Entrusted with facilitating partnership between employers, employees and
unions, a National Centre for Partnership was formally established on 15 July
1997, meeting a government commitment in Ireland's three-year economic and
social pact, /Partnership 2000/ (IE9702103F [1]).The Centre's activities will
be directed towards facilitating trust and partnership between employers,
employees and unions and, in this regard, it will seek to facilitate
appropriate agreed local arrangements rather than to prescribe particular
partnership mechanisms.
Spanish trade unions and employers' organisations recently agreed on a major
labour market reform. The three objectives of the "April agreements" of 1997
are to reduce the instability of the labour market, to promote collective
bargaining, and to plug the gaps in sectoral regulation that were left
following the final repeal of the Labour Ordinances.
Over the last 10 or so years, the Dutch labour market has been characterised
by increasing flexibility and fragmentation. There is greater variety and
flexibility with respect to working time, pay, job descriptions, the location
of work and the term and type of employment contracts. Part-time work has,
for example, become very popular in the Netherlands. More than one in every
three Dutch employees (mainly women) has a part-time job, in contrast to an
average of one in seven for the EU as a whole. There are also various types
of contract flexibility, such as temporary work, freelance work, on-call
employment, homeworking and teleworking. Whilst the percentage of flexible
employment contracts stood at 7.9% of the working population in 1987, by 1995
it had increased to 10% (Arbeidsverkenning 1987/94. CBS (Central Statistics
Bureau) (1995)). Nowhere else in Europe does temporary work (through private
temporary employment agencies) flourish as it does in the Netherlands.
Temporary workers constitute about 3% of the total available labour supply.
The demonstration for jobs originally organised by the European Trade Union
Confederation for 28 May 1997, actually took place in France on 10 June, due
to the timing of the general election.
A June 1997 decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal in Greece, affecting
mainly public servants, imposes new conditions on the provision of family
benefits, which until now had been granted to only one of the marriage
partners.
Compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) was one of the key privatisation
measures introduced into the public sector by the Conservative governments of
1979-97, coming into effect 17 years ago for "blue-collar" services and four
years ago for "white-collar" services. The argument behind it was that
greater competition would induce greater efficiency and hence savings in
public expenditure. The Labour Government, however, believes that compulsion
in itself is not the best method and should instead be replaced by a promise
to provide "best value" for money.
On 28 May 1997, new collective agreements were concluded for the 460,000 or
so employees in west German banking. The signatories were the commerce,
banking and insurance workers' trade union HBV (Gewerkschaft Handel, Banken
und Versicherungen) and the white-collar workers' union DAG (Deutsche
Angestellten-Gewerkschaft) on one side, and the employers' association for
private banking (Arbeitgeberverband des privaten Bankgewerbes) and the
collective bargaining community for public banks (Tarifgemeinschaft
öffentlicher Banken) on the other.
The results of the latest collective bargaining round at company level in
industry are emerging. An estimate from the Confederation of Danish
Industries (DI) shows an average increase in pay of 1.7%, or between DKK 1.75
and DKK 2.00 per hour. The increase is higher than in 1996, when bargaining
at company level produced an increase of between DKK 1.50 and DKK 1.75 per
hour
The June 1996 Alitalia collective agreement was reached after two years of
difficult bargaining, and is intended to restructure the company, which is
beset by severe financial problems. This restructuring involves a reduction
of labour costs in exchange for the setting-up of a fund for the purchase of
shares set aside for the company's employees. This fund will be created when
the European Commission has authorised the ITL 2,800 billion increase in
capital envisaged by the restructuring plan. One year on from the renewal of
the national contract, the participatory bargaining model envisaged by the
Alitalia agreement may be considered of key importance both for improving the
competitive position of this company, and regulating industrial relations in
the transport sector.
/Combating racial discrimination and xenophobia is an issue which has become
increasingly prominent on the European Union agenda in recent years. Since
the mid-1980s, a rising tide of concern with the problem can be perceived in
various declarations and resolutions by Community institutions, and notably
in the inclusion of the issue of racial discrimination in the 1989 "Social
Charter". The past two years, especially, have seen significant developments,
many of which are of direct relevance to employment and industrial
relations./
Eurofound’s work on COVID-19 examines the far-reaching socioeconomic implications of the pandemic across Europe as they continue to impact living and working conditions. A key element of the research is the e-survey, launched in April 2020, with five rounds completed at different stages during 2020, 2021 and 2022. This is complemented by the inclusion of research into the ongoing effects of the pandemic in much of Eurofound’s other areas of work.
Eurofound's representativeness studies are designed to allow the European Commission to identify the ‘management and labour’ whom it must consult under article 154 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). This series consists of studies of the representativeness of employer and worker organisations in various sectors.
