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TUC Education European ReviewIssue 48 January 2010 In this issue :
Welcome to the twenty second 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 upROMANIAN UNIONS HAVE FORMED a new alliance to fight proposals to re-organise the public sector. Faced with a budget deficit of about 7% of Gross Domestic Product, and the need for loans from the EU and the International Monetary Fund totalling €20 billion, the government opened negotiations on a new salary framework to replace 39 existing laws. A reduction of 40%, to be phased in over the period 2010-2015, was announced by the Minister of Labour. Although it came with a promise that no employees would have their salary reduced during this phase there was dissatisfaction among trade unions over this and other issues such as the elimination of fringe benefits, a compulsory, unpaid 10-day leave, redundancies and working conditions. This was heightened by the government's intention to get the new laws through parliament without debate. As well as the national union confederations who had been in negotiation, a new Alliance of Budgetary Employees was formed to represent health, education, civil service, police and prison workers amounting to approximately 1.4 million employees. They organised a campaign including a picket of parliament, a one-day general strike, a protest march and a petition. Almost immediately the government resigned due to the loss of a confidence vote in parliament and the resolution of the dispute awaits the election of a new President. THE POLISH STATE AIRLINE LOT has breached national law and ILO conventions, according to trade unions, in attempting to avoid negotiations on redundancies amounting to 15% of the workforce. Facing union opposition to this and another proposal which would reduce pay and worsen working conditions, management sacked two senior officials and suspended the existing collective agreement. The unions have brought a court action against the company and taken their case to the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) who have launched an international solidarity campaign. Gabriel Mocho, the ITF civil aviation section secretary, commented 'LOT workers cannot be blackmailed into accepting redundancies. LOT ... should reinstate the dismissed union leaders and start a positive social dialogue so that an agreement can be reached and LOT's survival ensured'. FINNISH TECHNOLOGY UNIONS HAVE settled for a modest 0.5% pay increase in 2009 in a sector which accounts for 60% of exports and 75% of research investment. However this was still an advance on the employers' offer of zero. Worried about loss of jobs in the economic slump, the Metalworkers' Union agreed that the state of the economy in the second and third years of the deal would determine the outcome of negotiations in the future and that individual companies could opt out of any rise if they could show that employment would be jeopardised. GM takes Opel off the table to throw rescue plans into confusionAFTER A YEAR OF FEVERISH NEGOTIATION, speculation and jockeying for position the giant US-based motor vehicle manufacturer General Motors has announced that it has changed its mind about selling off its European subsidiaries that include Opel in Germany, Vauxhall in the UK and Saab in Sweden. Unions and workers reacted differently in the countries affected, according to what they believed the U-turn meant for jobs. Unite joint General Secretary Tony Woodley said he was 'absolutely delighted with this news' and described GM plans as 'a far better deal for Britain' than the previous proposal to sell off the company to a Canadian car parts manufacturer and a Russian bank (see our last issue). However German trade unions were less impressed as 15,000 workers walked out at the four Opel plants across the country, fearing that two of them would now close, and Jürgen Rüttgers, leader of the region that includes the Bochum factory, called GM's decision 'the ugly face of turbo-capitalism'. The company confirmed that they intended to cut the jobs of about 10,000 of their present 54,000 staff in Europe, roughly the same overall number as that proposed by would-be new owners, Magna, if the takeover had gone through. However it is thought that the GM plan will be harder on Germany.
