Claude Moraes is Labour MEP for London and Labour's spokesperson on Employment. Here he gives an update on key issues which will be of interest to AEEU/Amicus Members during the current Italian Presidency of the European Union.

The Italian Presidency of the EU lasts between June and December and a range of issues of importance to trade unionists will be on the agenda, including progress on new rights for temporary workers, pensions, corporate social responsibility and progress on the so called "Lisbon Agenda" to promote more high quality jobs particularly in the manufacturing industry.

Firstly however, there was welcome news on the Implementation of EU Information and Consultation Directive in which Labour MEPs were heavily involved. On 7th July the DTI announced the outcome of a year-long discussion process with trade unions and employers on the framework for implementing the directive. Some of the areas covered by the directive include changes in work organisation or contractual relations including redundancy and transfers. The consultation process closes on 7th November 2003.

The Directive will take effect for firms with 150 employees or more in 2005, those with 100 or more in 2007, and those with 50 or more in 2008. Individual unions like Amicus/AEEU are looking closely at how the new proposals will affect their members but in general the framework agreement includes the following elements.

  • Employees will be able to request information and consultation arrangements from their employer with a petition from 10% of the workforce, followed by a period of time for negotiating a voluntary agreement. Where there are existing arrangements in place that have been agreed with employees, the employer may ballot the workforce to see if they endorse the request for a new arrangement. Only if at least 40% of employees endorse the request for new arrangements would the existing ones be changed.

  • Where no agreement is reached by negotiation, standard provisions would apply based on the requirements of the directive.

  • Enforcement and sanctions are set out in the framework.

The Italians will inherit the draft directive on Temporary/Agency Workers during their presidency. This directive is becoming an increasingly important one for Amicus/AEEU members because there has been an increased use of agency work in the manufacturing sector. The directive, which seeks to improve pay and conditions for workers who sign up with agencies has been delayed over the issues of when rights would kick in, comparability with permanent workers in similar work and transition periods for countries like the UK and Ireland who do not currently have such rights for workers but have rapidly growing agency sectors.

The Italian presidency will push the EU further into the argument that the EU should have some competence in this area, but reactions from other member states have been negative. However they will promote an in depth examination of the effect of the ageing population on public finances and pensions.

On Corporate Social Responsibility the Italian presidency is moving away from the trade union view that CSR should include a mix of voluntary measures and regulation. The Presidency favours the voluntary aproach in the way multi-nationals police working conditions and standards in their operations within the EU and in their operations in developing countries.

There is concern amongst Labour and PES MEPs that the Lisbon Agenda is not stalled during the current EU Presidency. For example will the EU develop a framework to protect atypical workers (e.g. part-time workers), and will there be a development of specific targets for the Lisbon goals across EU countries.

Finally, there will be critical discussions up to Christmas on how trade union rights, and employment policy in general will be decided in the future under the new EU constitution. The current debate over whether Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) should be extended to these areas, and about the impact of the EU's enlargement to 25 member states on industry

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