A special "holiday jobs line" set up by the young workers' secretariat of the
Dutch Federation of Trade Unions receives complaints every day about
violations of the recently amended law protecting young workers. In 1997, the
Labour Inspectorate is conducting an extensive nation-wide campaign
concerning holiday jobs.
After a decade of their operation in Spain, active employment policies have
led to only limited results in promoting job creation. This feature examines
the variety of policies that have been introduced and the results of relevant
experiments, and looks at social partners' reactions.
The Socio-Economic Council of Flanders, the consultative body of the Flemish
employer and employee representatives, annually submits an advisory report on
the regional budget to the Flemish authorities. For 1998, according to the
report, there is a "freely disposable" margin of BEF 7.4 billion (out of a
total budget of BEF 570.4 billion). The Council has advised the Flemish
Government to use this budgetary margin as far as possible for job creation.
Budget surpluses in recent years have been used chiefly to reduce debt, but
now there is a call for a policy aimed at halving unemployment in the medium
term. Concrete measures to accomplish this will be worked out in the
tripartite autumn bargaining round, which is intended to result in a Flemish
Employment Act for 1998-9. The Socio-Economic Council has already expressed
the view that Flanders spends too little on training employees and
job-seekers in comparison with, for example, the Netherlands and Germany.
The high unemployment rate in Finland was one of the main factors which led
to the current national collective agreement on incomes policy, signed in
September 1995. Both employers and trade unions would like to see a new
centralised agreement on incomes policy to maintain economic stability as the
Finnish Government seeks to reach the inflation target for joining EU
Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).
At the beginning of July 1997, Britain's largest general workers unions, GMB
and TGWU, were calling for members in the construction industry to back
industrial action on up to 50 "prestige" building sites, including the
millennium dome project in London's docklands, Manchester airport and the
Channel tunnel.
On 1 July 1997 Germany's largest car-tyre manufacturer, Continental AG,
announced the conclusion of a new works agreement [1] for its tyre production
plant in Hannover-Stöcken. The new works agreement, which affects about
2,700 employees at the Stöcken site, foresees a sharp reduction in labour
costs mainly through:
In May 1998, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação
Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP) lodged a complaint with the
Ombudsman on a legal question relating to its representation on the country's
trilateral social concertation bodies.
In May 1997, the executive committee of Italy's CGIL trade union
confederation approved a plan to create a single union centre by 2000, a
development welcomed by the CISL confederation. This article reviews the
moves towards trade union unity and their background.
On 6 June 1997, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the Union of
Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE) and the European
Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General
Economic Interest (CEEP) formally signed a European framework agreement on
part-time work, in the presence of social affairs Commissioner Padraig Flynn,
Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok and Dutch Social Affairs Minister Ad Melkert.
The agreement seeks to establish a general framework for the elimination of
discrimination against part-time workers, and hopes to contribute towards the
development of opportunities for part-time working on a basis which is
acceptable to employers and workers alike. The agreement is the result of
nine months of intense negotiation, during which success did not always
appear likely.
The European framework agreement on part-time work was formally signed on 6
June 1997 (EU9706131F [1]) by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC),
the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE) and
the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of
Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP). The stated purpose of the
agreement is to remove discrimination against part time workers, improve the
quality of part-time jobs and facilitate part-time work on a voluntary basis.
The European Commission will propose a Directive implementing the agreement
to the Council of Ministers later this year.
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.
The European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) is carried out every four to five years since its inception in 2003, with the latest edition in 2016. It examines both the objective circumstances of people's lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. It covers issues around employment, income, education, housing, family, health and work–life balance. It also looks at subjective topics, such as people's levels of happiness and life satisfaction, and perceptions of the quality of society.
This series brings together publications and other outputs of the European Jobs Monitor (EJM), which tracks structural change in European labour markets. The EJM analyses shifts in the employment structure in the EU in terms of occupation and sector and gives a qualitative assessment of these shifts using various proxies of job quality – wages, skill-levels, etc.
Eurofound's European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. This series consists of outputs from the EQLS 2016, the fourth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2003.
Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) paints a wide-ranging picture of Europe at work across countries, occupations, sectors and age groups. This series consists of findings from the EWCS 2015, the sixth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 1990.
Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) paints a wide-ranging picture of Europe at work across countries, occupations, sectors and age groups. This series consists of findings from the EWCS 1996, the second edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 1990.
Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) paints a wide-ranging picture of Europe at work across countries, occupations, sectors and age groups. This series consists of findings from the EWCS 2001, which was an extension of the EWCS 2000 to cover the then 12 acceding and candidate countries. The survey was first carried out in 1990.
Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) paints a wide-ranging picture of Europe at work across countries, occupations, sectors and age groups. This series consists of findings from the EWCS 2000, the third edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 1990.
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 first edition of the survey carried out in 2004–2005 under the name European Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance.
The use of artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and the Internet of Things technologies in the workplace can bring about fundamental changes in work organisation and working conditions. This report analyses the ethical and human implications of the use of these technologies at work by drawing on qualitative interviews with policy stakeholders, input from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents and Delphi expert surveys, and case studies.
This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the professional football 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 professional football sector in the EU Member States.
This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in European sectoral social dialogue taking place at cross-sectoral level. 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 at cross-sectoral level in the EU Member States.