On 22 May 1997, a new employment alliance for eastern Germany was concluded
between the German Federal Government, the German Trade Union Federation
(DGB), the German Salaried Employees' Union (DAG), the Confederation of
German Employers' Associations (BDA), the Confederation of German Industries
(BDI), the German Association of Chambers of Commerce (DIHT), the Central
Association of German Crafts (ZDH) and the Associations of the Credit
Institutions (Kreditgewerbe). Its primary objectives are to: speed up the
transformation process of the eastern German economy; boost growth; reduce
unit labour costs; stabilise employment in 1997 at the level of 1996; and
create 100,000 new jobs in each of the following years.
On 13 January 1997, an agreement was signed on the introduction of new shop
opening hours. Since 1990 shops have been allowed to open on a 24-hours a day
basis in the wake of legislation to deregulate shop opening hours (article
42, Law 1892/1990) in line with the then Conservative Government's policies
on liberalisation. In late 1996, a number of businesses - members of the
employers' organisation, SELPE- proceeded to introduce later working hours on
Saturdays in Athens and its outer suburbs. In parallel, they took joint
action with other bodies (including the Athens municipal authority and the
Chamber of Commerce and Industry) to try to introduce Sunday shop opening. In
response, the unions announced that they would fight this initiative and that
they would demand amendments to Law 1892/1990.
This feature is drawn from a report to the Labour Relations Commission,
entitled /Competitive strategies and employee relations in the Irish retail
sector/ and written by Majella Fahy of the Graduate School of Business,
University College Dublin.
The Spanish chemicals sector agreement signed in April 1997 takes into
account the national agreement on labour market reform recently concluded by
unions and employers, with respect to types of employment contract and
temporary employment agencies
Luxembourg's Economic and Social Council has recently responded to a
government request for its opinion, with a view to reforming the Law of 12
June 1965 relating to collective agreements and of the Grand-Ducal Order of 6
October 1945 dealing with the National Conciliation Office (Office National
de Conciliation).
Strikes in the Port of Rotterdam in the early months of 1997 demonstrate once
again its distinctive position in the Dutch system of industrial relations.
The ongoing process of reorganisation in the mixed-cargo sector, which has a
long tradition of trade unionism, is responsible for regular labour disputes
in the form of court action and both organised and wildcat strikes .
A two-year collective agreement was approved by the 225,000 employees in the
government sector (DK9702103N [1]) and the 662,000 employees in the county
and municipal bargaining area, offering a 4.25% pay increase, wage adjustment
schemes, and improved pension and maternity leave provisions. However the
1997 collective bargaining rounds represented more than adjustments of pay,
pensions and maternity leave; it was, as the Minister of Finance, Mogens
Lykketoft said, "a peaceful wage revolution", introducing a more flexible and
decentralised salary-scale system.
On 28 April 1997, the German Public Services, Transport and Traffic Union
(Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr, ÖTV) and the
German White-Collar Workers' Union (Deutsche Angestellten-Gewerkschaft, DAG)
announced the foundation of a new joint subsidiary union for the employees of
international and European organisations which are located in Germany.
Through the newly established "International Public Servants Organisation"
(IPSO), both unions want to create an effective interest representation for
the employees working in organisations like the European Monetary Institute
in Frankfurt or the European Patent Office in Munich. The foundation of IPSO
should also avoid competition between ÖTV and DAG in the recruitment of
members in international and European organisations, and should lead to a
closer cooperation between the unions. The latter is particularly important
because of the fact that the DAG is the only significant German trade union
which is not a member of the German Federation of Trade Unions (Deutscher
Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB).
In Greece, temporary work, especially in the form of fixed-term contracts,
constitutes a policy widespread amongst enterprises in both private and
public sectors. Although the phenomenon of temporary work has decreased
considerably in comparison with the early 1990s, when its incidence was twice
that of the EU average (18% and 9% respectively), it is still quite high
(10.5% and 11% respectively). A factor contributing to this decrease was the
decision of the Government in the course of 1990 to dismiss 50,000 temporary
public employees as part of its attempt to rationalise the functioning of the
public sector.
The European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) has reported on the employment impact of large-scale business restructuring since 2002. This publication series include the ERM reports, as well as blogs, articles and working papers on restructuring-related events in the EU27 and Norway.
Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) paints a wide-ranging picture of Europe at work across countries, occupations, sectors and age groups. This series consists of findings from the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS) 2021, an extraordinary edition conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was first carried out in 1990.
This publication series gathers all overview reports on developments in working life, annual reviews in industrial relations and working conditions produced by Eurofound on the basis of national contributions from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents (NEC). Since 1997, these reports have provided overviews of the latest developments in industrial relations and working conditions across the EU and Norway. The series may include recent ad hoc articles written by members of the NEC.
Eurofound’s work on COVID-19 examines the far-reaching socioeconomic implications of the pandemic across Europe as they continue to impact living and working conditions. A key element of the research is the e-survey, launched in April 2020, with five rounds completed at different stages during 2020, 2021 and 2022. This is complemented by the inclusion of research into the ongoing effects of the pandemic in much of Eurofound’s other areas of work.