Having already received several about €900 million in aid from the German government the company's executives cited improved business conditions as the reason for GM hanging on to its European branch. Although the company is believed to have paid back some of the loans that it received from both the US and German governments it is not clear how much, if any, further subsidy it will ask for. GM Chairman Ed Whitacre was quoted as assuring the German government that 'If Mrs. Merkel declines help, we will pay for it ourselves' though some commentators believed it a 'a mystery where GM would get the money for Opel' without subsidy. Later the company stated that financial support would be necessary 'from all stakeholders, including employees and governments'. There have also been contradictory signals from German politicians as to whether it will get any. The new centre-right coalition Economics Minister took Mr. Whitacre at his word and said that previous pledges of money under the now rejected deal no longer apply but the Finance Minister disagreed stressing that 'we feel a responsibility toward the people and the plants' whatever the ownership of the company. Regional governments in the areas where the factories are located are also thought to be keener to help. Even the cost of the necessary restructuring is disputed: GM reckon that €3 billion should do it but Armin Schild of the IG Metall union thinks that 'a restructuring that also lays the foundation for future development would cost over 6 billion euros'. For all its improved position and the repayment of government loans the company still lost $1.2 billion in the third quarter of this year and is owned by government and unions in the USA. Despite this the US government is not believed to have been involved in negotiations although German chancellor Angela Merkel wants to consult President Obama on the next moves in the crisis. The reversal of the takeover also affected Russia through the involvement of Sberbank in the proposed new company and its plans to expand into the Russian market. Prime Minister Putin described the American company's approach as 'scornful' and continued 'GM did not warn anyone, did not speak to anyone - despite all the agreements reached and documents signed'. Pilots protest on flying hours as EU considers reportIN OCTOBER THE EUROPEAN TRANSPORT WORKERS' FEDERATION (ETF) and the European Cockpit Association (ECA) held protests in Brussels against the failure of the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) to act on scientific reports indicating that EU rules on flying hours should be tightened up to prevent pilot fatigue. Three years ago newly introduced flight time rules were criticised by pilots and, in response, the European Parliament commissioned the Moebus report. It was received a year ago and concluded that the harmonised flight time standards could cause fatigue, which is held responsible for 10-15% of all air accidents. UK union BALPA's General Secretary Jim McAuslan commented 'Standard EU fatigue rules do make sense, with competition between airlines now so brutal safety must be beyond question and competition should be on the basis of the product, not by working pilots beyond what is safe'.
Although British pilots are prevented by law from protesting at airports, some 2,000 pilots joined the demonstrations in 25 countries, giving out fake tickets with cigarette-style warnings about safety. UK pilots hope that the rules will be revised before the UK has to adopt them in 2012. The President of the ECA, Capt. Martin Chalk, warned that 'unless the EU acts now on information it already has ... the safety levels we currently enjoy would be damaged'. Unions give short-time working a helping hand as EU governments fight unemploymentAS THE FINANCIAL CRISIS spread to the real economy unemployment began a relentless increase across Europe. However some countries have put ingenious programmes into place which aim not only to keep the figures down but also to aid and retrain individual workers to prevent them becoming another jobless statistic. Many of these schemes allow companies to claim a subsidy from the state if they reduce the hours of employees instead of sacking them. The well-known 'Kurzarbeit' allowance in Germany allows firms to pay 60% of the lost wages and claim the money back from local employment agencies. Social security contributions can be reclaimed from the Federal Employment Agency, 100% if training is provided. A recent relaxation of the terms on which this allowance can be claimed, including lengthening the maximum period from six to eighteen months, has resulted in much greater uptake. Hundreds of thousands of workers were added to the roll in early 2009. The Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB), although generally in favour of these measures, believes that further action must be taken to ward off the negative effects of the economic crisis The Czech Republic is preparing its own scheme based on the German one. It envisages a four day working week with the government paying 20% of wages and workers taking courses on their free days. Both unions and employers are keen for the scheme to be implemented as soon as possible as unemployment is forecast to rise to 10% in the coming months. However the amendments to the law required mean that it is unlikely to start before mid-2010. France has long had a short-time work benefit scheme (chômage partiel) whereby 60% of gross pay for the lost hours was covered by the state but, under pressure from both unions and employers, the limit of 600 hours per worker per year has been steadily increased by the government to the figure of 1,000 applicable since September. If a company agrees to provide training the subsidy is 75% and the worker receives full pay during the actual training period. The employer also has to commit to retaining the worker for twice as long as the duration of the short-time work after it has finished. In Italy trade unions have tried a regional approach. The Lazio region, which surrounds the capital, Rome, has experienced a rapid rise in unemployment in recent months. The rate has now reached 10%, one of the highest on record, while the numbers