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  • Article
    27 Maj 1997

    Meeting on 17 April 1997, the Labour and Social Affairs Council of Ministers
    took stock of initiatives by the European Commission and the Council
    Presidency aimed at improving information, consultation and participation
    mechanisms for employees. Padraig Flynn, the commissioner responsible for
    employment, industrial relations and social affairs, highlighted the
    importance of such initiatives in the light of the Renault crisis (EU9703108F
    [1]). He also reported on the current status of the work by the high-level
    expert working group on worker involvement.

    [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined-working-conditions/the-renault-case-and-the-future-of-social-europe

  • Article
    27 Maj 1997

    The Vlaams Blok, a xenophobic and extreme right-wing Flemish nationalist
    party, is currently seeking legitimacy as the defender of "ordinary people".
    With its populist stand against immigrants and French-speakers, the party has
    won a large number of votes in some towns in Flanders, particularly amongst
    those sections of the population most badly hit by unemployment and worsening
    living conditions.

  • Article
    27 Maj 1997

    The ECJ's ruling on 11 March 1997 in the case of /Süzen v Zehnacher
    Gebäudereinigung GmbH Krankenhausservice and another/ (Case C-13/95) made a
    potential "U-turn" in the interpretation of the EU Directive on transfers of
    undertakings, that has left a question mark over the way that the employment
    rights of the employees of contractors are decided. The ruling stems from a
    court case in Germany in which a school cleaner, Ayse Süzen, lost her job
    when her employer failed to keep the cleaning contract at the school where
    she worked. Ms Süzen challenged the decision of the new contractor not to
    re-employ the cleaning workers dismissed by their original employer.

  • Article
    27 Maj 1997

    On 25 April 1997, the Saxon metalworking employers' association
    (Arbeitgeberverband der Sächsischen Metall- und Elektroindustrie, VSME) and
    the metalworkers' trade union, IG Metall, signed new collective agreements
    for the 87,000 employees in the Saxon metal industry. The agreements include
    a new agreement on wages and salaries, new framework agreements for white-
    and blue-collar workers, and a new agreement to secure employment
    (Beschäftigungssicherungstarifvertrag). The agreements mainly follow the
    pattern of the agreements which have already been agreed in other regions of
    eastern Germany, and conclude the 1997 collective bargaining round in east
    German metalworking.

  • Article
    27 Maj 1997

    In what legal experts in Ireland have highlighted as a landmark case on the
    issue of indirect sex discrimination, Ireland's Supreme Court has asserted
    the primacy of EU law over domestic law. Mary Honan, a legal expert with the
    Employment Equality Agency said that the decision also established the
    correct legal framework for establishing unlawful indirect discrimination.

  • Article
    27 Maj 1997

    An agreement for Italy's first regional occupational pensions fund was signed
    in March 1997 by the Veneto local organisations of Confindustria, the main
    employers' organisation, and of the CISL trade union confederation. The
    initiative has met with hostility from CGIL and uncertainty from UIL, the
    other two main union confederations.

  • Article
    27 Maj 1997

    April 1997 saw the conclusion of the first collective agreement covering
    Portuguese social welfare institutions, where conditions of employment were
    previously governed by state regulations.

  • Article
    27 Maj 1997

    According to the Austrian Chamber of the Economy (Wirtschaftskammer
    Österreich, WKÖ) there were 162,339 salaried employees in industrial
    establishments in 1995. This was nearly 35% of total employment in industry.
    (There were another 8,605 in industrial enterprises in the construction
    industry where they accounted for 23% of employment). The pay scales applying
    to these employees have been changed from 1 May 1997, affecting 84% of the
    total in industry. The changes come in the form of a collective agreement
    concluded between the Federal Section Industry (Bundessektion Industrie) of
    the WKÖ and the Industry and Crafts Section (Sektion Industrie und Gewerbe)
    of the Union of Salaried Employees (Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten,
    GPA). The negotiations started in May 1995 and were concluded on 28 October
    1996.

  • Article
    27 Maj 1997

    The recent Commission Communication on /Modernising and improving social
    protection in the European Union/ (COM (97)102 of 12 March 1997- EU9703113N
    [1]) is merely the latest step in a long process of debate revolving around
    the question of how systems of social protection can best be adapted to
    today's changing economic, social and demographic situation. It is a debate
    which has in the past clearly been influenced by the limited nature of
    Community legal competence in this area. This is restricted to the
    coordination of national social security schemes in cases where citizens
    exercise their rights to free movement within the Union. Member states have
    long resisted any attempts at a harmonisation of social protection systems,
    which have developed very differently as a result of every country's
    socio-economic, political and cultural heritage.

    [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/commission-issues-communication-on-the-modernisation-of-social-protection-systems

  • Article
    27 Maj 1997

    A recent study published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
    Development (OECD) on the Belgian labour market and social climate has
    recommended drastic changes to the country's institutional and socio-economic
    structure. The most notable recommendations include a plea for greater
    flexibility, less government intervention in industrial relations, lower
    unemployment benefits, abolition of the indexation of pay to consumer prices
    and easier procedures for recruitment and especially dismissal. In summary,
    it may be said that the OECD largely advises Belgium to adopt the "American
    model". This study was to a certain extent reinforced by a report from
    European Commissioner Yves-Thibault de Silguy who also pleads for higher wage
    differentials, lower employment costs and greater flexibility. Both studies
    also stress the importance of low labour costs and high returns on
    investment.

Series

  • New forms of employment

    This series reports on the new forms of employment emerging across Europe that are driven by societal, economic and technological developments and are different from traditional standard or non-standard employment in a number of ways. This series explores what characterises these new employment forms and what implications they have for working conditions and the labour market.

  • European Company Surveys

    The European Company Survey (ECS) is carried out every four to five years since its inception in 2004–2005, with the latest edition in 2019. The survey is designed to provide information on workplace practices to develop and evaluate socioeconomic policy in the EU. It covers issues around work organisation, working time arrangements and work–life balance, flexibility, workplace innovation, employee involvement, human resource management, social dialogue, and most recently also skills use, skills strategies and digitalisation.

  • European Quality of Life Surveys

    The European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) is carried out every four to five years since its inception in 2003, with the latest edition in 2016. It examines both the objective circumstances of people's lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. It covers issues around employment, income, education, housing, family, health and work–life balance. It also looks at subjective topics, such as people's levels of happiness and life satisfaction, and perceptions of the quality of society.

  • European Jobs Monitor

    This series brings together publications and other outputs of the European Jobs Monitor (EJM), which tracks structural change in European labour markets. The EJM analyses shifts in the employment structure in the EU in terms of occupation and sector and gives a qualitative assessment of these shifts using various proxies of job quality – wages, skill-levels, etc.

  • European Quality of Life Survey 2016

    Eurofound's European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. This series consists of outputs from the EQLS 2016, the fourth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2003. 

  • European Working Conditions Survey 2015

    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 EWCS 2015, the sixth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 1990.

  • European Working Conditions Survey 1996

    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 EWCS 1996, the second edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 1990.

  • European Working Conditions Survey 2001

    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 EWCS 2001, which was an extension of the EWCS 2000 to cover the then 12 acceding and candidate countries. The survey was first carried out in 1990.

  • European Working Conditions Survey 2000

    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 EWCS 2000, the third edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 1990.

  • European Company Survey 2004

    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 first edition of the survey carried out in 2004–2005 under the name European Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance. 

Forthcoming publications

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