CESI in Belgrade: Strengthening gender equality in Serbia and the healthcare sector

According to the Court „the impairment of the freedom to form and join trade unions is justified by sufficiently weighty interests that are protected under constitutional law” and “the ban on strike action for civil servants is an independent and traditional principle of the career civil service system”.

The judgement is being considered as surprisingly explicit, especially as the Court underlined that “a right to strike, even for some groups of civil servants only, would interfere with the core structural principles guaranteed by the Basic Law and would fundamentally reshape the understanding and regulations of the civil service” and that it would “erode the principles of alimentation, lifetime employment and the duty of loyalty as well as the principle that material rights and duties, including remuneration, must be regulated by the legislature”. A right to strike “would require fundamental changes to these principles, which are essential to the functioning of the civil service.”

With a view to the European Convention for Human Rights (ECHR) and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the German ‘Bundesverfassungsgericht’ made clear that the ban on strike action for civil servants is justified (under Art. 11(2) first sentence or Art. 11(2) second sentence ECHR) based the particularities of the German system of the career civil service.

The German Civil Service Association (dbb), a member of CESI, welcomed the judgement. “It is time that this discussion ends and that the particularity of the German system is recognised. Being a German civil servant does not only entail rights, it also entails obligations for both, the State and the civil servant. Allowing the right to strike would open the door to the erosion the German civil service as such” declared Uli Silberbach, President of the dbb.

The complaints were brought to the German Constitutional Court by teachers having the civil servants status and who had been sanctioned for their participation in strikes.

The European Parliament has welcomed around 9000 participants around different thematic, all extremely interesting. Inside the European Parliament, CESI Youth organise a panel on Apprenticeship, which included Ms Ann Vanden Bukcle (European Commission), MEP Julia Ward, Josef Holnburger (ETUC), Alicia Herrera (EAN) and Matthäus Fandrejewski (CESI Youth Representative). The discussion was interactive and focused on the link between the quality and the reputation of such scheme.

Outside the Parliament, CESI Youth was organising an activity which consisted in the gathering of thoughts of different challenges and fears for our future. Each thought was put on a box, from which we created a ‘wall of fears’. This wall of fear embodied the main concerns of this generation and called on the main actors of society to consider them and act accordingly.

A panel was held on this very subject matter,in which inadequacy of our government to deal with migration, EU scepticism, and inequality across the continent, were recurrent themes. Our CESI Youth Vice-Representative, Valentina Viviani, was present at the panel, as well as Sabrina Pellerito (CESI Youth Board member) to discuss the involvement of the challenges Italy faces currently with its government and to also discuss social inclusion. At the end of this debate, we all tore down this wall as a symbol of fight against our fears, so to demonstrate our will to perseverate despite those challenges.

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The second day of celebrations took place in the Ridderzaal in the Dutch Parliament, where the 1948 Congress of The Hague was held, which laid the groundwork for the establishment of the European Movement and the foundations of the European Union itself. During her keynote speech, European Movement International President Eva Maydell MEP stated:

“Now more than ever we need to stand up for what we hold dear, we need to speak up for what we consider to be true, we need to come forward and be the change we want to see in the world around us. If this gathering is to do anything, it must be to remind us that Europe is not just institutions or nations, politicians or politics. It is each and every one of us, citizens of Europe.”

Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister of The Netherlands, Ms. Kajsa Ollongren also told the audience:

“The ambition demonstrated by that congress [Congress of The Hague 1948] is still highly relevant. We too must now dare to look ahead. To the Europe of our children and our grandchildren. We need to decide what kind of Europe we want them to live in. And with that vision of Europe before us, we should take concrete steps to make it a reality.”

The two days also served as a discussion arena for the Declaration of The Hague, written and released by the European Movement and partners. Based on the discussions and debates among citizens and stakeholders, in the Declaration, we are calling for:

• a European democracy that encourages the full participation of all citizens and boosts transparency of decision-making, supported by increased investment in education
• safeguarding our open societies, defending the rule of law and strengthening the judiciary and free press
• a deeper economic and monetary union, based on an inclusive and fair economy, more ambitious when harnessing technology, focused on sustainable investments
• a social model that address widening inequalities, prioritises investment in education, culture, R&D and skills for the jobs of the future
• the promotion of European heritage and identity, while building on our cultural diversity
• strong efforts in a transition towards sustainable renewable energy, decarbonisation and the circular economy, reversing biodiversity loss, combating air and water pollution, eliminating toxic chemicals and promoting sustainable agriculture
• a more holistic approach to migration, addressing its root causes, offering protection to those in need and pursuing the social, cultural and economic inclusion of refugees and migrants in Europe in order to seize the opportunity of the diversity brought by these new Europeans
• a joint response to current geopolitical challenges, in particular when addressing difficulties with Russia and the rise of extremism and terrorism
• a common European defence policy and closer security cooperation, supported by a close partnership with the EU’s immediate neighbourhood.
• a steady involvement and implication of the candidate countries and the countries in the Eastern partnership with whom we will share a common future
• the full participation of women and young people to ensure that no one is discriminated against, both in the economy and in society as a whole

The full Declaration of The Hague is available here.

The speeches given in the Ridderzaal and a recording of the event can be found on this page of the website of the European Movement International.

* This press release was shared from the website of the European Movement International (EMI). CESI is a member organisation of the EMI.

The exchanges of views focused on the rights of association of military personnel (in particular with regards to the recent success of the complaint Euromil and the Irish association PDFORRA at the European Committee on Social Rights) of the Council of Europe, the relations between EU and NATO, the positioning of the EU towards Russia, and, not least, the importance of the human factor in the future European Defence Union.

Experts from the European External Action Service (EEAS), from NATO and from the Cabinet of the EU´s High Representative Mogherini brought new insights to the latest developments in the field of European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).

In his presentation, Mr. Vuorimaki, EEAS, highlighted the coherent approach of the EU in its relations to Russia based on the five guiding principles: (1) full implementation of the Minsk agreements, (2) closer ties with Russia’s former Soviet neighbors, (3) strengthening EU resilience to Russian threats, (4) selective engagement with Russia on certain issues such as counter-terrorism, and (5) support for people-to-people contacts. In the view of CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger, contacts with Russian trade unions should be considered as being in line with the principle of ’people to people contacts’.

The representative from NATO, Mr. Chalupecky, described the current challenges of the North Atlantic Alliance, highlighting the positive signals and practices of solidarity among NATO members in the recent years. Altogether, the efforts of the EU to develop its own military resilience are seen positively, as they may lead to a more efficient use of resources. To his mind, the issue of unequal financial contributions to NATO will remain on the agenda, forcing EU countries to contribute more to military expenses in the long term.

In a final round of discussion with Mr. Rentschler, Deputy Head of Cabinet of the EU´s High Representative Mogherini, the general frame and structure of the European Security and Defence Policy was outlined and concrete possibilities to engage with representatives of the military and civilian personnel of the armed forces were discussed. Thomas Sohst, President of the TC, concluded: “You cannot frame a European Defence Union without considering the human factor. This cannot be sustainable. The personnel of the armed forces is the one giving flesh to visions and political will. To listen to them on a regular basis could be key to success. Especially the newly introduced mechanism of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) creates new possibilities in this regard.”

Under the agreement, workers who provide a service in an EU Member State other than their country of origin will benefit not only from the minimum wage but also from local collective agreements. They shall also be entitled to the same travel, accommodation and meals allowances that their colleagues receive. This legislation will help bring an end to the exploitation of which so many posted workers have suffered in recent years. Posted workers will not only be guaranteed the same pay as their colleagues, they will also receive the same entitlements, making their terms and conditions genuinely equal.

One drop of bitterness remains though: Posted workers in the road transport sector will be excluded from the new rules until the so-called ‘lex specialis’ laying down specific rules for posting in the road transport sector is adopted. This means that more rights with regard to duration, pay and collective agreements will not apply to road transport workers for now. This might create a ‘two-tier’ directive that discriminates lorry drivers who are working under very hard conditions in a sector that is hardly controlled.

A crumb of comfort is that the European Commission will have to review the implications of the directive on the road transport sector by five years after its entry into force. With this reporting obligation, we managed to create visibility for the conditions in the road transport sector and there is a chance that this topic will be put forward again in the near future.

One of the great benefits of the EU for citizens is being able to live and work in every EU Member State. By ensuring fairness for those working across borders, we are delivering on that promise and making a more socially-just Europe possible. Now it is up to the Member States to revise their national legislation on posting so that posted workers in their countries will really profit from local collective agreements. They must deliver for the same pay for the same work at the same workplace to finally come true.

Terry Reintke | Photo credit: European Parliament audiovisual

The proposed mechanisms which should allow whistle-blowers to report wrongdoings are threefold. Firstly, a mandatory internal reporting procedure should be established. Public administrations and municipalities of more than 10.000 citizens as well as private companies of more than 50 employees having more than 10 million of euro in turn-over have to create an internal procedure to allow reports from whistle-blowers. Secondly, there should be a possibility to report to the competent public authorities, but only if the internal reporting mechanism is not effective. Thirdly, and on the condition that neither the internal nor the public reporting were successful, the possibility to report directly to the media or grand public still remain.

According to CESI, the first channel, even if mandatory, may in practice be insufficient due to a lack of awareness. The second ‘public authorities’’ channel could however lead to major outcomes whilst respecting the secret of investigation and the innocence assumption. The third channel only appears to be appropriate when all other options have been exhausted and unsuccessful.

CESI believes that the inclusion of too many other grounds (such as the wide range of listed breaches of EU law) only weakens the very purpose of the proposal itself which is to capture complex wrongdoings in tax matters. As a matter of fact, other (important) grounds such as public procurement, financial services, money laundering or terrorist financing have been included in the proposal, hence broadening its scope. Furthermore, the notion of tax fraud or tax evasion only appears briefly within the proposal, both of which render the proposal less and less appropriate to tackle situation such as Luxleaks, Swissleaks, Offshore leaks etc. It is important to remember the outcome of the public consultation, which were that ‘tax evasion’ and ‘tax avoidance’ were mentioned by 84% of individuals and 68% of organisations as areas in which rules on whistle-blower protection was the most beneficial.

On a positive note, CESI supports the highly ambitious aim/intention of the proposal to harmonise whistle-blowers’ reporting procedures across the EU member states. CESI hopes that member states will be able to find common grounds and agree with this proposal so that the directive could be effective by the end of 2019.

In a first reaction, what does or should a “European Education Area” mean? In your view, what could the EU do or provide as tools, to help teachers on the ground to implement or take part in this “common area”?

Gregory: The European Union is legitimate to deal with all education-related issues. I will not address the Sorbonne process neither the Commission’s definition. However, it seems important to me to take into account all know-how and methods from all EU countries in order to share good teaching practices. This idea of a forum for dialogue should be implemented. The framework of a European area of education and of exchange of good practices would enable all education actors to elaborate common tools.

For example, we could elaborate tools to strengthen European identity (democracy, law, peace) to fight against radicalism and Euro-skepticism.

The pooling of tools or good practices on the shaping of the European identity of young people should serve both the improvement of working conditions of teachers and the success of students.

