The 1997 collective bargaining round for the 1.3 million employees in the
German construction industry started on 27 February. In contrast to most
branch-level bargaining, which takes place at regional level, negotiations in
the construction industry are traditionally held at national level. The
collective bargaining parties - the construction union IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt
(IG BAU) and the two employers' associations, Hauptverband der Deutschen
Bauindustrie (HDB) and Zentralverband des Deutschen Baugewerbes (ZDB) - had
to find new agreements on at least four main issues:
An agreement concluded in the Italian banking sector in June 1997, with
government mediation, provides for the creation of an employer-financed fund
to support redundant workers, and for negotiations on cost reductions.
The renewal of the Spanish system of occupational classification is marked by
the change from the old system of "Labour Ordinances", which were established
by law, to a new classification system based on occupational groupings, which
is the result of collective bargaining. This process has been accelerated by
the labour reforms of the 1990s: the 1994 reform established a deadline for
the replacement of the Ordinances, and the 1997 reform established an
agreement on occupational classification for those sectors in which one had
not yet been established.
The Luxembourg Government has recently announced plans to legislate to reform
the civil service pension scheme, following inconclusive negotiations with
the civil servants' trade union. The aims are to cut costs and bring about a
degree of convergence between private and public sector pensions - an issue
which has been politically controversial for some years.
The Unemployment Insurance Act (Arbeitslosenversicherungsgesetz, AlVG) makes
benefit entitlements, but not contributions, dependent on nationality. On 16
September 1996 the European Court of Human Rights found this inequality to be
in violation of human rights, creating the need to amend the law, and on 11
June 1997 Parliament passed the requisite act.
Immediately following the Left's victory in France's May/June parliamentary
elections, Peugeot's management announced a new mass redundancy programme,
cutting 2,816 jobs, to the company-wide works council.
A traditional characteristic of Sweden's trade union movement has been that,
with rare exceptions, the unions do not compete with each other for members.
It is true that there is a revolutionary syndicalist union that organises all
categories of workers, but it is no real competitor to the others. So if a
worker wants to join a union, it has often been more or less self-evident
which organisation he or she should belong to. For example a blue-collar
worker in the paper industry would apply for membership of thePaper Workers'
Union, a non-graduate white-collar worker in the same enterprise would join
the Union for Clerical and Technical Employees in Industry (SIF) while the
company's graduate engineers would belong to the Association of Graduate
Engineers (CF). The employer is thus bound by different collective agreements
for different categories of employees.
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.
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.
On 3 June 1997, after three months of negotiations, the chemical workers'
union, IG Chemie, and the sectoral employers' association,
Bundesarbeitgeberverband Chemie (BAVC), agreed on the introduction of a new
"opening clause" in the national pay framework agreement
(Bundesentgelttarifvertrag) which covers about 590,000 workers in the west
German chemicals industry. The opening clause provides for the introduction
of a "wage corridor" which, under certain circumstances, allows companies to
reduce the collectively agreed wage by up to 10% for a limited period of
time.
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.
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 2009, the second edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2004–2005 as the European Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance.
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 2013, the third edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2004–2005 as the European Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance.
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?
Given that compliance with lockdown measures is a first line of defence against COVID-19, maintaining trust in institutions is vital to ensure a coordinated, comprehensive and effective response to the pandemic. This report investigates developments in institutional and interpersonal trust across time, with a particular emphasis on the COVID-19 pandemic period and its impact. It examines the link between trust and discontent and investigates the effect of multidimensional inequalities as a driver of distrust.
This paper provides an analytical summary of state of the art academic and policy literature on the impact of climate change and policies to manage transitions to a carbon neutral economy on employment, working conditions, social dialogue and living conditions. It maps the key empirical findings around the impact of climate change and the green transitions on jobs, sectors, regions and countries in Europe, identifying the opportunities and risks that climate change policies bring to European labour markets.
Lockdown measures and the economic shift following the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a widening of the gender divide between men and women, putting at risk some of the gender equality gains that had been made in previous years. This report analyses changes in the distribution of paid and unpaid work, along with care and domestic responsibilities, among men and women during the crisis. It also explores the impact of the pandemic on the well-being of women and men.
The report provides an overview of the scale of teleworking before and during the COVID-19 crisis and gives an indication of ‘teleworkability’ across sectors and occupations. Building on previous Eurofound research on remote work, the report investigates the way businesses introduced and supported teleworking during the pandemic, as well as the experience of workers who were working from home during the crisis. The report also looks at developments in regulations related to telework in Member States and provides a review of stakeholders’ positions.
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have varied across sectors, occupations and categories of worker (for instance, according to gender, age or employment status). Hours worked have declined the most in sectors such as accommodation services and food and beverage services, and in occupations heavily reliant on in-person interaction, such as sales work. At the same time, it’s in these sectors that labour shortages have become increasingly evident as labour markets have begun to normalise.
The COVID-19 crisis has increased inequality between social groups in health, housing, employment, income and well-being. While a small part of society was able to hold on to or increase its wealth, other groups such as women, young people, older people, people with disabilities, low- and middle-income earners and those with young children were acutely affected by the pandemic. Drawing on current research on how to best measure multidimensional inequality, this report highlights recent trends in inequality in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.
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 textiles and clothing 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.
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