receiving benefits from the public fund for laid off and short-time workers have risen by 163% over the last year. Even innovative, high-tech companies are affected with US multi-national Merck closing the Institute for Research in Molecular Biology based in the region. To ameliorate this crisis the three main union confederations, CISL, UIL and CGIL have signed a deal with the employers' association to reinforce the 'social shock absorbers' such as special unemployment benefits and income support; the regional government has also contributed €40 million to these. Other heads of agreement between the social partners include training, with special emphasis on employing apprentices, a health and safety 'observatory' to gather data and propose new measures, as well as a campaign to get the authorities to release funds for green enterprises, high-tech companies and building and infrastructure projects. Unions are keen for this agreement to be a model for other areas of the country. Raffaele Bonanni, the CISL general secretary, stated that 'the accord signed for Rome and Lazio is very important and now we should reach similar agreements between local administrations, unions and employers in all the other regions in order to relaunch the economy'. Ships 'dumped' around Europe as owners go bustTHE INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT FEDERATION (ITF) has reported growing numbers of ships left in port by owners who run out of money and stop paying the crew or providing food and water. Although the global union federation expected a rise in the practice due to the financial crash and economic slump they say it is difficult to put an exact figure on abandonments as owners with severe financial problems may not admit that they have dumped a vessel. However there have been thirty cases notified this year so far. In addition the ITF is running a special project in Istanbul where there are thought to be fifteen ships arrested with abandoned crews. A recent example in Corunna, Spain saw the 'Virtus', Estonian-owned and registered in St.Vincent arrive on 11th June with engine trouble. A visit by an ITF inspector Luz Baz established that the 12-man Russian and Ukrainian crew were without food and about to run out of fuel and water. The owners had declared bankruptcy and the money they had sent had been confiscated by the local agent who they also owed. Federation officials contacted the charter company, the owner of the cargo and the St.Vincent government, none of whom were prepared to help. Local charities and the port are now supporting the mariners while they claim over $65,000 in unpaid wages. ITF Maritime Coordinator Steve Cotton insisted that 'any shipping company ... having ... financial problems which are likely to adversely effect crews, can come to us to discuss how we may be able to help'.
Council of Ministers sign new parental leave directive, disability conventionTHE MEETING OF THE EMPLOYMENT MINISTERS from EU Member States in December proved fertile in two areas of employment and social legislation. The ESPHCA Council, as it is officially known, gave its seal of approval to an agreement between the social partners on extending parental leave. They also signed up to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the first international human rights agreement in which the EU has been represented as a whole. European unions and employers updated the original parental leave deal, from 1995, in the summer. The new directive, which must be implemented by individual countries within two years, lengthens the minimum leave period from three to four months for each parent per child. The extra month may not be transferred between mothers and fathers thereby encouraging men to take it. There is also a right to request a change of hours on returning to work, on a temporary basis. These rights apply to all workers regardless of their contract of employment i.e. part time, temporary etc. but among the decisions left to national governments are whether to insist on a minimum time in the job before they come into effect, which can be set at no more than one year. All questions of payment during the leave are also left to Member States. By signing the UN convention the Council committed the EU to examining and revising discrimination legislation, policies and programmes to ensure that there is equal access to education, employment, transport and buildings open to the public. This is its intention in proposing a new directive which extends protection against discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief beyond the workplace (see issue 43) but this measure has had its scope and provisions fought over. The European Disability Forum (EDF) which signed a joint declaration with the European Trade Union Confederation in 2007 to promote access to employment and training, feels that it has been watered down and lacks specificity. It points particularly to the 'disproportionate burden' definition which could be used by companies as a loophole to avoid making proper provision for people with disabilities. They also underline the lack of consultation but still hope that negotiations in the Council of Ministers can improve it 'It could happen that the Commission is asked to redraw it or produce a new proposal, which might be a preferable option to us if the final text is not satisfactory' says EDF President Carlotta Besozzi. It is not clear where the discussions in the Council, which have been going on for over a year, have reached but the December meeting threw no new light on its progress. The EDF hopes that signing the UN convention will be a spur to addressing discrimination that seems to be increasing as the economic slump bites. Finnish unions pioneer holiday bank for tempsTEMPORARY AND FIXED TERM CONTRACT workers in Finland could be in for longer holidays if an idea from the federation that organises clerical employees, ERTO, is accepted by the government. They want such workers to be able to bank accrued holidays when they leave one employer and join another. According to the Chair of ERTO temporary working has become so common that the term 'atypical' which is usually used to refer to them has become out-dated. About 