Katarzyna: The European Area should mean a kind of web consisting of European systems of education. Although each system is different, they should be connected by certain common values and aims of the whole European education.

It is said that young people are our future, so the European Union should do its best to help those young people find themselves in the European area. Today’s world is changing very fast, and very often national systems of education are outdated, adjusted to reforms implemented 10 or more years ago. Even if it is not the role of the EU to interfere in national systems of education, it should make it easier and possible for students to make their own decisions about their educational goals, both in their countries of origin and abroad. As a result, the European Education Area should create a kind of “European system of education” in which every young man or woman could find their own place.

When speaking about teachers, what is the most important is that they should be given the feeling of appreciation from their national government and the society for the whole responsibility of their job. What is more and goes after this, remuneration of teachers should be higher (at least in many EU countries) and national governments should spend more money on education, didactic material and classroom equipment.

Click here to read the full interview.

Grégory Corps is a 32-year-old French teacher. He teaches History and Geography at a secondary school in Grenoble. He is also union leader at the academic level and a member of the social commission of CESI’s French member SNALC/CSEN. Katarzyna Pawlaczyk is a 33-year-old Polish teacher. She has been teaching English in a resocialisation institution (closed boarding school) for 10 years. This school teaches girls aged 13-18 with challenging social backgrounds. Katarzyna isan active trade unionist in CESI’s Polish member organisation WZZ Solidarność – Oświata.

Note: The points of view raised in this interview are of personal nature and do not necessarily reflect official positions of CESI or CESI Youth.

Picture: The CESI Youth Board. Katarzyna 5th and Grégory 9th from the right © CESI 2018

Under the chairmanship of Esther Reyes (SATSE, Spain) and Raffaele Donnorso (CONFSAL, Italy) and in the frame of the major trends and priorities of EU policies and strategies relating to healthcare staff representatives, the meeting participants discussed matters lying at the heart of the public healthcare staff in Europe, including the development of a forward-thinking approach to the future of healthcare and better working conditions of healthcare providers.

In this context, the application of the EU working time directive (also against the background of the latest case law of the Court of Justice of the EU on the directive), third-party violence against employees at work and health and safety problems caused by the exposure to dangerous substances were discussed.

The latter was debated on in the framework of EU-OSHA’s latest awareness-raising ‘Healthy Workplaces Campaign‘ which currently addresses the management of dangerous substances and which features CESI as an official campaign partner.

The event was preceded by a press conference on the occasion of which the general concerns of doctors and medical staff in the Balkan countries as well as the guiding principles of trade union rights and pluralism in the area were highlighted.

Speaking on behalf of the Trade Council, and underlining major challenges in the health care sector, Esther Reyes underlined the necessity to further improve working conditions and safety and health standards.

„If we want to improve public health standards, the way forward is an adequate recognition of the value of the health sector workers as well as more determined and well-targeted investments in the quality public health services“, Ms Reyes stated. “And to these belong investments in the human factor, meaning in patients and workers”, she added.

Picture: CESI’s Trade Council ‘Health Services’ in session © CESI 2018

Emmanuel Jacob, who spoke as an expert on behalf of EUROMIL, a European federation of military association, flagged up just how much trade union rights for military personnel vary across the EU Member States, with no rights granted in countries such as Italy, the UK, Estonia and Romania and not more than restricted rights applying in a further set of countries including France, Poland and Spain – even though other countries which already grant full rights demonstrate that trade union rights for military personnel does not yield in strikes and security problems.

Mr Jacob also explained how, despite European integration advancing swiftly in defence -the European Defence Union being a flagship initiative of the Juncker Commission-, a harmonisation of worker rights and working conditions of military personnel serving in joint military operations of EU Member States under the common EU flag is yet to be realised.

Some weeks ago in April, a CESI delegation including Klaus Heeger as well as Thomas Sohst and Wolfram Kamm from CESI’s member organisations DBwV (the German Armed Forces Assocation) and dbb (the German Civil Service Association) already met with representatives of the German Ministry of Defence in Berlin to establish how the European Defence Union’s new Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) can better take account of a human factor to harmonise labour standards for military personnel at the EU level. CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “The common market with common standards is a guiding principle of European integration. Here, I wonder why military personnel from different EU countries should, when serving in joint EU operations, face different worker rights and working conditions. This is neither fair nor practical.”

CESI is a long-standing proponent of an application of EU labour and social rights for the personnel of the military forces in all EU Member States as well as of common rights and working conditions for military staff during joint operations under the EU banner. Further information is available in recent resolutions here and here. Follow this link for background information about yesterday’s hearing in the European Parliament.

Picture: At the European Parliament’s hearing on rights of soldiers © CESI 2018

According to the European Commission the agreement of the social partners, which dates back to December 2015, cannot be translated into a binding EU directive because central government administrations are placed under the authority of national governments and exercise the powers of a public authority – which means that their structure, organisation and functioning are entirely a matter for the respective national authorities of Member States. Moreover, according to the European Commission, the organisation of central government authorities varies widely between Member States so that a binding EU Directive transposing the social partner agreement into EU law would result in significantly different levels of protection depending on how centralised or decentralised the central administrations of the Member States are.

CESI disagrees with this interpretation and stresses that with this decision the European Commission denies workers in central government administrations information and consultation rights based on EU law.

Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “Of course the organisation of government authorities varies, but this is the very reason why we need an EU directive which sets common minimum standards that all Member States need to fulfil!”

CESI is also in agreement with EPSU that the European Commission’s refusal to propose a transposition of the social partner agreement into an EU directive counteracts the autonomy of the social partners. CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger added: “How credible is the European Commission’s recent initiative for a New Start for Social Dialogue if it does not support a transposition of a landmark social partner agreement into EU law, as foreseen by the Treaties?”

EPSU and CESI are, on the employees’ side, the two recognised European sectoral social partners in the area of central government administrations, forming a common delegation in the social dialogue committee named TUNED.

Picture: At today’s EPSU press conference on information and consultation rights for central government workers © CESI 2018

The CSIF representatives´ aim is to bring more attention to their claim for better working conditions of prison staff. CSIF opted for that form of protest after negotiations with prisons´ managements had ended without any agreement. No proposal from the employers´ side was submitted.

After months of mobilizations throughout Spain, CSIF brought its claims to the management of penitentiary institutions demanding immediate solutions to unblock the current situation and to achieve wage equalization with Catalonia – as has happened before with the National Police and Guardia Civil. CSIF’s demands also aim at the establishment of a working group including prison officers so to promote union unity.

The negotiations held the day before concerned salary improvements and public employment offers. According to CSIF, prisons suffer from a staff deficit of 3,000 employees.

The salary differences between Catalonia and the rest of Spain range from a minimum of 1,600 euros (generic office clerk) to 25,000 euros, depending on the position. In order to ensure fair employment conditions to everyone, the Spain would need to increase its thereto dedicated budget by 168 million euros.

More information and the report about salary discrimination in Spain are available here.

Youtube video

In its legislative proposals and accompanying texts on the next MFF, the European Commission proposes a long-term budget of €1,279 billion in commitments (taking inflation into account) over the period from 2021 to 2027, equivalent to 1.11% of the EU27’s gross national income (GNI). This represents an increase of €192bn increase compared to the current MFF 2014-2020, which amounted to €1,087 billion. The share of funding in the area of social affairs and cohesion will decrease.

According to the European Commission, the MFF reflects the spirit of the Rome Declaration of March 2017 in which leaders of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Member States fixed what should be the EU’s core tasks in the years to come: (1) border, internal security and migration management, (2) sustainable economic growth, (3) social progress, (4) external development cooperation and security.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “The Rome Declaration called for a social Europe which promotes social progress and cohesion as one of the EU’s four priorities for the future. We welcome the proposal for a substantial increase of funding for Erasmus+ but with social inequalities between the very rich and the very poor increasing at unprecedented paces, we call for adequate funding for the social dimension of the EU. The European Commission put the European Pillar of Social Rights very high on the political agenda and CESI has warned from the start that its implementation will not come for free. The next MFF is the place to ensure the right financial prospects for the implementation of the Pillar. We hope that the European Parliament and the Council will support this view during its upcoming legislative negotiations.”

Existing since 2000, EU-OSHA’s Healthy workplaces campaigns typically run for two years and are backed by the EU institutions and social partners such as CESI. At the national level, they are coordinated by a network of focal points of EU-OSHA.

The campaign aims to raise awareness of the risks posed by dangerous substances in the workplace and to promote a culture of risk prevention. The specific objectives are:

• to raise awareness of the importance of preventing risks from dangerous substances , helping to dispel common misunderstandings;
• to promote risk assessment by providing information on practical tools and creating opportunities to share good practices;
• to heighten awareness of risks linked to exposures to carcinogens at work by supporting the exchange of good practices;
• to target groups of workers with specific needs and higher levels of risks by providing tailored information as well as examples of good practices; and to
• to increase knowledge of the legislative framework that is already in place to protect workers, as well as highlighting policy developments.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “This Healthy Workplaces Campaign edition comes at a timely moment to complement the EU’s current legislative agenda on caps for carcinogens and mutagens at work: Legal restrictions on the exposure of workers to hazardous substances and accompanying awareness-raising projects and information-dissemination must go hand in hand. CESI will contribute to the success of the Campaign by reaching out to -and working with- its extensive network across Europe: For a proper and responsible management of dangerous substances which puts the health and safety of workers first.”

More information about CESI’s involvement in the 2018-19 Healthy Workplaces Campaign is available here.

Logos: Logos of CESI, EU-OSHA and the Healthy Workplaces Campaign © EU-OSHA/CESI 2018

Speaking to Confsal’s affiliates, Klaus Heeger called for employment and social policies in Europe that invest in people, put solidarity first and protect workers and employees.

Heavy cuts in public budgets and labour markets reforms after the last economic and financial crisis have led to increasing social inequalities and deteriorating working conditions or even job loss for many. The economic took precedence over the social, and it took the EU long to respond to this imbalance with a new European Pillar of Social Rights which was officially launched last November.

Heavy cuts in public budgets and labour markets reforms after the last economic and financial crisis have led to increasing social inequalities and deteriorating working conditions or even job loss for many. The economic took precedence over the social, and it took the EU long to respond to this imbalance with a new European Pillar of Social Rights which was officially launched last November.

Klaus Heeger said: “When it comes to the future of Europe, the social agenda is key. The EU and its Member States need to step up their investment efforts in social infrastructure and human capital. For CESI and its members, all workers count and no one should be left behind. This is especially true for the younger generations. It is vital that our young generation, the future bedrock of our societies, is well-educated, has access to the labour market and engages in civic processes. Policy makers need to create the framework conditions for this, and this will involve investments. Social partners and trade unions such as CESI and its affiliates also need to play their part in accompanying these efforts. CESI made a start already several years ago when it founded its own youth organisation, the CESI Youth, to inform policy debates with youth-specific input and to foster the civic participation of young people in trade unionism in Europe.”

“Investing in people, decreasing social inequalities and ensuring fair and decent employment and working conditions is what can make a tangible difference to citizens and workers. Decision makers in the EU and the Member States should keep employment and social affairs high on the agenda but move more from debate to commitments”, Klaus Heeger added.

