The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE) published a study on job quality. In the report, How good is your job? Measuring and assessing job quality, the OECD takes into account factors such as earnings, the working environment, and job security to assess the quality of employment in the various countries. The study focuses on the analysis of data related to these three criteria: the impact of income on employee's well-being, job stability, and quality of the work environment. Looking at job quality outcomes across socio-economic groups provides new insights into labour market inequalities by shedding further light on the nature and depth of the disadvantages faced by some population groups. The worst of are youngsters and low-skilled workers.
English: http://www.oecd.org/employment/labour-stats/Job-quality-OECD.pdf
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The trade union confederation SGB/USS has written an open letter to the government with an extensive comment on the draft act that aims to settle the equal treatment of men and women. The union criticises the voluntary character of the proposed measures. Companies will have to check their wage system on discriminating aspects, but there are no sanctions in case of breaches. According to the union there should be an obligatory wage analysis in all companies monitored by an independent body. Furthermore, the union says that a law without dissuasive penalties is a legal monstrosity.
German: http://www.sgb.ch/fileadmin .
French: http://www.uss.ch/fileadmin .
Thousands of steelworkers and the management of steel producers from across Europe demonstrated against the import of cheap Chinese steel. The protesters hope to convince the European Commission not to recognise China as a market economy. The demonstration coincided with a conference that was held by the European Commission at which the impact of a change to China's status was discussed. The unions stated that if Europe grants market economy status (MES) to a country like China, this will undercut standards at home and prices in its export markets with considerable damage done to the European labour market and continued harm to the global climate and environment.
English: http://www.industriall-europe.eu/news/list3 .
http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/Economy .
Seventy-one construction workers have received blacklisting compensation pay-outs averaging nearly £80,000 each. The £5.6m full and final settlement pay-out is the first tranche of compensation to members of construction trade union UCATT from major contractors caught up in the blacklisting scandal (see earlier Newsletters). Some individual payments among the bricklayers and carpenters were as high as £200,000 to compensate workers for years when they were denied employment. The UCATT members were all claimants in the High Court group litigation, and negotiations for a further 89 workers who were victims of blacklisting are still on going. Other cases involving around 340 blacklisted workers are pending with the backing of the trade unions Unite and GMB. If any of the pending cases are not settled, they will go to trial in May.
English: http://www.bwint.org/default .
Average monthly gross earnings for December 2015 were lower compared to November due to lower extra payments (13th month payments and Christmas bonuses); they amounted to 1,594.93 euro and net to 1,035.58 euro. Average monthly earnings for 2015 in comparison with earnings for 2014 increased in both nominal and real terms. For 2015, average monthly net earnings in the public sector amounted to 1,161.88 euro and in the private sector to 935.78 euro. In comparison with 2014, average monthly net earnings for 2015 were higher in the public sector by 0.8% and in the private sector by 0.3%.
English: http://www.stat.si/StatWeb/en/show .
A bill to legalise drive-sharing services such as Uber, Taxify, Hopp and Wisemile as a new category of service called `negotiated passenger transport' will be discussed at the Parliament. According to the proposed bill, the carrying of passengers for money in a car with up to nine seats is neither public transport nor a taxi service. Estonia could become one of the first EU countries to legalise ride-sharing.
English: http://news.err.ee/v/economy .
Taxi drivers in Copenhagen demonstrated against the ride-hailing company Uber. Around 300 taxi drivers blocked one of the city's central squares, to protest against the controversial practices of the US company. Uber provides carpooling services, where a private person picks customers up in a private car and takes them to their destination for much less than what they would have to pay to a licensed taxi driver. The service is cheaper because Uber drivers do not pay taxes and insurance required for taxi drivers.
English: http://cphpost.dk/news/taxi-drivers-in-copenhagen-demonstrated .
The government confirmed that it had asked the Attorney General to draft amendments to an Industrial Tribunal law after a court found it to be in breach of the constitution. The constitutional court upheld a judgment presented in 2015 by a judge who had ruled that the law which establishes Industrial Tribunal was unconstitutional. It was established that the law establishing the Industrial Tribunal did not guarantee independence and impartiality.
English: http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2016-02-12/local-news/Industrial .
In a series of publication the wage trend is assessed. Wages in 2015 posted their strongest gains in over two decades, a trend that is already bolstering private consumption. Wages were up 2.5% from the previous year, in inflation-adjusted terms, the highest gain since records began in 2008 and a different set of the statistical office Destatis data showed it was also the highest increase since 1992, when wages in East Germany rose sharply following the country's unification. One publication by Destatis provides an overview of the development of collective agreed wages in the second half of 2015. Also included is a selection of the `opening clauses'.
English: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/germanys-workers-enjoy-record-wage-gains .
German: https://www.destatis.de/DE/Publikationen/Thematisch/VerdiensteArbeitskosten .
Female employees will have to wait another two years to find out if they are paid less than their male counterparts as the government unveiled plans for a league table ranking large firms by gender pay gap from 2018. The government had promised to introduce the rules on pay transparency for companies with more than 250 employees in 2016; planned was a disclosure how much in salaries and bonuses is paid to the male and female staff. The league table of around 8,000 firms will be published from 2018, giving firms some time to address the inequality before their data will appear on the list. It is illegal to pay different amounts to men and women doing the same jobs under the Equal Pay Act. But estimates from the Office for National Statistics suggest the pay gap currently stands at 19.2% for full- and part-time workers.
English: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/12/gender-pay-gap-reporting .