Carley, Mark
European Court finds UK in breach of working time directive
19 Samhain 2006
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
GMB pulls out of ‘super union’ merger talks
08 Deireadh Fómhair 2006
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
Strike at Asda averted following deal on staff representation
08 Deireadh Fómhair 2006
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
Government launches consultation on extra holiday entitlement
27 Lúnasa 2006
In its manifesto for the May 2005 general election (*UK0504110F* [1]), the
Labour Party stated that it would make paid time off for bank and public
holidays additional to employees’ current statutory four-week annual
holiday entitlement. This commitment, based on the July 2004 ‘Warwick
agreement’ with trade unions on employment law reform and other matters
(*UK0409102N* [2]), was reiterated in the re-elected Labour government’s
March 2006 employment relations strategy paper (*UK0605019I* [3]). On 13 June
2006, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI [4]) duly issued an initial
consultation document on increasing the holiday entitlement (259Kb PDF) [5]
to 5.6 weeks a year – the equivalent of an increase from 20 days to 28 days
for an employee working a five-day week.
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/parties-outline-contrasting-election-policies-on-employment-relations
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/unions-win-concessions-from-ministers-on-employment-law-agenda
[3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/government-publishes-employment-relations-strategy-paper
[4] http://www.dti.gov.uk/
[5] http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file30011.pdf
Évolutions des salaires - 2005
15 Lúnasa 2006
Fondée sur les contributions fournies par ses centres nationaux, la
présente mise à jour de l'Observatoire européen des relations
industrielles (EIRO) vise à fournir une indication générale et globale des
tendances des augmentations salariales en 2004 et 2005 au sein des États
membres de l'UE, de deux pays candidats (Bulgarie et Roumanie) et de la
Norvège. Elle examine les augmentations de salaires établies par
négociations collectives sur l’ensemble de l’économie et dans six
secteurs sélectionnés, les augmentations salariales minimales nationales et
les taux salariaux minima, les inégalités salariales entre les genres, les
augmentations et les niveaux des revenus moyens ainsi que les augmentations
et les niveaux des coûts salariaux.
Working time developments - 2005
09 Lúnasa 2006
This review of the length of working time in 2004 and 2005 finds that average
collectively agreed weekly working time in the European Union as a whole
remained at around 38.6 hours - 0.6 hours shorter in the old EU15 (plus
Norway), and 0.9 hours longer in the new Member States. Agreed normal annual
working time averages around 1,750 hours - some 1,700 in the old EU15 (plus
Norway) and 1,800 in the new Member States. Of six sectors examined, agreed
weekly hours are highest in chemicals and retail, followed by metalworking
and local government, the civil service and banking. Average collectively
agreed paid annual leave entitlement stood at 25.5 days in 2005. The review
also looks at statutory working time and leave limits, actual working hours
and overtime.
Key themes in global industrial relations: Minimum wages and relocation of production
26 Meitheamh 2006
With economic globalisation growing ever deeper and international competition intensifying, it is increasingly clear that Europe's industrial relations systems do not exist in isolation, and cannot be studied as such. This report examines two topical issues – minimum wages and the crossborder relocation of production – from the perspective of industrial relations. Drawing on comparative analysis from the European Industrial Relation Observatory (EIRO), it looks at the situation in the 25 EU Member States, in two ‘developed’ countries – Japan and the USA – and two ‘developing’ countries – Brazil and China.
EIRObserver (Issue 2/02)
04 Bealtaine 2006
EIRObserver is the bi-monthly bulletin of the European Industrial Relations Observatory. It contains an edited selection of feature and news items, based on some of the reports supplied for the EIROnline database over each two-month period. On top of this, EIRO also conducts comparative research on specific themes. The comparative supplement looks at the EU-level and national debate on working time and quality of work, outlining the wide variety of governmental initiatives and the views of the social partners, and examines the level and content of collective bargaining on the theme. The study concludes that there appears to be a considerable gap between rhetoric and reality so far as working time developments and the quality of work are concerned. While the issue has climbed up the agenda of policy-makers and there have been significant government initiatives, collective bargaining seems to be lagging behind, with relatively few innovative agreements
Industrial relations in the EU, Japan and USA, 2003–2004
04 Bealtaine 2006
This report provides a detailed comparison of the different aspects of industrial relations in these three economic blocs. It charts the similarities and trends in this area and provides a clear picture of the differences in both basic structures and developments across these three major economies. In particular it highlights the distinctive characteristics of the EU in the areas of collective bargaining, trade unions, employer organisations and labour legislation.
Industrial relations in the steel industry
07 Meán Fómhair 2005
This report examines the most important challenges faced by the national social partners in the iron and steel industry in 16 European countries. It focuses on the internationalisation of the industry and the cross-border mergers and acquisitions that have accompanied this transformation. It looks at the structure and characteristics of the sector, changes in employment levels and practices, the representation and positions of trade union and employer organisations and the structure and content of collective bargaining.
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