CEEP UK
Newsletter February 2008
CEEP UK
Newsletter January 2008
Equally Diverse : Good Practices in Public Services
Europe
for Employers : Mapping a Maze
CEEP strongly supports the objectives and priorities of the European Year if Equal Opportunities for All. You are able to download the document in PDF format by clicking on the title.
Launched at a conference in Brussels on 4 April 2006, a new CEEP guide on managing demographic change in the workplace advocates a lifecycle approach to workforce management to ensure that skills, competencies and “workability” are maintained throughout an individual’s career. The guide acknowledges that demographic change and the predicted skills and workforce shortages resulting from the decline in labour supply mean that the “culture of early retirement”, which has developed over the last 30 years needs to be challenged seriously.
In the context of the modernisation of public services across the European Union, forward workforce planning is seen to hold the key not only dealing with the challenges of demographic change, but also delivering ever improving services to the public. The guide makes a clear business case for the implementation of active ageing strategies as workforce planning; diversity policy; a preventative and proactive approach to health and safety management; the provision of relevant, high quality ongoing training; the availability of flexible working arrangements and an active social dialogue on key workforce issues are repeatedly shown by good practice to have a positive effect on staff retention, motivation, service quality and productivity.
The guide is published in the context of a forthcoming European Commission Communication on Demographic Change and the inclusion of active ageing as one of the key issues to be discussed by the European cross-sectoral social partners as part of their new work programme agreed in January 2006.
It was prepared as part of a European funded project on “Devising Active Ageing Strategies among Public Sector Employers”. The project was run by CEEP UK with partners in Denmark (Danish State Employers’ Authority) and Germany (Bremer Strassenbahnen).
For further information or copies of the guide, please contact
Tina Weber, European Policy Officer, CEEP UK
Please follow this link to the report on the closing conference
Please follow this link to the “Valuing age” guidance document in English
Please follow this link to the “Valuing age” guidance document in French
Please follow this link to the “Valuing age” guidance document in German
European social partners agree new work programme 2006-2008
On 25 January 2006, the European social partners,
CEEP, ETUC and UNICE/UEAPME agreed on their second autonomous work programme.
The programme emphasises the priorities of the Lisbon strategy and will include
a joint analysis of important issues such as dealing with the impact of
demographic change; migration and mobility; the balance between flexibility and
security and undeclared work. The work programme also contains a commitment to
enter into negotiations on the subject of harassment and violence in the
workplace and on either lifelong learning or the integration of disadvantaged
groups into the labour market. The European Commission has warmly welcomed the
adoption of this work programme.
Stalemate on revision of Working
Time Directive
UK to take over Presidency of the
European Union
European
Parliament Committee calls for end to opt-out of working time regulations
Commission issues new “Integrated Guidelines”
on growth and employment
Commission proposes to allocate up
to €11.3bn to regions and people affected by restructuring
CEEP
welcomes European Parliament Report on Services Directive
New guidance on managing stress at work was launched on 13 July 2005 by the social partners (CBI, TUC, CEEP UK and FPB), DTI and HSE. The new booklet aims to raise awareness of the issue of work-related stress, which costs British business £3.7 billion each year, and will act as a tool to help business to deal with the problem.
The guide stems from a European social partner agreement signed last year and defines stress at work, outlines the existing UK and European legislation in this area and acts as a compilation of practical resources to prevent and manage stress in the workplace. Employment Relations Minister Gerry Sutcliffe today welcomed new guidance saying “This new guidance brings together the experience of both business and unions and offers a practical approach on how business and their employees can deal with work-related stress”.
Charles Nolda, who represented CEEP on the team which agreed the European level guidance, emphasised that CEEP UK was pleased to be associated with this document. “The guide itself may not break new ground in the prevention and treatment of work-related stress but it is of great importance that the unions, the employers the HSE and the dti are all publicly committing themselves to the same messages: stress is a problem that needs to be taken seriously in the workplace and good people management is the best method of prevention and treatment”.
The guidance, the first of its kind dealing with stress, has been produced by the CBI, TUC, the Forum of Private Business and CEEP UK in conjunction with the DTI and Health & Safety Executive.
For copies of the guidance please contact Tina.Weber@lge.gov.uk
For information on the HSE’s Management Standards for stress see http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/
Meeting on 2-3 June 2005, European Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs failed to agree on amended Commission proposals for the amendment of the European Working Time Directive. Following the adoption of its report the initial Commission proposals by the European Parliament (reported in a previous news item), the European Commission issued a new compromise proposal, which was the subject of discussions at the ministerial meeting in Luxembourg.