Picture: Klaus Heeger at the central manifestation of Confsal in Naples © Confsal 2018

CESI welcomes the European Commission’s proposal for a directive to protect whistle-blowers across the EU. This proposal is the result of a long-lasting combat for the protection of those who alert the authorities and the public in case of wrongdoings, most of the time in the taxation area. “It is about time that the European Commission takes actions in this area. This proposal is a good step towards more consideration for the European citizens”, said CESI’s Secretary General Klaus Heeger.

“The protection of whistle-blowers, who help pointing fingers on dodgy practices and crack down unethical behaviour, is a crucial aspect of our democracies” he added. “The Commission is finally listening to our call for actions, and we welcome this.”

The proposal will indeed cover a large part of EU policy areas such as environmental, protection of personal data or consumer protection. However, CESI would like to support the claim calling for the introduction of a stronger protection of investigative journalists, as they work hand-in-hand with whistle-blowers to denunciate corruption.

The European Commission also opened a consultation period, where anyone can submit feedback on the proposal and the impact assessment as published yesterday. CESI will reply to this consultation and encourage everyone to present their views on this important subject matter.

For CESI position paper on Whistle-blowers, please check here

Especially given the recent security backslide in both Europe and across the globe, the awareness of Europe’s citizens of security policies has been reshaped. Against the background of the EU’s newly introduced Permanent Structured Cooperation on Security and Defence (PESCO), a window of opportunities has opened up which should be seized in order to make these tools a success – and to deliver tangible results.

At its meeting at the German Ministry of Defence, the CESI delegation highlighted that the EDU would fail should the human factor not be sufficiently considered when designing common commitments and PESCO projects.

The German State Secretary welcomed the proposals, stating on the Minster’s behalf that involving the staff and its representatives of the military more systematically in the new European defense frame would be key to the EDU’s success. It will however remain crucial at this stage to make sure that such an initiative would find the appraisal of further Member States participating in PESCO, he said.

CESI will submit concrete proposals in the near future.

Picture: Klaus von Heimendahl, Wolfram Kamm, Gerd Hoofe, Thomas Sohst and Klaus Heeger © VBB 2018

Together with Rodrigo Ballester from the cabinet of the European Commissioner for Education Tibor Navracsics and Peter Birch from the Eurydice Network of the EU’s Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) the members of the trade council exchanged views on how a new European Area of Education could support the professional development of teachers and facilitate access, progression and support for teaching careers in Europe.

One of the objectives of new European Area of Education, first proposed by the European Commission in the run-up to the Gothenburg Social Summit of November 2017, is to “harness the full potential of education and culture as drivers for job creation, economic growth and social fairness as well as a means to experience European identity in all its diversity.”

At CESI’s Trade Council meeting, Rodrigo Ballester stressed that the European Education Area could -or should- in this context also include a strong dimension to support teachers and promote the teaching profession in a European context, and that this could include trying to multiply the number of teachers participating in the Erasmus+ programme and eTwinning network and offering policy guidance on the professional development of teachers and school leaders.

Trade Council Members stressed the role of adequate attractive pay, a clear contractual status and better career prospects as important factors to increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession, and noted that this should be brought up in the agenda of the European Area of Education. According to the European Commission, teachers in the EU earn on average 14% less than other workers with comparable levels of education. At CESI’s Trade Council meeting, Peter Birch presented complementary findings of a recent European Commission-published report entitled ‘Teaching careers in Europe: Access, progression and support’ which had found that career guidance specifically targeting serving teachers is still rare across Europe and that many education systems do not yet offer training programmes for school leaders on teacher appraisal.

As a trade union organisation representing numerous teacher trade unions from across Europe, support for the teaching profession at the EU level -which includes aspects related to pay levels, psychosocial risks and third party violence, the provision of further training opportunities and an (often) lacking reputation of the value of the teaching profession and the work of teachers- has been a long-standing topic of concern of CESI. Later this year in October, CESI’s internal members’ training centre, the CESI Europe Academy, will run a major capacity-building symposium on challenges related to the teaching profession in Europe, before the Trade Council ‘Education’ will return to the topic at its next meeting in 2019.

Picture: CESI Trade Council ‘Education’ © CESI 2018

The meeting provided an opportunity for practitioners in the field of justice and security to discuss with invited external experts their major concerns related to the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. The Trade Councils enjoyed top-level contributions from key practitioners such as former Deputy General Secretary of the UK Professional Trades Union for Prison (POA) Mark Freeman, the head of strategy of the Council of Europe’s European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) Georg Stawa, and the Assistant General Secretary of the Irish Prison Officers’ Association Gabriel Keaveny.

The meeting was further enriched by contributions from representatives from the European Commission’s Directorate for Migration and Home Affairs, the European Parliamentary Research Service and the European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA Agency).

Alain Laratta and Maxime Rigal, members of CESI’s French affiliate Avenir Secours, gave a presentation about the judgment of the Brussels Higher Labour Court in the case of Ville de Nivelles v Rudy Matzak, a ruling which classified stand-by services as working time and is therefore of high importance for various professions practicing on-call duty (video with further information here).

The presentations and discussions around the topic of violence and mental health at work showed the scale of the concern of this topic for CESI’s members.

John Clinton and Gerrit van de Kamp, Presidents of the Trade Councils ‘Justice’ and ‘Security’ respectively, acknowledged that the contributions made throughout the meeting could lead to even more operational-level cooperation among trade unionists from the justice and security sectors, while information-sharing is already an existing practice between law enforcement officers and representatives of the justice system. The presidents of the Trade Councils also expressed their concerns about the way law enforcement officers and justice officials are being portrayed following the death of the two recent investigative journalists in Malta and Slovakia Daphne Caruana and Ján Kuciak – For this reason, the Trade Councils adopted a joint resolution on restoring trust in law enforcement and justice bodies.

For further information about the meeting please contact the CESI General Secretariat.

Picture: CESI Trade Councils ‘Security’ and ‘Justice’ © CESI 2018

The conference marked the start of a series of events in different Member States to tackle third party violence, to improve prevention and protection schemes at work and to focus on the protection and representation of those who have become victim of aggressions.

“Not least in the context of the Pillar of Social Rights, the EU, but also trade unions at national and EU levels have to show that they take concerns of workers about their health and safety seriously”, Klaus Heeger, Secretary General of CESI said.

“The conference hosted by CNV-Connectief was designed as a bottom-up approach to listen first and foremost to those directly concerned by violence at the workplace. What we heard today is that victims are still too often being left alone – by their management or by politics, which often turns a blind eye to the problem.”

During the conference, strong demands for a further improvement in terms of both legislation and its effective enforcement were voiced. Future events of CESI in other Member States will continue raising awareness about the seriousness of the subject matter across Europe.

“It is not least up to trade unions to show through that they are concretely standing beside their members when they are most needed. And it is up to the EU and to CESI to bring this issue to the European focus again. The problems that public service workers especially in the education, health and law enforcement sectors are facing are the same in all Member States. We need a strong ‘zero tolerance’ agenda at all levels”, Klaus Heeger demanded.

Patrick Fey, President of the CNV-Overheid & Publieke Diensten and Vice-President of CESI concluded the meeting with a presentation of a new website by CNV-Connectief dedicated to information-sharing and awareness-raising about the fight against third party violence at work (www.samenvoorveiligwerk.nl). “Today has shown that our members expect strong support from their trade union. And that is what we want to deliver”, Patrick Fey stressed.

Picture: CESI/CNV-Connectief workshop on third-party violence in the public sector © CESI 2018

CESI has been contributing to the consultation process of the apprenticeships framework and is welcoming such a quick decision from the Council on such an important topic. CESI Youth has been following this process closely and has been active on other platforms such as the European Apprentices Network to promote high quality of apprenticeship systems across the EU.

The European Apprentices Network, to which the CESI Youth Representative, Matthäus Fandrejewski is member, adopted its priorities; 7 of which can be similarly found in the Apprenticeship framework. The binding nature of the agreement between the apprentices and the employers, the requests for adequate remuneration and social protection, or the importance of career guidance, are issues perceived as crucial by CESI Youth in order to achieve high standards apprenticeships schemes.

Matthäus Fandrejewski expressed his enthusiasm for this adoption; “I also have done a 3-year apprenticeship, I am very happy that the EU institutions have realized the importance of a good quality framework for apprentices. Nowadays we need to offer young people better alternatives than university degrees, to be well prepared to enter the labour market. With this framework a first step towards quality was taken.”

From this point onwards, it is up to the Ministers to demonstrate their commitment to this initiative by the proper implementation of the recommendation.

For more information on CESI’s position on the subject matter here is our position paper.

With regards to the proposal for a Council Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed, the Presidium welcomes in particular:

• a definition of the term ‘worker’ based on existing case law of the Court of Justice of the EU as a “natural person who for a certain period of time performs services for and under the direction of another person in return for remuneration”, which allows to grasp all those in de facto employment relationships, including in bogus self-employment, in the scope of the initiative;

• an extension of basic aspects of access to social protection to “all workers, regardless of the type of their employment relationship” in terms of mandatory formal, effective and adequate coverage;

• an accumulation, preservation and transferability of social security entitlements “across all types of employment statuses” and all economic sectors; and

• greater transparency towards workers on the applicable conditions and rules of social security.

At the same time, the Presidium notes the legal nature of the proposal -a non-binding recommendation- as a major drawback: A binding directive would have been preferred, and legally possible under the Treaties. The Presidium questions whether proposed enforcement tools such as the European Semester will be sufficiently strong to bring about changes in the Member States. To incentivise Member States to implement the Recommendation, the Presidium calls on the European Commission to give flesh to its proposal to support the objectives of the text with EU funding.

The proposal foresees an evaluation on the effectiveness of the adopted text by the European Commission after three years with the possibility for the European Commission to decide on “making further proposals”: The Presidium of CESI hopes that this backdoor for a Directive yet to come, together with EU-level financial incentives, will push Member States to implement an ambitious Council recommendation.

With regards to the proposal for a Regulation establishing a European Labour Authority, the Presidium welcomes the objectives of a new authority to:

• facilitate access for individuals and employers to information on their rights and obligations as well as to relevant services;

• support cooperation between Member States in the cross-border enforcement of relevant EU law and legislation, including facilitating joint labour inspections; and

• mediate and facilitate a solution in cases of cross-border disputes between national authorities or labour market disruptions.

The Presidium also notes that the general mission of the European Labour Authority should be clear and precise and avoid duplications with existing structures at the European and national levels.

A priority for the Presidium refers to a proposal of an advisory stakeholder group to the Management Board and Executive Director of the new European Labour Authority composed of “six representatives of Union-level social partners equally representing trade unions and employer’s organisations.” The Presidium strongly urges that the stakeholder group is enlarged significantly to make space for an adequate representation of recognised EU sectoral social partners, including those that are not part of the cross-sector EU social partners. All workers count, all workers should be represented.

The full resolution of the Presidium is available here.

n particular, the report calls:

• for a “stronger commitment … for social investments to be boosted, in view of their economic returns and social benefits.”

