Social Partners agreed to publish a joint statement on the negative impact of the proposed fiscal rules on local and regional governments and advanced in their discussions on the future negotiations of sectoral guidelines on digitalisation.
Following the article on Iceland, the latest in the series of articles on working time commissioned by EPSU from the Labour Research Department focuses on developments in the other Nordic countries. While several unions in Sweden have put shorter working time on the bargaining agenda (see also article on Sweden in this newsletter), there are only a few cases in social care where a shorter working week has been implemented. In Norway and Denmark the priority has been more to ensure that workers in health and care and other services have the right to full-time working although there are some
Labour movement lobbying helped secure a platform work directive that should provide new rights for millions of workers across Europe. The ETUC and EPSU welcomed the outcome of lengthy negotiations and in particular the inclusion of the presumption of employment in the legislation. This means that Instead of individuals going through lengthy court action to prove they are workers, it will be up to the platforms to prove they are not employees. The directive also recognises the role of trade unions in all aspects of the platform economy, including on issues such as algorithm management. Workers
Next week the final negotiations take place on the Platform workers directive. EPSU joined the other European Federations demanding better rights and protections and for Estonia, France and Greece to stop opposing it.
On 27 February 48 participants gathered in Brussels for the Social Services Working Group to discuss, among other things, European Works Councils in the care sector, staffing levels and digital care platforms.
In a meeting held at the Berlaymont on 19 February, Commissioner Schmit welcomed the EU sectoral agreement on digitalisation and the signatory social partners’ request to implement it through EU legislation.
