Turlan, Frédéric

Certain French companies have traditionally allowed employees to donate some of their leave to colleagues with seriously ill children. This tradition is sometimes implemented informally and sometimes enshrined in a company-level labour agreement. The French National Assembly has now passed a law providing a framework for companies to manage this practice.

On 19 June 2013, France’s social partners adopted a national interprofessional agreement on well-being at work which encourages businesses to find ways of avoiding intrusion on employees' private lives by defining periods when devices can be switched off and no company emails will be sent. The aim is to improve working conditions but also to avoid legal disputes.

Luxembourg’s parliamentary elections in October 2013 removed former Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker from office after 18 years, even though his Christian-Social People’s Party (CSV [1]) topped the polls. Three smaller parties agreed to form a coalition: the liberal Democratic Party (DP [2]); the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP [3]); and The Greens (DG [4]). On 2 December 2013 the coalition introduced a new programme. [1] https://csv.lu/ [2] http://www.dp.lu [3] http://www.lsap.lu/ [4] http://www.greng.lu

Having successfully negotiated national interprofessional agreements on the ‘generation contract’ (*FR1209031I* [1]) in 2012, and on safeguarding jobs (*FR1302011I* [2]) on 11 January 2013, the social partners have completed the negotiation of a major reform of vocational training. Talks started in September 2013 (*FR1310011I* [3]) and concluded on 14 December. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/industrial-relations-undefined/generation-contract-to-benefit-young-and-older-workers [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/industrial-relations-undefined/landmark-agreement-paves-the-way-for-labour-market-reform [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/social-partners-begin-talks-on-vocational-training-reform

Workplace elections are held in Luxembourg every five years. The most recent elections were held on 13 November 2013, and 437,000 employees and retired workers were eligible to vote. , However, the turnout was just 36% (approximately 158,000 people). Just over 700 companies were involved.

On 29 October 2013, French Labour Minister Michel Sapin sent a government statement (in French, 1MB PDF) [1] to the departments of his ministry about the implementation of labour inspectorate reform. The reform was later the subject of a paper on the reform of the labour inspectorate (in French) [2] presented to France’s Council of Ministers on 6 November 2013. [1] http://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/instruction_du_ministre_Ministere_fort.pdf [2] http://www.gouvernement.fr/gouvernement/la-reforme-du-systeme-d-inspection-du-travail

In 2003, after a protracted industrial dispute in the French film industry, the social partners in the live performance and audio-visual sectors were asked to clarify and simplify their collective bargaining system (*FR1202041Q*). Both sectors make extensive use of short-term employment contracts. The request to reform their bargaining procedures came from the Ministry of Labour [1], which also asked the sectors to negotiate eight national collective agreements, including one covering film production. [1] http://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/

The French vocational training system has been described by Labour Minister Michael Sapin as being in ‘a time-worn state’. Companies with 10 or more employees have, since the system was established1971, been compelled to contribute a percentage of their payroll costs to the financing of vocational training. As shown in the table, in 1991 this obligation was extended to businesses with fewer than 10 employees.

The French Labour Ministry’s annual report, Collective Bargaining 2012 (in French, 4.3MB PDF) [1], was published on 2 July 2013 at the National Commission of Collective Negotiations. The report shows that the number of collective agreements has increased at all levels except the national inter-professional level. The report also provides information on key issues and areas of concern, data on the number of agreements concluded and identifies trends in the issues addressed by collective bargaining. [1] http://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/Bilan_NC_en_2012_signets_.pdf

On 10 July 2013, unions and employer organisations in Luxembourg’s construction industry agreed to renew a sectoral collective agreement which covers about 14,000 people.