• on the Member States and the European Commission, “within the existing rules of the Stability and Growth Pact, to allow room for public social investment and … for greater investment in social infrastructure and support for those hit hardest in order to properly address inequalities, in particular through social protection systems that provide adequate and well-targeted income support.”

• calls on the European Commission “to carry out, where relevant, a more in-depth assessment of which types of spending can definitely be considered as social investment.”

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “I am glad that the full European Parliament endorsed what have been long-standing key advocacy priorities of CESI. Together with partners from the civil society, CESI has for long contributed to drive the Brussels EU policy agenda to promote more public social investments in the Member States. Key demands have related to recognising also the economic returns of social investments and indeed, in this regard, classifying certain social expenditure as investments. There is clear evidence that spending in early childhood education and care, primary and secondary education, and training and active labour market policies yields important social and economic returns in the long term. ”

Since 2016, CESI together with Social Platform and Eurodiaconia has campaigned for more social investments in the EU, including through high level meetings with representatives from the EU institutions prior to the publication of the AGS. CESI has also cooperated on a research project with the European Policy Centre (EPC) on ways to enable an institutional architecture of the EU that is more friendly to social investments. In March 2017 this led to a noted study entitled ‘Social investment first! A precondition for a modern social Europe’.

Klaus Heeger added: “We at CESI are encouraged by the clear stand of the European Parliament and will continue to drive the debate in Brussels and the national capitals of the Member States together with our partners.”

The full text, as adopted by the European Parliament plenary, is available online here.

Picture: CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger © CESI 2018

The Presidium notes in particular priorites to:

• make the values and principles in the Treaties –democracy, fundamental rights, equality between women and men, anti-discrimination, social rights and justice– the framework of reference for the next MFF;

• make fundamental rights and workers’ rights visible in budget headings in the post-2020 MFF policy priorities and support strong financial instruments and programmes;

• provide adequate and predictable funding, including through operating grants, for all trade union organisations and civil society organisations; and

• make EU funding more accessible to trade unions and civil society organisations, including operating grants, at national and European levels, in neighbouring and developing countries. This includes the balanced funding for all trade unions, including independent trade union organisations.

The full resolution is available online here.

The strike has been called by the Central Independent Trade Union and Civil Servants CSIF (a member of CESI) as the largest trade union in the Spanish Justice Administration and 6 further trade unions in defence of the principle of “equal pay for equal work”.

The main claim of CSIF and the other supporting trade unions relates to unequal remuneration of justice sector personnel in the region of Galicia.

The Xunta de Galicia established a compensation for its employees which is up to 500 euros/month less than what justice sector officials in other autonomous communities receive, even if all these public servants belong to the same national body of officials, perform the same functions and assume the same responsibilities.

No public administration in Spain has made more significant cuts under the pretext of the crisis than the Xunta de Galicia. This has led to an employment situation of Galician justice officials which is worse than that of their colleagues employed in other autonomous communities.

Since February 7 more than 85% of the Galician justice officials are on strike. Around 20.000 hearings had to be suspended and more than 50.000 judicial proceedings have been blocked because of the strike. Negotiations should continue during the next days but the positions of the negotiating parties are not close to reaching an agreement. CSIF requests that government representatives are more flexible in the negotiations in order for this conflict to be settled.

Other claims of the trade unions refer to a compensation system in situations of sick leave, the requirement to adjust remunerations 100% when lower grade employees substitute higher level workers, and further family and work reconciliation measures.

Logo: CSIF logo © CSIF 2018

Under the chairmanship of the Presidents of the two Commissions -Javier Jordán de Urries Sagarna from CESI’s Spanish member organisation CSIF for the SOC Commission and Kirsten Lühmann from CESI’s German affiliate dbb for the FEMM Commission- key draft and expected EU measures in the field of social, employment and gender equality policy were discussed with relevant decision-makers in the European Parliament and the European Commission.

On the agenda: Ex-Written statement directive, work-life balance legislation and more

Adam Pokorny, Head of the ‘Labour Law’ Unit in the European Commission, joined the meeting for a debate on the European Commission’s recent proposal for a Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions (ex-Written statement directive). After relaying its views on the proposal, the Commission members adopted guidelines for CESI’s advocacy work on the file during the upcoming legislative negotiations on a final legal text between the EU’s two co-legislators, the European Parliament and the Council.

Daniel Constantinides, Political Adviser to MEP Maria Arena, came for a discussion on the ongoing legislative negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council on a new Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers to give CESI a possibility to feed political priorities on the file back to Ms Arena, S&D shadow rapporteur for the European Parliament.

The FEMM Commission had adopted advocacy guidelines already at its last meeting in autumn 2017. The debate was enriched by insights from Mary Collins, Senior Policy Adviser at the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), who attended the meeting as a guest speaker.

Discussions within the SOC and FEMM Commissions also took place on the recent trilogue agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on a revision of the EU posting of workers directive as well as on recent case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on the classification of ‘stand-by’ time as working time under the EU working time directive. A resolution was adopted on the topic of ‘Gender-based violence and harassment at home and at work‘ as input to a forthcoming own-initiative report of the European Parliament on ‘Measures to prevent and combat mobbing and sexual harassment at workplace, in public spaces and political life in the EU’.

FASGA report on implementation problems of gender equality plans in Spain

The meeting also addressed exchanges of best practices and challenges of CESI’s national-level member organisations. Angélica Vázquez Flores from CESI’s Spanish member organisation FASGA reported about problems with the implementation and enforcement of gender equality plans in Spain – a topic that will be further examined in a pan-European comparative perspective at the next meeting of the FEMM Commission.

Based on a report by CESI’s member organisation CSIF on spreading precarious and fixed-term work in the public sector in Spain at the last SOC Commission’s last meeting in autumn 2017, Susanne Kraatz from the European Parliament’s research policy department also briefed the Commission members on the findings of a report on ‘Risk of precarious work in the public sector in Europe‘.

Adopted resolutions will be made available soon in the resources section. The next meeting of the SOC and FEMM Commissions will take place on September 6 2018 in Brussels.

Picture: CESI’s SOC and FEMM Commissions in session © CESI 2018

Against the backdrop of an expected proposal by the European Commission for a Council Recommendation on ‘Access to social protection for workers and the self-employed’, CESI together with stakeholders and representatives from EU institutions debated on how the EU could help ensure that all workers in de facto dependent work relationships are covered by adequate and affordable social protection, including those in bogus self-employment and so far largely unregulated new forms of employment in the digital economy.

A high level expert panel

The event featured Maximilian Strotmann from the cabinet of Andrus Ansip, European Commissioner for the Digital Single Market, Ragnar Horn from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Petru Sorin Dandea, a member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and rapporteur of its recent opinion on ‘Sustainable social security and social protection systems in the digital era’ as well as Claire Dhéret, Senior Policy Analyst for Social Affairs at the Brussels think tank European Policy Centre (EPC).

CESI was represented by Secretary General Klaus Heeger and Siglinde Hasse, Federal Chair of the Trade Union of the German Social Security Institutions (GdS), an affiliate of CESI’s member organisation dbb (German Civil Service Federation).

Welcome words were given by the Deputy Director of the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the EU Eyke Peveling; the event was moderated by Pierre Baussand, Head of the Brussels Liaison Office of Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.

Fundamental questions about access to social protection for all – and the role of the EU in it

Fundamental questions about access to social protection for all, and the role of the EU therein, were addressed: Which are the main groups of people that lack access to any kind of social protection, and which factors have caused them to be outside the system? What are the implications for the concerned workers and for the financing and sustainability of national social protection systems at large? Should the EU provide a framework for social protection in the Member States, and do the Treaties even provide for a competence to become involved? Are there tools for a more encompassing social protection beyond measures by governments and legislators?

During the debate, clear answers were found at least to some of these questions:

• Gaps in access to social protection exist in all Member States, however their nature and scope vary greatly. Problems in access to social protection may be related to a variety of issue-specific waiting times, minimum and transition periods and thresholds or transferability and portability requirements which make a generic answer by the EU to national-level challenges in social protection difficult. Especially in the case of mobile workers in the EU, non-pickup of social protection is often because of lacking information among workers about eligibilities and entitlements, which requires better awareness-raising. For digital platform workers, those in bogus-self employment and others in de facto dependent work relationships but without proper contracts, gaps in social protection often exist because access to social security systems is often traditionally labour contract-based: No recognition as a dependent worker = no standard employment contract = no access to social protection. In this regards Klaus Heeger stressed the importance of an encompassing definition of the term ‘worker’ in line with existing case law of the European Court of Justice, which has defined an employment relationship in case C-66/85 as ‘a certain period of time [during which] a person performs services for and under the direction of another person in return for which he receives remuneration’. Siglinde Hasse noted that gaps in social protection are also still gender-based: For instance, persistent ‘traditional’ gender roles and insufficient affordable care services mean that it is often women (and not their husbands) who work part-time to take on domestic care responsibilities – and fall into social security traps later because they have not acquired sufficient entitlements during their professional life.

• Having people outside social protection systems can jeopardise their financial sustainability: Those outside social protection systems that never pay into the system will still get basic public benefits if they are in need. At the aggregate level it can be a problem for the sustainability of social security systems if more and more people are economically active ‘outside the system’ and do not pay the regular social security contributions but need to be covered by essential benefits if they need them. Generally, more people paying regular contributions will make systems more sustainable. At the same time, getting everyone covered by effective and affordable social protection will also require financial efforts; however this should be seen as an investment into the health and well-being of workers as well as in the context of social protection as a fundamental right for all. To counter financing challenges in national social protection systems, a part of the dividends that employers and consumers gain from digitalisation could be used for financing of social security budgets (‘taxing robots’). Those that take the profits from digitalisation should also contribute to affordable social protection for those that pay the price.

• According to the Treaties, the EU would have a legal competence to provide a legislative framework for social protection for all forms of employment. However, political considerations come into play when choosing an instrument for a measure, be they legislative and binding or non-legislative and recommendation-based. Non-binding recommendations by the EU may also be effective especially if their implementation is tied to EU funding or co-funding while hard legislation is not necessarily always complied with either, it was said. Klaus Heeger expressed deep dissatisfaction with the European Commission’s announcement to propose a Council Recommendation: “The European Commission’s European Pillar of Social Rights raised expectations of real results for workers, and if a non-binding Council Recommendation is the most ambitious that the EU can deliver, how can it credibly argue for more determined action by the Member States in other areas of the Pillar?” Siglinde Hasse noted that regardless of the deployed instrument, she, as a trade union practitioner, expects strong signals from the EU.

• Both Klaus Heeger and Siglinde Hasse also emphasised the importance for trade unions to reach out to those outside regular employment relationships, labour law and social security – those that are seldomly organised either. Trade unions and social partners could work to develop methods to get people in new forms of employment into the social security systems. In the end, in this way trade unions could attract new members too, they said. After all, trade unions can only exist and be strong if they continue to broaden their membership.

