Publications

The Portuguese electricity utility, EDP, is being partially privatised and
one of the unions involved in the sector, Sinergia, has taken the innovative
step of subscribing to the share issue.

The high priority currently given to budget consolidation has been translated
by the Austrian Government into, among other measures, a need to limit
increases in civil service costs - currently ATS 215 billion per year - to no
more than 1.3% annually. The Government is trying to achieve this aim by
reducing the number of civil service employees, keeping salary increases
moderate in real terms, and reducing pensions.

The Norwegian labour market parties have, during spring 1997, been commenting
on the proposed principles for a revision of the Labour Dispute Act. The
committee which reviewed the Act proposed a strengthening of the
confederations' position with regard to collective bargaining. Although the
Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the Confederation of
Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) basically support the proposal, there
is significant opposition to it, particularly from several employee
organisations.

On 3 March 1997, the Hanover regional branch of the metalworkers' trade union
Industriegewerkschaft Metall (IG Metall) and the management of PPS Personal-,
Produktions- und Servicegesellschaft mbH, Salzgitter, concluded a company
agreement on partial retirement - the first such agreement in the
metalworking industry. Negotiations between IG Metall and the metalworking
employers' association Gesamtverband der metallindustriellen
Arbeitgeberverbände (Gesamtmetall), first about industry-wide and later
about regional collective agreements on partial retirement, reached an
impasse in June 1997. Although the agreement at PPS was signed in March,
reliable information has only recently been publicised.

The eradication of bullying at school has long been an important aim, and
even though it still occurs, there is a genuine wish to stamp it out.
However, relatively few people are aware of the seriousness of bullying
within the workplace. Surveys have been highlighting this point for a long
time - the table below provides some recent examples - but now at last it
seems that the social partners are beginning to realise the hidden costs of
bullying, and attempting to wipe it out.

Trade union unity and greater social dialogue were the key themes at the 13th
national congress of the Cisl union confederation, held in Rome on May 1997.

After the publication of the reports on EMU by the expert working party
commissioned by the Government and by the economists in the incomes policy
assessment committee, the labour market organisations issued a statement on
the impact of EMU on the Finnish labour market on 22 May 1997 (FI9705115N
[1]). The most influential advocate of EMU is the President of Finland,
Martti Ahtisaari who presented his views on the benefits of EMU for Finland
in his speech at the 90th anniversary meeting of the Central Organisation of
Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) on 24 May 1997.

[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/two-reports-published-on-the-industrial-relations-implications-of-emu-in-finland

One of the first acts by the new French Prime Minister following his election
in June 1997 was to consult with employers and unions prior to announcing his
legislative programme. This move was greeted favourably by both employers and
trade unions, though their aims are quite different. A national conference on
pay, employment and working time is to be held in the autumn.

After several months of negotiations involving various local and central
government agencies, a long struggle for jobs at Grundig came to an end in
May 1997. In a region where workers reject job mobility, the only remaining
recourse is the courts and political channels. Dialogue between the board of
directors and workers' representatives has proved unsuccessful.

In Austria's "pay-as-you-go" pensions system, 22.75% of an individual's
monthly wage cost goes to pension insurance. There is a cap at a certain
monthly income - currently ATS 41,400 - which is raised annually. The gap
between contributions and benefits is covered from the federal budget. In
1996, ATS 30,000 million had to be covered by the budget in the employees'
scheme, which has 1.5 million pensioners, and ATS 25,500 million in the
self-employment and agricultural schemes, which has 345,000 pensioners. The
overall contribution from the federal budget is forecast to rise from ATS
55,500 million in 1996 to over ATS 80,000 million by the year 2001. In its
recently-announced budget plans, the Government is aiming to save ATS 16,000
million in contributions to the national pension insurance schemes over the
two years 1998 and 1999.