ACTIVER conference: 'Youth unemployment and active labour market policies'

Since the beginning of the pandemic millions of EU workers have switched from office work to home work. New flexible working arrangements have been essential in safeguarding economic activity and in preserving jobs in times of lockdowns. But they have also entailed many dramatic challenges: the blurring of boundaries between ‘work’ and ‘home’, organisational challenges, and not least isolation and loneliness with severe impacts on our mental health.

Which are these impacts? Which are the specific vulnerable groups? And what can be done by legislators, employers, colleagues and trade unions to alleviate harmful impacts and to ‘recouple’ the employee to decisive ‘anchors’?

• Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary-General
• Rocio Diaz Conde, psychologist, Independent Trade Union and Civil Servants Central (CSIF)
• Laura Marchetti, Mental Health Europe
• Daphne Ahrendt, Eurofound
• Marta Fana, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC)

will introduce into the debate.

The event is part of CESI’s ongoing EU co-funded PULSER project which focuses on capacity-building ad support for performing public services personnel in Europe.

If you wish to participate, please register here https://forms.gle/LSQ8dwVePmEqkWX66

The working language of the meeting is EN.

#CESItalks

Based on a discussion paper of CESI on ‘Our post-pandemic world of work: Focusing on telework or ICT-based mobile work (TICTM)’ and the recent European Parliament legislative initiative report on a right to disconnect, trade union experts and policy makers discussed the lessons learned from mobile work during the pandemic and presented their ideas regarding the future of teleworking. The panel consisted of:

• Sara Rinaudo, Chair of CESI’s working group on the future of work
• Alex Agius Saliba, MEP (S&D), European Parliament Rapporteur on the right to disconnect
• Birgit Wintermann, Programme Manager ‘Business in Society’ at Bertelsmann Stiftung

During the debate, which was moderated by CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger together with Jürgen Noack, Head of Brussels Liaison Office at Bertelsmann Stiftung, timely questions were addressed regarding the regulation of teleworking and the fundamental rights that should be protected:

• What elements need to be regulated and at what levels?
• How can we create an organizational culture which ensures that that telework will stay a part of working life also after the Covid pandemic has been overcome? What is the role in this of the EU institutions, national governments, social partners, and trade unions?
• Which parameters determine whether a right to disconnect is effective and working out without disadvantages for neither employers nor employees?
• How to rule out digital surveillance of workers?
• Who should be responsible for occupational health and safety during mobile working?
• Who should pay for expenditures incurred by mobile working: the worker, the employer or, via tax relief, the state?

During the discussion it emerged that smart working is here to stay and that our societies should find the right balance in this new landscape. On the one hand, teleworking offers new significant opportunities that cannot be overlooked (such as better opportunities to reconcile job and domestic responsibilities, an improved accessible of labour to people with disabilities, and positive environmental benefits because of reduced fuel and power consumption), while, on the other hand, there emerge important risks most notably related fundamental working rights, human communication, and mental health.

The participants focused on the right to disconnect and agreed that the recent report of the European Parliament is a first attempt to guarantee that the TICTM workers do not need to remain at the disposal of the employer during non-working hours. But important issues are still open, it was said: Should the disconnection be automatic, or would this restrict flexibility? Is the disconnection only a right, or also an obligation? And also, how can we measure the working time at home?

Other issues that were discussed included the protection of TICTM workers’ personal data (and the need for transparent data collection and processing, a right to access information regarding actual working time, and protection against surveillance), occupational health and safety concerns (especially regarding increasing invisibility of psychological risks), and, of course, the role of trade unions that can prove useful in guaranteeing smart workers further and more detailed rules than the minimum protection set by regulations. The speakers agreed that further interventions are needed, including the strengthening of social dialogue on these matters and the establishment of new rights in mobile working, such as the right of a worker to choose between telework and work at the office, or the right of a teleworker to return to his/her office.

In his conclusions, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger highlighted the importance of social dialogue in the new world of work, and sketched the features that the legislation covering these issues should have: “It has to be simple, it has to be clear, but it should apply according to the classification of work schemes and workers, their special needs and the work organisation. Social partners and social dialogue have an important role to play in this, both at sectoral and at company level.”

Three years after the significant ‘Matzak’ verdict of the Court of Justice of the European Union (C-518/15), according to which stand-by time which a worker spends at home with the duty to respond to calls from his employer within a short timeframe must under certain conditions be regarded as working time, the Court addressed again the fine line between working time and rest periods under the provisions of Directive 2003/88 and came to new refined conclusions regarding the interpretation of stand-by periods.

On 9 March 2021, the CJEU published two judgments with particular significance for workers involved in stand-by schemes. In the first case (C-344/19, D.J. v Radiotelevizija Slovenija), a technician who was responsible for ensuring the operation of TV transmission in a hard-to-reach territory (mountain) in Slovenia, provided stand-by services for six hours per day, according to a stand-by system. Although he was not obliged by his employer to remain at the transmission center, he could not go to his home during the stand-by time because of the difficulty to return to the center quickly if needed (in 1 hour after the call). For this reason, he had to stay in service accommodation placed at his disposal by his employer.

In the second case (C-580/19, RJ v Stadt Offenbach am Main), the Court was asked to give a preliminary ruling upon a request that was made in proceedings between a firefighter and Stadt Offenbach am Main concerning the remuneration claimed by the firefighter for services consisting in stand-by time according to a stand-by system. The firefighter was a public official who in additional to his regular service hours was obliged to be reachable at any time. More specifically, he had to have his service uniform and vehicle with him and be able to reach the Offenbach am Main town boundary within 20 minutes after the call. For this service, the firefighter requested that his waiting time be recognized as working time and that he be remunerated accordingly.

To answer to the question when and under which circumstances stand-by time constitutes working time under Article 2 of Directive 2003/88, the Court expressed the following considerations:

• With regards to both cases, it recalled that the national courts are responsible to examine whether the periods of stand-by time must be classified as “working time” within the meaning of Directive 2003/88 based on objective criteria.
• In relation to both cases, it noted that the terms “working time” and “rest period” of the Directive are mutually exclusive, meaning that a worker’s time on stand-by periods must be classified as either ‘working time’ or a ‘rest period’, since the Directive does not provide for any intermediate category and it also confirmed that a period during which no actual activity is carried out by the worker for the benefit of his or her employer does not necessarily constitute a “rest period”.
• On case C-344/19, it noted that, when the worker does not have a realistic option of leaving the workplace after the completion of his or her working hours, these periods automatically constitute working time only when there are objective and very significant constraints that prevent the worker from leaving the workplace, such as “the obligation to be immediately available to his or her employer”, and not solely due to the particular nature of the territory of the workplace that may be difficult to approach.
• Regarding both cases, it ruled that the concept of “working time” under the provisions of the Directivecovers the entirety of periods of stand-by time, including those according to a stand-by system, during which the constraints imposed on the worker are such as to affect, objectively and very significantly, the possibility for the latter freely to manage the time during which his or her professional services are not required and to pursue his or her own interests. Conversely, when there are not such constraints, only the time linked to the provision of work actually carried out during that period constitutes working time. Furthermore, these constrains should be imposed on the worker by the law, the collective agreement, or the employer, while organizational difficulties are not considered as relevant.
• Finally, also in relation to both cases, it emphasised that Directive 2003/88 does not cover the remuneration for stand-by periods. As a result, the remuneration for these periods can differ from the remuneration provided for periods during which actual work is provided.

Based on these thoughts, the Court held that only in case C-580/19 there were “objective and very significant constraints” that justify the classification of the stand-by time as working time. More specifically, the verdict of the Court was that the stand-by time during which a worker must be reachable within 20 minutes, in uniform and with their service vehicle, constitutes, in its entirety, working time.

On the contrary, in terms of case C-344-19, a period of stand-by time, during which the worker is required only to be reachable by telephone and able to return to the workplace in 1 hour, while being able to stay in service accommodation at that workplace, without being required to remain there, does not constitute, in its entirety, working time.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger highlighted the importance of the recent Decisions and underlined their significance for workers who are involved in stand-by schemes:

“The Court confirmed that intense constraints imposed on a worker during his or her stand-by time do not allow the worker to freely manage this time and for this reason this period consists real working time that should be remunerated. Whether these constraints derive from the national law, a collective agreement, or the contract of employment, the ruling is clear: stand-by time that is subject to such constraints and does not allow the worker to pursue his or her interests is to be considered as work. These Decisions are another important step to bring clarity to the principles governing the application of the Working Time Directive.”

The full judgments as well as a press release with further information is available on the website of the CJEU.

ABOUT CESI

The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) is a confederation of 40 trade union organisations from 20 European countries and 4 European trade union organisations, with a total of more than 5 million individual members. One further trade union enjoys observer status. Founded in 1990, CESI advocates improved employment conditions for workers in Europe and a strong social dimension in the EU. CESI’s particular strength lies in the public sector, but CESI also represents private-sector workers. Most of CESI’s affiliates are employed in the fields of central, regional and local administration, security and justice, education, training and research, healthcare, postal services and telecommunications, defence and transport.

www.cesi.org

Tender specifications for research in the framework of CESI’s project “DiWork – Digitalising public services: Making it work for citizens, business and workers”

Deadline for submission extended: 19.04.2021

To be sent to [email protected]

PDF Version

TENDER SPECIFICATIONS

To ensure large visibility, the tender will be publicly available for one month on CESI’s communication channels.

1. Background

The impact of digitalisation, especially the therefore required competencies, equipment as well as working conditions and organisation, are increasingly challenging public services and their personnel. The COVID-19 crisis has impressively (and partly also painfully) demonstrated how decisive and essential public services are – and also how urgently their further improvement, among others through digitalisation, is needed.

Against this background, it is a priority to approach the challenge in a broad, yet incisive way, laying the focus also on the ICT competencies in the public sector. What are the concrete steps needed to meet the demands of the citizens and the economic actors?

The digital transformation of public services requires wide and heterogeneous skills at all levels. The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) wishes to support this process, by identifying the necessary methodology, the required tools, and the needed skills for the workforce.

The project aims to make a distinction between different sectors and selected countries with the final goal of strengthening and consolidating the basic and advanced digital skills of the employee.

It also aims to investigate the evolving realities, to provide trade unions’ representatives with a better understanding of how employees can benefit from new technologies, but also to assess and tackle associated risks in terms of working conditions and occupational health and safety.

2. Purpose of the contract

Support is being sought from a researcher or team of researchers (Think Thank / Institute / University) to help to facilitate the implementation of the project run by CESI together with its national members.