Eurofound's representativeness studies are designed to allow the European Commission to identify the ‘management and labour’ whom it must consult under article 154 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). This series consists of studies of the representativeness of employer and worker organisations in various sectors.
This series reports on developments in minimum wage rates across the EU, including how they are set and how they have developed over time in nominal and real terms. The series explores where there are statutory minimum wages or collectively agreed minimum wages in the Member States, as well as minimum wage coverage rates by gender.
The European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) launched in 1990 and is carried out every five years, with the latest edition in 2015. It provides an overview of trends in working conditions and quality of employment for the last 30 years. It covers issues such as employment status, working time duration and organisation, work organisation, learning and training, physical and psychosocial risk factors, health and safety, work–life balance, worker participation, earnings and financial security, work and health, and most recently also the future of work.
Eurofound’s Flagship report series 'Challenges and prospects in the EU' comprise research reports that contain the key results of multiannual research activities and incorporate findings from different related research projects. Flagship reports are the major output of each of Eurofound’s strategic areas of intervention and have as their objective to contribute to current policy debates.
Eurofound’s European Company Survey (ECS) maps and analyses company policies and practices which can have an impact on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, as well as the development of social dialogue in companies. This series consists of outputs from the ECS 2019, the fourth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2004–2005 as the European Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance.
This series reports on and updates latest information on the involvement of national social partners in policymaking. The series analyses the involvement of national social partners in the implementation of policy reforms within the framework of social dialogue practices, including their involvement in elaborating the National Reform Programmes (NRPs).
This paper provides an analytical summary of state of the art academic and policy literature on the impact of climate change and policies to manage transitions to a carbon neutral economy on employment, working conditions, social dialogue and living conditions. It maps the key empirical findings around the impact of climate change and the green transitions on jobs, sectors, regions and countries in Europe, identifying the opportunities and risks that climate change policies bring to European labour markets.
This report explores the association between skills use and skills strategies and establishment performance, and how other workplace practices, in terms of work organisation, human resources management and employee involvement, can impact on this. It looks at how skills shortages can be addressed, at least in part, by creating an environment in which employees are facilitated and motivated to make better use of the skills they already have. This further supports the business case for a more holistic approach to management.
In 2022, the European Semester was streamlined to integrate the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) established on 19 February 2021 (Regulation (EU) 2021/241). While facing the geopolitical and economic challenges triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Member States have been implementing the national Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs) for more than one year and around 100 billion euro in RRF funds have already been disbursed.
As economies emerge from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, labour shortages are becoming increasingly evident. These include shortages exacerbated by the crisis in some sectors and professions where they had been endemic for some time. This report will look at measures implemented at national level to tackle labour shortages in the health, care and information and communications technology sectors, as well as those arising from the twin digital and green transitions.
As part of its response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, the EU swiftly activated its Temporary Protection Directive for those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine – enabling displaced persons to settle in the EU and have access to the labour market and basic public services. This policy brief highlights the main barriers encountered by these refugees (over 5 million people to date) when seeking a job and provides suggestions on how to facilitate their integration.
With the expansion of telework and different forms of hybrid work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important for policymakers to consider both the opportunities and the negative consequences that may result. This report will explore potential scenarios for such work. In doing so, it will identify trends and drivers, and predict how they might interact to create particular outcomes and how they are likely to affect workers and businesses. Policy pointers will outline what could be done to facilitate desirable outcomes and to avoid undesirable ones.
Living and working in Europe, Eurofound’s 2022 yearbook, provides a snapshot of the latest developments in the work and lives of Europeans as explored in the Agency’s research activities over the course of 2022. Eurofound’s research on working and living conditions in Europe provides a bedrock of evidence for input into social policymaking and achieving the Agency’s vision ‘to be Europe’s leading knowledge source for better life and work’.
The term ‘hybrid work’ became popular due to the upsurge of telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. The term has been increasingly used to refer to situations in which (teleworkable) work is performed both from the usual place of work (normally the employer’s premises) and from home (as experienced during the pandemic) or other locations. However, the concept of hybrid work is still blurry, and various meanings are in use. This topical update brings clarity to this concept by exploring available information from recent literature and the Network of Eurofound Correspondents.
Housing affordability is a matter of great concern across the EU. Poor housing affordability leads to housing evictions, housing insecurity, problematic housing costs and housing inadequacy. These problems negatively affect health and well-being, create unequal living conditions and opportunities, and come with healthcare costs, reduced productivity and environmental damage. Private market tenants face particularly large increases in the cost of housing.
Eurofound's annual review of minimum wages reports on the development of statutory and collectively agreed minimum wages across the EU and the processes through which they were set. The focus of this year’s report is on the impact of high inflation on the setting of minimum wage rates. In addition, new figures on the net value of minimum wages are presented, along with the latest policy-relevant research in the EU Member States and Norway.
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