The new Commission text essentially proposed the following:
(see also http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2005:0246:FIN:EN:PDF):
Social Affairs Ministers were unable to reach consensus on this amended draft with two blocking minorities on either side. The main area of disagreement remains the opt-out, with France and other Member States keen to see this abolished altogether. The provision regarding the ability of Member States to apply for further extensions to opt-out provisions beyond 2012 was seen to provide insufficient legal certainty.
It now appears increasingly likely that this stalemate will continue unless the package is split with the opt-out and on-call time issues being dealt with separately. CEEP had proposed this option early in the discussions, but the Dutch and Luxembourg Presidencies had opposed this approach. In addition, it must be remembered that the revision of the Directive must follow the co-decision procedure which requires agreement between the Council and the European Parliament. This currently seems a long way off.
The UK will take over the rotating Presidency of the European Union from Luxembourg on 1 July 2005. The government has highlighted that it aims to run an “impartial and even handed Presidency”, seeking to build consensus with the following Presidency countries on a number of issues, including economic reform, security, climate change and relations between richer and poorer nations (and in particular with Africa).
However, it currently appears more likely that discussions will be dominated by the aftermath of the French and Dutch “no” votes on the European constitution and the thorny issue of the EU budget and the UK rebate.
In relation to social affairs issues, the UK Presidency is planning a number of events in the coming 6 months, including a conference on “high performance workplaces” on 15th and 16th September; a conference on “social dialogue” on 17th November and an event on Corporate Social Responsibility on 1st and 2nd December 2005.
Further information on the UK Presidency can be found on the following websites:
Foreign Office http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1056723959549&a=Page
DTI http://www.dti.gov.uk/ewt/eu_pres.htm
Cabinet office http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/europe/presidency/index.asp
At its April session, the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee adopted a report Alejandro Cercas, which called for the right of individual workers to opt-out of the maximum 48 hour working week to be scrapped three years after the new Working Time Directive enters into force. In doing so, it departed from the text put forward by the European Commission, which proposed to retain the individual opt-out while tightening up conditions for its application.
Similarly, on the issue of on-call working, the Committee disagreed with the Commission’s proposal for the “inactive part” of on call time not to be counted as working time. Instead, it wants on-call hours to be counted as working time in most cases, albeit allowing Member States to calculate such inactive parts of on-call time in special ways in order to comply with the maximum weekly average working time.
MEPs in the Committee called for working hours to be organised in such a way as to give employees opportunities
for life-long learning and to reconcile work and family life. They insist that
workers with more than one contract of employment should also be covered by the
Directive. Further information can be obtained on http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+NR-20050421-1+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&L=EN&LEVEL=2&NAV=X&LSTDOC=N#SECTION1.
The Committee’s report will now be submitted for discussion in the Plenary of
the European Parliament. A first discussion is forecast for the session on 10
May 2005. The European Social Affairs Council is expected to discuss the matter
at its meeting in June 2005.
CEEP supports the
Commission’s proposals in relation to the retention of the opt-out and has
repeatedly called for the inactive part of on-call time not to be counted
towards the limits set in the Working Time Directive.
The European Commission published its new package of Integrated Guidelines on 12 April 2005. The new three-year package for 2005-2008 sets out priorities for macro- and micro-economic policies and employment measures designed to stimulate growth and employment creation at a time when the progress made in the late 1990s and early 2000s appears to have faltered. The aim is to keep the European Union on track to reach the Lisbon targets for growth and employment by 2010, after Member States and social partners had given their full support to the re-launched Lisbon Strategy at the Spring Summit of 22/23 March 2005.
According to the European Commission, the six macro-economic policy guidelines are designed to secure stability over the economic cycle, as well as economic sustainability in the face of ageing populations. Particular emphasis is placed on Member States maintaining their medium term budgetary objectives over the economic cycle; reigning in public sector borrowing; reforming health care, social protection and pension systems to ensure that they are financially viable in the context of demographic change; ensuring that wage developments contribute to macro-economic stability and growth; the efficient allocation of resources; and a dynamic and well-functioning Economic and Monetary Union.
Among the nine micro-economic guidelines, particular emphasis is given to the completion of the internal market; the encouragement of more competition; the generation of a more attractive environment for businesses and small and medium size enterprises in particular; increasing and improving investment in R&D and innovation and encouraging the sustainable use of resources.
The eight guidelines targeted at improving employment policy and performance pick up on the key themes from the 2003 report of the Employment Task Force chaired by Wim Kok. They call upon Member States to implement employment policies aimed at achieving full employment, improving quality and productivity at work and strengthening regional and social cohesion. In order to address demographic changes and increase labour market participation rates among women, the Guidelines call for a “lifecycle approach to work” which supports the reconciliation of work and family life, as well as active ageing policies. Furthermore the employment related guidelines call for further reforms to Public Employment Services to improve job matching functions; improvements in the provision of lifelong learning and the relevance of training. Systems of labour regulation should contribute to an appropriate balance between flexibility and security to allow for job creation.
