Thematic feature - collective agreements on changes in work organisation

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This article gives a brief overview of collective bargaining on changes in work organisation in Greece, as of September 2004. It looks at: the extent to which collective agreements introduce changes in work organisation that take into account productivity demands, flexibility and security in an integrated way; the main areas in which changes are being introduced; the overall success or otherwise of bargaining on the topic; and the prospects for the future.

The EU’s European employment strategy was revised in 2003 (EU0308205F), following demands for a more results-oriented strategy contributing successfully to the targets for more and better jobs and an inclusive labour market set at the Lisbon European Council in 2000 (EU0004241F). To support the three objectives of full employment, quality and productivity at work and cohesion and an inclusive labour market, the current employment guidelines identify 10 priorities ('commandments'), including one on 'promoting adaptability of workers and firms to change'. This identifies work organisation (alongside skills, lifelong learning and career development, gender equality, health and safety at work, flexibility and security, inclusion and access to the labour market, work-life balance, social dialogue and worker involvement, diversity and non-discrimination, and overall work performance) as an element in improved quality at work, which should be pursued through a concerted effort between all actors and particularly through social dialogue.

The 2004 Council Recommendation on the implementation of Member States’ employment policies provides for four priorities:

• increasing adaptability of workers and enterprises;

• attracting more people to enter and remain on the labour market, making work a real option for all;

• investing more and more effectively in human capital and lifelong learning; and

• ensuring effective implementation of reforms through better governance.

The Recommendation refers to promoting flexibility combined with security in the labour market, by modernising and broadening the concept of job security, maximising job creation and raising productivity. As defined in the employment guidelines, 'job security' refers not only to employment protection but also to building people’s ability to remain and progress in work. Changes in work organisation thus appear to be seen as a main vehicle for increasing the adaptability of workers and enterprises. Related to this issue is flexibility and security in the labour market and the relative attractiveness of 'standard' and 'non-standard' employment relationships (with the aim of avoiding a 'two-tier' labour market).

With work organisation playing an increasingly important role in European employment policy, in September 2004 the EIRO national centres were asked, in response to a questionnaire, to give a brief overview of the industrial relations aspects of the topic, looking at: the extent to which collective agreements introduce changes in work organisation that take into account productivity demands and flexibility and security at the workplace in an integrated way; the main areas in which changes are being introduced; the overall success or otherwise of bargaining on the topic; and the prospects for the future. The Greek responses are set out below (along with the questions asked).

Recent collective agreements on changes in work organisation

Please provide information on recent developments (over the last three-five years) in collective agreements on work organisation that introduce changes in flexibility, security and productivity in an integrated way. The kind of issues that such agreements might cover include: introducing autonomous (or semi-autonomous work) teams; reducing the number of hierarchical layers; new forms of employee involvement; reorganising work functions; moving away from product-based structures to business unit; flexible working hours; multiskilling; job rotation; improving training (eg making it more systematic, ensuring wider participation, or changing the focus); new pay systems (eg performance-based pay, profit-sharing, share ownership schemes), and new financial and non-financial performance measures; or new appraisal systems.

The kind of agreements that we are interested in here are those that deal with a number of the issues listed above as an overall 'package'. Please provide any overall information available on this kind of development, if possible, and brief details of three or four agreements (at company and/or sectoral level) that you consider particularly innovative and interesting. Below is an indicative list of the kind of information we are seeking.

• What are the main aims of bargaining on work organisation - eg increasing productivity? Increasing personnel flexibility? Improving the company’s position in the market? Avoiding redundancies and lay-offs?

• What is the extent of bargaining on work organisation - how many agreements are there? How many companies/employees are covered?

• What are the main areas in which changes are being introduced - eg new organisational structures, new more flexible and less hierarchical methods, new corporate cultures, new business practices, more training, new performance measurement techniques, new reward systems?

• In the context of the introduction of work organisation changes, what kind of contractual and working time arrangements are provided - ie how is the flexibility and security issue being addressed?

• In the context of work organisation changes introduced with a view to improving productivity, what specific measures have been agreed?

• What are the motives of the parties in concluding such agreements - please indicate the motives of each side (management and workforce), such as reducing costs, promoting flexibility, securing employment, preventing compulsory redundancy, or improving terms and conditions.