Picture: CESI@noon panel – Klaus Heeger, Petru Sorin Dandea, Claire Dhéret, Ragnar Horn, Maximilian Strotmann, Siglinde Hasse © CESI 2018

If they had voted YES to the discontinuation of radio and TV licensing fees as from 2019, the public radio and TV station, as well as 21 local radio stations and 13 regional TV broadcasters who all benefit from the fees collected, would have had to close down.

This vote was the result of a popular initiative called “No-Billag” launched by right-wing supporters.

CESI’s Swiss trade union, the ZV Öffentliches Personal Schweiz, actively fought against this popular initiative, viewing it as an attack against public services in Switzerland.

71.6 % of Swiss voters voted NO to this popular initiative, crushing it. This was a hefty defeat for the opponents of public services.

Another Swiss popular vote concerned the new Financial Regulation of 2021. This Financial Regulation 2021 aims to allow the Federal Government to continue collecting the direct Federal Tax and VAT (approx. CHF 43 billion). Swiss voters clearly voted YES to this Financial Regulation, with 84.1% of the votes.

CONCLUSION

• The Swiss population clearly supports and defends public services.

• Swiss citizens do not want to downsize public services; instead, they want a high-quality, well-established ‘Service Public’.

• A high-quality ‘Service Public’ must be properly financed. The Swiss are prepared to contribute financially to this effect.

• The population clearly wants to fight against the trend to downsize public enterprises and privatise them.

Let us hope that the Swiss population’s clear position in defence of public services has a positive impact on Europe as a whole.

Logo: Logo ‘Non to No-Billag’ © non-nobillag.ch 2018

“2017 could again be a better year for more gender parity in Europe. Last year, the European Commission published its first major legislative proposal on gender equality since the beginning of its term in 2014: A proposal for on work-life balance for parents and carers

CESI’s Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Commission warmly welcomed the text as a concrete step towards a more equal sharing of domestic responsibilities between men and women, who, at the expense of their career, have so far often taken over the lion’s share of caring tasks in families. As we look into 2017, I hope that the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers will swiftly take forward negotiations on a final legislative piece. It will be vital that the European Commission’s proposal will not be watered down.

In particular, additions to leave rights stipulated in the proposed Directive are preconditions to promote much-needed improvements in the work-life balance especially for women parents and carers. Just today, CESI Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Commission meets to convey this message to key decision makers in the European Parliament.”

“A new ambitious Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers is but one important step towards a more balanced gender parity overall. Disparities continue to exist in particular in many areas of the occupational life: The persistent gender pay and pension gap, existing discriminatory promotion practices and unequal access to managerial positions and continued violence and harassment at work: In all areas, a joint effort for more women empowerment is needed by policy makers, authorities, NGOs, social partners, trade unions.”

Picture: Kirsten Lühmann © dbb 2017

European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) And Confédération Européen Syndicats Independent (CESI)

Four months after the European Pillar of Social Rights was proclaimed which sets out rights for all workers in the EU to information and consultation, the European Commission refuses to propose legislation to the European Council on these rights for 9.8 million employees in central government despite being requested to do so by the European social partners. The social partners, reached this landmark agreement on information and consultation rights on 21 December 2015.

After years of imposed cuts in jobs, wages and trade union rights in public administrations, the trade union priority has been to regain fundamental workers’ rights to information and consultation and to rebuild trust in social dialogue as a key tool to improve the quality of public administration in the EU.

This agreement responded to these concerns by bringing EU-level minimum standards on information and consultation rights in legislation. Social partners acted in line with the procedure spell out in the EU Treaty that started with a Commission consultation in April 2015.

In an unprecedented decision, the Commission has refused to forward the social partner agreement to the EU Council, preempting the possibility for the Council to publicly state its position.

Britta Lejon, President of the EPSU National and EU Administration (NEA) committee and chief negotiator of the Agreement and President of TUNED, added “The Commission welcomed the Agreement two years ago and Commissioner Thyssen informed us that an impact assessment of the agreement would be carried out. Since then it has moved from no transparency on the decision-making process to a rejection. Just four months after the EU Social Pillar was agreed, this decision is extremely disappointing.“

Jan Willem Goudriaan, EPSU General Secretary, states: “It is an affront to social partners’ rights as co-legislators and the Commission’s and Council’s duty in relation to social dialogue as enshrined in the treaties since 1993.The decision has been done without evidence and in an arbitrary manner. They have neglected its internal rules including Better Regulation. It is the behaviour of public administration at its worst; it undermines the work of those civil servants working for Europe’s future. This is shameful of Thyssen and Juncker.”

Klaus Heeger, CESI General Secretary declares: “This is a double attack. It is an attack on the EU principle of equal treatment of workers. Why should public administration workers not enjoy the same EU legal protection for information and consultation rights as other workers? And it is an attack on the right to a transparent decision-making process. The implications are very damaging for trade unions and the future of sectoral social dialogue at EU level”.

EPSU is the European Federation of Public Service Unions. It is the largest federation of the ETUC and comprises 8 million public service workers from over 260 trade unions; EPSU organises workers in the energy, water and waste sectors, health and social services and local, regional and central government, www.epsu.org

CESI is the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, composed of 38 trade union organizations and 4 European trade union organizations, with a total of more than 5 million workers. CESI’s affiliates are employed in the field of central, regional and local administration, security and justice, education, training and research, healthcare, postal services and telecommunications, defense and transport, www.CESI.org

Notes to editors

TUNED

The Agreement is available here

There is a long legacy of workers’ rights to information and consultation rights with no distinction between public and private sector employees, with the exception of the armed and police forces, enshrined in ILO conventions (151 on labour relations and 154 on collective bargaining that apply to everyone employed by public authorities), the EU charter of fundamental rights (articles 27 and 28), TFEU (Articles 151 and 153.e) and in EU health and safety, gender equality and anti-discrimination directives. Most recently, the European Pillar of Social Rights that was proclaimed last November states that “Workers or their representatives have the right to be informed and consulted in good time on matters relevant to them..”,

There are however legal shortcomings, as recognised by the Commission itself with regard to public administrations that are not covered by the EU directives on information and consultation on restructuring and collective redundancies including the 2002/14 General Framework directive. As called for by the ETUC and EPSU, the European Parliament sought to extend the scope of the 2002 directive to the ‘public sector’ but this was not accepted by the Council. Parliament reiterated its call in its resolution of 19/02/ 2009 as a matter of equal treatment of all employees.

Since the financial crisis in 2008, the depth and scale of restructuring in governments have been huge with no or very little information and consultation rights for workers and their trade union representatives. At the same time, the Commission has taken on new initiatives that impact directly the quality of and access to public administrations especially in the context of the EU semester (economic governance).Amid austerity coordinated at EU level, the absence of EU social standards on information and consultation rights has become all the more of a concern.

In line with EPSU Congress decision of 2014, the agreement seeks to close the legal loophole in the EU directives in line with the principle of equal treatment between all workers, whilst taking into account the specificities of public administrations.

It follows on the Commission’s social partners’ first stage consultation in line with TFEU article 154 of 10 April 2015 on the possible consolidation of three directives on information and consultation rights. The Consultation raises the question as to whether public administrations should be covered by the EU directives which was welcomed by the ETUC in its response to the Consultation. In their response, the social partners in central governments, informed the Commission of their intention to reach a legally binding agreement through negotiations as provided for in the Treaty.

The Commission’s Consultation was itself preceded by an EC “fitness check” on EU law in the area of information and consultation of workers of July 2013, which invites social partners in central governments to address the exclusion of public administrations from the scope of directives, which is exactly what the social partners did.

Equal treatment between workers is amongst the key principles set at EU level (Art. 20), non-discrimination (Art. 21 par.2). The TFEU social dialogue provisions 154 and 155 come from an agreement concluded by the European social partners (UNICE, CEEP and ETUC), on 31 October 1991.

Since these provisions were introduced in the Treaty (1993), the Commission has never rejected any social partners’ requests for a legislative implementation of their agreements under these provisions.

Likewise, it would be unprecedented for the Commission to recommend EU social partners to implement “autonomously” their own agreement. Had we sought to negotiate an autonomous agreement, we would not have needed the Commission to do so, and the content of the Agreement would have been different.

Given the exceptional nature of the decision, you would expect a thorough, well-argued analysis of the legal motivation, the procedural steps, the political significance and impact. This is called a proportionate impact assessment. Commissioner Thyssen informed the employers and unions in March 2016 it would do so This has not happened.

The Commission decision to reject a request for legislative implementation of a social partner agreement concluded under Art. 155, is all the more of concern when this agreement results from negotiations triggered by a consultation process under Art. 154, generates uncertainty about future negotiations, discouraging EU social partners to enter into any such negotiations.

About the EU Social Dialogue Committee for Central Government Administrations

The European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for Central Government Administrations (SDC CGA), brings together representatives of trade unions (TUNED coordinated by EPSU) and employers (EUPAE) from this sector.

It was founded in 2010 with the support of the European Commission with the objectives of improving the functioning of administrations and standards on working conditions and promoting social dialogue at national and European levels.

EUPAE (European Public Administration Employers) consists, as of today, of 17 Member States including observers (Belgium, France, Spain, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, Czech Republic, UK and Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Malta, Portugal.

TUNED (Trade Unions’ National and European Administration Delegation) brings together the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI), which represent government employees in 27 of the 28 EU Member States. EUPAE represents 88% of the total workforce in EU central governments.

The Press Release is also available in pdf in English, French and Spanish.

The Sunday as a common weekly day of rest is under pressure in Europe. Online shopping offered around the clock, a tendency towards permanent availability of workers due to mobile devices as well as the increasing use of on-call time and the increasing opening of shops, especially in tourist areas on Sundays, endanger not only the work-free Sunday as a common day of rest but also common free time and a rest period from a purely economic-driven lifestyle.

The European Sunday Alliance is convinced that working on Sundays endangers the health and safety of workers as well as the social cohesion in our societies. The challenge of reconciling increasingly flexibilised working schedules with social and civic commitments had just been discussed at the last breakfast meeting of the Interest Group Work-Life Balance in the European Parliament on 22 February 2018.

Only a well-protected common work-free day per week enables citizens to enjoy full participation in cultural, sports, social and religious life and allows for reconciliation. That is why the European Sunday Alliance commits itself to safeguarding a work-free Sunday.

The European Sunday Alliance calls on all its members and on all citizens to take action on 3 March 2018 as the European Day for a work-free Sunday with special activities, Church services and information points in order to raise awareness about the unique value of Sunday for the European society and the importance of common free time in a digitalised society.

The European Sunday Alliance is a network of 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. CESI has been a member of the Alliance since 2017.

Logos: European Sunday Alliance/CESI logos © European Sunday Alliance 2018/CESI 2018

This case was brought to the CJEU by the Brussels Higher Labour Court and concerned the complaint of a volunteer firefighter of the town of Nivelles in Belgium. In view of the remuneration claimed for previous stand-by services, the Labour Court was uncertain whether these services could be considered as ‘working time’ according to the working time directive.

In previous judgements, the CJEU had already considered ‘on-call’ services at the working place as ‘working time’. Yet the current case referred to a ‘stand-by’ in which a worker was obliged to stay at home, to be available there to his employer and to be able to reach his place of work within 8 minutes.”

