The European Commission presented its initiative of a European Pillar of Social Rights. The Pillar is primarily conceived for the euro area but applicable to all EU Member States wishing to be part of it. It sets out 20 key principles and rights to support fair and well-functioning labour markets and welfare systems that are structured around three categories: equal opportunities and access to the labour market; fair working conditions and social protection and inclusion. The European Commission flanks the Pillar with a number of further concrete legislative and non-legislative initiatives such as on the work-life balance of parents and carers, on the information of workers, and on access to social protection and on working time. In a comment, the ETUC appreciated that the Commission considers the need for better enforcement of existing European social legislation and rights, and urged it to bring forward proposals quickly.
English: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main ...
The ETUC comment: https://www.etuc.org/press/no-future-without-more-social-europe ...
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The trade unions are to be given the right to take collective action against workplaces with foreign labour which have not entered into a collective agreement. This will provide better working conditions for employees who come from abroad for a limited time. These amendments to the Posting of Workers Act, the act containing provisions on what applies when foreign companies use posted workers, involve changes to Lex Laval. Lex Laval was introduced in the Posting of Workers Act in 2010, following a judgment from the Court of Justice of the EU on how the Byggnads trade union acted vis-à-vis the Latvian company Laval.
English: http://www.riksdagen.se/en/news/2017/apr/26/greater-opportunities ...
Thermo Fisher Scientific staff at Écublens maintain strike action in response to the decision by the board of the company in the US to ignore a negotiated agreement with trade union UNIA. Some 130 workers are taking part in the action. The earlier agreement was negotiated with the help of the employment office of the canton of Vaud, and met three demands of the union, namely: UNIA must be recognised as a negotiating partner; the consultation period must be prolonged till the end of May; the company must provide all the elements needed for formulation of counter proposals regarding the site delocalisation, as foreseen by law. The US company board rejected the negotiated agreement and refused to accept any compromise. This lack of dialogue and unfounded decision of the management pushed workers to continue their strike.
English: http://www.industriall-union.org/thermo-fisher-workers-fight-for-their-jobs ...
Workers at the Ford plant in Lommel prepare actions after a growing discontent with job descriptions. Part of the Lommel workers came over from the closed Genk plant. Trade unions representatives and experts have examined the job descriptions and formulated suggestions to the management. However, the Ford management so far has neglected the advice. The problems are related to the unequal pay conditions and the scaling. The unions have the impression that the refusal comes from the international Ford management.
English: https://gopressmobility.be/2017/04/25/social-thunder-clouds-fords-proving-ground/
A legal advice of AK Vienna shows that many posted workers receive only one-third of the pay which they are entitled to under the collective agreement. The reports of the enforcement authorities show that tens of thousands of the more than 190,000 work assignments declared as posting or transferring employment in 2016 are in fact equivalent to permanent employment in Austria. These workers are simply redistributed from one foreign company to another. Some of these foreign companies (i.e. in the transport sector) are apparently controlled by Austrian companies and serve exclusively to circumvent labour laws.
German: https://www.arbeiterkammer.at/service/presse/Sicherheit_fuer ...
The trade union federation Travail Suisse reiterated calls for additional measures to help unemployed older workers find a job. Travail Suisse said employees aged over 50 should benefit from special coaching offers and urged regional employment centres to increase efforts to encourage companies to offer jobs for older workers. Nearly 27% of unemployed workers over 50 need more than 12 months to find a job, according to Travail Suisse. Besides, the leading trade union federation SGB/USS has been calling for older workers to benefit from increased legal protection from dismissal at the workplace.
English: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/unemployment_-union-wants-special-coaching ...
German: http://www.sgb.ch/themen/wirtschaft/konjunktur-und-beschaeftigung ...
French: http://www.uss.ch/themes/economie/conjoncture-et-emploi/article ...
Rules that ease the recruitment of foreign labour, which come into effect in April 2017, were approved by the parliament. The changes aim at streamlining the procedure for employing foreigners, mainly seasonal workers who will stay for more than 90 days. The rules also affect employees who arrive in the country as part of inter-corporate transfers. Trade union confederation OZ KOVO has raised serious questions marks. These workers often don’t have the same conditions; the collective agreements don’t apply on them, so it is hard to force the employer to act differently. Though the trade unions do not oppose the plans to hire foreign workers, they claim they should have the same working and salary conditions as all other workers.
English: https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20517234/unions-will-protest-against-new-rules ...
The government is preparing a proposal to award some 300,000 public sector workers a pay rise of 6% over three years as part of a deal on their remuneration. It is also expected to seek significant reform of the pensions for state employees as part of forthcoming talks. Pensions are set to be high on the agenda in talks that will begin after the Public Service Pay Commission issues its report on pay levels across the public service.
English: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/public-service-staff ...
The creation of a Labour Relations Council at state level that already exists in some autonomous regions, is under way. The employers’ organisation CEOE plans to ask its affiliates to bear the expenses generated by the new structure of participation of social partners in public life. However, this proposal has been received with suspicion by the unions, who want the central government to be present in the organism and not depend exclusively on the contributions of companies.
Spanish: http://www.elconfidencial.com/economia/2017-04-24/ceoe-ugt-ccoo-consejo ...
The public employment service, ADEM, revealed that the unemployment rate in March was 6%; 0.5% lower than in March 2016. Since 2002, the growth in employment slowed down and the unemployment rate, which was relatively low until then, accelerated, especially after the start of the financial crisis. However, the rate has been falling constantly over the past 27 months. At the end of March 2017, 5,374 people were allocated to a back to work scheme (2.3% lower than in March 2016 when 5,503 people signed up to the scheme).
English: http://www.wort.lu/en/luxembourg/unemployment-almost-1-000-fewer-people ...
The Bulletin (in French): http://www.statistiques.public.lu/fr/actualites/population/travail ...