Publications

On 21 May 1997, after five bargaining rounds, the miners' trade union
Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau und Energie (IGBE), the salaried employees'
union Deutsche Angestelltengewerkschaft (DAG) and the Unternehmensverband
Ruhrbergbau (UVR) employers' association for the hard-coal mining industry in
Northrhine-Westphalia, concluded a pilot agreement which covers roughly
75,000 employees in the Northrhine-Westphalia hard-coal mining industry. The
framework for the contents of the agreement was partly set by the "coal
compromise" of 13 March 1997 (DE9703104F [1]).

[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/miners-revolt-ends-in-corporatist-compromise

Jarmo Lähteenmäki, the chair of the Finnish Paperworkers' Union- one of the
most powerful unions in the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions
(SAK) - announced after a meeting on 11 June 1997 that the union will not
enter national negotiations on incomes policy. Instead, "the Paperworkers'
Union will focus directly on talks with individual unions" - ie, it will
engage only in direct industry-level negotiations with employers in its
sector. The union cited special problems in its sector which prevented it
from participating in comprehensive national incomes policy discussions, such
as the utilisation of outside labour in factories, the move to shorten
working hours, the contracting-out of different factory operations, and the
decision by two of the largest firms in the forestry industry to discontinue
personnel funds (a form of profit-sharing scheme).

Over May-June 1997, the dialogue between the Italian Government, trade unions
and employers has been extended to welfare reform and policies related to EU
Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

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.

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.

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.

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

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.