Publications

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the German system of centralised sectoral
collective bargaining (Flächentarifvertrag), which guarantees all employees
in a certain sector more or less the same basic income and working
conditions, has been under increasing pressure. With growing
internationalisation of capital and markets and an increasing pressure of
international competition, more and more employers and economic experts have
been demanding a more decentralised and company-related collective bargaining
system. German unification in 1990 brought a further dynamism to the debate.
Originally, all the relevant social partners agreed to transfer the western
collective bargaining system to eastern Germany, but because of the
continuing immense economic problems. more and more eastern employers became
dissatisfied with that decision. For instance, in the eastern metal industry
the proportion of employers who are members of an employers' association
decreased from 60% in 1991 to 36% in 1994 - though still covering between 55%
and 65% of the employees ("Ostdeutsche Tariflandschaften", Ingrid Artus and
Rudi Schmidt, in Die Mitbestimmung No. 11, p. 34-36 (1996)).

According to the study/, Analysis of the prevalence of home-based telework in
Denmark,/ carried out by Andersen Management International for the Ministry
of Research and Information Technology, it is estimated that the potential
number of people carrying out home-based telework will increase over the next
decade, from 9,000 at present to 250,000. The study defines home-based
telework as situations where 20% or more of work is carried out from a
home-based workplace using information technology. Home-based telework is
expected to be more efficient if it is limited to two to three working days a
week.

On 13 March 1997, the readers of Sweden's leading morning paper /Dagens
Nyheter/ learnt about an unusual appeal, drawn up jointly by the pugnacious
chair of Handelsanställdas förbund (Commercial Employees' Union), the
leaders of the two employers' organisations in commerce and the managing
directors of three leading retail chains.

On 13 March, after long debate between ministries, trade unions, and
provincial governments, the national Government submitted a reform package
covering the Arbeitslosenversicherungsgesetz(Unemployment Insurance Act), the
Fremdengesetz(Aliens Act), the Aufenthaltsgesetz(Residence Act), the
Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz(Aliens Employment Act), and the
Asylgesetz(Asylum Act). The aim is to homogenise the laws, to reduce
immigration to an absolute minimum compatible with human rights and the
Geneva Convention on the Rights of Refugees, and to improve the integration
of the resident foreign population. The reform package is now open to public
debate, and will be submitted to Parliament before the summer. Changes are
intended to take effect as of 1 January 1998.

At the end of February 1997, the social partners in Luxembourg's hospital
sector concluded a new collective agreement in a "cooperative" atmosphere.
The deal provides for pay increases and a reduction and reorganisation of
working hours for 5,000 employees.

On 5 March 1997, the Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, informed the
political parties and social partners about the report drawn up by the
"Commission for macroeconomic compatibility of social expenditure", a
committee of experts established by the Government and chaired by Professor
Paolo Onofri. The proposals for reform deal with all the key elements of
public spending: healthcare, public assistance, and, of particular interest
for the industrial relations system, pensions and labour market policies.
This document drew critical reactions from the trade union confederations,
while the evaluation from the Confindustria employers' confederation was
fairly positive.

The Institute of Management's recent survey of their male and female members
(A question of balance? A survey of managers' changing professional and
personal values", K Charlesworth, Institute of Management, London, (1997))
reports 52% of men as saying that their style is participative (compared with
60% of women respondents) with the same proportion of men and women (30%)
claiming to have a consensual approach. Their employing organisations seem to
have taken less notice of the Institute: only 15% of respondents described
their company culture as participative.

On 3 March 1997 the UK's second largest general trade union, GMB, and the
German chemical workers' union IG Chemie-Papier-Keramik signed a unique
agreement on joint union membership. The agreement offers members of both
organisations, when working in each other's countries, the same support and
advice enjoyed by their own members.

Stockauto, a vehicle storage and distribution firm, has signed a collective
agreement on some of the most controversial issues in the current debate on
reform of the Spanish labour market: the creation of secure employment, the
definition of the objective reasons for dismissal and the search for
procedures to make working time more flexible

On 18 March 1997, eight trade unions and 12 employers' organisations in
industry concluded an agreement on cooperation and the regulation of pay. Its
aim is to promote growth, profitability and competitiveness in industry. As
such, claim the parties, it will provide the necessary prerequisite for a
reduction of unemployment and form the basis for improvements in pay and good
working conditions.