The use of traditional methods of production and work organisation by most Greek companies, which in any case employ an average number of staff that is particularly low in comparison with EU averages, has resulted in collective agreements on work organisation being concluded only in extremely rare cases. Thus, unlike many other EU Member States, in Greece it is extremely difficult to find collective agreements that set clear objectives and specific tools for achieving changes in the model of work organisation in such a way as to safeguard the needs of companies, workers and trade unions at the same time and in a harmonious manner. For companies, these needs are centred on the demand to boost labour flexibility and productivity, whereas for the unions they relate first and foremost to safeguarding conditions of job security.

As confirmed by a recent INE/GSEE-ADEDY study on 'Employment and labour relations in Greece', (G Kouzis (ed), Tetradia INE, special issue, October 2002) and the latest annual progress report of the Corps of Labour Inspectors (SEPE), open-ended, full-time employment still predominates in Greece, making up 80% or more of all paid employment (GR0210102F, GR0309105F). However, studies have revealed a clear downward trend in such 'typical' employment, compared with flexible forms of employment, notably part-time work, fixed-term contracts and seasonal employment. For example, during 2002 a total of 35,444 contracts for subsidised short-time work were submitted to SEPE, compared with 29,532 in 2001. The number of part-time contracts submitted was 207,237 in 2002, compared with 172,237 in 2001.

Furthermore, it is know that in certain cases that changes in working practices are introduced through informal agreements at the enterprise level, rather than through the conclusion of collective agreements, which by their nature have binding legal consequences on the contracting parties and on the employers’ side in particular. Thus many changes in work organisation lie outside the competence, procedures and control of collective bargaining, and as a result many aspects of reform of the model of work are part of companies’ 'invisible' internal operating environment. This development has been reinforced by the arrested development of the various forms of worker participation and trade union presence in Greece’s small and medium-sized enterprises and in broader categories of the private sector.

Consequently the content of collective bargaining in Greece remains devoted mainly to pay-related issues (setting minimum wage increases, or the periods of service used for calculating benefits and seniority benefits). In addition, despite some enrichment of the collective bargaining agenda in recent years with non-pay issues, it is worth noting that even the most advanced collective agreements, such as those in the banks and public utilities and services, are usually limited to providing additional work compensation or lengthening annual leave and selectively granting special allowances to various categories of workers (GR0209102N, GR0206102N, GR0107114N, GR9906135F and GR9906137N).

In contrast with the slight degree of change in work organisation owing to the existence of collective agreements, the role of the legislator is often of more importance in how this are evolves. As an indication, two cases where this has been borne out in practice are summarised below. In the first case, in its role of making sure that the existing institutional/regulatory framework is adhered to, the government prohibited the implementation of a system of subsidised short-time working in an industrial unit, and in the second the government acted as a catalyst in the creation of annualised hours schemes and in the development of a relevant collective bargaining procedure at the enterprise level.

Subsidised short-time working at VIS Containers

In early 1999, VIS Containers Manufacturing Company SA, situated in Volos, announced to its employees a decision to implement a 'rotating employment' scheme - a form of subsidised short-time working, which entails a temporary reduction in the working hours of employees as a result of economic necessity, though the contract of employment remains unchanged. The hours reduction may take the form of alternating periods of work - hours, days, weeks or months - and periods not worked (GR9903120N). The employees refused to accept the decision and called for industrial action. In a subsequent meeting between workers and management on the implementation of the scheme in the company’s cardboard-box factory, the employees demanded written answers to a range of economic questions, to enable them to form an opinion on whether there was sufficient reason to implement the scheme. For its part, the company announced its intention to go ahead with the work reorganisation, with or without the consent of the company union.

Following pressure from the unions, VIS management stated orally the reasons for the company’s decision to implement the subsidised short-time working scheme. It cited a 30% reduction in turnover and the need for similar reductions in pay and employment. After taking forward planning to introduce the scheme, management decided to lay off some and dismiss three of the company’s approximately 220 employees. In the end it was decided to retract the proposal to implement the scheme, because the legal procedures for its introduction had not been followed. Article 2, paragraph 2 of Law 2639/1998 specifically states that: 'In the event that its activities are restricted, an employer may impose a subsidised short-time working scheme in its company, only after prior consultation with the employees’ lawful representatives. The agreements or decisions provided for in this paragraph shall be announced within eight days from the time they were drawn up or received by the competent Labour Inspectorate.'