Regarding ‘stand-by’ at home, the CJEU made a distinction between “the obligation to remain physically present at the place determined by the employer and the geographical and temporal constraints resulting from the requirement to reach his place of work within 8 minutes” and the ‘stand-by’ duty, to “simply be at his employer’s disposal inasmuch as it must be possible to contact him.”

According to the Court, the concept of ‘working time’ therefore only applies to the particular situation in which the worker is obliged to spend ‘stand-by’ time at his home, he/she is available there to his/her employer and where he/she must be able to reach his/her place of work within 8 minutes.

In a first reaction, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger welcomed the judgement: “The fact that the CJEU clearly draws the logic consequences of both its case-law and the provisions of the working time directive shows that EU provisions for the protection of workers do not only have decoration purposes, but have strong concrete impacts. To consider, under certain circumstances, ‘stand by’ time as ‘working time’ must be seen as a clear steps toward improving working conditions and raising the safety and health protection standards throughout the EU. As trade unions, we must welcome the judgement.”

To summarise, the CJEU stated/re-confirmed the following:

• A volunteer firefighter must be classified as a ‘worker’ (provided he/she receives remuneration);
• The concepts of ‘working time’ and of ‘rest period’ are mutually exclusive, there is nothing in-between;
• The concepts of ‘working time’ and of ‘rest period’ apply to all categories of firefighters;
• ‘Stand by’ at home with the duty to respond to calls from his employer within 8 minutes must be regarded as ‘working time’;
• The question of remuneration falls outside the scope of the working time directive (and of the EU) and remains within the Member States´ competence.

This judgement could have strong impacts on national systems of fire and civil protection services, but also on sectors characterised by the need of rapid interventions and hence on the intensive use of ‘on-call’ and ‘stand-by’ services – above all in the security and health sectors. However, “before coming to hasty conclusions, a careful assessment will be needed”, Klaus Heeger stated.

The full judgment is available here.

Picture: European Court of Justice © CJEU 2018

The objective of the meeting was to develop first draft elements for a manifest for dissemination on challenges in the teaching profession in Europe from a trade unionist perspective, which will be further informed by the project’s main symposium held in Portugal later this year in October together with representatives from CESI’s member trade union organisations in the education sector.

The project will, overall, inquire how European level instruments and programmes such as Education & Training (ET) 2020, the European Semester for economic (and social) policy coordination, the EU’s New Skills Agenda or the Eurydice network can help underpin and make the case for improved working conditions and professional development opportunities for teachers especially against the background of the European Education Area 2025.

It will seek answers to questions such as “How can teachers be equipped with the skills required for digital education?”, “How can teachers be supported in the integration of migrations in education systems?”, “Are salary levels adequate in the context of long working hours, increasing work intensification, and significant levels of psychosocial risks and even third party violence?” or “How to strengthen the reputation and positive public perception of the teaching profession and the work of workers?”

As a trade union organisation representing numerous teacher trade unions from across Europe, improving the support for the teaching profession at the EU level has been a long-standing topic of concern for CESI.

The project ‘Education professionals and trade unions in Europe’ is co-funded by the European Commission under the EU budget line for information and training measures for workers’ organisations.

Picture: CESI Europe Academy 2018 project kick-off workshop © CESI 2018

The Erasmus programme itself represents the evolution and development that its participants have experienced, in that it expanded to become Erasmus + in 2014. Today Erasmus + covers a wider range of opportunities and benefits more people than ever before. The current seven year programme that stretches from 2014 to 2020 has seen an increase in its budget of 40% – a budget of €14.7 billion – in comparison to previous programmes. This reflects the institutional trust the Erasmus programme enjoys and its support in targeting 4 million people.

CESI hosted a seminar last year in 2016, co-funded under the Erasmus+ programme on the topic of “Youth and the unions: an example of participation in democratic life”.

The meeting held in Brussels, which brought together 35 young trade unionists from 7 Member States, concluded in the European Parliament with a presentation of recommendations for an enhanced participation of young people in civic processes and trade unionism, hosted by MEP Monika Vana (Greens/EFA). You can find the recommendations here.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held an open discussion with the German Representation of the European Commission on the 8^th of February 2017 in Bonn, where representatives from civil society gathered to evaluate the ERASMUS program.

CESI Youth Representative Matthäus Fandrejewski praises the contribution of Erasmus to the European Integration and shares his personal experience doing a traineeship in Dublin 2009: “The experience to work abroad, encounter different cultures and see how they work was great! I think that the public service should give more employees, especially its young professionals, opportunities to work abroad. I was one of the first in our region who went abroad to do a traineeship. It gives us an opportunity to observe and learn from the similarities and differences between our administrations.”

Mr Fandrejewski also gave a further reflection on the Erasmus programme as a whole by stating that he thinks “The Erasmus programme has not only encouraged and assisted student mobility but has enriched peoples’ lives by bringing together young people from all backgrounds, cultures and classes. All Europeans should be offered the opportunity to discover the greatness and diversity of our European continent. The Erasmus programme helps us to explore new horizons”

Coinciding with the 30^th anniversary of Erasmus is the 60^th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, promoting a closer European relationship. The symbolism of these two events could not come at a more timely moment, as the European Union is facing issues ranging from terrorism, high rates of youth unemployment, rise in populism and questions challenging its very existence.

As for the CESI Secretariat and member organisations, they all host individuals that have benefited from Erasmus throughout its 30 years of existence. Events will be taking place all throughout the year and all throughout the European Union, giving people the opportunity to debate how the future of the programme should look like. But let’s make 2017 the year to highlight and celebrate the positive impacts Erasmus has had!

Photo: 30th anniversary of the Erasmus Programme inside the European Parliament

© European Union 2017/EC Audiovisual Services/EP

‘Digitalisation & future of work: Social protection for all?’

Wednesday, 7 March 2018 – 12h30 to 14h30
Light lunch 12h30-13h00

Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the EU
Rue Belliard 60-62, 1040 Brussels

The impacts of digitalisation on employment patterns are far-reaching. With the rise of new forms of employment relations in the sharing economy, designing universal access to adequate social protection is key for a social Europe.

According to the principles 5 and 12 of the European Pillar of Social Rights, workers, and, under comparable conditions, the self-employed, have the right to adequate social protection – regardless of the type and duration of their employment relationship. On March 13, the European Commission plans to publish a proposal for a Council Recommendation on social protection for people in all forms of employment: Would the EU have the competence or even the duty to provide a solid framework for social protection for all? How far can the European Commission go in its proposals? What approaches could be politically feasible?

As the European Commission is considering EU-level measures, CESI and the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the EU invite you to discuss with representatives of the EU institutions, think tanks and trade unions on how social protection could be practically ensured for all, including those active in the collaborative economy.

Simultaneous translation from/to German and English

Register for the event here

Welcome
Johannes Jung, Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union

Keynote address
Claire Dhéret, European Policy Centre (EPC)

Discussion with the participation of
Petru Sorin Dandea, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
Claire Dhéret, European Policy Centre (EPC)
Siglinde Hasse, Trade Union of the German Social Security Institutions (GdS)
Ragnar Horn, European Commission
Maximilian Strotmann, Cabinet of the Commissioner Andrus Ansip

Moderator
Pierre Baussand, Eurofound

Conclusions
Klaus Heeger, European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI)

MKKS deplores the unfair and unjustified division amongst government officials by the Hungarian government which has “created an unacceptable situation in the public service as a whole and which has led to strong public criticism.

President Erszebet Boros strongly condemned the fact that over 200 thousand public employees have seen no pay raise during the last 10 years, causing a considerable loss of the purchasing value of wages, and creating in-work poverty amongst the people in this sector.

MKKSZ has called upon the public and other Hungarian trade union confederation members to show their solidarity. The strike aims at finger-pointing the unfairness of the government´s policies leading to inequality amongst civil servants.

MKKSZ asks for solidarity from other CESI’s members trade unions to have a stronger impact on the Hungarian Government.

Logo: MKKSZ logo © MKKS 2018

In 2014, EUROMIL lodged a complaint on behalf of the Irish Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association (PDFORRA) against Ireland on violations of Art. 5 and Art. 6 of the European Social Charter. The complaint refers to the fact that PDFORRA member associations in Ireland could not access trade union rights (the right to organise and the right to bargain collectively) or the ability to join an umbrella organization. In its decision of 2017 which was communicated to the public in February 2018, the European Committee on Social Rights decided there were violations of Art. 5 & 6.2 of the European Social Charter on the right to association and the right to collective bargaining. Moreover, the European Committee on Social Rights recommended that Irish military personnel organisations such as PDFORRA join the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) – an umbrella organisation.

CESI has always underlined the importance of the decision for military personnel across Europe as a path for more social rights and for recognising the principle of ‘citizens in uniform’. Military staff should be able to enjoy the same rights as other citizens, including ‘freedom of association for all soldiers as well as the respect of all applicable European occupational safety and health regulations for them’.

The President of trade council ‘Defence’, Mr Thomas Sohst, adds: ‘Civilian and military personnel in armies should be entitled to the protection of their fundamental rights, as well as rights concerning freedoms and equality, as enshrined in the EU Charter’.

On behalf of CESI, Secretary General Klaus Heeger congratulated both Euromil and PDFORRA for their perseverance in this case. “This is a landmark decision and, as EUROMIL has pointed out, it will have strong impact on the situation in other countries such as for instance Spain, Portugal and Italy.”

Logo: Logo European Social Charter © Council of Europe 2018

“There are many challenges the EU has in facing the threats of organized crime, terrorism but also radicalisation. More cooperation is needed in the field of security between different authorities. The European ‘Smarter Borders’ project is one example of a good practice which will have a great impact in the work of law enforcement officers in charge of border controls, if implemented correctly and without technological disparities between countries. The Passenger Name Record is another important tool against organised crime and terrorism”, he said.

Concerning the radicalisation, the report acknowledges the EU added value to the field, consisting in a number of initiatives such as: the establishment of the High-Level Expert Group on Radicalisation (interim report published in December 2017), supporting initiatives like the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN), the EU Internet Forum and the European Strategic Communications Network (ESCN).

On cybersecurity, the security progress report mentions the impact assessment evaluation taking place in light of the forthcoming proposal for a Network of Cybersecurity Competence Centre with a European Centre at its heart. A Directive for combating fraud and counterfeiting of non-cash payments is proposed. In 2018 Europol will receive an additional budget of 5 million Euros to reinforce its capabilities to decrypt information in criminal proceedings. On the topic of establishing interoperable EU information systems for security, border and migration management, the security reports highlights the following targets:

• the adoption of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS)
• the strengthening of the Schengen Information System (SIS)
• the adoption of the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS)
• a stronger mandate for eu-LISA enabling the agency to ensure the technical implementation of the new approach to the data management for borders and security
• amending the 4^th Anti-Money Laundering Directive in order to allow access of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) to relevant information, including land registries and to newly-created centralised bank account registries

In response to the practical efforts to set up better exchange of information between different EU member states authorities, the report mentions that only in 2017 1 million SIENA messages were exchanges between Europol member states and third parties.

The full 13^th progress report is available on the European Commission’s website.

