Mixed reaction to call for labour law talks

Date: 25/03/1999

By Simon Coss

TRADE union calls for a series of new EU labour laws to be drawn up have met with a mixed response from the Union's employers.

EU employers' federation UNICE says it is willing to consider entering into social dialogue talks with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the Union's third social partner, public sector employers' lobby CEEP, on the rights of people who work for temporary employment agencies.

But the organisation has effectively rejected ETUC calls for the three sides to try to agree EU-wide measures to protect 'teleworkers' - people who work from home using technology such as faxes, e-mail and the Internet - and provisions aimed at coordinating national job-training initiatives.

The ETUC argues that new rules on agency workers would complement existing social partnership deals covering the rights of part-time workers and those on fixed-term contracts.

UNICE concedes that the unions might have a point, although it has given a lukewarm response to the idea of new social dialogue talks on the issue.

" We have said we will look into this, but to be frank I have no idea whether talks will be desirable or even possible, because approaches are very different at national level," said the organisation's social affairs director Thérèse de Liedekerke.

De Liedekerke is even less enthusiastic about the idea of negotiating EU-wide rules on distance working, arguing that there is no commonly agreed definition of telework as yet.

She pointed out that, at present, a full-time employee could be regarded as a teleworker when attending meetings abroad and sending e-mails or faxes back to the office. "If the definition stays as broad as it is at the moment, then everyone is a teleworker," she said.

When it comes to EU-wide rules on professional training, UNICE claims that it makes no sense to try to agree a common approach for all 15 member states.

De Liedekerke argues that training schemes are linked to national education systems and says these are so diverse that it would be well nigh impossible to draft an EU directive on the issue.

" I am not sure we would be able to come up with anything helpful or meaningful," she said.

The social dialogue procedure is the centrepiece of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty's social chapter, which aims to give the organisations most directly affected by EU labour laws - employers' groups and trade unions - the chance to frame legislation themselves.

In practice, however, the system has only been partially successful. Only three deals, those on part-time and fixed-term contract workers and one on parental leave, have been reached through the process. In all other cases, talks have broken down and the European Commission has had to step in with its own proposals.

Trade union calls for a series of new EU labour laws to be drawn up have met with a mixed response from UNICE.