When drafting their “national reform programmes” on the basis of these guidelines, Member States are called upon to involve social partners, local and regional government and civil society in this process. For more information see http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2005/apr/guidelines_en.html.
In a new Communication on restructuring and employment
dated 31 March 2005, the European Commission sets out plans to allocate up to
€11.3bn to regions and people affected by economic change in the context of
growing global competition. The Commission proposes to streamline existing
policies, increase funding and to refocus existing funding to help regions and
individuals affected by restructuring adapt and generate and find new
employment. For this purpose it also calls for social dialogue to be
strengthened, including within transnational for a for
information and consultation. The document has therefore also been issued as a
second stage consultation of the social partners on restructuring and European
Works Councils.
The Commission
proposes establishing a 'growth adjustment' fund of around €1bn (annually) to
provide support to areas affected by restructuring. It also proposes that Member
States hold a reserve for unforeseen restructuring consequences of up to 1% of
the 'convergence' and 3% of the 'competitiveness' budgets (around €2.6bn and
€1.7bn respectively). Over the period 2007-2013, the cumulative possible
contribution from these sources is up to €11.3bn. Structural funding will focus
on key objectives such as increasing adaptability or workers and enterprises,
preventing unemployment and promoting partnership. In the least prosperous
regions, the Structural Funds will concentrate on promoting growth, job
creation and dealing with structural adjustment.
For further information see http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2005/apr/restructuring_en.html.
CEEP has welcomed the first part of the European Parliament’s Report on the European Commission’s draft Services Directive. One of the most controversial initiatives of recent times, the Commission’s proposals for a Directive to reduce obstacles to the freedom of establishment of service providers and the freedom of movement of services between Member States were first published in early 2004 and immediately attracted severe criticism from trade unions, CEEP and various national governments.
Most controversial among the provisions of the draft Directive were:
The first report by Evelyne Gebhart (rapporteur of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection) highlights the main legal and conceptual problems it considers underlie the proposed Commission draft. These relate among other things to potential conflicts with existing legislation such as the posting of workers directive (which calls for the host country’s terms and conditions to be applied to posted workers – rather than those of the country of origin) and pre-dating sectoral regulations governing services such as transport.
The report calls upon the Commission to withdraw or substantially redraft its proposal to clarify issues such as:
The
European Commission has already undertaken to revise its draft. For further
information see http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/PR/562/562261/562261en.pdf.
Meeting on the 22nd and 23rd March
2005 in Brussels, European Heads of State agreed to provide renewed impetus to
the Lisbon strategy, which aims to make Europe “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world,
capable of sustainable growth with more and better jobs and greater social
cohesion". The focus over the coming years is to lie firmly on growth and
employment. The main elements of the approach recommended by the Commission
document on the mid-term review of the Lisbon agenda, issued in early March (see http://europa.eu.int/growthandjobs/pdf/COM2005_024_en.pdf) are:
The European Council also adopted measures to improve the governance of the Lisbon strategy. Emphasising a more focused and streamlined approach, this new system of governance is to commence in 2005 with a three-year cycle to be renewed in 2008.
The Summit was otherwise dominated by discussions on the controversial Services Directive. Proposed by the Commission in early 2004 with the aim of providing a legal framework to eliminate obstacles to freedom of establishment for service providers and free movement of services, the draft Directive was dogged from its inception by criticisms. CEEP’s concerns primarily focussed on:
In response to the many criticisms levied against the Directive from social partners and various Member States, the Council has agreed to work on a new draft which will take into account the above mentioned concerns. More information on the proposed Services’ Directive can be found on the Europa website http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/services/services/index.htm
In a joint declaration to the Spring Council, the European social partners, ETUC, UNICE/UEAPME and CEEP underlined their continued support for the goals of the Lisbon strategy (for the full text of the joint declaration see http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2005/mar/lisbon_review_en.pdf).
They aim to make their own contribution to these goals through the process of autonomous and tripartite social dialogue and presented four joint documents to the summit to underline this commitment:
Throughout 2005, the social partners will continue to implement actions foreseen in their autonomous 3-year work programme adopted in 2002 (e.g. joint seminars and harassment and violence at work; the challenges of demographic ageing; and undeclared work), as well as negotiating on new priorities and a work programme for the coming years.