400,000 workers are on fixed-term contracts, many of them young and employed by the public sector. Because leave entitlement rises with the length of time worked in the company these temps are discriminated against in terms of amount of holiday earned as well as the difficulty of actually taking substantial time off. Both the Finnish confederation of trade unions, SAK, and individual unions have backed the proposal but employers' organisation EK rejected it as too expensive and bureaucratic. The trade union proposal is to be presented to the Finnish government before the end of the year. EU fund offers help to sacked Irish workersNEARLY THREE THOUSAND WORKERS made redundant by American computer company Dell in Ireland are to receive funding from the EU's European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF). The money is to help the workers to re-integrate into the labour market by supporting retraining, job guidance, job search, business set-up and allowances for educational courses. The total cost of the package is €23 million, €14.8 million of which will come from the EU. The EGF was originally set up in 2006 to assist people made redundant due to company restructuring (see issue 44) brought on by globalisation but the European Commission recently lowered the bar for applications to open up the under-used fund to victims of the financial crash. Support can run for up to two years and provide a maximum of 65% of the total. The Irish government viewed Dell as a key employer in the mid-west region around Limerick, an area of high unemployment. Dara Calleary, the Minister for Labour Affairs recommended the measures as 'first-class and are designed with the needs and preferences of the workers in mind'. So far this year 17 applications have been made to the EGF compared to 13 in 2008 and 2007 combined. New priorities needed, says Barroso, as Lisbon process comes to an endThe 'most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world' was the future for the EU laid out at a summit in Lisbon in 2000. As the ten year programme comes to an end its achievements are patchy but perhaps it is more important to ask the question: 'Where do we go from here?'. Both the European Commission President and the European union movement have recently tried to answer it and there is a surprising measure of agreement between them. IN THE YEAR 2000 THE EUROPEAN UNION consisted of fifteen Western European states and the USA was experiencing the short-lived but ballooning dot-com boom which was spilling over into economic optimism and job creation in Europe. China had not entered the World stage and Russia was still recovering from near-bankruptcy. EU leaders, meeting in Lisbon, mirrored this state of affairs. There was much talk of the Internet and new technology creating twenty million new jobs and ambitious targets were set for employment, especially of women and older people. Life-long learning and the promotion of equal opportunities would end social exclusion and the modernisation of the European social model would provide high-quality jobs whilst maintaining social protection. The World in 2010, as the Lisbon programme ends, will look very different. Added to the incorporation of the much poorer countries to the East the EU has been shaken by the biggest economic slump since the nineteen-thirties, the dominant US-led laissez-faire financial system has been destroyed and China is poised to become Europe's main economic competitor. Climate change has moved rapidly up the agenda and governments talk of green economies as the way ahead. In employment precarious, often part time, jobs have been created in their millions, largely occupied by women, but although this has helped to meet the 60% employment rate target for female workers, there has been no noticeable increase in quality. So what should be aimed at, post-Lisbon: more of the same, only hit the targets this time or a sweeping new vision catering for the effects of the slump, climate change and the attacks on the European social model and trade union rights? The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) certainly believes the latter and EU President Barroso, agrees with them to perhaps a surprising extent. In a recent speech to the European Parliament he set out his political guidelines for his second term which lasts until 2014. He emphasised the importance of solidarity and ethics and discounted the model of growth through untrammelled financial markets as 'unsustainable'. In one of several forays into the topic of employment he insisted that the transition to a low-carbon economy should be 'a source of jobs for workers' and that he respected 'fundamental social rights and ... the principle of free movement of workers'. On specific measures he proposed a regulation to amend the Posted Workers Directive and another effort to get agreement on revising the Working Time Directive, he declared himself ready to create a quality framework for Services of General Interest and to work towards a 'Women's Charter' to be ready in 2010. The ETUC would be likely to agree to many of these aspirations but also want a 'Social Progress Protocol' to be adopted which would enshrine the 'link between economic performance and social progress' and define the latter as the improvement of 'living and working conditions' and 'the right to negotiate, conclude and enforce collective agreements and to take collective action'. It considers that a new Lisbon strategy would have to balance long-term and short-term policies. Firstly to get Europe out of the current slump a second stimulus package is needed amounting to 1% of EU GDP to create 2 million new jobs, focusing on green sectors of the economy as well as renewed investment in education, training and rehabilitation. In the longer term the ETUC advocates a three-pronged approach to develop an inclusive and sustainable green economy, to secure quality jobs and prevent a 'race to the bottom' by employers and to manage the European economy in such a way that growth, full employment and wage bargaining are encouraged. Social security payments should be bolstered to underpin spending and youth unemployment should be specifically addressed