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 Union Learning – Adding Value to the Union Card Union Learning: adding value to the union card Education, Learning and Skills Forum Learning and Skills for All Fund 2009 - Manchester Launch Event Learning and Skills for All Fund 2009 - Lancashire Launch Event Learning and Skills for All Fund 2009 - Cumbria Launch Event Learning and Skills for All Fund 2009 - Chester Launch Event Learning and Skills for All Fund 2009 - Merseyside Launch Event  |
TUC Education European ReviewNumber Issue 40 October 2007 Welcome to the fourteenth issue of the new-look European Review which will be emailed four times a year as a supplement to those registered to receive TUC Education Update. A hard copy will also be posted to Union Education Officers, TUC course co-ordinators and tutors. Everyone with an interest in European affairs as they affect trade unionists, can still access the magazine online at http://www.tueip.dircon.co.uk/ or at http://www.unionlearn.org.uk/education/index.cfm?mins=88
Bargaining round upAFTER DEVASTATING NEWS OF REDUNDANCIES for General Motors workers in Antwerp, strikes and negotiations resulted in a settlement which was generally welcomed by unions. When the company announced, in April, that the new 'Astra' model would not be produced at the Belgian factory a series of protest actions, including a two-week strike, led to a reduction in the number of redundancies as well as improved terms for those laid off. Unusually, 400 temporary employees will receive redundancy payments while permanent workers over 50 can take early retirement on up to 89% of their final wage. Younger volunteers qualify for a severance payment up to a maximum of €144,000, if they have 25 years service. A total of 2,200 will leave the plant. Other employers and some politicians called the deal 'immoral' and said that it sent the 'wrong signal' as regards a 'Generation Pact'. ANOTHER SERIES OF PROTESTS HAS LED to a deal in Spain between unions, local government and the American multi-national auto parts manufacturer Delphi. After announcing the closure of its Cadiz factory a rolling campaign of strikes and protest marches strengthened the hand of unions so that Delphi agreed to fund redundancy pay to the tune of €120 million (a maximum of €200,000 per worker), to hand over the factory, its machinery and land (valued at €160 million) and to retain €200 million of debt in the company. As the UGT union and the Andalusia regional government hailed the agreement as showing that company relocation had a cost, it was reported that Delphi were to open a new factory in Tangier, Morocco some 60 miles away. TROUBLED GERMAN CERAMICS FIRM Villeroy and Boch are facing further difficult negotiations with trade unions in Luxembourg after two rounds of lay-offs in 2003 and 2006. After suggesting that they re-employ some former workers on temporary contracts, they rejected union demands that the re-recruits should receive wage bonuses. For their part the LGGB union federation determined not to be as conciliatory as in the past when, in a desire to find reasonable solutions, it feels it has taken responsibility for the mistakes of an intransigent management. After six months of talks there has merely been an interim agreement to extend the previous, expired deal until the end of this year. Work-life balance: unions and employers have another say'RECONCILIATION OF WORK, PRIVATE AND FAMILY LIFE' is the term used by the EU as a catch-all for subjects usually coming under the heading of work-life balance in the UK. As part of a wider consideration of the ageing of the European population, the demographic 'time-bomb', the EU Commission asked employers and trade unions if they thought changes were needed to legislation in this area. Most organisations replying were in favour of some sort of action though they differed on the exact form that this should take. The Commission concluded that new laws were necessary and, as they were bound to do by EU treaty provisions, launched a second round of consultations to fill in the details. They asked how child care and services for the disabled and elderly could be promoted and increased, good practice be publicised, men persuaded to take up the benefits already available to them and work flexibility further developed and promoted. Now the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and Business Europe, for the employers, have responded. At this stage of the process the Commission is encouraging the social partners to agree a deal which takes the place of legislation, as they did recently on harassment at work, but it seems that their positions are too far apart to make this likely. Business Europe acknowledges 'that reconciliation of work, private and family life is an important issue in the current context of insufficient labour market participation of women and demographic ageing' but prefers action at 'national, sectoral, regional and/or company levels' rather than 'a one-size-fits-all regulatory approach from the EU'. The ETUC, on the other hand, go along with many of the legislative changes that the Commission envisages and would go further on topics such as educational