Publications

Nowadays, technology plays a central role in workplaces, enabling the speedy production of goods and services and facilitating communication and innovation processes. This report examines the different categories of technology used in workplaces in order to gauge their influence on working conditions and health outcomes. The analysis is based on findings from the Fourth Working Conditions Survey carried out across 31 countries, including the 27 EU Member States. The findings reveal that it is not so much the technology itself but rather the associated working conditions that put workers’ health and safety at risk.

Globalisation is having a profound impact on economies and industrial
relations systems all around the world. In the context of global competition,
it is increasingly relevant to look at Europe’s economic development in a
wider perspective. This report explores the main industrial relations
developments in the European Union, Japan and the US in the period 2006-2007.
It charts the similarities and trends in industrial relations as well as the
differences in basic structures and developments between these three major
economies. At the same time, it allows for a degree of benchmarking of the EU
against its main trading competitors. The second part of the review presents
an overview of working time regulation and management in the EU, Japan and
the US. It reviews the most recent trends in working time, including standard
weekly working hours, overtime and long working hours, flexible work
schedules, shift work and weekend work. It also looks at provisions for
maternity and parental leave. While the report mainly covers the EU Member
States, Japan and the US, it also includes references to emerging economies
such as Brazil and China.

On 6 November 2008, a deal was reached on the renewal of the company-level
collective agreement for the Wind [1] telecommunications company – the
third largest company operating in Italy’s fixed and mobile telephony
sector. The company has about 7,500 employees and is owned by Weather
Investments (see also the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) factsheet
[2]).

[1] http://www.wind.it/
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/emcc/erm/factsheets/wind

At the end of October 2008, the Estonian central employer organisation, the
Estonian Employers’ Confederation (Eesti Tööandjate Keskliit, ETTK [1]),
compiled and issued a list of proposals to the government on how to manage
the implications of the economic downturn. ETTK surveyed its member
organisations and collected opinions on the bottlenecks of the current
economy and on measures for improving the situation. Its proposals to the
government are based on the findings of this initiative.

[1] http://www.ettk.ee/en

Over the past few years, Finland’s national airline Finnair [1] has already
shed 700 jobs (*FI0611019I* [2] and *FI0609029I* [3]). In the summer of 2008,
when the previous mandatory joint consultation was finalised, the airline
started a new round of consultations aiming to cut a further 400 jobs. With
the consultation on the additional job cuts still ongoing, the company is
proposing pay cuts as a new cost-saving measure.

[1] http://www.finnair.com/finnaircom/wps/portal/finnair/jump?locale=en_INT
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/strike-at-finnair-over-restructuring-is-settled-by-conciliation
[3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/restructuring-dispute-at-finnair

The Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń SA (PZU [1]) group is Poland’s largest
insurer. At present, the main shareholders of PZU SA are the State Treasury,
which holds a 55% stake in the company, and the Netherlands-based bank
insurance consortium Eureko BV. The process of privatising PZU got underway
in 1998. In January 2005, the lower chamber of the Polish Parliament
(/Sejm/), responding to irregularities in PZU’s privatisation process,
appointed an investigative commission to review the case. Relations between
the Polish government and Eureko BV have become strained.

[1] http://www.pzu.pl/

Trade unions in Aer Lingus [1] were locked in negotiations for a number of
weeks in a bid to amend radical company proposals to outsource some 1,500
jobs out of a total of 4,000 posts at the airline. The unions were informed
that agreement on cuts amounting to €50 million in staff costs was required
by the end of November 2008, as part of a wider €74 million cost reduction
programme due to rising fuel costs and the global economic downturn. A
15-month pay freeze was included in the plan.

[1] http://www.aerlingus.com

In October 2008, the Italian parliament approved Decree Law No. 137/2008
entitled ‘Urgent measures with regard to education and the universities’.
The bill had initially been approved by the Council of Ministers on 28 August
2008 and was subsequently passed by the Chamber of Deputies on 7 October
followed by the Senate on 29 October. The decree was presented by the
Minister of Education, Mariastella Gelmini.

On 7 October 2008, in line with the call to mobilise to change the world
economy [1] issued by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC [2]),
its French affiliates participated in this first-ever world day of
mobilisation for decent work [3]. The following trade union confederations
took part in the campaign: the French Democratic Confederation of Labour
(Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT [4]), the French
Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française des
travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC [5]), the General Confederation of Labour
(Confédération générale du travail, CGT [6]), the General Confederation
of Labour – /Force ouvrière/ (Confédération générale du travail –
Force ouvrière, CGT-FO [7]) and the National Federation of Independent
Unions (Union nationale des syndicats autonomes, UNSA [8]).

[1] http://www.ituc-csi.org/spip.php?article2428
[2] http://www.ituc-csi.org
[3] http://www.decentwork.org/
[4] http://www.cfdt.fr/
[5] http://www.cftc.fr/
[6] http://www.cgt.fr
[7] http://www.force-ouvriere.fr/
[8] http://www.unsa.org/

A series of mergers, takeovers and rescue packages were required to maintain
the viability of a number of major companies in Germany’s troubled banking
sector. The latest episode followed the collapse of the Lehman Brothers
investment bank in the US. The knock-on effect in Germany was the 70%
collapse in shares at the Hypo Real Estate (HRE) bank.