In particular, the researcher(s) will be in charge of carrying out:

– A survey on the impact of digital transformation, including artificial intelligence, on the public sector workforce.

– A study on the challenges and opportunities coming from the digital transformation for the public sector workforce.

The researcher(s) will carry out comparative research on the digital transformation of the public sector in the targeted sectors across the EU.

The researcher(s) will be in close contact with the project applicant to ensure that the appropriate initial research is prepared and presented in due course and that the final research report is useful for European organisations and their affiliates to anticipate the digital transformation.

The researcher(s) is/are also expected to attend the online events (to be agreed upon with the organizers) and the final conference. The evidence provided by the research will help CESI in drafting recommendations on how to provide trade unions’ representatives with a better understanding of how employees can benefit from the whole digitalization process, taking also into account the potential impact new technologies may have on working conditions and occupational health and safety.

3. Tasks to be performed by the Contractor

3.1 Description of tasks

• Analysing the need for/and the impact of digital transformation where CESI represents most of its members:

1. Central government administrations as well as local and regional administration, in all levels and sections of government, agencies and public bodies;
2. Education and training, with a focus on teachers and educators in primary, secondary and tertiary education as well as in VET;
3. Health services, in particular, hospital staff, nurses and physicians;
4. Postal services

• Drawing up survey to gather the point of views and the experiences of the personnel and their representatives, showcasing exemplary or inappropriate practices to prepare and open the workforce for digital transformation.

• Showcasing good practices from public services and public administrations in implementing the digital agenda.

• Drawing up a final study in English, based on the working groups’ contributions, the survey and the review of the latest publications on digital transformation.

• Presenting the main results of the study at the online CESI working groups (to be agreed upon) and at the final conference.

3.2 Guidance and indications on tasks execution and methodology

The study will consist of comparative research on the impact of digital transformation in the public sector and its workforce also thanks to a survey addressed to CESI members. But also review of European Policies and take into account national specificities of the various sectors.

The contracting party is free to choose the methodology applied. However, a few video-calls will be scheduled to discuss the progress of the work and its direction. A draft report must be delivered by end of January 2022.

4. Expertise required

• Having at least three years of experience in the field of public services, policies related to the use of ICT and digital transformation, occupational safety and health at work, with a focus on the importance of the information, consultation and co-decision of workers, and national and European social dialogues.
• Being familiar with the European Commission’s strategy “Europe fit for the digital age” and related policies of DG Connect, DG Digit and DG Employment.
• Ability of becoming familiar with the project leader’s and the EU institutions’ publications on similar topics.

5. Timetable

The project´s duration is from February 2021 until February 2023. The survey must be launched by the end of May 2021 and be completed by the end of November 2021. The study should be finalised by the end of February 2022.

6. Payments and standard contract

CESI will sign a contract with the subcontracted researcher(s).

Payments will be made in three instalments as follows:

The first payment of 20% of the contract value upon signature of the contract, a further payment of 40% of the contract value upon delivery of the survey´s results, and a final payment of 40% upon finalisation of the research report.

7. Price

The total budget for the research is 37 000.00 EUR (all taxes and charges included).

Travel and accommodation expenses for the contractor to attend potential physical events, like the final conference (all depending on the evolution of the pandemic and lockdown measures) or meet with the project partners will be covered by the overall travel and accommodation budget of the project and paid separately from the abovementioned instalments.

8. Selection criteria

• Verifiable expertise, experience and skills, as required and described above;
• Proven knowledge/ evidence/track record of research (supported by publications, academic articles etc.) on sectoral social dialogue, in particular focusing on the targeted sectors;
• Respect of the budgetary constraints and timeline.

9. Award criteria

The contract will be awarded to the tenderer whose profile and offer best reflect the selection criteria. The principles of transparency and equal treatment will be respected.

It should be noted that the contract will not be awarded to a tenderer who receives less than 70% on the Award Criteria.

10. Content and presentation of the bids

Tenders must be written in English.

They must be signed by the tenderer or the duly authorised representative and be perfectly legible so that there can be no doubt as to words and figures.

Tenders must be clear and concise. They must make it clear that they can meet the requirements of the specifications.

All tenders must include at least two sections:

1) Technical proposal

The technical proposal must provide all the information needed for awarding the contract, including:

• The relevant professional experience with an emphasis on the specific fields covered by the invitation to tender.
• The documents necessary to enable the project partners to appraise the bid based on the selection and award criteria set out above.
• A detailed CV of the expert(s) involved in the project activities.
• Specific information concerning the proposed methodology for delivering the tasks listed in part 2.

2) Financial proposal

Prices of the financial proposal must be quoted in euros, including if the sub-contractor is based in a country that is not in the euro-area. As far as the tenderers of those countries are concerned, they cannot change the amount of the bid because of the evolution of the exchange rate. The tenderers choose the exchange rate and assume all risks or opportunities relating to the rate fluctuation. Prices shall be fixed and not subject to revision during the performance of the contract.

11. Selection of the bids

Offers must be received within 30 days of the date of publication of this call for tender by CESI, i.e. by 19.04.2021.

Applicants may be invited for a video interview in the week(s) following the submission’s deadline.

Offers must be sent to CESI by e-mail to Tomasz Koguc, Project Manager: [email protected].

The project is co-funded by the European Union

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

The action is part of a larger project co-financed by the European Parliament: WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-Covid19 recovery plan.

The project wants to contribute to raising citizens’ awareness of the role and democratic values of the European Union especially related to the political and legislative priorities on employment, environment and digital transformation.

More info https://www.cesi.org/academy/weep/

#WeEP #CESI #AllWorkersCount #WorkersRights #TradeUnions #WorkersRights

CESI Talks – EU und Arbeitnehmer mit Lukas Mandl, Mitglied des Europäischen Parlaments (EVP, AT)

Die Covid-19-Pandemie hat eindrucksvoll (und schmerzhaft) gezeigt, wie entscheidend und unverzichtbar öffentliche Dienste sind und wie dringend ihre weitere Verbesserung durch eine stärkere europäische Präsenz notwendig ist.

#CESItalks ist eine Gesprächsreihe mit Abgeordneten und Beamten/Experten des Europäischen Parlaments zu den politischen und legislativen Prioritäten des Europäischen Parlaments in den Bereichen Beschäftigung, Umwelt und digitale Transformation.

Weitere Infos https://www.cesi.org/academy/weep/ #CESItalks #Arbeit #Gewerkschaften #WeEP

“On this year’s International Women’s Day, I warmly welcome a legislative proposal for an EU directive which the European Commission just tabled a few days ago. After European Commission President von der Leyen had promised this proposal already last year, I now call on the European Parliament and on the Member States in the Council to move swiftly to adopt a strong legislative piece that will bring effective pay transparency to as many workers as possible. An EU directive can be a powerful tool to bring change, and a powerful tool is necessary to arrive at more pay transparency – which will have a direct effect on reduced gender wage gaps in Europe. This opportunity for more gender equality should not go wasted.

On this year’s International Women’s Day, we also look back to one year of Corona crisis – which has also become a crisis for women in many respects. Above all, lockdowns have led to an unacceptable surge of violence against women. This reminds us that decisive steps are now needed even more acutely than before to make the lives of women safer and more secure. The European Commission should swiftly come forward with a clear plan on how to have the Istanbul Convention adopted and ratified in all Member States, or alternatively propose a directive that will ensure that the essential provisions of the Convention become binding law in all Member States.”

Secretary General Klaus Heeger, the proposed measures are a significant step into the right direction for workers in Europe. The European Parliament, the Council and, above all, national governments and social partners must now take the proposed measures forward.

The proposals and decisions issued by the European Commission on Wednesday and Thursday this week include:

• An action plan for an effective implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and its 20 principles at the EU level and in the Member States.
• A proposal for an EU directive on pay transparency, to help reduce gender pay gaps, which will now be negotiated and adopted by the EU’s two co-legislators, the European Parliament and the Council
• A new EU strategy for the rights on persons with disabilities, which outlines scope of EU measures to support equal rights and opportunities for the less abled, also in occupational matters.
• A recommendation on effective active support to employment, which includes guidance on how to use EU funds to support national active labour market policies and the role of national social partners therein.
• A plan to maintain the so-called ‘escape clause’ of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) also in 2022, which has been applied already since 2020 in order to make it easier for Member States to indebt themselves by investing in jobs and financing the economy’s recovery from the Covid crisis without being penalised for a breach of the public budgetary deficit rules under the Stability and Growth Pact.

In a first reaction CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said:

“The action plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights includes a series of useful headline targets to achieve for a more social fairness by 2030. It will be key that Member States take real and effective ‘owernship’ of the Pillar and act in line with it. The EU has limited competences, and at some point it is the Member States that need to do their homework and prioritise decent work and social protection.”

“The proposal on pay transparency is long awaited and overdue, given the large gender wage and pension gaps especially in the private sector. A directive, once adopted, can be a powerful tool. The European Parliament and the Council need to strike a balance between effective pay transparency for as many workers as possible – while also considering bureaucracy concerns of micro enterprises. Here, social partners need to work with governments to provide practical reference frameworks, templates and digital solutions to keep pay transparency manageable.”

“Access to healthcare, lifelong learning, leisure and also employment remains difficult for many disabled persons. We welcome very much the Euroepan Commission’s new disability strategy, with further efforts to lay out possible actions and measures to support active inclusion in the Member States. We appreciate in particular envisaged initiatives to making job selection, recruitment, employment and retention processes more disability-inclusive.”

“A recommendation for active support to employment is coming at the right moment. Although recommendations are usually little considered by the Member States, this one may attract attention because it explains how EU funds can be deployed for more effective support to employment by the Member States. This might be an additional incentive. And I believe that also social partners and trade unions must play a more prominent role in the future in supporting active labour market policies.”

“Maintaining the escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact is an important political sign towards Member States to invest in resilience. Already before the Covid crisis, we have called to invest in particular in public services in order to make them performant also in times of crisis, which regularly arrive, albeit in different forms and natures. The Stability and Growth Pact must target keeping public debts at a minimum, but it should not prevent necessary investments in key areas that allow the state to function and societies to become fairer.”

Klaus Heeger also underlined the need to carefully assess and, in case of approval, promote and support the different tools and proposals: “The Pillar can only have concrete impacts on citizens and workers if we all seize and use it – politically, financially, legally. And this we will do in the coming years, with the support of our members.”

During the pandemic it has become even more obvious than before that military and civilian armed forces are indispensable resources. A crisis of such magnitude revealed the crucial importance of well- trained, well-equipped, motivated and not least available military personnel to compensate for the deficits of distribution, public health and law enforcement: from the transport of patients, medical equipment, medicines and vaccines, to the provision of medical assistance, the enforcement of lockdown measures and the maintenance of public safety and order – military forces were of vital value.

