Broughton, Andrea

The European Court of Justice (ECJ [1]) has ruled on a case brought after two workers were dismissed, and then given extended employment contracts as ‘zero hours short-time workers’. This meant the employees did not have to work, but could receive a financial allowance from Germany’s Federal Employment Agency (BA [2]). [1] http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_7024/ [2] http://www.arbeitsagentur.de/nn_426332/EN/Navigation/Startseite/Englisch-Nav.html

This annual review describes the developments in industrial relations and working conditions in 2011 in the EU Member States and Norway, at both national and EU level, with a focus on the economic situation and responses to it. The report describes the current economic situation in EU Member States and highlights relevant political and legislative developments in individual countries. It describes labour market trends in Europe and developments in career and employment security, health and well-being at work, skills development and work–life balance. It also examines changes in the organisation and role of social partners, developments in collective bargaining (at cross-sectoral, sectoral and company levels), working time, pay developments, social dialogue developments, industrial conflicts and company restructuring in 2011. At European level, the report summarises the main events over the course of 2011, charting trends in European social policy, employment legislation and social dialogue.

The ERM Report 2012 focuses on the consequences of restructuring for employees. It examines which employees lost their job at the onset of the economic crisis, which of them found a new job and how both job loss and subsequent re-employment impacted on their overall life situation and satisfaction. It also looks at the impact on working conditions for employees who remain at the restructured firm. Both these studies, of those who lost their jobs and those who stayed at the restructured workplace, have never before been analysed by using common, EU-wide and representative, datasets. The report also provides an overview of recent restructuring using the ERM database. While restructuring cases reporting job loss have fallen since the peak of 2009, they still outnumber announcements of job gain. Several recent cases testify to serious problems in the once very promising alternative energy sector in Europe. The findings show that much of the recently announced job creation is in the hotels and retail sectors.

Negotiations between the EU-level cross-sector social partners on the revision of the Working Time Directive (2003/88/EC [1]) began on 14 November 2011 (EU1111051I [2]). [1] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003L0088:EN:HTML [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/industrial-relations/social-partners-launch-review-of-working-time-directive

Ministers at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO [1]) at a meeting on 21–22 June 2012 (231Kb PDF) [2] took note of a progress report (135kb PDF) [3] on the new proposal on enforcement of the posted workers [4] directive and a linked regulation on the right to collective action, issued in March 2012 (EU1204011I [5]). [1] http://www.consilium.europa.eu/policies/council-configurations/employment,-social-policy,-health-and-consumer-affairs?lang=en [2] http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/lsa/131116.pdf [3] http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/12/st10/st10571.en12.pdf [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/posted-workers [5] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/commission-proposes-new-rules-for-posted-workers

In judgment C-78/11 [1], the European Court of Justice (ECJ [2]) ruled on 21 June 2012 that if a worker is so ill that he or she is unable to work, and that illness occurs during paid annual leave [3], the worker has the right to claim further paid leave to make up for the missed days of holiday. The ruling is the outcome of a case brought against Spain’s National Association of Large Distribution Businesses (ANGED [4]) by a number of unions led by the Federation of Trade Unions (FASGA [5]). [1] http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=124190&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=109815 [2] http://europa.eu/about-eu/institutions-bodies/court-justice/index_en.htm [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/annual-leave [4] http://www.anged.es/ [5] http://www.fasga.com/

The full opening up of Europe’s postal market took place on 1 January 2011 in 16 Member States, and will extend to the remaining 11 on 1 January 2013. This process is being carried out under the EU’s third postal directive (114Kb PDF) [1], and the region’s postal sector is now experiencing a period of significant change as competitors enter the market. [1] http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/post/doc/legislation/2008-06_en.pdf

The aim of flexicurity is to improve employment opportunities for workers, while at the same time increasing flexibility, enabling organisations to adapt their operations and employment levels to business needs. The past few years have, however, been particularly challenging for European labour markets: the recent financial crisis and recession have had an inevitable negative impact on EU labour markets and unemployment levels. This has called into question the effectiveness of the flexicurity strategy in terms of supporting vulnerable workers. Eurofound research in six EU Member States analysed company initiatives targeting young workers, older workers and women.

The Commission launched a proposal for a Regulation on a Programme for Social Change and Innovation (PSCI) [1] in February 2012 as a way of helping the EU cope with pressing challenges such as high unemployment, poverty, social exclusion and the ageing population. [1] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52011PC0609:EN:NOT

The Commission has been looking at the issue of posted workers for some time, in the light of a revision of Directive 96/71/EC [1] concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services. [1] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31996L0071:EN:HTML