Picture: Security Union banner © europa.rs 2018

The work priorities were set for all of CESI’s Commissions and Trade Councils against the background of the general agenda of the European institutions and the CESI General Secretariat: Employment impacts of digitisation and the future of work will remain fundamental priorities for all sectors, and negative consequences of privatisation measures and budgetary cuts will continue to be major concerns for the different public sectors whose workers CESI represents.

While CESI’s sectoral focus for 2018 will lie predominately on education, vocational training, the Security Union and the Defence Union, the Trade Councils and Commissions will among others focus on the following topics:

• Commission ‘Employment and Social Affairs’: implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights; impacts of digitalisation on employment; psychosocial risks at work
• Commission ‘Women’s Rights and Gender Equality’: Social and labour market integration of women refugees and migrants; digitalisation at work as an opportunity for men and women alike; equal pay and pensions
• Trade Council ‘Central Administration and Finances’: Tax administration staff in the fight against tax fraud and tax evasion; wage level protection in the public services; implementation of the 2015 EU sectoral social partner agreement on the right to information and consultation in central government administrations
• Trade Council ‘Local and Regional Administration’: Impacts of privation in public transport; strengthening social dialogue at the local level; employment conditions and recruitment in municipalities in competition with the private sector
• Trade Council ‘Security’: Security sector personnel in the fight against organised crime, anti-terrorism and the prevention of radicalisation
• Trade Council ‘Justice’: Challenges linked to privatisation in justice systems; EU level industrial relations dispute resolution mechanisms for prison officers in EU Member States
• Trade Council ‘Education, Training and Research’: Teaching values and preventing radicalisation through education; valuing the teaching profession and supporting school staff
• Trade Council ‘Health Services’: Application and impacts of EU working time directive in the health sector; safety aspects of healthcare professionals in the preparation and administration of dangerous medicines
• Trade Council ‘Post and Telecoms’: Impacts of the new EU Directive on cross-border parcel delivery services; social plans in restructurings in telecoms and postal services; quality of work in telecoms and postal services
• Trade Council ‘Defence’: Common rights of staff in joint operations under the Common Security and Defence Policy; joint training with common equipment in common structures in European defence

Further information is available in the dedicated website section on each of the Commissions and Trade Councils.

As in every year, CESI’s Trade Councils and Commissions will each meet up to two times in 2018, hearing and discussing with a variety experts and representatives from think tanks, academia and the EU Institutions. As such, the Commissions and Trade Council play an instrumental role in CESI’s interest representation and advocacy work.

Picture: CESI Programme Commission © CESI 2018

This decision highlights the power of business leaders over politics, and this in times when global inequality is on the rise and tax fairness a matter of global concern.

By removing those countries from the black list, the Member States ignored the many claims to expand the list rather than to reduce it. In times when citizens expect strong and efficient signals and actions to fight against tax avoidance, this decision goes against the principles of fairness and inclusion, and further widens the gap between those who have and those who don’t.

Sustainability and cohesion look somewhat different.

Despite this obvious setback, CESI hopes (and will advocate for) a strong monitoring of the now 47 countries present in the ‘grey’ list of Annex II and that all will be pressured to implement the principles on good tax governance they have committed to.

The full updated list of non-cooperative states is available here. More information about the meeting last week is available on the Council’s website.

CESI has in the past strongly supported and ecouraged the European Commission to come up with proposals in this regard: “Indeed, the technological revolution leads to a gigantic societal upheaval which will not only require totally new skills, but a growing need for orientation, values and identity. We live in times where we increasingly need media competence paired with an intellectual and moral compass“, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger recently stated.

As the field of education perfectly illustrates, the challenges linked to digitalisation cannot only be tackled at Member State level alone. “A European vision of education will not only help address the most pressing challenges for the future, it will also contribute to maintain and create cohesion within the EU, and not least give the youth a chance“, CESI Youth Representative Matthäus Fandrejewki summarised the conference. He added:

“As has been highlighted in the 2016 Bratislava Declaration, the EU is not perfect, but it is the best instrument we have for addressing the new challenges we are facing. Furthermore I strongly believe that the EU has to consist of more than just the single market – We need a shared European identity which can be transferred via education to have also a positive impact on social cohesion.“

In this sense, the Presidium of CESI has lately also called for an understanding of subsidiarity which should not per se require action at the lowest levels, but which should focus on tackling challenges in an increasingly-integrated EU and digitised world.

Picture: Matthäus Fandrejewski with Commissioner Tibor Navracsics at the European Education Summit © CESI 2018

According to an Oxfam International report published in January 2018 there has been a huge increase in the wealth for billionaires, while great social disparities continue to exist. ‘82% of all wealth created in the last year went to the top 1%, while the bottom 50% saw no increase at all.’ This emphasises even more the importance of trade unions and civil society to be represented in the Davos Forum to highlight the need for social inclusion and the fight against poverty.

In this context, the fight against tax evasion should remain central for both governments and the private sector – but how to achieve this goal with only economic players being present remains a mystery.

In the context of digitisation, CESI has raised many social and ethical issues about the importance of educating citizens and preparing them for the digitisation of the work environment. The digital age will not only require totally new skills, but a growing need for orientation, values and identity.

This is increasingly recognised by key economic actors too. According to Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba.com, schools must teach children how to be different from machines. The skill set provided through education should include: creativity, ‘values, believing, independent thinking, team work, care for others, arts and sports.’

CESI’s answer to that remains the pledge for more investment in the human factor.

Logo: Davos World Economic Forum Logo © Eurovision.net 2018

Due to one-sided austerity policies or the lack of prospect of immediate profit, public and private investors have for too long turned a blind eye to the social, economic and financial benefits of social infrastructure investment. “Investment in education, health and affordable housing is essential for economic growth, for the well-being of people and upward convergence in the EU”, Lieve Fransen, co-author of the study, underlined on the occasion of the publication of the report.

The study was very much welcomed by CESI’s Secretary General Klaus Heeger, who had contributed to the group advising the High Level Task Force: “We congratulate the study’s initiators and authors. It is the right moment for it. We believe in responsible spending policies, but Europe cannot be built on stability criteria alone.

In view of the 2019 elections, the EU and member states can now also bring the proof that cohesion is not an empty word, but that “investing if people” is now primordial. Not only for the well-being of people, but also for business!”

The full report is available here. More information about CESI’s position on social investments can be accessed in a Congress motion on ‘Investing in people’ adopted in December 2016.

Picture: Study cover ‘Boosting investment in social infrastructure in Europe’ © eltia.eu 2018

It its position the CESI Presidium calls, most importantly, for:

• A deeper involvement of all social partners in the discussion on the future goals and pathways of European integration such as in the European Semester, and generally speaking, more transparency in EU decision-making processes and plurality in the social dialogue;
• A recognition of the equal value of social-political goals of the EU compared to the single market and its fundamental freedoms;
• An understanding of subsidiarity, especially in terms of social policy, which should not only require Member States’ competence or action on the lowest levels, but should focus on solving problems in an increasingly-integrated EU;
• The design of the future of work and new forms of work via the establishment of socially-fair policies tailored to the digital age, especially by means of a clear definition of the concept of ’employee’, as the basis for social and labour regulations applying to atypical forms of work, e.g. measures for social security of all employees and freelancers;
• The deepening of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), with the inclusion of fiscal policy buffer measures in order to make up for the national adaptation instruments lost by states when adhering to the EMU; and
• A move away from “a slim state at any cost”, towards public services that are sufficiently financed and staffed, without which social policies cannot be implemented for the benefit of the citizens, employees and consumers.

The full position is available here.

Klaus Heeger stressed: “The future challenges are tremendous! If we miss the train now, it will be too late. We are therefore very pleased by the endeavour of the European Commission to place education at the top of the EU agenda”.

Despite education being mainly a national competence, CESI has always advocated a strong European commitment for the quality of training and education. “The technological revolution leads to a gigantic societal upheaval which will not only require totally new skills, but an increased need for orientation, values and identity. This challenge cannot be tackled at the Member State level alone and the Commission can count on our assistance”, Klaus Heeger said. “In the end, it will be about investments in education and the unconditional valorisation and support of teachers and schools!”

The Commission’s package entails a series of measures aimed at strengthening key competences, digital skills, and the European dimension of teaching. More specifically, it consists of three initiatives:

• a Council Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning which updates the 2006 Recommendation on Key Competences, giving further emphasis to transversal skills like civic and entrepreneurship competences;
• a Digital Education Action Plan which sets out the priorities of making better use of digital technology for teaching and learning, and developing relevant digital skills and competences; and
• a Council Recommendation on common values, inclusive education and the European dimension of teaching which recommends Member States a.o. to take steps to boost citizenship education, critical thinking and media literacy skills. This recommendation is the result of a public consultation carried out last summer in which CESI took part.

One of CESI’s 2018 sectoral focus lies on education. Among others, an EU-financed project shall aim at establishing key demands for a better valorisation of teachers and training and education institutions.

In their last meetings of the year, the Presidium and Board of CESI approved the main topics and activities for 2018: The implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights at the EU and national levels, the revision of the EU’s economic governance and Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) towards a more social and investment-friendly framework, the integration of refugees into the labour markets and the adjustments of labour law and social legislation to new and future forms of employment and work. CESI will also work in depth to support its affiliates throughout their national activities. A particular focus will be put on the education (giving adequate value and support to the teaching profession), security (protecting those who protect) and defence sectors (creating a European Defence Union with equal social and labour rights for military personnel in joint missions). Finally, the challenges of the EU as a whole, in particular ahead of the European election year, will remain crucial. As a confederation of public sector workers, the importance of services of general interest and their delivery by public authorities and their respected workers remain CESI’s ‘raison d’être’.

As last year, CESI is planning to hold and implement a variety of events and projects to implement its annual objectives.

Building on successes during the last year such as the affiliation of further member organisations, the formal establishment of the CESI Youth, CESI’s enhanced participation in sectoral social dialogue committees -especially its new participation in the social dialogue on postal services- and the increasingly tangible influence on European decision-making, the CESI General Secretariat looks forward to a continued strong partnership with all its members in 2018. In the efforts to further improve the employment and working conditions of their affiliates, CESI will continue to work trustfully and reliably in various platforms, committees and fora with European institutions, social partners and civil society organisations.

Hard work for a more social and worker-friendly Europe is required as before. As set out in a new position paper of CESI’s Presidium of December 2017 on the future of the EU, there must be finally recognition of the equal value of social-political goals of the EU compared to the single market and economic freedoms. There must also be an understanding of subsidiarity, especially in terms of social policy, which should not only require member states’ competence or action on the lowest levels, but should focus on solving problems in an increasingly-integrated EU. As long as the Single Market rules remain the exclusive responsibility of the EU, whereas social policies remain primarily the responsibility of the member states, it is clear that it will be difficult to achieve a balance between Single Market freedoms and social-political goals at EU level. CESI advocates an honest approach in this regard.