Together with CESI members, think-tanks and representatives of EU institutions the most striking backlashes and developments in the Corona year were given a closer look. The participants agreed that, to be successful, the ESDP (European Security and Defence Policy) and the EDU (European Defence Union), should allow a structured commitment and engagement not only of lawmakers, but also by the citizens, the civil society and, not least, the military and civilian personnel of the armed forces itself.

“We need a democratic vision for our defence future” MEP Lukas Mandl underlined. And Thomas Sohst, representative of the ‘Deutscher Bundeswehrverband’ (Association of the German Army) added: “We need to introduce a social dimension into the EDU. Soldiers are citizens in uniform, and they must benefit from and be protected by the same fundamental rights.”

The participants agreed on the presence of a window of opportunity: “The main actors should capitalise on the great efforts of the civilian and military personnel to alleviate the consequences of the pandemic. Now they return to their initial tasks – and continue ‘winning’ the support of EU citizens,” Thomas Sohst concluded.

CESI will continue to advocate for the formal establishment of a inclusive EDRT.

“DiWork – Digitalising public services: Making it work for citizens, business and workers”

Over the last years, many programmatic interventions have gone in the direction of technology-driven public services. However, the actual realization of this transformation has proceeded slowly, often due lack of resources and insufficient consideration of workers’ experience and point of view.

In February 2020, the European Commission has launched the strategy: “A Europe fit for the digital age, empowering people with a new generation of technologies”[ii]. The EU’s digital strategy aiming to make this transformation work for people and businesses, while helping to achieve its target of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. Throughout the strategy, the EC will focus its attention on three key objectives: a technology that works for people, a fair and competitive economy and an open, democratic and sustainable society. It aims at a European society powered by digital solutions that put people first, opens up new opportunities for businesses, and boosts the development of trustworthy technology to foster an open and democratic society and a vibrant and sustainable economy.

Dear members, friends and partners of CESI,

According to the latest Eurobarometer on Social Issues released some days ago, EU social policy is important to 88% of the citizens in Europe. Over seven in ten Europeans consider that a lack of social rights is a serious problem. Large majorities of the people believe that there should be more decision-making at European level in areas such as decent work or social protection.

At the same time, less than three in ten Europeans appear to have heard about the European Pillar of Social Rights – in the Brussels bubble referred to as a landmark project of the EU.

These figures confirm the impression that we as CESI have been having for some time already: EU social policy is a high priority for workers, for our members, for us. We believe, they believe that the EU should deliver more. At the same time, many of our affiliates are still too unaware of achievements of EU social policy and of commitments of the EU institutions to hear the concerns and deliver on the problems that trade union and workers face.

We agree that many central employment and social policy issues indeed remain to be addressed and solved by mainly national, but also by EU decision-makers, considering tangible positive results that EU social policy has already made for workers. And we also recognise that there is often a clear communication problem that prevents a more positive public picture and appreciation of the EU in social affairs. Many achievements and initiatives of the EU do not receive the public appreciation and support that they deserve.

CESI is the voice of more than five million employees and public servants across Europe. We see it as an obligation to reinforce links between policy makers on the one side and workers on the other. We take the promotion and strengthening of dialogue between citizens and decision-takers very seriously. To explain social Europe enormous challenges, yet also achievements in simple and clear terms.

In this context, we call on you today to join with us in our efforts to help trade unions, social partners, governments and authorities across Europe implement the European Pillar of Social Rights. The European Commission has put a proposal on the table this week on how this could be achieved, and we are determined to seize this matter together with our members.

We look forward to working with you on this.

The next occasion will be an online CESI@home on March 12 where we will exchange on the matter with all interested members and affiliates. We encourage you to register numerous!

#CESItalks

One of the major impacts of the lockdowns during this disastrous Covid-19 pandemic has been an acceleration of previous trends towards increasing levels of mobile and home working. In particular, with the rise of digital working, the fragmentation and de-limitation of working time has further proceeded. Working in the evenings and during weekends is increasingly common and indeed expected by many employers. This increases stress for workers while it affects their work-life balance; and this compromises the health and wellbeing of workers, making them not only sick in the long run but also causing increasingly more often their absence from work due to psychosocial illness for sustained periods of time.

According to the European Sunday Alliance, a broad network of more than 100 national Sunday alliances, trade unions, employers’ organisations, civil society associations, churches and religious communities in the European Union of which CESI has been a member sine 2017, a full day of rest per week is indispensable to recover. Indeed a common day of rest can truly increase wellbeing and brings a positive effect on health: Only during a common day of rest is it possible to pursue volunteer work, civic engagement, joint social, sports or faith-related activities, family time and, more generally, to spend time together. Humans are social beings, and for many of them their health requires more than individual time off at scattered, random moments of the week to spend alone. The challenges of the pandemic have highlighted the need of human beings for structure in their daily routine. A day recognised by tradition or custom is essential as a day to disconnect, literally and figuratively.

Establishing a European right to disconnect is currently – and rightly so – debated throughout Europe. Work-life balance, as well as healthy, safe and well-adapted work environments, are at the heart of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which all EU institutions and Member States government have committed to implement.

On March 3, the annual European Day for a Work-Free Sunday, CESI joins the the European Sunday Alliance to call on political leaders in Europe to put synchronised free time as a priority on the social policy agenda and help make a tangible, visible and cherished improvement to the lives of citizens across Europe. In particular, the European Commission should align its upcoming proposal for a directive on a right to disconnect with article 2 of the Council of Europe’s Social Charter which already requires “a weekly rest period which shall, as far as possible, coincide with the day recognised by tradition or custom in the country or region concerned as a day of rest.”

Message of CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger on the occasion of the annual European Day for a Work-Free Sunday on March 3 2021

Future of Work: Mobile working in a pot-pandemic world of work

An online CESI@noon brought to you by the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung

March 17 2020, 12:00-13:30

Online (Zoom)

Registration

With sustained lockdown periods, the Covid pandemic measures have imposed mobile and home working for large parts of the workforce. While this has revealed that working away from office locations can truly ‘work’ and bring multiple benefits to both workers and employers, it has become equally evident that rules need to be put in place to make it a fair, safe, legally sound and effective method of working for both sides.

Since we can expect mobile and home-based work to further increase and lead to an overall digital transformation of the companies, even after the pandemic is overcome, what elements need to be regulated and at what levels? How can we learn to accept the digitalisation of work as a necessary change? What is the role in this of the EU institutions, national governments, social partners and trade unions?

And in particular: Do workers need a right to disconnect by themselves or an automatic disconnection to effectively eliminate permanent availability? How to rule out digital surveillance of workers? Who should be responsible for occupational health and safety during mobile working? And who should pay for expenditures incurred by mobile working: the worker, the employer or, via tax relief, the state? These and more questions will be addressed and discussed at this CESI@noon together with trade union experts and policy makers.

Sara Rinaudo (Italian ‘Confsal’ trade union), Chair of CESI’s Working Group on the Future of Work

MEP Alex Agius Saliba (S&D, MT), European Parliament Rapporteur on the Right to Disconnect

Birgit Wintermann, Programme Manager ‘Business in Society’ at Bertelsmann Stiftung

Moderators
Klaus Heeger, Secretary General of CESI
Jürgen Noack, Head of Brussels Liaison Office at Bertelsmann Stiftung

The project aims to assess the effectiveness at the national level of the EU Multi-sectoral social partners’ Guidelines to tackle and prevent third-party violence and harassment related to work (2010), which CESI signed in 2018, as part of the TUNED delegation, for the central government administrations’ sector. It will identify areas for improvements and explore possibilities for reviewing the Guidelines’ content and nature considering recent legislative developments and the ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment (2019). It will also aim to be an awareness-raising tool on a gender-sensitive approach to violence and harassment at the workplace.

It will include a mix of capacity-building among EU sectoral social partners and evidence-based policy recommendations addressed to the project partners, their members, and public authorities. It will consist of two European conferences with sectoral break-out discussions, seven webinars.

The project focuses on the public services sector, i.e., government, hospitals, education, public transport, supported by examples drawn from the private sector, allowing to compare sectoral specificities and produce general policy recommendations.

The project will run for 24 months: this will allow the delivery of a full project cycle, including preparatory activities, implementing the work plan, and disseminating results. The work plan foresees the organisation of seven webinars and two conferences.

The activities have just began this March with the launch of a Call for Tender, open until beginning of April, with the aim of finding a researcher, or team of researchers, who will carry out comparative research on the prevalence and causes of third-party violence and harassment in the targeted sectors across the EU, legislative and social partner responses and assessment of the Guidelines’ effectiveness. The research will help social partners draw up their own conclusions on how to improve the Guidelines’ implementation and, if necessary, based upon evidence, their content and nature.

This joint social partners’ project will be a way for CESI to continue raising awareness on the crucial topic of third-party violence at work, after the successful conclusion of its own EU-funded project #NOVIOLENCEATWORK.

“CESI broadly supports the rationale which the European Commission lays out in its recent roadmap on measures to reduce the VAT gap in Europe in order to help the governments of the Member States finance the protection of jobs and the recovery of their countries in the current Covid crisis”, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said, and added: “We welcome in particular the recognition that the Member States’ tax administration capacity to collect VAT will play an important role for the recovery from the crisis.”

To this end, in a dedicated written response to the Euroepan Commission on its consultation, CESI:

• notes that capacity is always preconditioned by adequate financial resources: In its prospective possible Communication, the European Commission should encourage Member States to invest in the (digital) equipment, resources and staff of their tax administrations and tax inspectorates, based on the very plausible assumption that this generates high revenues to public finances and pays off multiple times. There are few investments in public finances and social fairness as effective as this. The European Commission should also make sure to promote this approach further in the European Semester and ensure that there is sufficient flexibility in the EU’s economic governance framework (Stability and Growth Pact) to allow Member States to engage in the necessary investments.

• welcomes the European Commission’s plans to strengthen exchanges of best practices between tax administrations in Europe on how to reform administrations (also digitally) in a way that supports a better collection of due VAT, and to promote EU level tools and financing to implement such reforms at the national levels. CESI notes that the Communication should emphasise the importance of a meaningful inclusion of the personnel, its representatives and the social partners in the design of any reforms of administrations. Often, they know best how their own performance and those of their administration could be improved. The Communication should also put a priority on the training and further training of staff, including on European and international administrative cooperation, as a core component to deliver the full capacity of well-resourced in tax administrations and tax inspectorates

CESI’s full contribution to the consultation is available here.