leave which they have not taken up. The strengthening of maternity leave provision, new rights to paternity and adoption leave, assigning some parental leave to fathers and paying them to take it are all Commission suggestions which find favour with the unions. The employers, however are 'extremely concerned that the Commission seems to pre-suppose that new challenges are best met by legislation at EU level'. There is one possible avenue that may lead to a deal: ETUC and Business Europe have agreed to jointly assess the progress of the EU gender equality framework. The unions intend to take up the issues of parental leave, flexible working and child care as part of this process. EU Commission exposes anti-discrimination law loopholes, plans to go furtherSINCE THE AMSTERDAM treaty of 1997 the EU has passed a number of laws that touch on the subject of discrimination. However the two main directives were an Employment Framework and one on Racial Equality. The latest date for implementing the first into national legislation was 2006 but the second should have been passed by all Member States by July 2003. Yet the Commission believes that at least 14 countries, including the UK, have not done this correctly. It has decided to send a 'reasoned opinion' to the laggards giving them two months to respond, failing which the matter will be referred to the European Court of Justice. One of the most common problems is national laws that only cover discrimination in the workplace whereas the racial equality directive also concerns social security, education and access to goods and services, including housing. Other divergences from the EU directives have been found in the definitions of indirect discrimination and harassment and inconsistencies in measures designed to help victims. 'The right to be treated equally is a fundamental right, but every day across the EU people face discrimination in jobs, schools, shops, housing and healthcare because of the colour of their skin,' said Vladimír Špidla, the EU commissioner for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities. The Commission is planning to go further. The present directive based on the Employment Framework, which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation is limited to the workplace at the moment. Now a public consultation has been launched to see how best to extend the law to other areas of society, 'We want to hear the views of as many people as possible on how to take on discrimination effectively in areas such as healthcare, education and housing' said Commissioner Špidla. Next year it is hoped that new proposals will be put forward to deal with a widespread belief (64% of respondents in a recent Eurobarometer survey) that discrimination is still a problem in EU countries. Portugal to crack the tough nuts as EU PresidentPORTUGAL BEGAN ITS SIX MONTH stint as the presidency of the EU in July and appears to be determined to make progress on two of the most contentious and long-lived problems among Member States. Both the possible amendment of the Working Time Directive and the framing of a new Temporary Work Agency law are of crucial importance for workers, particularly in the UK, and both have been frozen as agreement has proved impossible. Discussions on temporary agency work go back at least six years and the review of the Working Time Directive began in 2003. On both fronts the UK has played a decisive part in the defence of things as they are. Originally Britain was the only country to make use of opt-out clauses which allowed employees to work more than 48 hours per week and it has also led a 'blocking minority' of countries opposed to regulation of the work agencies sector which employs more people in the UK than in any other Member State.
Will Britain's stressed-out workers get EU relief? During the Finnish presidency at the end of last year a breakthrough on working hours seemed imminent after the UK had been offered 60 hours as a weekly maximum but other countries objected to the fact that the deal left it up to Britain when to end the opt-out (see issue 36). On temporary agency work the stumbling block has been the so-called 'grace period' during which it will be permissible to pay an agency worker less than permanent employees doing the same job. The EU Commission suggested six weeks but some of the nay-saying countries wanted twelve months or more. The Portuguese government is now holding talks with the 'difficult' countries to try to make sure that any compromise they propose has a chance of being accepted. One factor spurring them on is a court decision dating from 2003; in the Jaeger case (see issue 25) a German doctor's complaint that being 'on-call' should be counted as working time was upheld. EU governments were expected to have to recruit extra medical staff, fire-fighters and teachers to keep the maximum working week to below 48 hours or apply for a UK-style opt-out. However nothing has happened so far despite a threat by the Commission to discipline those Member States still operating the old on-call arrangements. Now the EU ombudsman has increased the pressure by notifying the European Parliament that the matter has not been satisfactorily