by increasing the number of apprenticeships and ensuring that all young people are offered a job before they have been out of work for six months. President Barroso concurs with the unions on the need to maintain the right to negotiate and strike but wants to work with the social partners to move towards more inclusive relations in the workplace based on employee engagement and quality of work. It seems that the distance between the Commission and the ETUC is lessening in the face of the collapse of the previous orthodoxy. However the results will be crucial; in the next five years more than ever before. New law for Swedish unions after Laval caseThere have been thousands of words written on the Vaxholm, or Laval, case in which a Latvian building firm was boycotted by Swedish unions because it refused to sign an agreement guaranteeing Swedish pay rates and conditions for its Latvian workers. This most critical of the four ECJ decisions to recently go against European trade unions now has to be implemented in Swedish law. We examine the government's solution and its chance of success. FOLLOWING THE JUDGMENT OF THE European Court of Justice there was concern that the 'Nordic' system of industrial relations, usually praised by unions, would be threatened. The aim of the Swedish authorities was to protect this while changing national law to comply with the ruling. One problem throughout was that there is no legal minimum wage in Sweden. All questions of pay and conditions are regulated by collective agreement. The implementation of the Posted Workers Directive in the country did not allow it to cover these deals and so any foreign employer not subscribing to one could, in theory, pay whatever they liked. The government has rejected the idea of bringing in a minimum wage in favour of central industry-wide agreements. These may only regulate certain subjects such as pay, hours and holidays and unions can only take action against employers who don't fulfil, at least, their requirements. Similarly an employer who wants to stop industrial action against them must prove that they are abiding by the appropriate central agreement. Disputes are to be settled by the labour court.
Both sides of industry were were critical of the new proposal. Employers' organisations are in favour of a legal minimum wage and maintain that the compromise will not satisfy EU law. Trade union confederations believe that loopholes will still exist allowing unscrupulous employers to 'wage-dump', and are worried about suggestions that night work and breaks will be excluded from the new law. However the Swedish government maintains 'we have found a solution that combines the Swedish labour market model with existing Community law in a well-balanced way'. The new legislation will apply from April next year. Recent rulings from the European Court of JusticeReclaim leave if you're sick on holiday Following its decision on accruing annual leave when you're sick, (see issue 46), the ECJ has now ruled on the opposite situation. A Mr. Pereda, who was a driver for a firm in Madrid, was allocated annual leave from 16th July to 14th August but, following an accident at work on 3rd July, was on sick leave until 13th August. Having missed his holiday he applied for a new period in November and December but this was refused by the company. The Spanish court referred Mr.Pereda's claim to the ECJ who emphasised that sick leave and annual leave had different purposes. Although Member States could pass laws denying the right to carry over leave, if workers were denied the opportunity to take it in the appropriate leave year they must be able to reschedule it for the next one. The ruling is likely to have an effect on the UK regulations which currently only allow employers to permit carry-over of leave over and above a four week minimum which must be taken in the current year. Chemical companies lose on monomers In issue 46 we reported the action brought at the High Court in London by several chemical firms to exempt certain substances known as monomers from the new EU REACH regulations. Now the ECJ has confirmed that dangerous chemicals such as vinyl chloride and styrene must be registered even if used in amounts of less than one tonne per annum. Monomers are commonly bound together with other substances to make plastics but the court confirmed that, even in this state, they are included. Health and SafetyOrange backs down on restructuring after spate of suicides AN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SURVEY has, for the first time identified 'psycho-social' risks as the most common reason for consulting a doctor in France; 80% of cases of depression and anxiety are work-related, it says. After a wave of job-related suicides in France (see our past issues) which, at different times, has implicated such well-known names as Renault, Peugeot-Citroën and EDF, the country's predominant communications firm France Télécom has sacked a senior executive and reversed policy to deal with the epidemic. Europe's third biggest 'phone company, which trades as Orange in the UK, faced a public relations disaster after 24 workers killed themselves in the last 18 months, many leaving notes blaming management bullying. After privatisation in 1998 the company has pursued an ever-quickening drive for efficiency that has resulted in over 40,000 redundancies and employees being regularly relocated to the other side of the country. Trade unions also blamed performance targets for incidents like the death of a worker who threw himself off a motorway bridge and another who plunged a knife into his stomach during a meeting. After consulting the French Labour minister, chief executive Didier Lombard referred to a 'spiral of death' at the company which contrasted with previous comments he had made about staff outside Paris spending their time on the beach fishing for mussels. At first he offered to set up a telephone hotline for workers suffering from stress, hire more counselling staff and suspend internal transfers but, with the threat of a two day strike still imminent, eventually accepted the resignation of his deputy who was thought to be largely responsible for the restructuring programme.
