Outsourcing, Social Dialogue, Europe

(June 2016) The International Labour Organisation has contributed to the debate around a European pillar of social rights highlighting some of the essential issues such as minimum wages and work-life balance. Above all it agrees with the call from trade unions and employers at European level that "more attention should be paid to recognizing, promoting and respecting social dialogue processes and outcomes." The ILO sees the European Pillar of Social Rights initiative as a unique opportunity to embed effective and inclusive dialogue in the EU governance, raise living standards in the EU and

(July 2016) The ETUC has joined with European employer organisaitons, the European Commission and the Dutch Presidency of the European Council in signing a statement supporting social dialogue at both national and European levels. The statement underlines the importance of the role of social partners, both national and European, in the Semester process and of the need to ensure implementation of European social dialogue agreements at national level. ETUC deputy general secretary Peter Scherrer said that the statement "does not solve the many problems faced by working people today, but it does

(October 2016) A new study from the ETUI trade union research insititute argues that the EU Takeover Bids Directive needs to be revised, as it does not provide an adequate level of workers’ rights in its current form.The report includes case studies of takeovers as well as analyses of national legal frameworks regulating takeovers and of transversal issues related to takeovers.

(March 2017) A new report, produced jointly by the European Commission and the International Labour Organisation, shows that European countries with coordinated bargaining systems have managed to prevent the growth of inequalities on the labour market. At the same time the erosion of collective bargaining in other EU member states has led to more low-paid jobs or increasing inequality among the workforce. The report also looks at a range of other inequalities such as in working time, training etc.

(May 2017) The revised labour code has been a major issue of debate in Lithuania for the last three years. The ETUI research organisation has just published a an update on this and other labour market, industral relations and pensions developments in the country. This is part of the ETUI's Reform Watch website covering all EU Member States.

(June 2017) The IPSO trade union that organises staff at the European Central Bank (ECB) mobilised staff for a demonstration on 7 June in protest at the ECB's long-term use of temporary contracts for staff doing permanent work. IPSO has been pushing for some time now for the Bank to end this practice where some workers have been employed for over five years, in some cases over 10 years, on renewed contracts. In the latest action IPSO also raised objections to the ECB's plans to outsource some services, starting with IT. EPSU sent a message of support.

A new report from the Eurofound research body has confirmed that the EPSU-led TUNED trade union grouping represents the large majority of unionised workers and civil servants in 27 of the 28 EU Member States. Its counterpart, the EUPAE employers' organisation represents 88% of the total EU workforce of 9.8 million in central government administrations. The conclusions strengthen the arguments of the social partners for the European Commission to put forward their agreement on information and consultation to the European Council for transposition into a directive.

The European Commission has informed the social partners in central government administrations that it will not propose their information and consultation agreement to the European Council for implementation as a Directive. This is a major blow to the trade unions and employers in the sector who signed the agreement in December 2015 specifically with a view to having it implemented as a Directive and to fill a gap in existing information and consultation legislation at European level.

Nadja Salson of EPSU policy staff provided some background on the social partner agreement in the European social dialogue committee for Central Government Administrations. This landmark agreement on information and consultation was signed in December 2015 and was intended to fill the gap in the information and consultation directives that had excluded public administration. The trade unions and employers jointly submitted it to the European Commission for eventual transposition into a directive by the European Council. However, the Commission then took over two years to respond, finally

The Eurofound research agency has produced a new report that looks into the links between national and European social dialogue. The report identifies some of the key challenges for ensuring an effective European social dialogue and suggests that it is "worth exploring new forms of knowledge transfer, resources provision or engagement with EU- and national-level social partners." It also says that the European Commission "might be more pro-active in promoting social dialogue, notably through its social dialogue website" and that: "Recent initiatives such as the European Pillar of Social Rights

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has published two reports on collective bargaining and social dialogue. A working paper on social dialogue in public services was published to mark the 40th anniversary of ILO Convention 151 on labour relations in the public services. It covers three of the European social dialogue committees in which EPSU is involved along with examples of how social dialogue works in Italy, Denmark and the Czech and Slovak Republics. The ILO's report on extension of collective agreements provides evidence on the important role that this process can play in reducing

On 17 December the European trade unions and employers in central government administrations signed guidelines on tackling violence and harassment. This extends coverage to 8.9 million public employees and civil servants in addition to the millions of workers who are already covered by the guidelines adopted in 2010 in local and regional government, hospitals, education, commerce, and private security. While not legally binding, the guidelines provide basic yet fundamental guidance on how to put in place a policy and a procedure to prevent and deal with harassment and violent acts, in close

A working paper from the European Trade Union Institute, written by former European Commission official Jean-Paul Tricart, puts the spotlight on the way that the current Commission has followed its predecessor in moving away from a 20-year approach in support of social dialogue. While launching a process aimed ostensibly at the strengthening the social dialogue, the report argues that the current Commission has chosen "at will those outcomes of social dialogue that it would promote and those that it would not, and even those that it would go all out to discourage, lampoon or oppose." This

The ETUC has published a first COVID-19 Watch briefing on social dialogue across Europe. Covering 20 countries, the briefing indicates that in most countries trade unions have been involved in various degrees in consultation and negotiation over emergency measures. This includes Spain and Italy, two of the countries worst hit by the pandemic. In France, the situation is more mixed with some limitation on trade union involvement in discussing key measures. More worrying have been the developments in Croatia, Hungary and Poland. While the Croatian withdrew plans to limit trade union and