also saw the first in-depth discussions in the Employment and Social Policy Council of the Commission's proposed Directive establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community (EU9812135F). The first discussion in Council in 2000 came on 17 October (EU0010274F), where delegates heard a Commission report, which was followed by a brief exchange of views. A more substantial debate was held on 27–28 November (EU0012287F), but general reservations were stated by the UK, German, Danish and Irish delegations. Thus, although this proposal is subject to qualified majority voting, there is the potential for a blocking minority. However, by the end of the year, some commentators believed that this minority was becoming more fragile (EU0012285F).

The other main issue relating to the information and consultation of workers to have gained prominence during 2000 was the possibility of amending the 1994 European Works Councils Directive. The Directive requires the European Commission, in consultation with the Member States and the European-level social partners, to review its operation "with a view to proposing suitable amendments to the Council, where necessary", by 22 September 1999. The Commission finally issued its long-awaited report on the implementation of the Directive in April 2000 (EU0005248F). As widely expected, the Commission's report did not contain any proposals for an immediate amendment of the Directive, although it did highlight areas where it believed, on the basis of evidence given by a variety of parties, that the practical implementation of the Directive could be improved. It is widely believed that some amendments to the Directive may be made at a later stage, once the European Company Statute and national information and consultation proposals (see above) have been formally adopted.

Pressure for amendments grew in 2000, with ETUC in particular lobbying hard for a strengthening of the Directive's provisions and a lowering of its workforce-size thresholds (EU0001221N). The EP has also argued for improvements to the information and consultation provisions of the Directive (EU0003233N).

New forms of work

New forms of work are an issue which is gaining increasing prominence at EU level, and which certainly looks set to dominate social dialogue at intersectoral level in 2001. At the end of 2000, the social partners were engaged in intersectoral talks on the issue of temporary agency work (see above under "The organisation and role of the social partners"). The talks commenced in mid-2000 and there are indications that progress is difficult due to the delicate nature of the subject matter and the fact that it involves a triangular relationship between employee, agency and user company.

The Commission's June 2000 consultation of the social partners on the issue of modernising and improving employment relations (see above under "The organisation and role of the social partners") makes specific reference to two new forms of work which are seen as most needing some kind of EU-level framework of regulation: telework; and economically dependent workers (those who, although technically independent, in practice have an employment relationship with a single employer). The Commission believes that these two forms of work in particular are widespread in the EU and has asked the social partners to consider whether Community-level action would be desirable in these two areas. The intersectoral social partners have set up a working party on the teleworking issue.

Other developments

The year saw further deliberations and eventual agreement on the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union. Work on drafting this charter was launched in October 1999 at the Tampere (Finland) European Council (EU9910202F). The Convention– the body commissioned with drafting the text of the charter – met at regular intervals throughout 2000 and submitted a first draft on 28 July 2000 (EU0008268F). The charter aims to set out a range of social, economic, political and civil rights, drawn from a variety of existing international instruments, thus consolidating the basic rights of EU citizens in a single text. Despite expressions of disappointment relating to the perceived weakness of the text from some employee representative groups, such as ETUC, the text of the charter, incorporating some amendments, was finalised on 28 September and approved at the October 2000 European Council, held in Biarritz (EU0010273N). The text was then forwarded to the Nice summit, held in December 2000. The main focus of controversy at this point rested on the issue of the legal status of the text. Pressure for the text to be incorporated into the Treaty on European Union (TEU) was exerted by bodies such as the ETUC, some non-governmental organisations (NGO s) and some Member States, while other bodies, such as business representative organisations, and other Member States, wanted the text to take the form of a non-binding declaration. The Nice Council (EU0012288F) formally proclaimed the text jointly with the Commission and EP (EU0012284N), but did not incorporate it into the TEU, stating that the issue may be taken up by Council Presidencies during 2001.

There was also progress in the setting up of a "European observatory on industrial change". The creation of such a body was first recommended by the high-level Gyllenhammar group, set up in 1997 to look into the social consequences of industrial change. The group issued its report, Managing change, at the end of 1998, recommending the creation of an observatory which would gather and disseminate information on industrial change. The intention to create the observatory was included in the December 2000 Nice European Council conclusions (EU0012288F). The observatory, now named the "European monitoring centre on change" has been entrusted to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in Dublin,

Outlook

2001 looks set to be a year of consolidation in many social policy areas, most notably equality and diversity, as Member States begin to look at transposing the two important anti-discrimination Directives adopted in 2000. 2001 will also be the first year of operation of the two five-year Community action programmes – on gender equality and on combating discrimination in a wider sense. As we have seen, the emphasis in these programmes is on exchange of information and best practice between Member States in order to promote equality issues and combat discrimination. Thus, the coming five years are likely to see an increase in equality-related debates and actions at Member State level.

Further, it is likely that the Commission will in 2001 begin to look at a review of the 1975 equal pay Directive, in line with stated commitments in the gender equality programme. This would complement the review of the 1976 equal treatment Directive, which is already underway and likely to be progressed during 2001. More generally, Sweden, which holds the Presidency of the Council of Ministers for the first six months of 2001, has expressly stated in its work programme that employment will be one of the three issues on which it will focus, making it likely that employment and social policy-related issues will remain at the fore during the first half of 2001.

The information and consultation of workers is also likely to be prominent during the year. The draft Directive on worker involvement in the European Company Statute is expected to be adopted, while the Swedish Presidency is hoping to make substantial progress on the proposed Directive on national information and consultation rules (and there are signs that opposition of some Member States is crumbling). Movement in these two areas might also open the way for the Commission to propose amendments to the European Works Councils Directive at some future date.

In terms of social partner negotiations, 2001 will see the outcome of the intersectoral negotiations on temporary agency work. If the parties reach an agreement, it will doubtless subsequently be given legal force by a Directive proposed by the Commission. If the parties fail to reach an agreement, the Commission will then decide whether to issue a proposal for a statutory instrument to regulate this area. 2001 may also see the start of formal social partner negotiations on the issues of teleworking and economically dependent workers, following the Commission's 2000 social partner consultation on modernising and improving the employment relationship.

The enlargement of the EU is likely to begin from 2002 onwards and recent changes to the Treaties, agreed at the 2000 IGC, will, it is hoped, ensure that the enlargement progresses smoothly in the medium term, although a further IGC – to deal with issues such as the procedure for rotating Commissioners once the EU reaches 27 Member States – is likely to be convened in 2004. Thus, although 2001 will not see the admittance of any new Member States, accession negotiations will continue throughout the year, paving the way for the front-runner countries to join from 2002.