Later it emerged that €1 billion was to be devoted to a plan supervised by the new deputy, Stéphane Richard, formerly an adviser to the government, to review working practices. Measures are likely to include allowing all staff over the age of 57 to work part-time, government monitoring of company health and safety meetings and ensuring a minimum of three years work in the same area. Unions were cautiously optimistic, referring to a change of tone in management pronouncements while a spokesperson for Force Ouvrière called the new proposals 'a basis which we will try to improve'. Single vote reverses driver hours winIT SEEMS THAT WE SPOKE TOO SOON in reporting a victory for driver safety in our last issue. Although the Bauer report recommended the rejection by the European Parliament of a proposal by the Commission to exempt self-employed drivers from the Working Time Directive, the report itself was subsequently voted down 25-24 by the parliament's employment committee. Opponents of the Commission remain convinced that a failure to include the self-employed will lead to some drivers working 86 hours per week and would be a 'licence to kill' according to UK Labour MEP Stephen Hughes. Trade unions in the shape of the European Transport Federation held an action day in Brussels against the 86-hour week. The committee will now hold further debate and put forward amendments to see if agreement can be reached before any proposal is returned to the full parliament. EU to review nano laws as cases multiplyTHE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HAS JOINED the chorus urging a review of the laws on nanomaterials, whose make-up has been changed at the molecular level, and the EU Commission appears to be ready to respond. Despite having specifically excluded nanos from new laws on carcinogens last year, the parliament is now keen for specific amendments to be made to the REACH chemicals legislation. Evidence is being gathered that some nanos may affect health through exposure at work. The European Respiratory Journal reported that seven female workers in China had developed shortness of breath, fluid in the lungs and around the heart, and fibrosis after working with nanoparticles in a print shop. Although they were using paints the symptoms were different from the usual ones associated with paint inhalation and nanomaterials were found in their lung tissue. Two of the women subsequently died. Because this sort of investigation is still uncommon the parliament believes that both data and methods are not sufficiently developed in this field for the general EU legislation to work. It therefore wants safety reports to be carried out on all registered nanos regardless of proved hazards and compulsory notification when any such material is placed on the market. The Environment Commissioner promised 'to review all relevant legislation within two years to ensure safety for all applications of nanomaterials in products with potential health, environmental or safety impacts over their life cycle'. However the industry insists that nanos are already covered in REACH while some safety campaigners want a new 'nano chapter' to be added to the law. EU bookshop leads the way as Commission seeks deal to speed book digitisationFOLLOWING A PROPOSED DEAL BETWEEN the Internet search engine company Google and publishers and libraries in United States over its ambitious project to scan millions of books, the European Commission wants to move fast to prevent EU libraries being left behind. Meanwhile its own EU bookshop is leading the way, having copied 12 million pages of documents in fifty languages to recently launch a new digital library. The capacity to make low-cost, perfect copies has always trailed problems in its wake, whether applied to music, films or books. The latest clash between established copyright law and the new technology came as Google intended to make them available over the web. However the difficulty of tracing millions of rights holders and the problem of orphan works, that are recent enough to come under copyright law but for which no owner can be found, seemed to have been overcome in the USA. The Commission has pointed out that if the proposed settlement goes through European works in American libraries will only be available in digital form in the US. To prevent this it wants to set up integrated copyright rules across the EU probably including a central registry to distribute payments from Google and other companies and a 'cut-off date' allowing works published before it to be considered in the public domain. The Community's cultural heritage web site Europeana (see issue 45) or private sites could then host the digitised books. Some measure of the potential popularity of digitised libraries can be gained from the experience of the EU Publications Office which started its scanning project when a previous 'on-demand' service was swamped by requests for electronic copies of its older documents. In less than two years it copied all its publications going back to 1952 to set up the EU Bookshop Digital Library. A similar project on an even larger scale involving the principal libraries in Europe would be likely