resolved. Nikiforos Diamandouros said he 'considered that the commission was not entitled indefinitely to postpone dealing with the complaint on the grounds that the directive may be amended at some time in the future'. The Portuguese intend to continue talking with a view to bringing up these issues formally in December. Globalisation fund makes first paymentsTHE EUROPEAN GLOBALISATION FUND, which was agreed by EU leaders in 2006, began operation at the start of the year. It is designed to help workers retrain if they have been made redundant by changes in the patterns of world trade such as increased import of a particular product or a sudden decline in EU market share. As France was in the forefront of the campaign to set up the fund it is not surprising that the French government was the first to apply, receiving a total of nearly four million euros for ex-employees of Peugeot-Citroen and Renault. Now Germany and Finland have been granted a contribution to retraining workers from BenQ and Perlos respectively. These companies, both in the mobile phone sector, have closed plants in Europe to relocate to Asia. 3,300 former employees of BenQ subsidiary companies in Germany will be aided in re-integrating into the labour market by €12.8 million from the EU pot and about 1,000 redundant Finnish Perlos workers can use €2 million from the fund. Albanian TU HQ seized as strike goes onWE REPORTED IN OUR LAST ISSUE on the hunger strike that had secured a deal in an Albanian chromium mine where pay and conditions were so poor that several fatalities had occurred. Unfortunately this did not prove to be a happy ending; in August the building occupied by both trade union federations was entered by the police who damaged and removed property, barring union officials. During the following week miners' union official Zamir Hysa was killed in an accident at the mine and the strike was renewed. In September the new Austrian-Russian owners professed themselves 'shocked' by the accidents and pledged €3 million in investment. Finally, in October the Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, became involved, telling miners' representatives that it was a government priority to ensure standards of work safety and promising to keep the facility closed until all violations had been addressed and the culprits brought to justice. EU migrant workers face 'appalling treatment' in UKRECENT COURT CASES, SURVEYS AND television programmes have all confirmed the resilience of abusive employers in Britain who exploit migrant workers, many of them from the new EU Member States. Despite the Gangmasters Act, the recruitment drive by trade unions and agreements such as that between the government, CBI and TUC to 'ensure that the contribution made by workers from overseas is both recognised and enhanced to the full' (see issue 32), there is plenty of evidence of mistreatment. The Unite union has won a case in Cheshire against an employment agency who maintained a 'tied cottage' system and evicted a group of Polish workers after sacking them. By inserting bogus provisions into their contract of employment which purported to allow them to refuse work or work for other employers the 'Consistent' agency tried to claim that they were self-employed, thereby reducing their entitlements. According to the chairman of the Employment Appeals Tribunal the agency wanted 'compliant people through whom they could meet the demands of their clients. But they did not want people with expensive and troublesome rights'. Thousands of agency workers will now be entitled to greater employment rights.
An even worse case came before the new Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) who immediately revoked the licence of Baltic Work Team Ltd. The company had not paid 40 Bulgarian agricultural workers for 35 days, leaving them to scavenge the potatoes and courgettes that they were employed to pick. Chairman Paul Whitehouse said 'The GLA was set up to curb the exploitation of workers and in the case of Baltic Work Team Ltd, we had to take action immediately to protect the workers'. New TUC research suggests that such employment practices are by no means rare. In a survey of Polish and Lithuanian workers who requested a rights leaflet, over half said that they had had some kind of problem at work. A quarter had no written contract of employment and slightly more had experienced trouble with payment such as 'not being paid for hours worked, discrepancies between pay and payslips, unauthorised deductions, and errors in pay calculation'. 31% were living in accommodation linked to their employers which, many said, meant that they had little control over their working hours. Although only 3% of respondents were members of a trade union 54% expressed an interest in joining one; those that were already members were much more likely to have a written contract. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber reacted strongly to the survey conclusions: 'This study reveals systematic abuse of migrant workers which is tantamount to modern day slavery ... the full force of the law should be used against those profiting from such appalling ill treatment'. German workers fed up with workA NEW SURVEY IN GERMANY has revealed that every third employee is discontented with their job and does not think that they will be able to carry on until retirement age. Only 1 in 8 workers reported themselves happy in their work in the research conducted for the German trade union federation, DGB. Temporary workers recorded the lowest levels of satisfaction with stress, bad management and low pay the most common gripes. Engineers were the happiest while, in general, the lower the qualification needed for a job the worse the pay and the poorer the working conditions experienced. Unions backed the results as support for their campaign against the government's raising of the retirement age from 65 to 67 and for a statutory minimum wage. DGB head Michael Sommer said the survey was 'further proof of the miserable conditions in the low-wage sector'. The German government has stalled on a pay minimum while average net wages have fallen to the lowest level in 20 years. Lithuanian TU membership boomsRAPID ECONOMIC GROWTH allied to worker migration since the Baltic countries joined the EU in 2004 has led to labour shortages and rising wages. Last year the average gross salary in Lithuania rose by 20% but the public sector recorded practically no increase; collective bargaining only existing in education and healthcare. The percentage of employees working for the state has fallen from 34% to 26.3% over the last six years due to an exodus to the private sector. However, after a group of public sector workers failed to persuade the Constitutional Court to rule in their favour and increase pay, a series of new trade unions were founded. Workers in the prosecution service, tax inspectorate and the statistical department unionised themselves. Added to these new, independent organisations, the established unions have recorded membership gains of up to 40% in one year. In May the three Lithuanian confederations signed a declaration of co-operation to avoid competition for new members. Gender pay gap persists as EU condemns 'absurd situation'After numerous reports and much research both in the UK and the EU generally, it cannot be news to anyone that women earn less than men. Now the Commission has had another go at examining the gender pay gap and proposing actions to improve things. IN THE EUROPEAN REVIEW ISSUE 34 we outlined the 'Roadmap for Equality Between Men and Women 2006-10' which was a wide ranging attempt by the EU Commission to promote gender equality. One of its main aims however was the elimination of the pay differential which a report, published at the same time, estimated at 15%. One and a half years later things have not improved and the Commission has decided to re-iterate the problem and try to point the way towards its resolution. 'Tackling the pay gap between women and men' analyses the reasons for the discrepancy. While there is blatant discrimination, the document details more 'hidden' factors. These can include job segregation when women are concentrated in the public sector health and education fields and under-represented in financial services. In the latter the famous 'glass ceiling' applies as women stay near the bottom of a wage structure which hugely rewards those in decision-making positions. Stereotypes and tradition can lead to physical strength being more highly prized than inter-personal skills where women and men have broadly similar qualifications, thus a storekeeper may earn more than a cashier. Responsibility for work at home among couples is still overwhelmingly unbalanced; on average even a woman who works full-time spends 24 hours on unpaid tasks per week as opposed to the 7 hours that fall to the man. This leads to a greater proportion of female employment in part-time jobs (33% compared to 8% for men) and greater use of career breaks, both hampering career development. Having detailed the problem the report moves on to consider how it might be reduced, 'not possible ... if we do not help out more at home' according to Employment Commissioner Špidla, if not solved. Apart from men doing more work around the house the Commissioner identifies four main areas for action: ensuring better application of existing legislation, using Member States' employment strategies with EU funding, promoting equal pay among employers and involving unions and employers in exchanging good practice. The original treaty which founded what is now the EU in 1957 stipulated that men and women should receive equal pay for equal work. A 1975 directive and a body of case law having failed to remedy matters, the report recommends greater publicity to inform people of their rights such as not to be discriminated against, positive action to attract women into sectors of the economy where they are lacking and possible new laws to ensure work/life balance. The European Strategy for Growth and Jobs includes reducing the pay gap as a guideline but the report rues the fact that only two countries have set targets for this and that statistics are often late and inconsistent, urging Member States to make use of the European Social Fund. The Commission argues that employers should adopt equal pay, not only for ethical reasons, but to unlock