Carley, Mark

This review of working time developments in Europe in 2005 and 2006 finds that over the period the average collectively agreed weekly working time in the EU was 38.7 hours, while agreed normal annual working time averaged around 1,750 hours...

This review of pay trends in Europe in 2005 and 2006 finds that average collectively-agreed nominal wage increases across the EU rose from 4.9% in 2005 to 5.6% in 2006. When inflation is taken into account, the rate of real increase rose fr...

Industrial relations developments in Europe 2006 highlights the most significant industrial relations developments over the past year – both at national and EU level. It examines the key issues covered by collective bargaining – pay, working time, job security, training, and equal opportunities – and looks at developments in the area of social partner activity, industrial action, cross-border activity and reconciliation of work,family and private life. A special thematic chapter explores the theme of gender and career development, looking in particular at workplace segregation, the underrespresentation of women in managerial posts and the prevalence of women’s involvement in part-time work.

In March 2006, the Labour Party government announced its plans to launch a review of the time off, training and facilities available to workplace representatives (*UK0605019I* [1]). In June 2006, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI [2]) launched the review and in January 2007 published its Consultation document - Workplace representatives: A review of their facilities and facility (405 Kb PDF) [3] presenting the initial findings. The review addresses: [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/government-publishes-employment-relations-strategy-paper [2] http://www.dti.gov.uk/ [3] http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file36336.pdf

Where trade unions are recognised by employers, the Employment Act 2002 [1] (*UK0210103F* [2]) provides a statutory right to paid time off work for union learning representatives (ULRs) (*UK0402103F* [3]) to carry out a range of duties. These include: [1] http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2002/20020022.htm [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/employment-act-2002-outlined [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/union-learning-representatives-profiled

This report focuses on the role that EWCs play in influencing the handling of transnational restructuring. It analyses EWC agreements and relevant joint texts to assess how well equipped EWCs are to address the issue of restructuring. It looks at the kind of input EWCs make in practice and highlights the factors that appear to play an important role in favouring or hindering their involvement in transnational restructuring.

To mark ‘International stress awareness day’ on 1 November 2006, the Trades Union Congress (TUC [1]) released findings from its 2006 survey of workplace trade union health and safety representatives [2]. The study is conducted every two years and, during the spring and summer of 2006, a total of 3,339 health and safety representatives responded to a questionnaire either online or by post. [1] http://www.tuc.org.uk/ [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/health-and-safety-representatives

In 2004, the European Commission brought an action (case C-484/04) to the European Court of Justice (ECJ [1]) against the UK government over its implementation of the EU directive on certain aspects of the organisation of working time, now consolidated in Directive 2003/88/EC [2] . More specifically, the Commission objected to the way that the UK had applied the directive’s rules on daily and weekly rest periods [3] for employees. [1] http://curia.europa.eu/ [2] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003L0088:EN:HTML [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/rest-periods

Talks started in early 2005 over a merger between three of the UK’s four largest trade unions – Amicus [1] (1,160,000 members, according to the latest figures from the Certification Officer [2]), the GMB [3] general union (570,000 members) and the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU [4], 810,000 members). Union consolidation through mergers has been an accelerating trend since the 1990s (*UK0410105F* [5]) against a background of continuing decline in union membership (*UK0504109F* [6]). Amicus, for example, was formed from the merger of the AEEU engineering and electrical union and the MSF manufacturing and finance union in 2002 (UK9912142N [7]) and has since merged with the Graphical, Paper and Media Union and the UNIFI finance union. Other recent large-scale mergers include that between NATFHE – The University & College Lecturers’ Union and the Association of University Teachers (AUT) to form the 116,000-strong University and College Union (UCU [8]) in June 2006 (*UK0601103N* [9]). [1] http://www.amicustheunion.org [2] http://www.certoffice.org [3] http://www.gmb.org.uk [4] http://www.tgwu.org.uk [5] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/union-merger-momentum-continues [6] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/bleak-future-predicted-for-trade-unions [7] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/manufacturing-unions-in-merger-talks [8] http://www.ucu.org.uk/?CFID=23256709&CFTOKEN=38139492 [9] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/academics-vote-in-favour-of-new-university-and-college-union

Asda is one of the UK’s largest supermarket chains, with some 140,000 employees. It has been owned since 1999 by the US-based Wal-Mart group – a company that seeks to avoid dealing with trade unions in its home-country operations – and in recent years has been beset by industrial relations problems. These have included a number of disputes over union recognition and collective bargaining rights, especially in Asda’s distribution warehouses. Most notably, in February 2006, an employment tribunal found that the company had breached the law by offering financial incentives to employees at a site to give up their rights to collective bargaining (*UK0604059I* [1]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/ruling-highlights-poor-industrial-relations-at-asda