The beginning of March will also mark the start of a new joint project on the role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at work. This project is led by EPSU, with CEMR, CESI and HOSPEEM and as co-leaders.

CESI’s project “Trade unions for zero tolerance towards third-party violence at work: Let’s protect public sector workers in Europe!”was conceived as a series of actions meant to continue the work carried out by the European social partners in the area of third-party violence and to step up the European debate through a document of recommendations called the #NOVIOLENCEATWORK Manifesto.

The aim has been to ensure the full recognition and awareness of the specific nature of the phenomenon, as well as its impact on the working conditions of employees. Trade unions need the capacities and knowledge to fully address the issue, to protect workers from external violence, and to accompany victims of violence, either in legal proceedings or with psychological and/or practical assistance.

As many CESI members had been working on the topic at national level through own awareness-raising campaigns or other good practices, CESI’s project contributed to support them by adding a European dimension.

The project, chiefly financed by European Union’s funds, led to an awareness-raising campaign by CESI through an animated video entitled “Independent trade-unions gather for zero tolerance against violence. Let’s end third-party violence at work.”

This campaign was launched in 2020 – which also marked the 10th anniversary from the social partners’ multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work.

It appears that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to additional sources of stress to the work of public services, further challenging the prevention of violence in the workplace.

According to many testimonies, workers even in the healthcare sector (mostly considered at first as “heroes” in the fight against Covid-19) continued to be victims of external violence as a consequence of a rising social frustration and a changing society in which some forms of violence are simply and sadly trivialized.

The workforce in the education and security sectors have been particularly exposed to third party violence too. Recent reports confirm for instance that aggressions against the French police have more than doubled in twenty years.

The phenomenon of third-party violence against public sector workers, unfortunately, represents a deterrent against the attractiveness of several public sector professions and the recruitment of young people in these fields. This project has therefore ultimately shown the crucial role of trade-unions in revalorizing public workers and in raising awareness throughout the overall society, about the value of public services and public workers.

As Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary General, concluded on the occasion of the final meeting: “We want to raise awareness to protect our members, to protect the victims. And we should not only do it as trade unions, but also as citizens. Because an attack against a nurse, a firefighter or a teacher is an attack against us all.”

Through its own #NOVIOLENCEATWORK campaign, as well as its participation in the joint social partners’ project on third-party violence, CESI is definitely committed to keep the spotlight on the topic in the years to come.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on the European Parliament’s political and legislative priorities on employment, environment and digital transformation.

The action is part of a larger project co-financed by the European Parliament: WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-Covid19 recovery plan.

The project wants to contribute to raising citizens’ awareness of the role and democratic values of the European Union especially related to the political and legislative priorities on employment, environment and digital transformation.

#WeEP #CESI #AllWorkersCount #WorkersRights #TradeUnions #WorkersRights

CESI, which also represents officials and employees from public administrations and the different public services at the European, national and local and regional levels, witnesses increasingly often reports from member organisations and affiliates about increasing levels of third party violence against public sector staff, including nurses, police forces, teachers and public administration personnel.

A recent manifest of CESI on a better prevention and management of such third party violence, developed in the context of an EU co-funded project on ‘Trade unions for zero tolerance towards violence at work: Protecting public sector workes in Europe’, confirms that the situation has recently been acutely worsening as Covid lockdown measures have been leading to increasing social and economic tensions for many people who then, increasingly often, discharge frustration as aggressive behaviour towards public service workers.

Secretary Genreal Klaus Heeger said: “It appears that the pandemic has brought an additional source of stress to the work of public services, hindering the prevention of violence in the workplace. Now more than ever, trade unions can and must play a central role in the fight against third-party violence, and they need to be supported by the EU and national governments and decision makers. The new EU strategic framework on health and safety at work should foresee a particular field of action for public sector personnel that faces violence at work.”

Responding to the consultation of the European Commission on priority fields for the next EU strategic framework, CESI thus makes a number of recommendations for the EU and the Member States to help fight against third party violence against public sector staff, inclucing:

• greater responsibility for employers and governments to tackle the issue and protect their workers, coupled with a greater involvement of trade-unions as ‘reliable partners’ both for governments and for workers on the issue of third-party violence.
• specific training to provide workers with the opportunities and the tools to know how act when encountering violent behaviour.
• supporting and funding more exchanges of best practices and capacity-building for social partners, including sectoral ones at the EU and national levels.
• supporting and funding more awareness-raising and communication campaigns for social partners, including sectoral ones at the EU and national levels.

In the context of the pandemic, the need to address staff shortages has become more stringent than ever. Even before the crisis[1], understaffing in the health sector has had major negative implications on health indicators such as safety, mortality and morbidity.

Dolors Montserrat, Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the PETI Committee and a former Spanish Minister of Health, underlined that in spite of its catastrophic impacts the Covid-19pandemic nevertheless opens a window of opportunity to reassess public spending for healthcare: For each 10% increase in the number of nurses, the mortality rate of a hospitalised patient could decrease by 10%[2]. In terms of morbidity, studies reveal that an increase of the number of nurses could potentially lead to cost reductions for the health system through preventing adverse effects. For example, in the case of critical care nurses (intensive –care units) a 1 to 1 nurse-patient ratio is more cost efficient than a 1 to 2 ratio[3].

Simona Guagliardo from the European Policy Center presented the European Health Union initiatives made by the European Commission under the EU4Health programme. She highlighted the in light of the € 5.1 billion allocation for EU health policies, governments should support increased public health spending and investments in staff. She based her arguments on the findings of the PULSER study and in the context of the current European trends in terms of shortage of health professionals, an ageing population and workforce, a gender gap for the nursing and caring professions. According to her, the financing and equipment of public services and their personnel have to remain high on the agenda.

Manuel Cascos Fernandez, President of the most representative trade union of nurses in Spain – SATSE, showcased the citizen’s legislative proposal on a patient/ nurse ratio at national level and announced that the proposal will be voted in the coming weeks.

Esther Reyes, President of CESI´s former Trade Council Health, gave insights into the impact of Corona on the health workers. Although many signs of symbolic appreciation were made towards the medical staff, more action is needed to address the long-term effects of understaffing, i.e. the bad working conditions, accumulated stress and tiredness, as well as the lack of effective protective equipment.

Oliver Krzywanek (dbb, Germany) presented the situation in Germany where a patient/ nurse quota was introduced recently. Since the practice of ‘importing’ staff is not considered an option anymore due to brain-drain effects, Germany hopes that the introduction of quota will improve the working conditions for nurses. This could bring approximately 200 000 workers to return to exercise their profession.

Milena Popovic, an epidemiologist from Montenegro and President of the SDMCG, highlighted the immense problems linked to the emigration of doctors from the public to the private health sector where both working conditions and pay are higher. This emigration has caused many shortages in the public health sector in the Western Balkans, putting the provision of health services dangerously at risk.

Anneke Westerlaken from CNV-Connectief in the Netherlands focused her presentation on solutions to prevent understaffing of nurses: an increase of working time for part-time work, more attractive employment conditions, better pay, further improved possibilities for the unemployed to enter the labour market, and not least the easing of administrative pressure.

All trade union representatives in the meeting underlined the crucial importance of sufficient investment in healthcare. Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary General, closed by concluding ‘The establishment of a target for nurse-patient quota in all EU Member States would be very concrete a step forward to address shortages. Of course, they would need flanking measures such as improved working conditions, reduced working hours and better pay. The public health care systems need more investment, otherwise all recruitment and retention strategies will fail.’

This event is part of CESI’s ongoing EU co-funded PULSER project which focuses on capacity-building and support for performing public services and public services personnel in Europe.

Photo credits: ReSurge-International (Flickr)

[1] https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/7/07-046474/en/

[2] Aiken LH, Sloane DM, Bruyneel L, et al. Nurse staffing and education and hospital mortality in nine European countries: a retrospective observational study. Lancet, 2014.

[3] Rothchild JM, Bates DW, Franz C, Soukup JR, Kaushal R., The costs and savings associated with prevention of adverse events by critical care nurses.

Starting with a reflection on the power dynamics in the context of precarious working conditions, Ashling Seely shows the example of the UK’s Supreme Court ruling which, in that case, considered Uber drivers as workers, thus significantly empowering them.

Providing examples on how the situation of public sector workers in Ireland has been worsening in recent times, Seely also indicates us what actions trade unions should be taking and putting their power resources to action.

This article certainly shows good practices interesting for all unions across Europe, such as building coalitions and embracing workers’ solidarity.

Read the article in full here.

To learn more about this topic visit #noprecariouswork website.

This project is mainly funded by funds from the European Union.

On the eve of the United Nations Social Justice Day, trade unions, lawmakers and other key players gathered to reflect on the different dimensions of precarity and to come up with concrete proposals on how to tackle them.

Some key criteria to identify precarious work were defined. One thig was clear from day one: precarity is not a choice. The feeling of insecurity often referred to by workers is transversal to all precarity dimensions, from access to social security protection to effective interest representation.

The potential impacts of new legislative and non-binding initiatives, such as the 2019 Council Recommendation on Access to Social Protection, the 2019 Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions and not least innovative initiatives put forward as tools to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic, such as SURE, the Recovery and Resilience Facility or the many income support programmes for the self-employed were discussed and analysed in detail.

Joost Korte, Director General of DG EMPL of the European Commission, strongly emphasized that the fight against of precarious work remains a top priority for the European Commission – particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. In his words “it is very obvious that those countries with a good coverage of collective bargaining do much better. (…) Access to social protection is key to protect workers against all kinds of risks”. After highlighting the recent initiatives, Mr Korte informed that the European Commission has proposed an additional 10M EUR package to support social partners.

CESI Secretary General, Klaus Heeger, highlighted that “while more countries formally guarantee more labour rights, less workers can exercise these rights, due to the rise of precarious work. Precarious work therefore a very serious threat to labour market regulation, and we have to tackle it – for the sake of the sustainability of our societies.”

The conference was divided into three panel: access to social security protection, EU labour law and interest representation.

While MEP Terry Reintke (Vice-President of the Greens/EFA) particularly highlighted the gender dimension of precariousness as well as the funds available to support youth employment, Ms Ilka Wölfle, President of the European Social Insurance, evaluated the potential impacts of the measures taken following the Covid-19 crisis on social security coverage in the long-term, and Paul Schoukens, Professor at the KU Leuven, analysed the content and possible influence of the Council recommendation on access to social protection on national social security schemes.