the potential of their staff. Corporate Social Responsibility should also be used as a lever to encourage them. Also national public authorities can play a part by making sure that the pay gap is reduced among their own employees and by firms that they contract to provide services. As regards the social partners, the report praises their 2005 'Framework of Actions on Gender Equality' signed by European employers and unions. ETUC General Secretary John Monks welcomed the Commission's initiative while stressing the importance of collective bargaining. Given that girls consistently do better at school than boys and women now account for 60% of those leaving university it is to be hoped that these plans will change Mr. Špidla's 'absurd situation'. Irish labour courts working flat out on agreement breachesIn Ireland the Labour Court performs a variety of functions including resolution of disputes relating to industrial relations, equality, working time, the minimum wage, part-time and fixed-term work. Recently the enforcement of registered employment agreements has taken up much of its time. With no equivalent in the United Kingdom the existence of the Irish Labour Court is seen as conducive to industrial relations stability by ensuring justice and consistency. When a collective agreement is made between a trade union and an employer it can be registered with the court and so be made legally binding. The decision of the court not only applies to the parties concerned but to all companies and workers in the same sectorof the economy. There are currently 45 of these REAs, with the most important including those for the construction, electrical contracting and printing industries. Last year 43% of cases referred to the court were complaints by unions that companies had broken an REA, up from 1% in 2000. According to the chair of the court, Kevin Duffy, the increase is due to more assiduous monitoring of employer compliance by unions. The demands on the Labour Court by this type of case are added to by disputesinvolving trade union members in firms that do not recognise their union for negotiation purposes. The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act of 2001 allows the court to impose binding terms and conditions to resolve such disputes. It made 37 recommendations in 2006 but according to Mr. Duffy, 'apart from the numbers, the nature of such cases demands an input by the Court unlike that required in other industrial relations cases'. However the numbers may reduce from now on as the Irish Supreme Court ruled that its procedures were flawed in a case brought by pilots at Ryanair against the company. Ryanair had challenged the Labour Court's right to intervene in the dispute. Nonetheless, in 2006 fewer working days were lost to industrial disputes in Ireland than in any year since the 1920's which suggests that the Labour Court is playing its part in maintaining the country's industrial peace. BASED ON ARTICLES IN EUROPEAN EMPLOYMENT REVIEW Recent rulings from the European Courts'Reasonably practicable' still legal The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has upheld the UK's approach to health and safety law which requires employers to ensure the health and safety of their employees only 'so far as is reasonably practicable'. The EU Commission had contended that its directive, passed in 1989, had not been properly implemented in the UK because the provision constituted a loophole allowing companies to claim that safety measures involved too much time, trouble or money to be 'reasonable'. However the ECJ considered that the directive's aim was not to enforce a 'no-fault liability' on employers but only to ensure a safe workplace in general. The decision was backed by the TUC's Hugh Robertson who stressed that 'what really matters is the implementation of the existing laws on the ground'. Sympathy strikes allowed in Germany German courts have long interpreted the country's constitution as banning secondary industrial action but a recent case against the trade union Ver.di has been lost on appeal, opening the door to sympathy strikes. By calling out 20 printers in support of journalists working for a sister company the union acted in a 'proportionate' way according to the Federal Labour Court. ECJ to rule on French Ryanair case Budget airline Ryanair has lost a case before France's supreme administrative court and will appeal to the ECJ. They argued that their workers in France were 'posted' from the company base in Ireland and therefore were covered by the 1996 EU directive on posted workers. This lays down minimum standards for their employment based on the law of the host country. However the court upheld the precedence of a national law that decrees that employees who work in a 'habitual, stable and continuous fashion on French territory' are subject to the entire French labour code. Spain to clamp down on workplace accidentsWITH BRITISH OCCUPATIONAL ACCIDENT figures under scrutiny following an increase in deaths at work last year, the experience of our EU partners is worthy of examination. Ireland has already reversed its US-style voluntary approach due to worsening statistics (see issue 35) but now Spain