An April 1997 Government directive regulating the Portuguese fishing sector
has unleashed major protests by ship-owners and fishing workers, although for
different reasons. The trade unions are trying both to protect fish stocks
and to defend living conditions. The central problem is that, as a
consequence of collective bargaining in the sector, wages and other income
depend directly on the amount of fish caught. In addition, under an agreement
between Portugal and Spain signed in 1985, the Spanish fleet can still fish
without restrictions in Portuguese waters.
Between 12 May and 16 May 1997, transport trade unions throughout Europe
organised boycotts, strikes and demonstrations during the European week of
action against substandard and flag of convenience (FOC) shipping.
Coordinated by the London based International Transport Workers' Federation
(ITF), the action took place against owners of flag of convenience ships in
17 European countries. Suspect ships were tracked from port to port across
the continent. The demand from the ITF was to force shipowners to recognise
unions and to sign up for collective agreements which provide for minimum pay
of USD 1,100 per month, inclusive of 120 hours overtime and five days'
holidays. The ITF intends to enforce international minimum standards of
employment on those shipowners who choose to operate their vessels under
FOCs. The move followed a first week of action in June 1996 which saw 22
separate boycott actions, involving seafarers and dockers, and resulted in
some 43 collective bargaining agreements being signed. In the second week of
action ITF-affiliated trade union inspectors were checking to see that
agreements were being adhered to, as well as inspecting ships where no
approved agreements exist.
Recent studies published in the Netherlands show that discrimination on
grounds of age and other factors occurs frequently in job recruitment and
selection, while inappropriate treatment of applicants is also common.
Following failure to agree in their current round of negotiations, about 400
journalists belonging to the Belgian Union of Professional Journalists
(Algemene Vereniging van Belgische Beroepsjournalisten, AVBB) carried out a
protest on Thursday 5 June 1997 in Brussels. The former collective agreement
had expired in March and negotiations between the journalists and the Belgian
Union of Newspaper Publishers (Belgische Vereniging van Dagbladuitgevers) had
not led to any new agreement.
SAK and TT announced the renewal of their basic agreement on 6 June 1997. The
new agreement permits SAK and TT's member organisations at industry level to
agree on certain issues outside the auspices of the national agreement. The
agreement also states that agreements on subcontracting and hired labour will
include a clause whereby subcontractors or the company responsible for
subcontracting commit themselves to complying with the relevant collective
agreement as well as labour and social legislation. Furthermore, the new
basic agreement includes a section on the notification of political strikes
and sympathy strikes. The period of notification is four days.
At its annual assembly in May 1997, Confindustria, the main Italian
employers' confederation, kept up its pressure on the Government to make
changes to the welfare and social security system.
A reform of Portugal's Statute on Teaching Careers is currently under
negotiation in a context that has favoured strengthening the power of the
teaching trade unions, given that education is one of the Government's
priorities. This feature highlights the strategy employed by the teaching
unions to assume greater control over their profession in terms of autonomy,
social mobility and control of their labour market.
Apprenticeships, together with secondary vocational schools (ninth to 13th
grade, around 15 to 19 years of age), form the backbone of the Austrian
skill-formation system. They are a part of the formal educational structure,
and are usually entered into at the age of 15, after completion of the
compulsory nine years of schooling. They involve an employment relationship
plus formal schooling over a period of three or sometimes four years.
Schooling is for the equivalent of one and a half or two days per week.
Apprentices graduate through a final examination in which they have to prove
their theoretical and practical grasp of the occupation concerned. There are
about 45,000 establishments having certified trainers among their employees.
On 21 May 1997, after five bargaining rounds, the miners' trade union
Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau und Energie (IGBE), the salaried employees'
union Deutsche Angestelltengewerkschaft (DAG) and the Unternehmensverband
Ruhrbergbau (UVR) employers' association for the hard-coal mining industry in
Northrhine-Westphalia, concluded a pilot agreement which covers roughly
75,000 employees in the Northrhine-Westphalia hard-coal mining industry. The
framework for the contents of the agreement was partly set by the "coal
compromise" of 13 March 1997 (DE9703104F [1]).
The aim of the ETUC day of action (EU9704120N [1]) was to mobilise pressure
on the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) (EU9704117F [2]) and the Amsterdam
European Council meeting (EU9706133N [3]) for a strong commitment to
employment creation in the revised European Union (EU) Treaty.
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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