Regarding legislative loopholes, Sophie Robin-Olivier, Professor at the Paris University Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Sergio Galleano, a renowned labour law lawyer in Italy, shared their assessments of the EU directives on atypical work and the thereto related national and EU case law. According to both, a revision of these directives seems opportune. On behalf of the European Commission, Adam Pokorny, Head of Unit Working Conditions at the European Commission, dissected the recent EU initiatives aiming at further closing legislative gaps.

In the panel on efficient interest representation, Aurora Trif, Professor at the Dublin University, described the different strategies of trade unions to unionise atypical workers. In her view, the key element lies in convincing traditional membership of the advantages to open trade unions to new, atypical workers. Marcello Pacifico, President of Anief, described the endeavours of ANIEF to systematically denounce abuses in the application of the directives of atypical work, such as a complaint submitted to the European Committee of Social Rights at the Council of Europe – which was successful. And Henry Chango Lopéz, himself once a precarious worker and today leader of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), described the activities of the IWGB to unionise and protect atypical workers. (Ironically, a few moments before his speech, the UK´s Supreme Court had ruled that Uber drivers are to be considered as workers.)

Sara Rinaudo, chairwoman of CESI’s working group on the future of work, concluded the conference by announcing the activities as a follow-up to the project. According to her, CESI should:

• promote and contribute to the implementation of the Pillar,
• follow-up on the implementation and the impact of the Council recommendation on access to social protection,
• support the adoption of the proposal on minimum wages and monitoring its transposal at national level,
• monitor the implementation of the directive on transparent and predictable working conditions,
• advocate a revision of the directives on atypical work and fight for their uniform and fair interpretation,
• share best practices among our members, and not least
• increasingly reach out to precarious workers.

To learn about this topic visit #noprecariouswork website.

The project is co-funded by the European Union

During the COVID-19 pandemic European armed forces have proven to be an indispensable resource for societies: from the transport of patients, medical equipment, medicines and vaccines, to the provision of medical assistance, the enforcement of lockdown measures and the maintenance of public safety and order.

Furthermore, and considering the multiple geopolitical crises and challenges, security and defence issues will remain a decisive element for the political and economic future of the EU.

The EU is under pressure to deliver progress in the European Defence Union (EDU). Support of citizens is strong and a window of opportunity is given, while at the same time, the complexity and lack of transparency endangers the process.

The meeting therefore aims at exploring the next steps needed for the establishment of a genuine European Defence Union. And it should also illuminate ways for a more inclusive approach in EU defence policy making, based on prior engagement and consultation with military and civilian personnel.

With the participation of:

• Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary-General
• Lukas Mandl, Member of the European Parliament, Vice-Chairman of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence, EPP
• Michael Gahler, Member of the European Parliament, member of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence, EPP
• NN, European External Action Service (tbc)
• Thomas Sohst, President of Trade Council Defence of CESI and member of German Federal Armed Forces Association
• Elena Lazarou, European Parliament Research Service, Acting Head of the External Policies Unit
• Raluca Csernatoni, Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Europe and guest professor at the Institute for European Studies

If you wish to participate, please register here https://forms.gle/y2TVCUqNuJMKiVGJ6 .

The event will be moderated by Raluca Radescu and it is part of CESI’s ongoing EU co-funded PULSER project which focuses on capacity-building and support for performing public services and public services personnel in Europe.

The event will take place in EN & DE.

Photo by the European Defence Agency

We are at a crossroad in our European health systems, as resources are being depleted and as our healthcare needs are more stringent than ever. Long before the beginning of this unprecedented pandemic CESI has been advocating for more investment in the health care structure and its professionals.

Public health has ever since lied in the competence of the Member States, and for an EU health competence have remained scarce. With the pandemic however, it has become clear that not only the fight against the virus, but also the just distribution of health equipment and workforce need to be addressed in a coordinated way. One of the major issues at stake is the lack of sufficient doctors and nurses.

On the one hand, the practice of ‘importing’ healthcare professionals to address the shortages has ever since been a short-sighted solution – an approach which led to severe brain drain and understaffing in the countries of origin. Does this issue need to be addressed as a part of the heralded ‘European Health Union’? What are the answers of trade unions and medical staff from different countries?

On the other hand, EU-wide guidelines or standards for patient-nurse of patient-doctor ratios could help anticipating staff shortages. Data shows that investment in the health care staff brings good externalities: more motivated personnel with better retention rates and less part-time work, and a European ‘patient-nurse’ or ‘patient-doctor’ ratio could lead to more investments in the sector and ensure that the healthcare systems are prepared for permanently increasing health care needs.

The debate shall look into ways to overcome the effects of the pandemic, but also on how to sustainably tackle the increasing care needs of ageing societies.

The following speakers shall introduce into the debate:

• Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary-General
• Dolors Montserrat, Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the PETI Committee, EPP
• Simona Guagliardo, European Policy Center
• Esther Reyes, President of the former CESI trade council ‘Health’, SATSE, Spain
• Oliver Krzywanek, dbb, Germany
• Milena Popovic, SCMCG, Montenegro
• Anneke Westerlaken, CNV Connectief, Netherlands

If you wish to participate, please register here https://forms.gle/5KroGcZwJPSSYFmj8 .

This event is part of CESI’s ongoing EU co-funded PULSER project which focuses on capacity-building and support for performing public services and public services personnel in Europe.

We will reply as soon as possible with the link to the event and with other information.

The event will take place in Spanish and English.

Photo credits: ReSurge-International (Flickr)

#CESItalks

Precarious work takes different forms across Europe. The main problems reported to date include: frequent uses of atypical working contracts, an insufficient recognition of ‘on-call time’ as paid working time, a lack of sufficient and meaningful collective bargaining agreements, and a lack of access to social security protection.

Precarious work is not a new phenomenon, but recent evolutions such as digitalisation, gig economy and flexibilisation of work have been posing new challenges. To this end, the current EU directives in place, notably Directive 97/81/EC on part time work, Directive 1999/70/EC on fixed-term work and Directive 2008/104/EC on temporary agency work, are becoming more and more dated.

What are the advantages and shortcomings of Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union?

To find out more about this topic visit the #noprecariouswork website.

This project is mainly financed by funds from the European Union.

La serie fa parte di un progetto più ampio cofinanziato dal Parlamento Europeo: WeEP – Il Parlamento Europeo e i lavoratori: un solido piano di ripresa post-Covid19.

Il progetto intende contribuire a sensibilizzare i cittadini sul ruolo e i valori democratici dell’Unione Europea, ed in particolare, sulle priorità politiche e legislative in materia di occupazione, ambiente e trasformazione digitale.

Maggiori informazioni https://www.cesi.org/academy/weep/

CESI’s EU co-funded project on “Precarious work: empowering trade unions to address new challenges” ends with this final conference after two years of intensive work of reflection, capacity-building and advocacy on the different dimensions of precarious work in Europe, notably in terms of widespread inadequate social protection, lacking effective interest representation by trade unions, and discrimination in labour law – especially through abusive uses of atypical employment contracts.

After two conferences, an online survey, four webinars, and several research initiatives, the objective of this final conference to present some of the most recent developments in relation to these issues and to outline next steps to combat precarious work across the EU. To pave the way for the road ahead, the impacts of Covid-19 on precarious work will be given a particular emphasis.

Through its assessment in the course of the project, CESI has highlighted the following key focusses:

• Access to social protection for all workers, including young workers, migrant and seasonal workers, platform workers and all those coming from a disadvantaged background;
• Proper and effective interest representation of all workers, in particular those in atypical employment;
• An inclusive social dialogue;
• The closure of existing legislative gaps (for instance in the EU directives on fixed-term contracts, part-time contracts, and temporary agency work);
• Applying the principles of equal treatment as seamlessly as possible.

This event will count with the valuable contributions of:

Joost Korte, Director General of the DG-EMPL of the European Commission
Klaus Heeger, Secretary General of the CESI
Terry Reintke, Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA
Paul Schoukens, Professor of social security law at the University of Tilburg and KU Leuven
Ilka Wölfle, President of the European Social Insurance Platform
Sophie Robin-Olivier, Professor of European Union law at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Sergio Galleano, Labour Lawyer at Studio Legale Galleano in Rome/Milan
Adam Pokorny, Head of Unit Working Conditions at the European Commission
Aurora Trif, Professor of employment relations at the Dublin City University
Henry Chango Lopéz, Secretary General of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB)
Marcello Pacífico, President of the Associazone Sindicale Professionale (ANIEF)
Sara Rinaudo, Chairwoman of CESI’s working group on the Future of Work
Romain Wolff, President of the CESI
Moderator: Pierre Baussand, Head of Eurofound’s Brussels’ Liaison Office

Register by submitting this form by February 17.

To learn more about this topic visit #noprecariouswork website.

This project is mainly funded by funds from the European Union.

#CESItalks

The authors of the study, Simona Guagliardo and Mihai Palimariciuc, find in particular that:

• The European Commission must encourage the national governments to “renew their support for public services, addressing the current financial and investment shortcomings” – not only but especially as a result of the Covid crisis. This relates both to country-specific recommendations to individual Member States at the end of the European Semester cycles as well as to more flexibility to remove investments from national debt calculations under the Stability and Growth Pact.
• “EU member states must aim to improve the resilience and service quality of public services.” According to examples from the study, recruitment and career progression schemes must be modernised in many public administrations, staff numbers and equipment need to be boosted in numerous healthcare systems, more funding for the training of teachers is often necessary, and steps are necessary to fill gaps in the access to judicial services.
• “The public sector workforce must be equipped with the right tools to face ongoing [digital] transformations” – which necessitates additional investments in lifelong learning and in the upskilling of the workforce.
• Public services must be made more attractive to “new and young talent to address labour shortages” – which may require both higher wages as well as campaigns to raise the public and social recognition of public services and to further highlight advantages of public sector employment, such as working for the common good.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “Boiled down to one point, the study concludes what CESI has been demanding for long: Resilient public services are indispensable, and in many Member States and sectors this requires significantly more public investments than in the past. And it appears clearly that investments must span not only to facilities and equipment, but also to working conditions, training and, where applicable, the decent remuneration of the staff. Without, existing personnel cannot deliver high quality services over time and too little new young talent will be attracted to the public services.”

He added: “Investing now may seem like costing a lot, especially now as money is scarce in times of the costly Covid pandemic, but it will pay off in the long run and be for sure cheaper than fixing problems once they inevitably come up at some point in the future. The study spells out clearly that the European Commission has, generally, an active role to play to enable and encourage the Member States to invest in their public services and maintain their quality.”

