‘Make or break time’ for part-time negotiations

Date: 27/02/1997

By Michael Mann

SENIOR trade union officials from around Europe will meet next week to decide whether sufficient progress is being made in talks to establish common employment rights for Europe's part-time workers.

Amid growing concern that discussions between employers and unions were heading for collapse, the latest round of talks earlier this week helped concentrate minds on the importance of getting a deal.

The European employers' body UNICE, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and public employers' group CEEP will meet again next Tuesday (4 March) to continue their negotiations,

“After that, we think we will be able to draw clear conclusions,” said a source at the ETUC, describing the situation as “very difficult and delicate”. The ETUC's executive committee will meet to assess progress on 6 March.

Sources close to the talks confirm that some progress has been made this week. But there still appears to be no final agreement either on exactly who should be covered by the new rules, or on whether they should be guaranteed pro rata benefit rights with their full-time counterparts.

A UNICE official admitted that although a certain amount of progress had been made on deciding the scope of the talks, they were now approaching “make or break time”.

Throughout the process, the unions have insisted that any agreement brokered must cover the widest range of part-time and 'atypical' workers. They are also demanding equal benefit rights for part-timers. They claim the employers' insistence on a narrow interpretation would see only 20&percent; of all part-time workers enjoying enhanced employment status.

Speculation that the gap between the social partners could not be bridged seems to have persuaded UNICE that it is in the interests of European business to achieve a positive result.

Already there are mutterings in some circles that the 'social dialogue' has brought few tangible results since it was launched four years ago. A negotiated settlement on basic terms for parental leave has been its only notable success so far.

As the Intergovernmental Conference moves towards a conclusion, there are suggestions that unless the dialogue can be shown to have produced meaningful agreements, some will push for the role of the social partners to be reduced.

Those EU governments, such as Germany and Luxembourg, who are in favour of tighter European social policies believe employers are using the dialogue as a tactic to delay measures they find distasteful.

At the same time, the European Parliament is becoming increasingly frustrated that there is no requirement for it to be consulted on what is agreed behind closed doors.