to generate enormous demand and possible revenue, if a private company like Google was involved. To this end the Commissioner for Information Society and the Media, Viviane Reding, wants to 'seize this opportunity to take the lead' because, she states, 'Europe, with its rich cultural heritage, has most to offer and most to win from books digitisation'. Fusty EU institutions join social networking webTHE IMAGE OF THE COMMISSION AND AGENCIES of the European Union has not always been of Internet-savvy, up-to-the-minute organisations although their efforts on the web have improved in recent years. Now they are trying to catch up with Web 2.0 and its emphasis on interactivity and social networking. Recent examples include the appearance of the Commission directorate for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal* Opportunities on Facebook, or a 'group of people working on social affairs issues in the European Commission' as they describe themselves, and the first blog by the director of the 'European Agency for Safety and Health at Work' (OSHA). The 'Social Europe' page on the best-known social networking site contains all the usual features of Facebook including photos, videos and events; it also had 1,230 fans, who follow page updates, when the European Review accessed the site. The purpose of the page is 'to explain how the European Union's work on employment, social affairs and equal opportunities benefits people in Europe' according to its 'info' tab. Issues put up for discussion include the merit of the people appointed to high office in the EU and the responsibility of companies for workplace suicides. OSHA has chosen to keep its online diary, web log or blog in-house i.e. not to use any of the external sites such as Blogger or TypePad. In the first post by director Jukka Takala, he opines that the new technology has created the 'greatest democratisation of knowledge ever seen in human history' but believes that, now the web is much more interactive, institutions such as OSHA need to participate so that trusted information and good practice in health and safety can be shared with those who need it, particularly in developing countries, as quickly as possible. He also draws attention to the Google translation service which the web site uses to provide information in the 23 official languages of the EU. Unfortunately this feature did not work with the blog posts themselves when we tried so perhaps those thousands of human translators employed by the Union are still needed. Web sites and reports mentioned in this section are available at: Commission Communication 'Copyright in the Knowledge Economy' http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/document.cfm? The EU Bookshop http://bookshop.europa.eu/eubookshop/index.action?request_locale=EN Social Europe Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/socialeurope?ref=3Dnf European Agency for Safety and Health at Work blog http://osha.europa.eu/en/blog/
Stats and factsUnemployment at record high as all EU Member States post rise The latest figures from Eurostat, the EU's statistics arm, show that unemployment stands at 9.2%, its highest level across the 27 Member States since records began in 2000. Among the countries using the euro the jobless total was even higher at 9.7%, representing the greatest number of people without jobs since the currency was first adopted. Over 22 million men and women are now on the dole, an increase of more than five million since September last year. All countries have experienced a rise in the figure but there are big differences in the amount with Germany's total having risen from 7.1% to 7.6% while Latvia's has more than doubled from 8.1% to 19.7% and Estonia's is now at over three times last year's figure of 4.1% at 13.3%. By comparison the rate in the USA is 9.8% and in Japan 5.5%. Youth unemployment continues to be at significantly higher levels: 20.2% over the whole EU, ranging from 6.8% in the Netherlands to fully 41.7% in Spain.
EU workers say health & safety has improved but fearful of next 5 years According to a recent survey by the European Agency for Health & Safety (OSHA) a majority (57%) of employees in the EU believe that workplace safety has improved over the last five years but an almost equal number (61%) fear that the economic crisis will lead to a deterioration over the next five. Women were slightly more pessimistic on both questions than men and more likely to regard working hours as important when choosing a new job. Health and safety came third in the poll on this, behind salary and job security for both sexes.
Do you think that over the last 5 years health and safety at work in (YOUR COUNTRY) has got ...? Diary: conferences and coursesPost Lisbon Strategy 2010-2020 8-13 February Towards Better Work and Well-being 10-12 February Pay Bargaining in 2010 16 February Gender, globalisation and poverty reduction 8-9 March
Newsletter (6,800 words) issued 22 Dec 2009  Occupational Health and Wellbeing in the workplace Trade Union Education in Preston Provided by Manchester College Union rep courses Scotland – January to June 2012 |
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