Read the full study here

This study is the result of a cooperation between the European Policy Centre (EPC) and the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI), in the context of the EU-funded project, “PULSER –Performing public services and performing public service personnel for the best possible implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights”.

More info about the PULSER project.

La pandemia di Covid-19 ha dimostrato in modo impressionante (e doloroso) quanto siano decisivi ed essenziali i servizi pubblici e quanto sia urgente migliorarli ulteriormente attraverso una dimensione europea più forte.

#CESItalks

In this article, Marta Kahancova looks at the different dimensions of precarity in public sector, highlighting the excessive pressures on working time (particularly for healthcare sector workers), the challenges of organising teleworking, and ensuring working conditions related to health and safety.

Covid-19 emphasized the importance of collective bargaining, the need for a stricter working time regulation, as well as for health and safety at the workplace. Trade unions should also reach out to precarious workers and inform them of their rights.

Read the article in full here.

To find out more about this topic visit #noprecariouswork website.

This project is mainly financed by funds from the European Union.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on the European Parliament’s political and legislative priorities on employment, environment and digital transformation.

The action is part of a larger project co-financed by the European Parliament: WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-Covid19 recovery plan.

The project wants to contribute to raising citizens’ awareness of the role and democratic values of the European Union especially related to the political and legislative priorities on employment, environment and digital transformation.

More info https://www.cesi.org/academy/weep/

#WeEP #CESI #AllWorkersCount #WorkersRights #TradeUnions #WorkersRights

Dear members, colleagues, friends and partners of CESI,

With the beginning of 2021, many of the hopes we had by the end of last year have, to say the least, been ‘put on hold’.

Infection rates: they continue to grow in many places. New variants of Covid-19: they spread faster. Vaccines production and vaccinations campaigns: they fall behind, at least in Europe.

In these already sinister months of January and February, the current perspective is rather depressing.

But there are good perspectives too.

Firstly, Trump is gone. Probably such good news that many of those depressed may have healed instantly on January 20^th. Of course, difficult to find a President older than Biden. And yes, watching the news with Trump in the picture was quite entertaining. But in the end, it became tiring. Simply too much screaming and hatred.

Secondly, restrictive rules (although to understand them just in Europe requires the instant cessation of any other activity) may be loosened. Some day. Maybe. Some say.

We all look forward to this day. To the perspective of the end of the endless shutdowns. Until then, we need indulgence. Indulgence with politicians and with citizens.

But to maintain a sense of the magnitude of the repressions does not do any harm. For moderation purposes. Because politicians may get tempted. No complicated debates, only incidence rates and ruling by decrees. Even no need for vaccines. Because lockdowns work.

Imagine other targets. Greenhouse gas emissions or traffic deaths. To stay in bed helps the environment and avoids car accidents. And no procreation either. A little creepy though. Even if frogs, lizards and toads would breathe fresh air, one could miss the voices of children playing.

Yes. We must follow the rules. But we must be ready to get our freedoms (and data) back. They are normal, not the exception. We should never get used to lockdowns, quarantine, PLFs, travel bans and human contact reduction. And yet we tend to, we may even want more. So we should remain vigilant, consider what is at stake and weigh up the options carefully against one another. As trade unions too.

And finally, we keep the spirit by planning our activities. Together in our CESI family. As we have done in these past days and weeks. Nothing better to heal wounded souls. You see familiar faces on Zoom. You gather around projects, preferably good ones. And you try to deliver.

The perspectives are there.

All the best to all of us for this hopefully better year!

In its position, CESI outlines the following considerations and priorities for collective bargaining for the self employed:

• A general prohibition of collective bargaining for the self-employed via trade unions on the grounds that there may be cartel-forming through joint wage negotiations is not in line with the spirit and the purpose of EU competition law. Justifying the prohibition of collective bargaining by reference to the need to maintain the integrity of the single market (article 101 TFEU) is a misplaced contextualisation of EU law, especially when it is applied to vulnerable and precarious self-employed persons.
• The extension of the right to collective bargaining especially to the precarious and the vulnerable self-employed would be desirable. To make it effective, such a right to collective bargaining should be embedded in a four-tier approach which gives the concerned self-employed (1) the right to join trade unions, (2) the right to collective bargaining, (3) the right to become a part of collective agreements, and thus (4) also the right to take industrial action.
• EU competition law should be made compatible with collective bargaining at least for all solo self-employed providing their own labour through digital platforms or to professional customers of any size with the exception of regulated (and liberal) professions. This should be implemented by a clear Council regulation and coupled to a clear-cut definition and a positive list of regulated liberal professions which are not facing precarious employment as a result of their self-employment (e.g. heads of notary, auditor and tax advising practices, architect bureaus, pharmacies, dental practices).
• This initiative should not be aimed to alleviate challenges for the bogus self-employed. Bogus self-employed are denied regular employee contracts because employers want to avoid higher social ‘costs’. Supporting the right of collective bargaining for the bogus self-employed would mean treating symptoms, not tackling roots. Bogus self-employed are, as the term reveals, false self-employed and de facto employees. What is necessary here is to ensure that they are considered as regular employees with all consequences (regular individual and collective labour law and rights and social security schemes applied to them), thus eliminating bogus self-employment in the first place. It should be noted that the problem of bogus solo self-employment currently also persists in regulated liberal professions (among lawyers, dentists, etc), where persons may be employed under precarious self-employment conditions while they are in fact dependent workers (in the law firm, dental practice), just like regular private sector employees.
• Clear legal frameworks for the right to collective bargaining for the self-employed are required and (well-staffed and resourced) labour inspectorates need to be put in place to control their application and issue (deterring) sanctions for violations.

CESI’s full position is available here.

The Presidium set up the following commissions and expert commissions to help guide CESI’s horizontal and sectoral advocacy work until the next Congress in 2024:

• Commission ‘Employment and Social Affairs’ (SOC)
• Commission ‘Women’s Rights and Gender Equality’ (FEMM)
• Expert Commission ‘Public Administrations’ (PA)
• Expert Commission ‘Education, Training and Research’ (EDUC)
• Expert Commission ‘Health Services’ (SAN)
• Expert Commission ‘Post and Telecoms’ (P&T)
• Expert Commission ‘Defence’ (DEF)

The Presidium established that CESI will also continue to concentrate on challenges in the security and justice sectors. CESI will, as before, also prioritise transportation policy matters where they concern the working conditions of employees in the sector.

The Presidium also reviewed the work topics for 2021 that CESI’s Programme Commission had debated on yesterday, thus paving the way for CESI to proceed with the execution of its planned activities during this year.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “I am enthusiastic to delve into our advocacy work together with our members in what will be a year of key importance for workers and employees across Europe: While the Corona pandemic is still upon us, it will be imperative to ensure on all fronts that the post-crisis recovery will not only be green and digital but also socially inclusive and focus on decent work and high quality jobs. CESI as the voice of independent trade unions in Europe as a central role to play in this. All workers count.”

Possible work topics were debated against the background of the political agenda of the European institutions and the priorities of the members of CESI and covered all of policy areas that CESI covers: Employment and social affairs, women’s rights and gender equality, public administrations, education and training, health services, postal services and telecommunications, and defence.

The preliminary list of work topics includes the following:

Horizontal employment and social affairs
• Adequate minimum wages in the European Union
• Sustainable corporate governance
• Fostering freedom of association for trade unions
• Enhancing occupational health and safety (esp. Covid-related)
• Future of work – Future of Trade unions – Future of industrial relations
• Implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights

Women’s rights and gender equality
• Preventing and combating gender-based violence
• Improving the gender balance of women in managerial positions in the private and public sectors
• Establishing an EU right to voluntary periods of part time work and a right to return to full-time work thereafter
• Avoiding gender-related disparities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic fallout
• Mitigating the digital gender divide
• Implementation of the post-2020 EU gender equality strategy

Public administrations
• Professional space for civil servants
• Investments and support for public administrations and its personnel
• Rules and support for voluntary remote working (together with COM SOC/WG Future of work)
• Involvement of municipalities in the EU Green Deal
• Fight against in-work poverty and for minimum wages in the public sector
• Better public recognition of public services and of the personnel delivering them
• Role of public services to make states and societies resilient to crises
• Role of public services in implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights
• Enhanced cooperation in the area of a financial transaction tax (FTT)
• EU Tax Observatory
• Digital tax
• Work topics of the European social dialogue on central government administrations and on local and reginal governments and of the Platform on Tax Good Governance

Education, training and research
• European Education Area: More investment in education systems (including through the Corona Recovery Plan) and greater recognition of the teaching profession
• The EU’s Digital Education Action Plan; digital equipment in education systems
• Introduction of a European Child Guarantee (EU legal right to affordable and high-quality childcare)
• Launch of an intergenerational alliance for learning, skills and employment
• Work topics of the European social dialogue on education

Health services
• More investment in health systems (crisis resilience, staff-patient ratio)
• Improved OSH and protective equipment for health care personnel
• Fostering affordable and high quality care facilities
• Greater support for & investment in caring professions (non-material & financial recognition; quality standards & mutual recognition for skills & training)
• European health union: Better crisis preparedness, management and resilience (incl. EU framework for production and stockpiling of medicines and medical material and equipment, a reinforced role for the EMA and the ECED, pharmaceutical strategy and the EU beating cancer plan)

Postal services and telecommunications
• Evaluation and possible revision of the EU postal services directive 97/67/EC, esp. in terms of decent work
• Decent employment & working conditions in parcel deliveries
• Combating precarious work in call centres and the logistics sector
• Implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on the work and occupational health & safety of telecommunications and postal service personnel
• Achievement of worker-friendly digitalisation in telecommuni-cations and postal services
• Identification of future professions and relating VET schemes in postal service companies
• Work topics of the European social dialogue on postal services

Defence
• More equal employment and working conditions of military personnel before, during and after joint operations (‘social dimension’ of PESCO)
• Establishing a personnel-friendly European Defence Union
• Defence of adequate health and safety standards of military personnel in regular operations

All preliminary work topics will be set definitely following a meeting of the Presidium of CESI on this topic on February 3.

While full-time permanent types of contract remain dominant throughout Europe, there has been a rising trend in atypical forms of contract, which are characterised in most cases by their precarious nature.

In this article, Ines Wagner dissects the differences between the Nordic, Continental, Liberal and Eastern European types of welfare systems with regards to workers’ access to social security protection, and giving practical examples on gender equality and migrant workers.

As Wagner highlights, a true challenge in accessing social security protection schemes nowadays lies within a necessity for a clear legal definition of what constitutes “work” and a “worker”.

Read the article in full here.