has adopted a concerted plan to reduce work accidents by 25% to the present EU average. A series of agreements between the social partners has been concluded which includes a new law on subcontracting (see issue 30). In 2006 about 1 million accidents were reported in the country, one thousand being fatal. The worst sector was construction where the accident rate was running at about twice that of the Community as a whole. It is no coincidence that construction, comprising 12% of Spain's economy and employing 2.6 million workers, is also the industry in which sub-contracting dominates. Under the legislation 30% of employees of sub-contractors must be on permanent contracts by 2010, only one level of subcontracting will be allowed for labour-intensive work (no sub-contracting by sub-contractors) and a register must be kept at all building sites listing the companies operating there. Another focus of the health and safety plan will be on small businessses (SMEs) which show up strongly in the accident statistics. As well as providing technical support to firms with less than ten workers, the government will institute a novel system of variable social security contributions which will reward companies with good safety records by reducing their payments. The minister of labour, Jésus Caldera, has promised special monitoring of those businesses which continue to have poor safety records, investigation of every accident and prosecution 'with the maximum rigour' of those thought to be criminally responsible. Unions, employers and government have also agreed to negotiate the creation of health and safety organisations in all sectors of the economy to raise awareness of occupational hazards. They will target companies with between 6 and 50 employees where there is no trade union. Other deals between the social partners will define a new list of occupational illnesses and the procedures for declaring them and improve training, requiring firms to keep a record. Overall, one hundred measures have been agreed which aim to develop a culture of risk prevention in Spanish society. Chinese toy import recall prompts EU product safety reviewAFTER THREE MAJOR PRODUCT RECALLS by Mattel, the world's biggest toy manufacturer, as well as Hasbro and RC2 the EU Commission has announced a re-think on its consumer product safety measures. Over 20 million items, including well-known brands such as Barbie, Dora the Explorer and Thomas the Tank Engine, made in Chinese factories, were pulled from shops due to excessive amounts of lead paint and small magnets which can be swallowed by young children. Meglena Kuneva, the Consumer Affairs Commissioner, announced the review although previously a relaxation of EU product monitoring was thought likely. The commissioner made it clear that 'The rules must be applied from the assembly line to the checkout till'. After visiting China over the summer Ms. Kuneva believes that the RAPEX rapid alert system can be made to work by the authorities there but warned MEPs not to water down existing standards, 'We cannot risk at this time to take a step backwards' she said. However Richard Howitt, a Socialist MEP thought that 'The reaction of Mattel ... really is exposing the deep flaws that exist in the system of testing, monitoring and quality assurance'.
Commenting on the companies corporate social responsibility policies, he went on 'The fact that they are now being forced to send monitors into shops shows how redundant all these promises were'. The commissioner will report back before the EU-China summit in November. UK union praises Irish H&S statsBRITISH CONSTRUCTION TRADE UNION UCATT has contrasted the 'gut-wrenching' fatality statistics for 2006/7, released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) with improved figures in Ireland. The increase of 28% in deaths on UK construction sites compares with a halving in its EU partner despite the building boom in that country. According to General Secretary Alan Ritchie the reason is not hard to find: since a policy u-turn in 2005 the Irish safety authorities have recruited extra inspectors, 'It is not rocket science to realise that if you implement a rigorous inspection and enforcement regime, sites will become safer and bosses will be forced to accept their safety responsibilities'. The HSE has cut the number of its inspectors due to budget reductions. Irish officials now aim to target so-called 'trouble free' firms which are suspected of not reporting accidents, concentrating on construction, agriculture and catering. First ever cyber picket hits 'Second Life'ITALIAN WORKERS AT COMPUTER GIANT IBM have become the first in the world to mount a 'cyber-picket'. 9,000 employees had a performance bonus worth €1,000 a year withdrawn when they asked for a small pay rise. The company pulled out of negotiations with union representatives who then decided that, as well as protest pickets of IBM offices in Italy, it would be a good tactic to have a protest outside the IBM 'business centre' in 'Second Life', the online parallel world. The company is estimated to be spending approximately $10 million on virtual, computer worlds this year, generating a significant amount of business.