Agreements on varying working time

'Working time arrangements'- ie allowing daily or weekly working time to vary while maintaining an average over a reference period of up to a year - are a recent innovation in work and working time organisation in Greece; they were laid down for the first time in Law 1892 of 1990. The legislator’s obvious interest and efforts to generalise the implementation of the measure and bridge the gap between the opinions of the social partners on this issue resulted in further reform of the institutional framework on such working time arrangements, through Laws 2639/1998 (GR9807181F and GR9808185F) and 2874/2000 (GR0012192F and GR0104104N). Thus in the a decade variable working time arrangements were included in three legislative initiatives.

However, despite the urgings of the legislator, in practice only four enterprises have implemented variable working time arrangements through agreements and to date no agreements have been reached at sector level - the operation of such schemes thus remains at an experimental stage. The enterprises that have adopted schemes for calculating working time over longer periods are found in the agricultural processing and packaging industry, the paper industry and the textiles industry.

Although the relevant agreements do not expressly state the purpose of implementing this measure, it appears that the basic aim is to make enterprises more adaptable to seasonal fluctuations in demand for products by avoiding the use of overtime when demand is high, and preventing low productivity and low operational cost-effectiveness when demand is low. Moreover, the enterprises that have implemented the measure are found in three sectors of economic activity characterised by substantial seasonal variations in production activity. The implementation of variable working time arrangements has brought about a significant restructuring of working hours and has given these companies greater room for working time flexibility, as it has helped introduce new shiftworking schemes and extended daily operating hours. However, it is worth noting that often such agreements do not affect all staff but only special subcategories of employees, such as lorry drivers and forklift operators.

Assessment

What have been the results of collective agreements introducing work organisation changes? Drawing on assessments/evaluations made by researchers or the parties to agreements (employers, trade unions, works councils etc) or other sources, please provide information on issues such as the following:

• whether agreements have been successes or failures, and the reasons why in both cases;

• the impacts on flexibility and security (eg are there any successful examples of collective agreements addressing this issue as part of work organisation changes?);

• the impacts on productivity (has productivity been improved as a result of the work organisation changes introduced?); and

• the impacts on collective bargaining - are such deals broadly considered as concession bargaining, or as 'zero-sum' or 'positive-sum' situations? What are the implications for the structure, process or nature of collective bargaining (eg company versus sectoral? workplace representatives versus trade union? from “distributive” to “integrative” bargaining [with mutual gains for both sides]) and the role of management?

Where significant differences of interpretation exist in assessments on these questions - notably between the social partners - please report on the differing views.

So far, there are not enough data available to make any confident evaluations on what has in any case been a limited number of collective agreements aimed at changing the framework of work organisation. Moreover, such data are so fragmentary that they cannot be confirmed in order to draw overall conclusions. For example, one of the companies that introduced variable working time arrangements closed its Greek operations six months later and moved to Bulgaria, where labour costs are much lower. The lack of empirical research does not indicate whether the implementation of the scheme had a negative effect on the company’s cost-effectiveness, or whether ultimately the company relocated in pursuit of low labour costs.

Debate and prospects

What impact has the kind of agreement referred to above had in your country, and what impact might such agreements have in future? What is the current debate on the topic? Please provide an assessment of prospects for the future in terms of work organisation bargaining in your country (differentiating by sector, if relevant).

The traditional character of the organisation of production in the majority of Greek enterprises, partly as a result of their small size, the low presence of trade unions in the private sector and the practice of implementing work restructuring schemes by concluding informal agreements outside the collective bargaining system are all factors preventing the appearance of collective agreements on non-pay issues aimed at changing the work organisation model. In this way the effects of the obvious trends towards flexibilisation of employee relations and work restructuring that distinguish Greece are determined to a large degree by the internal balance of power at the workplace level. (Lefteris Kretsos, INE/GSEE-ADEDY)