To learn more about this topic visit the #noprecariouswork website.

This project is mainly funded by funds from the European Union.

On January 21st, the European Parliament published a legislative initiative report, urging the European Commission to table a legislative proposal on a right to disconnect. CESI supports this call, stresses however the need for a right to be disconnected (automatically) from employment-related communcation rather than a (likely ineffective) right to voluntarily disconnect.

The report tabled by the European Parliament on a right to disconnect, which includes a concrete suggestion of a text for a new EU directive, represents a formal request by the European Parliament towards the European Commission to come forward with a proposal for legislation to make sure that an always-on culture is prevented in remote and home office work.

According to the European Parliament, the directive shoud “lay down minimum requirements to enable workers who use digital tools, including ICT, for work purposes, to exercise their right to disconnect and to ensure that employers respect workers’ right to disconnect” and “apply to all sectors, both public and private, and to all workers, independent of their status and their working arrangements.”

According to report, Member States should be obliged to ensure, specifically, that:

• discrimination, less favourable treatment, dismissal and other adverse measures by employers on the ground that workers have exercised or have sought to exercise their right to disconnect are prohibited.
• employers provide each worker in writing with clear, sufficient and adequate information on their right to disconnect, including a statement setting out the terms of any applicable collective or other agreements.
• employers protect workers, including workers’ representatives, from any adverse treatment and from any adverse consequences resulting from a complaint lodged with the employer or resulting from any proceedings initiated with the aim of enforcing compliance with the right to disconnect.
• workers whose right to disconnect is violated have access to swift, effective, and impartial dispute resolution and a right of redress in the case of infringements of their rights, and that they may provide trade union organisations or other workers’ representatives with a possibility, on behalf or in support of the workers and with their approval, to engage in administrative proceedings with the objective of ensuring compliance with or enforcement of the right to disconnect.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “The lockdowns during the Covid pandemic have shown that remote working often results in excessive overtime for workers, where employers expect or even demand an ‘always on’-culture. We strongly back the European Palriament in its request towards the European Commission to address the matter via a directive. Especially if remote and home working will stay relatively common after the pandemic has been overcome, it is imperative for the health and safety and work-life balance of workers that rules are put in place to ensure that their working time is predictable and includes clear rules on rest periods and time off.”

Klaus Heeger added: “A right to be disconnected would however be much more effective than a right to disconnect. In the former case, digital communication with the employer is switched off automatically, while a right to disconnect is essentially voluntary: Even if the right exists on paper, pressure to stay online and to continue to work long hours increases where workers need to stay in good terms with their employers, for instance to get a promotion, and hence not disappoint them by going offline. This is especially true in larger teams where there is a natural competition among colleagues to advance their careers. We will make sure to raise this matter at the European Commission.”

The full report of the European Parliament is available here.

On January 27th, people around the world pay their respect to the victims of Holocaust and come together to say no to racism, anti-semitism and hate. CESI joins these voices to call for open-mindedness and tolerance among peoples.

Today, 76 years ago, towards the end of the Second World War, Soviet troops liberated the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Poland, the biggest Nazi death camp.

The United Nations Assembly adopted a resolution in 2005 to dedicate this day as commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, which took the lives of 6 million Jews – and 11 million further victims, such as homosexuals, disabled persons, political dissidents, Sinti and Roma, and other ethnic minorities.

In contemporary history, the Second War World and the Holocaust is a synonym for one of the most traumatic events humans have experienced around the world. Claiming the lives of approximately 80 million persons, the Second World War is the deadliest military conflict in human history, disrupting and destructing entire cities and countries around the world. The Holocaust was a central feature that remains connected to the Second World War.

Days such as this remain as important as ever to reflect on our actions as humankind. In a time where populist figures and far-right ideologies are gaining followers around the world, joining our voices together to say no to hate remains imperative.

The period of the Second World War and the Holocaust is not without its lessons: It has taught to appreciate and cherish differences among cultures and peoples, and most importantly it has taught the immense value of mutual respect, tolerance, democracy and peaceful cooperation. Values which should never be taken for granted, which need to be continuously nurtured and preserved.

CESI continues remembering this day, and as such, continues to defend the values of kindness, acceptance and tolerance in Europe and beyond. It is a priority an pleasure for CESI to work every day to assist, improve and strengthen the work of the institutions created after this conflict, to ensure that humanity will not repeat a dreadful mistake.

As the year 2020 saw, yet again, a series terrorist attacks, on January 22 a CESI@home online event edition addressed concerns about the security of European citizens and the place of police personnel in safeguaring security. With the participation of experts from member trade unions of CESI and EU instutitons and authorities, the event explored in particular the latest developments in EU policy-making to counter terrorism and assessed to what extent EU action effectively contributes to the support of national security authorities and their personnel.

Christiane Hoehn, Principal Adviser to the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator (European Council), and Steven Lambert, Senior Specialist at the European Counter Terrorism Centre, contributed with insights from measures taken by the EU institutions and security authorities, referring, among others, to the latest decisions of the European ministers of interior to step up counter terrorist action through a more intensive use of large data-scale bases like the Schengen Information Systems, the strengthening of the mandates of EUROPOL and its ECTC (European Counter Terrorism Centre), and the intensification of the fight against the prevention of radicalisation and extremist behaviours online.

Participants recalled that the EU counter-terrorism agenda has advanced considerably since the 2015 Paris attacks and continues to sharpen the ways it addresses terrorist threats, with the 2020 Europol TE-SAT report stating that in 2019, two thirds of cases in which jihadist perpetrators planned violent action in the EU were prevented by security authorities. However, participants also voiced concersn that information exchange on terrorism and other forms of crime can still improve, further building on the achievements made over the last few years, in order to avoid that information remains scattered amongst agencies and institutions. In this regard, the forthcoming EU Police Cooperation Code was welcomed as a step forward towards more cross-border cooperation.

CESI law enforcement representatives from France, Germany and the Netherlands shared their expertise about the national responses to terrorism. The President and Vice-President of the CESI Trade Council ‘Security’, who also represent police trade unions in the Netherlands (Gerrit van de Kamp) and Germany (Hermann Benker), mentioned the need for the EU to show more leadership in addressing security threats, and for the domestic actors to step up their efforts in implementing the EU Security Union Strategy. Laurent Arnaudas, Secretary General of CESI’s affiliate FA-Police, the French Autonomous Public Service Federation, highlighted the vulnerability of France and the challenges for the French security authorities in the are of anti-terrorism. All trade union representative underlined the crucial importance of sufficient investment in counterterrorism. They stressed that, in addition to further improvements of cross-border cooperation, data and information exchange and access to electronic evidence, security authorities need adequate human resources and equipment and taht personnel must be well-trained and protected properly. Moreover, they emphasised the importance of a widespread public recognition by the society for the work of police and security forces to keep the cititzens safe.

The event took place in the context of CESI’s EU co-funded PULSER project which focuses on capacity-building and support for performing public services and public services personnel in Europe.

CESI’s member organisation CNV Connectief shares its knowledge and policy solutions to improve the financial independence of women in the care sector, within the framework of the mainly EU funded project “Precarious work: empowering trade unions to address new challenges”.

The Netherlands has the highest percentage in Western Europe of prevalence of part-time contracts: 46.8%. Of those, 74% are women. Figures are even more worrying when taking a closer look at the care sector, when more than half of the workers are women who work less than 25 hours per week. As a result, these women represent a financially vulnerable group.

To tackle this issue, CNV proposes several measures from increased paid work to change our social views, for example having a 30-hour working week for both men and women to paying more attention for culturally determined norms.

Read the article in full here.

To learn more about this topic visit #noprecariouswork.

This project is mainly funded by funds from the European Union.

WeEP – The EP and workers: from the fight against the impacts of the crisis to the ‘Future of Europe’

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Topics: recovery and resiliance, digital and green transitions, social and employment policies.

Summary of the action

The pandemic has impressively demonstrated how decisive and essential public services are and how urgently their further improvement is needed.

According to the last Public Opinion Survey commissioned by the European Parliament (July 2020), ‘uncertainty’, ‘EU’ and ‘hope’ were the most identified keywords.

A clear majority of respondents believe that the EU should have a bigger budget to overcome the consequences of the pandemic and that it should have more competences to deal with crises in general.

Most Europeans see EU spending on public health as being the most important, followed by the economic recovery, employment and the fight against climate change.

CESI wants to engage with citizens and workers by informing them about the EU policies and tools for the recovery, as well as about the EU initiatives for a more sustainable and inclusive Europe in the framework of the ‘Conference on the Future of Europe’.

There is a need for a more active involvement in and support of both workers and trade unions for a European agenda that will form our common future.

The project targets three different groups:

1. The general public: ‘CESI Talks’, a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts will focus on social and employment policies and will be shared on social media. Playlist with all the CESI Talks on YouTube
2. Young people: interactive videoconferences of ‘CESI-Youth’ will be held with top MEPs. They will address the responses to the socio-economic impacts of the crisis on young people and to a changing world of work.
3. Workers: The Workers’ Representatives Event, an interactive videoconference with the EP top representatives, will address social affairs and employment priorities during green and digital transformations.

Playlist with all the CESI Talks on YouTube

Prof Jill Rubery, Director of the Work and Equalities Institute of the University of Manchester, writes this article within the framework of the EU funded project “Precarious work: empowering trade unions to address new challenges”.

Prof Jill Rubery writes this piece for the #noprecariouswork project that CESI is currently managing. Through her writing, she reflects on the impacts that the Covid pandemic is having on the access to social security protection and the what are the implications for precarious workers.

In her words “The growing crisis made the growing gaps in employment and social protection systems more visible as access to support became essential for survival (…) However, the likelihood of mass unemployment and a long recession post Covid might drive changes in the opposite direction, exacerbating trends towards precariousness at work.”

It is up to trade unions and relevant stakeholders to make sure the lessons from the pandemic will be learnt.

Read the article in full here.

To learn more about precarious work visit the no precarious work website.

This project is mainly funded by funds from the European Union.

On this year's European Day for a Work-Free Sunday, the Steering Committee members of the European Sunday Alliance reaffirm a necessary commitment to promoting a common weekly day of rest for workers across Europe. Even in times of a competitiveness-based narrative in EU policy making, a synchronised work-free Sunday remains essential for the well-being of individuals and their families – and thereby for the society and the economy as a whole, too.

As digitalisation and telework continue to reshape the world of work, maintaining clear boundaries between professional and private life has never been more crucial. The European Sunday Alliance therefore welcomes the European Commission's efforts to advance a new EU directive on a right to disconnect and fair telework and hopes for a swift publication of a legislative proposal. This would represent a significant step towards securing healthier working conditions, preventing burnout, and ensuring that all workers can truly switch off from professional obligations outside agreed working hours.