More than 1,850 people, or avatars as the inhabitants of 'Second Life' are known, took part in the protest, disrupting a staff meeting and causing the closure of parts of the business centre. Noting the involvement of 30 countries in the protest, General Secretary of UNI global union Philip Jennings said 'Wherever companies go we shall pursue them if they behave badly. ... Businesses like IBM are using the new opportunities of the Internet and virtual space like Second Life to reach customers - but they cannot have that space to themselves'. eGovernment prizes go to Norway, Italy, NetherlandsTHE EU COMMISSION HAS AWARDED THIS year's prizes in the field of electronic delivery of government services. At a Lisbon conference entitled 'Reaping the Benefits of eGovernment' trophies were presented in categories such as 'For Better public services for growth and jobs', 'For Participation and transparency' and 'For Effective and efficient administration'. The winners included an Amsterdam city council web site that allows new businesses in the catering field to apply for seven different licences on one form, a Norwegian government site that creates a personalised web page with links to the public authorities needed by an individual user and the new Italian 'Online police station' which allows members of the public to report crimes. This last web site won a public vote for 'Most inspiring good practice'. There were 52 entries for this year's awards to add to the over 300 examples of 'good practice' on the Commisson epractice web page. The report presented at the conference gives some idea of the progress made since the 'i2010' action plan was kicked off in Manchester two years ago. It says that all Member States have increased the availability of government services online but that there are still hurdles to jump before socially excluded groups regularly use them and that cross-border systems are rare. There persist differences between countries with the Austrian government the first to achieve 100% online availability to citizens compared to Bulgaria's figure of around 15%. Businesses tend to be better catered for with four Member States having reached the 100% mark. Referring to the interactive internet that more and more users are becoming used to, the report concludes that EU governments need to provide a service that 'that attracts and fulfils citizen needs, efficiently, consistently, and economically - the 'Gov 2.0' experience'. 450,000 sign public services petitionTHE PETITION LAUNCHED BY THE European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) to support public services and call for a new 'Services of General Economic Interest' directive has been signed by nearly half a million people, mostly online. In the UK the total was over 6,000 at the beginning of August and has since increased with over two-thirds gathered via the internet. Meanwhile the European Commission is poised to publish a communication on the subject and the current Portuguese Presidency will put forward a strategy document in December. It is thought that the new Reform treaty, if ratified, may provide a firmer legal basis to protect public services by means of a protocol. Web sites mentioned above are available at 4th Ministerial eGovernment Conference Horeca1 Amsterdam MyPage Norway Polizia di Stato Italy ETUC petition for public services Stats and factsMore women in tourism, paid less A Eurostat survey for the International Day of Tourism in September has found that there are more women than men at work in the hotel and restaurant sector of the EU economy. Over the Community as a whole 44% of employed persons are female but in the catering industry the figure rises to 56%. Latvia records the biggest gap as women make up a staggering 95% of hotel and restaurant workers compared to 50% of the labour force in total. Only in Malta were there fewer women but this must be seen against the very low rate of general female employment in that country.
As tourism is often identified with low pay and poor working conditions it is doubly unfortunate that, even here, women earn, on average, less than men in all the countries who provided statistics. The gap varied between 93% of their male colleagues' earnings in Belgium down to a measly 62% in Hungary. EU labour costs rise Labour costs in the EU (defined as the payment by employers in wages, bonuses and extras such as company cars plus social security contributions and employment tax per employee) rose by 3.2% in the year to June. However in the 13 countries which use the Euro (EA13) the increase was only 2.5%. The breakdown by country shows the strength of economic growth and wage demands in eastern Europe with Latvia's 31.7% topping the list. 'Teachers need good education too' say CommissionTHE EUROPEAN COMMISSION HAS SET out its aims for teacher training up until 2010. Noting that 'It is school teachers who mediate between a rapidly evolving world and the pupils who are about to enter it' they stress the view of the Council of Ministers that 'Education and training are critical factors to develop the EU's long-term potential for competitiveness as well as for social cohesion'. Change has increased the demands being put on the 6.25 million teachers in the Community and the Commission document states that 'Initial education cannot provide teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary for a life-time of teaching'. In other words lifelong learning is as necessary for teachers as those that they teach. This requirement is even more pronounced because the teaching profession has a higher average age than others. In many Member States over 40% of teachers are between 45 and 64 with 30% over 50. Retraining is vital, says the Commission, both to update older professionals and to encourage them to stay at work instead of retiring early, in line with the targets for employment in the Lisbon declaration. While allowing that education is the responsibility of individual countries the EU feels that it can play a co-ordinating role as well as providing funds through the new Lifelong Learning Programme and the European Social Fund, and reviewing results. It describes the current position as one of skills shortages and limited training provision. Compulsory in-service development exists in only 11 EU states and nowhere is this more than five days a year. New teachers receive support in only half the countries and teachers asking for help can expect assistance in just a third. The Commission wants to improve the situation so that all teachers are well-qualified, receive continuous professional development, can move within the EU as required and work with all stakeholders such as teacher education institutions, schools and work-based training providers. Diary: conferences and coursesCorporate manslaughter, directors' duties and safety enforcement 19 November Safety and Health at Work in SMEs: International Symposium 21-23 November Pay and grading structures: Understanding equal pay issues 22-23 November
Newsletter (6,400 words) issued 25 Oct 2007  TUC Education in the Midland region ONLINE PENSIONS COURSES FOR UNION REPS Pension Champions online course |
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