Social partners close to agreement over equal parental rights

Date: 26/10/1995

THE EU social partners have made “considerable progress” in their talks on proposed Union-wide rules on parental leave and are hopeful of clinching a deal within weeks.

They will meet again on 6 November in an attempt to sort out “a few outstanding issues” to allow a ground-breaking accord which would give any parent, whether male or female, the right to at least three months off work to look after their child.

All parties appear relatively confident that the accord can be finalised in the near future. But with talks at such a crucial stage, everyone is remaining tight-lipped about where the outstanding problems lie, although the main issue appears to be how the deal could be extended to employees of companies with a workforce of less than 200.

“It's hard to say what we will come out with. The sands are shifting all the time,” said another official.

Employers' federation UNICE was taken by surprise at last weekend's Social Summit in Florence when ETUC secretary-general Emilio Gabaglio told reporters that employers had accepted the principle of equal parental rights.

The significance of a potential agreement is lost on no-one. Following the failure of the social partners to agree on the establishment of works councils by conciliation, an accord on parental leave would mark the first success of the social dialogue since it was established under the Maastricht Treaty's Social Protocol.

Agreement would cause something of a dilemma for the UK government, whose resistance to the Commission's proposal - dating back to 1983 - blocked agreement in Council in the first place. The issue was only referred to the social partners after the failure of the Belgians to broker a compromise in September 1994.

Despite the UK's opt-out from the Social Protocol, the Confederation of British Industry has been taking part in the negotiations and the expectation is that firms based in Europe would extend any deal to cover British workers.

The current stage of the negotiation process was triggered on 21 June this year, when the Commission forwarded an outline paper proposing that parental leave should be an employment right, that the leave period should be flexible and last for a minimum of three months, and that workers' social security rights should remain intact.

The UK is unusual among member states in restricting childcare leave to mothers. As with other areas of social policy, London believes that parental leave arrangements should be left to the discretion of individual companies and not fixed centrally.

Speaking last year, Prime Minister John Major stressed that it was wrong to “pile further costs on employers”. London also views the issue as a matter of national sovereignty.

The Commission has set its heart on an accord from the social partners before December's Madrid summit. Whatever they come up with would require the agreement of ministers to make it binding.