On 16 March 2005, the European Commission issued a Green Paper on “Confronting demographic change: a new solidarity between the generations” (see http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2005/mar/comm2005-94_en.pdf). The document sets out the challenges for European societies, labour markets, social care and social protection systems resulting from the demographic ageing of the population. At the same time, new and improved opportunities have to be offered to young workers seeking a first foothold in the labour market. The Green Paper acts as a consultation document with views sought from social partners as well as civil society on how best to achieve an “intergenerational contract” by September 2005. CEEP is currently actively engaged in seeking, developing and disseminating good practice in the management of an ageing workforce with two ongoing projects European Commission funded projects. This work will involve a survey of CEEP membership; action research within various public sector employer organisations; peer review meetings and the drafting of advice, guidance and best practice documents. More information on these initiatives can be found in the “Policies” section of this website.
Meeting on 15 March 2005, Members of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee of the European Parliament discussed a draft report by the Committee’s rapporteur for the dossier, Alejandro Cercas, regarding the amendment of the European Working Time Directive. Under discussion since 2003, the revision of the Working Time Directive is crucial in deciding whether the inactive part of on-call working time is to be considered as working time towards the 48-hour threshold. Rulings by the European Court of Justice in the SiMAP and Jaeger cases led to all on-call time spent on an employers’ premises being counted as working time, causing significant problems particularly for the provision of essential health and social care services. Also being debated is future of the opt-out provisions and the issue of compensatory rest. CEEP supports proposals by the European Commission, which would mean that the inactive part of on call time would not be considered as working time and opt-out provisions would be tightened to prevent abuse, rather than abolished entirely. For more information, see the March 2005 Newsletter.
In agreeing their latest voluntary framework agreement, a Framework of Actions on Gender Equality, the European social partners are sending a clear signal regarding the importance of reducing remaining gender gaps in employment. In March 2005, CEEP, UNICE/UEAPME and CEEP agreed on a document which sets out four priority areas for actions by their national member organisations over the coming five years. This Framework of Actions, which is now to be approved by each organisation’s statutory bodies, calls for initiatives seeking to reduce sectoral and occupational segregation in the labour market; address the so called “glass ceiling”; improve work life balance for both men and women; and to reduce the gender pay gap. For more information, see the March 2005 Newsletter.
European Commission publishes ambitious 5-year programme of initiatives in the area of employment and social affairs
On 9 February 2005, the European Commission published its “Social Policy Agenda” – effectively its mission statement in the area of employment and social affairs for the next 5-year period. The document contains over 30 individual proposals for new and revised legislation as well as other policy initiatives, ranging from an assessment of new patterns of work and the resulting requirement for new employment legislation to proposals for a voluntary European framework for transnational collective bargaining. The Commission also proposes to review or rationalise existing legislation on employee information and consultation, collective redundancies and transfer of undertakings. CEEP has expressed concern that few of proposed initiatives are in line with the recommendations of the European Employment Task Force which emphasised the need to create a flexible labour market, providing employment opportunities for all and emphasising the importance of lifelong learning to ensure adaptability and employability. For more information, see the March 2005 Newsletter.
On
27 January 2005, the European Commission published its draft Joint Employment Report
(JER, part of the Implementation Package of the European Employment Strategy).
Once approved, this draft is due to be submitted to the Spring Council and will
feed into the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy.
The
structure of the report reflects the priorities agreed by the European
Employment Task force (in its report published in November 2003 entitled Jobs,
Jobs, Jobs) and focuses on what member states have done to implement these
priorities.
The
JER draws two key conclusions:
1.
unless there are substantial reforms the 70% overall
employment target and the target for the participation of older workers will
not be met by 2010 (the target for the employment of women is more achievable).
Everyone needs to do more.
2.
The EU has seen a concerning slowdown in productivity growth which must be
addressed.
Then
the report goes on to classify three key areas: one where implementation of the
guidelines has largely been good, one where it is bad and one where it is in
between. Only the first two were presented.
The
good:
·
most countries have introduced
measures on making work pay (mostly through changes to tax rather than benefit
systems)
·
most countries have reformed their
public employment services to meet the needs of the labour
market
·
most countries have elaborated life
long learning strategies (but there appears to be a lack of implementation -
see below)
·
measures have
been introduced to help the development of
SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and create an employment friendly
environment.
The
ugly:
-
there are too few initiatives on the
key challenge of active ageing which is an important barrier to achieving
Lisbon targets)
-
there have
been insufficient reforms to encourage investment in human capital
(particularly with regard to innovative measure to share costs between the
individual, public authorities and companies - here Europe lags far behind its
competitors.
-
countries are not taking the need to
address the gender pay gap seriously
-
not enough is done to target
undeclared work (particularly in countries where the rate is high)
-
not
enough is done to anticipate and manage change.
For further information see the March 2005 Newsletter.
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