In terms of both labour law and social security, the EU and its Member States need to tackle the challenges of new forms of employment and atypical work patterns, above all in the collaborative economy. And trade unions may have to go beyond their traditional roles in collective bargaining and social dialogue to find new ways to cater for the interests of people employed in the collaborative economy. Those workers have a special need to be represented, but they may need different services than trade unions have traditionally offered. The crucial questions will be if trade unions must, should and, if so, will be able to contribute also to the fair representation of gig and cloud workers, a representation which, in the end, will serve the interests of all workers and the society as a whole.

Lots to work on in 2018! We look forward to tackle it with you!

Logo: CESI logo © CESI 2018

For CESI, there is a clear added value of certain further EU action in the field of social protection. Not only have socio-economic disparities within and among Member States increased significantly during the past years – a phenomenon which after all was central to the establishment of a European Pillar of Social Rights that now also includes a right to social security for all. Also, subjecting social security only to national legal orders becomes unsuitable and inappropriate as the borders of labour markets are increasingly blurred, with more and more people working online, providing services for different employers in several Member States at the same time, or moving for work between Member States several times during their professional career.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger added: “Lacking access to social protection is a real problem for the growing number of persons employed in the so-called new forms employment, in the platform economy and in existing non-standard and precarious work models. Any initiative by the European Commission should make sure that everyone is covered by social protection.”

For CESI it remains imperative that in line with the scope of a new directive on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union (ex-EU written statement directive), new measures are based on established case law of the Court of Justice of the EU according to which “a worker would be understood as any person who for a certain period of time performs services for and under the direction of any other natural or legal person(s) in return for which he/she received remuneration” (case 66/85 of July 3 1986).

Klaus Heeger noted: “Minimum benefit floors and contributions-to-benefit ratios -the ‘value’ of payments into the system- should be as equal as possible to those of employees under standard work contracts. A mandatory formal coverage at an adequate level will be the key factors for success.”

CESI also stressed the importance of a well-functioning EU-wide common transferability framework which will allow for transitions between different contracts or types of employment without any losses in rights and entitlements for the worker, including changes inbetween Member States and according to the principle “contributions and benefits as well as rights and obligations from day one.” Klaus Heeger added: “An EU-wide common system of individual ‘entitlements pots’ or ‘entitlement accounts’ for the various aspects of social security could be envisaged. These could follow people in the EU wherever they are economically active throughout their professional career.”

For CESI, regardless of the type of work and the place of work, entitlements and benefits should be fully transferable and traceable, which also necessitates more transparency and administrative simplicity and access to user-friendly information on rights and obligations to social protection. Klaus Heeger said: “Citizens should at any time have the possibility to get information about the different types of social security entitlements which they have accumulated during a work relationship or their career, regardless of their form of employment or the Member State they work in.”

CESI’s full contribution is available here. More information about the European Commission’s work on social protection is available on the European Commission’s website.

Logo: Klaus Heeger © CESI 2018

As initiatives featured in the 2018 work programme of the European Commission, legislative proposals could follow this spring on an ELA “to strengthen cooperation between labour market authorities at all levels and better manage cross-border situations” and on an ESSN to “facilitate the identification of persons across borders for the purposes of social security coordination and a quick and accurate verification of their social security insurance coverage status.”

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “CESI generally agrees with the European Commission on a potential added value of a new European Labour Authority and a European Social Security Number. For several years CESI has advocated an initiative against social dumping and exploitation of mobile workers beyond the limited revisions of the posting of workers directive and the social security coordination regulations.”

In its consultation response statements, CESI reiterated its call for an overarching framework for voluntary, fair labour mobility, based on a full implementation, respect and enforcement of applicable and existing legislation.

In this context, an ELA should become a coordinative institution to promote and manage possible European-level synergies among national labour inspectorates, without becoming involved in national-level competences, as well as a supervisory authority to manage and oversee fair and rule-based mobile and cross-border work in the EU, endowed with certain controlling powers. According to Klaus Heeger, “a European Labour Authority should reflect the spirit of directive 2014/54 which notes the importance of ‘a better and more uniform application of the substantive rules governing the freedom of movement of workers under Article 45 TFEU and under regulation 492/2011.’”

In line with article 3 of directive 2014/54, CESI has also proposed that part of the efforts of an ELA should be to further help finance, institutionalise and operationalise a role for trade unions and social partners to provide information and counselling services to mobile workers before their departure as well as when they arrive in their country of destination. Klaus Heeger stressed: “Discrimination as well as abusive and unfair employment conditions and practices of mobile workers in host countries are a frequently occurring phenomenon and this often goes hand in hand with an improper application or lacking enforcement of the applicable national or European employment and social legislations. More could be done to support trade unions in their efforts to play their role in facilitating fair labour mobility.”

Given the wide variety of national personal identification and social security numbers as well as a mix of paper and paperless electronic communication methods and systems in and among national authorities, an ESSN accompanying an ELA could help individuals and social security institutions identify, prove and determine social security purposes across borders and throughout careers. Klaus Heeger noted: “Regardless of the type of work and the place of work, benefits and entitlements of workers should be fully traceable. Access to information should not end at borders. ”

CESI’s full consultations statements can be accessed here (ELA) and here (ESSN). Further information about the European Commission’s plans on an ELA and ESSN are available on the European Commission’s website.

The revision of the directive followed a process of two social partner consultations which CESI contributed to. Together with a forthcoming initiative for social protection for all, this revision is one of the European Commission’s cornerstone actions for fairer and better working conditions under the new European Pillar of Social Rights.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “The European Commission’s proposal can lay the foundation for more transparent and less arbitrary employment conditions for some groups of workers. However, it falls short of transforming the directive into a truly overarching framework directive for decent work for all, a priority which CESI had raised during the consultation phase.”

On the positive side, employers would in the future be obliged to provide workers, including those in new forms of employment – such as online and platform workers, should they be considered as employees in a de facto employment relationship – with more detailed information about their employment relationship than before. This could serve, if properly implemented, to bring less haphazard working hours, probation periods, remuneration, social security and more. “A more predictable employment relationship from day one has been a key concern for many workers in atypical forms employment. Effectively providing more information would be a good achievement. A lot would depend on a proper implementation in the Member States”, stated Klaus Heeger.

The European Commission also proposes a set of universal rights that should be valid for all workers, such as:

• a maximum probation duration period of 6 months;
• a ban for employers to prohibit workers from taking up employment with other employers outside the work schedule established with that employer (‘exclusivity clauses’) ;
• predetermined reference work hours and reference work days for more predicable employment; and
• the possibility to request “a form of employment with more predictable and secure working conditions” for workers in atypical employment relationships with at least 6 months of seniority with the same employer.

“In principle, the set of rights proposed by the European Commission could bring major improvements. However, as always, the devil is in the detail. Exemptions and vague wording in several clauses may leave loopholes and render good ideas less effective.”

For instance:

• Member States may provide for longer probation periods than 6 months “in cases where this is justified by the nature of the employment or is in the interest of the worker”;
• employers may “lay down conditions of incompatibility” to circumvent bans on exclusivity clauses “where such restrictions are justified by legitimate reasons”;
• predetermined reference hours and reference days can be ignored if the workers is informed by their employers of a work assignment “a reasonable period in advance”; and
• the right to request a transition to another form of employment is no more than a right to request: The worker remains powerless if the employer chooses to turn down a request.

The European Commission’s proposal also leaves out any references to self-employed persons. Klaus Heeger noted: “More and more people are -involuntarily- economically active as independent self-employed even though they are in a de-facto dependent work relationship, and as such they cannnot enjoy the same social and labour rights as employees in traditional forms of employment. The role that the revised directive may potentially play to better the lives of those in bogus self-employment is still unclear.”

For the first time, the European Commission proposed in a legislative initiative a broad definition of the term ‘worker’ as “a natural person who for a certain period of time performs services for and under the direction of another person in return for remuneration.” This technically includes those in bogus self-employment. However, during the consultation phase, CESI had advocated to use such a definition to turn the written statement directive into an overarching framework directive on decent work that specifically targets an end of bogus self-employment, as previously also advocated by the European Parliament. “It seems that the European Commission’s proposal constitutes, good ideas that it incorporates, only a ‘light version’ of a framework directive on decent work”, Klaus Heeger concluded.

During the upcoming negotiations on the directive between the European Parliament and the Council, CESI will push for clear wording for better working conditions for workers in Europe. CESI will also analyse to what extent the proposal and definition of the term ‘worker’ enshrined therin may still be useful to drive the agenda of bringing down spreading bogus self-employment in Europe.

The full legislative proposal is available on the European Commission’s website.

Hans Freiler from the European Federation of Public Service Employees (Eurofedop) was elected as the President of the trade council. André Goretti from the French Autonomous Federation of Local and Regional Authorities (FA-FPT) and Marco Thomé from the Luxembourgish General Federation of Local Administration (FGFC) were elected as Vice-Presidents.

Hans Freiler, André Goretti and Marco Thomé to lead CESI’s Trade Council on Local and Regional Administration

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “I am glad that we will have a very competent leadership to steer the re-instated Trade Council on Local and Regional Administration after CESI’s Congress last December. Hans Freiler as re-elected President as well as Andé Goretti and Marco Thomé have been involved in CESI for many years. They are excellently placed to continue carrying out successful work for better and fair employment conditions for local and regional administration staff across Europe.”

On the agenda: Impacts on privatisations, consequences of digitalisation, efforts of administrations in migrant integration

The topic of privatisation and its impacts on local and regional administration jobs was introduced with a presentation by Urs Stauffer, an affiliate of CESI’s Swiss member organisation ZV and former Vice-President of the Trade Council, who spoke on the increasing use of Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) in the field. During the discussion that followed his intervention, trade council members reported that privatisations, through PPPs or other means, remain a major concern for local and regional administration staff and their working conditions and employment relationships. The importance of best practice alternatives to PPPs was stressed.

The trade council also heard an intervention by Alla Aboukada from the Platform to close gaps between the labour market and refugees’ skills, a start-up which focuses on the integration of migrants in the labour market by developing an application and a set of algorithms breaching the gaps between the refugees’ skills and the labour market.

Paul Zenners, member of the cabinet of the Luxembourgish Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy, presented Luxembourg’s efforts to face the multifaceted impacts of digitalisation on its administrations and governmental system.

The members of the trade council also discussed the involvement of CESI members in the EU’s sectoral social dialogue committee for local and regional governments as well as the role of local and regional administrations in the implementation of the new European Pillar of Social Rights in the Member States.

The next meeting of the trade council will take place on September 25 2018 (tbc).

The decision sets out a list of ambitious common commitments in the field of defence; its adoption is coupled with a political agreement identifying a list of 17 projects to be undertaken under PESCO. The projects cover areas including training, capability development and operational readiness in the field of defence.

Thomas Sohst supports the creation of PESCO. He said: “CESI’s ‘Defence’ Trade Council appreciates the decision of the Council with regard to PESCO taken this week. This is a clear sign that nations participating in PESCO are willing to take responsibility for security from a European point of view. CESI expects from the participating countries that they consider not only European structures and European military equipment but also common regulation on social conditions of military personnel working in the European structures with European-provided equipment.”

Further information about PESCO is available on the Council’s website.

* Denmark, Malta and the UK will not take part in PESCO.