In particular, a common day of disconnection – effectively on Sundays – would help counteract growing trends of fragmentation in working hours. It would allow individuals to rest in sync with their families and communities, fostering social cohesion, voluntary engagement, and cultural and faith-related activities. Common resting time would also step up the quality of resting time (currently often spent by workers alone), which would in the end contribute to higher productivity, creativity, and overall job satisfaction – and thereby benefit both workers and businesses alike.

The Steering Committee members of the European Sunday Alliance strongly urge the European Commission to include specific references to a right to disconnect on weekends in its forthcoming legislative proposal for a directive on a right to disconnect and fair telework. Ensuring that Sunday remains protected from work wherever possible will serve as a vital safeguard for workers' well-being while strengthening the social fabric of our communities.

On today's annual European Day for a Work-Free Sunday, the Steering Committee members of the European Sunday Alliance call upon policymakers, employers, and workers to join in recognising and defending the value of a common day of rest – also and especially in times of a shift in policy-making agenda towards economic competitiveness

The European Sunday Alliance is a broad network of more than 100 national Sunday Alliances, trade unions, employers' organisations, civil society organisations, churches and religious communities committed to raise awareness of the unique value of synchronised free time for our European societies.
http://www.europeansundayalliance.eu/

In the tragic events of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, there could be seeds for a new foundation and scope for Trade Unions’ legitimacy, one that could lie particularly in negotiating cooperative approaches between all stakeholders, as well as he implementation of new international and national regulatory frameworks with local in-company approaches. This new path could in fact allow all economic actors to produce dividends while at the same time ensure quality occupation.

Yet first Trade Unions should ask themselves the following questions: what are the strategic choices that companies have to make in order to adapt their operations to the so-called New Normal? What do the employees demand? What should governments do?

COVID-19: the Great Accelerator of Digital Transformation

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic caused thousands of deaths, ravaged the balance sheets of entire industries and resulted in millions of unemployed people all over the world. At the same time, it worked as a powerful accelerator of trends that were already underway.

Although for many companies around the world the arrival of COVID-19 meant extreme instability and difficulties, several businesses have benefited from this exceptional event. The activities that reaped the greatest market benefits were those related to the need of many workers to move their work from the office to their home. The considerable boosts observed in e-commerce (for example of foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals) and packaging, are cases in point.

The change in daily and working habits has not only had a high economic impact, but also led to an evolution in the concept of work as well as in the behavior of employees in relation to it. The practice of remote working has enabled many people to carry out their activities from the comfort of their own homes, reduced their environmental impact and the costs of traveling to the office, and enabled them to spend more time with their families.

In terms of urban spaces, teleworking has to be considered also a great opportunity for more remote regions, where inhabitants of more peripheral areas are no more requested to travel daily to reach their workplace. Besides this, the digitization of activities means for companies the possibility to relocate to more remote areas, of course only if adequate infrastructure is available or if new is created.

The real driving force behind these changes is undoubtedly Digital Transformation, which has brought millions of workers closer to new technologies, making structural changes in the work environment absolutely necessary.

Why a “Right to Remote Work” is a seductive temptation that will not work — except for some

In light of all those evolutions and potential advantages, there has been a call for the establishment of a legal “right to work remotely” as part of the New Normal.

This may prove more difficult — or even counterproductive — than it appears: many of the challenges involved in creating a generally binding right to telework are strictly related to the impossibility of constructing a solid-enough regulatory framework, adaptable to all professions, as well as to different categories of professional and personal situations.

Some jobs, or a large proportion of the activities that comprise them, cannot be carried out remotely; at the same time, within a company, the development of a similar right could result in a series of conflicts and inequalities between workers. As a matter of fact, not all employees are available or able to work in the same way from their home office.

A separate mention is deserved by more vulnerable categories of employees, for whom stricter regulation and the creation of a right to telework could indeed be beneficial. People suffering from disabilities or maternity women are categories in whose interest the integration of a right in this sense could make working conditions more acceptable. However, in the temporary absence of infrastructure suitable for remote working and versatile regulations applicable to several professional contexts, there is no point in calling for the implementation of such a general right.

Extending the scope of existing gender equality legislation, as well as including anti-discrimination clauses in collective labour agreements, are key actions that can help reconcile digital and social progress. Achieving a fairer professional environment is one of the challenges accompanying the expansion of teleworking; the possibility of remote working to turn into an economic advantage for the benefit of a few is to be rejected in principle. Inequalities and gaps between categories of workers must be bridged by equipping all home-based workers with appropriate tools, making their objectives accessible, and offering them additional guarantees to perform their activities on a par with presence work.

Enhancing home-working facilities while ensuring excellent infrastructure: businesses and governments have each other a role to play

Benefits such as greater independence of the workers, the possibility for parents to take care of their children while keeping up with their careers, and the establishment of collective agreements that make work more flexible and fairer, are however accompanied by equivalent concerns. Precisely: the difficulty of juggling different time zones, the lack of real-time collaboration, isolation, misplacement of information, the risk of non-respect of private life boundaries and the difficulty of training staff at a technical level.

Governments should direct their efforts in improving the connection speed of Internet networks made available to workers at home; wide-range public investments may represent a good tool in this regard. On a policy level, a possible step to undertake is the broad implementation of regulations encouraging employers to respect standard working hours; French and German recent enabled measures are meaningful examples.

Trade Unions, on the other hand, should make sure that decisions at company level are taken in order to help employees benefit from the new way of working. As a more effective and pragmatic measure — a measure that also makes perfect sense in terms of productivity enhanced-is pushing corporations to provide all the necessary tele-facilities and tools. Especially when older managerial practices are involved, the intermediation play is crucial.

Concrete examples of other policies may include helping employees to set up one or more workplaces suitable to the type of work to be carried out, as well as the provision of ergonomic equipment and software support. Making remote and office work interchangeable in terms of tools and accessibility, also allowing the employee to mix private and corporate IT facilities, are equally important aspects. On a practical level, the optimal solution to the settlement of a workspace at home might be to have the expenditure incurred for teleworking up to 100% borne by the employer, or at least 50-50 deductible (as facilities are often of mixed use).

Limits to resilience: a stronger future lies in new managerial approaches. Trade Unions should double down on that.

In order to safeguard business and revenue continuity, while providing employees with the tools to cope with change, companies have rapidly pivoted to different business models, often at the cost of new, less-then-excellent operational configurations. At the same time, an often unprepared and unequipped workforce had to adopt a radical new approach to work — combined with social distancing and national lockdowns — left many individuals physiologically exhausted. The so-called “Zoom fatigue,” from the popular video-conferencing platform, clearly mirrors the problem.

In this panorama of new challenges for all companies, a key mediating role between employees and company management should be played by TUs, which are asked to support workers whilst opening up profitable spaces for companies. An increasingly sectoral and innovative approach, necessary to keep up with professional evolution, is what Trade Unions shall take. The protection of workers from exploitation and misuse of contracts is to be achieved by designing appropriate sets of boundaries, that will also help companies to create a win-win situation for their employers and employees.

For the Unions, it is first and foremost important to invest in relations with company executives and managers, who are often undervalued at the expense of an exclusive focus on employees. Rather than having trade union elements within companies, it would be more appropriate, to use training to help managers to develop more modern management models. These models, based on smart working rather than teleworking, would directly benefit the workforce. The essential difference here lies in offering the worker autonomy of action, through the management of activities by objectives rather than by fixed working hours. An OKR (Objective and Key Results) methodology could be useful in this respect.

Trained managers are able to implement innovative methodologies, which in turn enable employees to work better, as well as company owners to feel satisfied with their results. Only an effective innovative leadership can as a matter of fact generate a Win-Win situation for all the stakeholders.

A specter is haunting Europe: policy levers for reconciling social protection with the future of work and advanced automation

Speculating further into the future, increased automation could also pose a threat in terms of job losses. In many cases the transfer of jobs from one industry to another is possible, in others it is, if not impossible, at least complicated. Transferring staff from one business sector to another is not only complex in terms of tools, but also in terms of workers’ skills.

With a view to continuous learning and adaptation to increasingly autonomous working conditions, it would be desirable for corporations to engage in retraining. In principle, any employee affected by the digitization of work should be supported in acquiring new skills, whilst job losses due to digitization should be covered by opening up new spaces for affected employees. In unavoidable situations the intervention of special protections and state subsidies may still be necessary. A paramount goal is to make sure that legislators will continue to bridge the gap between labour supply and demand.

In an even broader panorama, at European level, a social protection plan that includes minimum wages, basic income security and policies to combat the erosion of the employment relationship, is indispensable. Another response, that has yet to be trialled fully at the societal level, and from which there are currently mixed results, remains UBI, or Universal Basic Income.

From a strategic point of view, enterprises will certainly need new tools to address workforce migration within their sectors. The increasingly digital innovative nature of the tools offered to workers requires companies to invest in technologies that are accessible to all their employees. Mass re-skilling, where permitted, does not pose the same degree of difficulty for everyone; while for some, digitizing their own operations may mean making their jobs easier, for many others it does not. Low Code and No Code technologies are ideal examples for all corporate actors who want to bridge the gap between digital accessibility and protection of their employees.

The final step: equipping trade unions with the necessary tools to remain relevant in the 21st century

Taking stock of the situation, Trade Unions will be asked — if the wish to remain relevant — to design a new way of brokering the construction of solid labour relations. The main challenge is adapting to digital development and workers’ demands for protection. New ways of dealing with members will also have to replace traditional face-to-face meetings; equally, the services offered will not be able to forego innovation.

To avoid risks in terms of representativity, i.e., continuing to gain the support of new members — especially among the youngest — Unions should start thinking about new ways of reaching for new associates. Improving visibility on the web and using tools such as social networks (increasingly important in labour relations) are changes that need to be addressed to keep up with innovation.

As highlighted throughout this article, the digitization of work represents an opportunity for all parties involved: employers, managers and employees. The more or less instrumental role of Trade Unions in the process will be observed by the ability to draw up regulations with flexible boundaries, capable of adapting in a plurality of situations, and above all protecting workers — without necessarily relying on ideological approaches or beliefs.

The future of work is relentless and pragmatic. Trade Unions should be, too.

Author: Andrea Latino, Digital Transformation Consultant | Innovation Manager | Forbes Under 30 | WEF Global Shaper

The article was originally written for the German Civil Service Federation – Beamtenbund und Tarifunion (dbb)