Cabrita, Jorge

This report and the accompanying 33 sectoral information sheets aim to capture the diversity prevalent across sectors in Europe in terms of working conditions and job quality. The information sheets indicate how workers in each sector compare to the European average for all workers, as well as highlighting differences and similarities among different groups of workers. The report pinpoints trends across sectors in areas such as working time and work–life balance, work organisation, skills and training, employee representation and the psychosocial and physical environment. It identifies sectors that score particularly well or particularly poorly in terms of job quality and sheds light on differences between sectors in terms of health and well-being.

There is an absence of commonly agreed definitions of key concepts such as public sector, public services and public administration, not to mention ‘central’ public administration. This absence is problematic when comparing several institutions, or even when addressing different issues within one organisation. The aim of this paper is to deliver a working definition of central public administration (CPA). Read more information on Central public administration.

This paper looks at wages from two different angles: from the perspective of individual employees, discussed in conjunction with their working conditions, and from the perspective of the industrial relations system. After a brief overview of EU-level policy developments with a potential impact on national level pay determination, this report gives a comparative overview of the levels of collective wage setting and how they are set throughout Europe and goes on to report on reforms, changes or debates linked to these processes between the different actors at both the Member State and the European level in 2011 and 2012. See related publications on wages.

This annual review describes the developments in industrial relations and working conditions in 2011 in the EU Member States and Norway, at both national and EU level, with a focus on the economic situation and responses to it. The report describes the current economic situation in EU Member States and highlights relevant political and legislative developments in individual countries. It describes labour market trends in Europe and developments in career and employment security, health and well-being at work, skills development and work–life balance. It also examines changes in the organisation and role of social partners, developments in collective bargaining (at cross-sectoral, sectoral and company levels), working time, pay developments, social dialogue developments, industrial conflicts and company restructuring in 2011. At European level, the report summarises the main events over the course of 2011, charting trends in European social policy, employment legislation and social dialogue.

Work plays a significant role in the lives of people, companies and society at large. Since its inception, the European Union has paid considerable attention to work, and improving working conditions is one of its key policy goals. The European Working Conditions Survey series (the ‘EWCS’) aims to: Measure working conditions across European countries on a harmonised basis; analyse relationships between different aspects of working conditions; identify groups at risks and issues of concern, as well as areas of progress; monitor trends over time; and contribute to European policy development, in particular on quality of work and employment issues. This report analyses the findings of the fifth European Working Conditions Survey, carried out in 2011-2012.

With a particular focus on the crisis and responses to it, this annual review highlights developments in working conditions and industrial relations in the EU Member States and Norway in 2010, both at national and EU level. At national level, the report examines key issues covered by collective bargaining (pay and working time) and looks at developments in social partner activity and industrial action. It also looks at company restructuring, the impact of the crisis and approaches to pension reform in light of demographic change. At European level, it reviews the year’s main events and trends in employment legislation and policy (in areas like paternity/maternity leave and working time), as well as in the European social dialogue at crosssectoral, sectoral and company levels. The final chapter focuses on training initiatives provided or supported by enterprises for their employees during the recession.

A recent project, entitled ‘Revalue work to promote gender equality’ (Revalorizar o Trabalho para Promover a Igualdade [1]), was funded by the EQUAL Community Initiative [2] and coordinated by the General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses – Intersindical, CGTP-IN [3]). The project developed a job evaluation method that is free from gender bias in Portugal’s hotels and restaurants sector, although more specifically in restaurants and beverage establishments. [1] http://www.cgtp.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=376&Itemid=205 [2] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/equal/index_en.cfm [3] http://www.cgtp.pt

In 2003, the Economic and Social Studies Society (Sociedade de Estudos Económicos e Sociais, S2E2 [1]) carried out a study on behalf of the Directorate General of Studies, Statistics and Planning – currently the Office for Strategy and Planning (Gabinete de Estratégia e Planeamento, GEP [2]) – on undeclared work [3] in Portugal. This study identifies different methodologies to evaluate the dimension of undeclared work in order to find the most adequate and effective way to quantify the Portuguese case. The study also looks at the approach to undeclared work in the context of the European Employment Strategy [4]’s National Action Plans [5] in different countries. Finally, the quantification of the problem is analysed in the construction sector using official statistics and the opinions of key observers. [1] http://www.s2e2.pt/ [2] http://www.dgeep.mtss.gov.pt/ [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/undeclared-work [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/european-employment-strategy [5] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/employment_strategy/national_en.htm

An assessment made in the first phase of a project entitled ‘Social dialogue and equality in companies’ (Diálogo Social e Igualdade nas Empresas [1]) revealed that most companies in Portugal are not acquainted with the principle of gender equality [2] or how to promote it, nor with the competitive advantages that can arise from good practices in this domain. At the same time, the evaluation underlined the lack of mechanisms or tools supporting companies in this regard. [1] http://www.cite.gov.pt/dialogosocial/index.html [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/gender-equality

According to most recent statistics of the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity (Ministério do Trabalho e da Solidariedade Social, MTSS [1]), the number of reported occupational accidents continues to decline (PT0704019I [2]). The number of working days lost due to workplace accidents decreased from 171,661 days in 2003 to 166,642 days in 2005, but the cumulative number of immediate days lost due to workplace accidents increased from 6.3 million to 6.8 million working days in the same period. This is reflected in the increase of the average days lost per occupational accident from 36.7 days to 40.9 days a year in the same period. [1] http://www.mtss.gov.pt/ [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/number-of-occupational-accidents-on-the-decline