This series reports on developments in minimum wage rates across the EU, including how they are set and how they have developed over time in nominal and real terms. The series explores where there are statutory minimum wages or collectively agreed minimum wages in the Member States, as well as minimum wage coverage rates by gender.
The European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) launched in 1990 and is carried out every five years, with the latest edition in 2015. It provides an overview of trends in working conditions and quality of employment for the last 30 years. It covers issues such as employment status, working time duration and organisation, work organisation, learning and training, physical and psychosocial risk factors, health and safety, work–life balance, worker participation, earnings and financial security, work and health, and most recently also the future of work.
The European Restructuring Monitor has reported on the employment impact of large-scale business restructuring since 2002. This series includes its restructuring-related databases (events, support instruments and legislation) as well as case studies and publications.
Eurofound’s Flagship report series 'Challenges and prospects in the EU' comprise research reports that contain the key results of multiannual research activities and incorporate findings from different related research projects. Flagship reports are the major output of each of Eurofound’s strategic areas of intervention and have as their objective to contribute to current policy debates.
Eurofound’s European Company Survey (ECS) maps and analyses company policies and practices which can have an impact on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, as well as the development of social dialogue in companies. This series consists of outputs from the ECS 2019, the fourth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2004–2005 as the European Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance.
This series reports on and updates latest information on the involvement of national social partners in policymaking. The series analyses the involvement of national social partners in the implementation of policy reforms within the framework of social dialogue practices, including their involvement in elaborating the National Reform Programmes (NRPs).
This series reports on the new forms of employment emerging across Europe that are driven by societal, economic and technological developments and are different from traditional standard or non-standard employment in a number of ways. This series explores what characterises these new employment forms and what implications they have for working conditions and the labour market.
The European Company Survey (ECS) is carried out every four to five years since its inception in 2004–2005, with the latest edition in 2019. The survey is designed to provide information on workplace practices to develop and evaluate socioeconomic policy in the EU. It covers issues around work organisation, working time arrangements and work–life balance, flexibility, workplace innovation, employee involvement, human resource management, social dialogue, and most recently also skills use, skills strategies and digitalisation.
This report will map the existing regulations on telework in European Union Member States, including in legislation and collective agreements. It will present the most recent changes to these regulations and shed light on how the future of (tele)work could be regulated at both national and EU level, in order to improve working conditions in telework arrangements and reduce the risks associated with telework and with specific ways of working remotely.
As part of a process to collect information on essential services, the European Commission (DG EMPL) requested Eurofound to provide input on certain aspects of existing and planned measures in the Member States to improve access to essential services, in reference to Principle 20 of the European Pillar of Social Rights. The scope of the exercise included energy services, public transport and digital communications, and the focus was on people at risk of poverty or social exclusion (in practice, people on low incomes in most cases).
This report focuses on trends and developments in collective bargaining that were evident from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines potential new strategic approaches and priorities incorporated in negotiation agendas, as well as collective bargaining practices and coordination at sector and company levels in the private sector.
This report explores the association between skills use and skills strategies and establishment performance, and how other workplace practices, in terms of work organisation, human resources management and employee involvement, can impact on this. It looks at how skills shortages can be addressed, at least in part, by creating an environment in which employees are facilitated and motivated to make better use of the skills they already have. This further supports the business case for a more holistic approach to management.
This policy brief will provide an update on upward convergence in the economic, social and institutional dimensions of the European Union, as outlined in the European Pillar of Social Rights and its accompanying Social Scoreboard.
The financial services sector is pertinent for studying the impact of digitalisation, as the main ‘raw material’ of the sector is digitally stored and processed. Process automation in the sector is likely to lead to significant job losses over the next 10 years, as the high street bank presence declines and the online bank presence increasingly accounts for a higher share of overall activity. Such trends have already been identified in bank restructurings captured in Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor.
This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the electricity sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation in the European sectoral social dialogue and their capacity to negotiate agreements. The aim of this Eurofound study on representativeness is to identify the relevant national and European social partner organisations in the electricity sector in the EU Member States.
This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the gas sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation in the European sectoral social dialogue and their capacity to negotiate agreements. The aim of this Eurofound’s study on representativeness is to identify the relevant national and European social partner organisations in the gas sector in the EU Member States.
This report investigates the practical implementation of the European Works Council (EWC) Directive at company level. It explores the challenges faced by existing EWCs and provides examples of identified solutions and remaining issues from the point of view of both workers and management. The report looks at the way that EWCs meet the requirements of the EWC Directive in terms of establishing processes of information and consultation.
The hospital sector has been deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitals and their workers are on the frontline in the fight against the virus, and they face a number of significant challenges in terms of resources, work organisation and working conditions. This study will explore the role of social dialogue and collective bargaining in how the sector is adapting to the pandemic. What kinds of changes have been introduced, either through social dialogue or collective bargaining? Are the changes temporary or permanent?
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