The latest on reform of coordination of social security systems, the EU directives linked to the European Pillar of Social Rights and the EU social partners 2019–2021 work programme are the main topics of interest in this article. This update reports on the latest developments in working life in the European Union in the first quarter of 2019.
Presented in December 2016, the European Commission’s proposal on the revision of the regulations on the coordination of social security systems (which would amend Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 and Regulation (EC) No 987/2009) [1] finally entered the trilogue procedure on 15 January 2019. This was made possible by the fact that the European Parliament agreed on its negotiating mandate in November 2018 (the Council had previously done so in July 2018). The negotiations concluded on 19 March 2019 and the following key points were agreed. [2]
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), representing social partners, reported that the trilogue meeting was heading in a positive direction. According to the confederation, the agreed deal improves and clarifies the rules for mobile and posted workers. In addition, there are some improvements for working people in terms of the portability of unemployment and family benefits.
There was no reaction from European employer organisations to the developments. However, in 2017, BusinessEurope stated that while some of changes proposed by the Commission went in the right direction, it was concerned that some of the proposals on unemployment benefits and the posting of workers would not meet the expected aims. [3] On 29 March, at a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (COREPER), the revision of the regulations did not obtain a qualified majority. An unusual coalition of old and new Member States was formed (against: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden; abstaining: Hungary, Malta and Poland), which blocked the trilogue agreement for various reasons. This means that the future of the reform is unclear.
There are currently proposals for two EU directives linked to the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights: one on predictable and transparent working conditions, and one on work–life balance.
On 7 February 2019, the Commission, European Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement on the Commission's proposal concerning the first topic. The next step is for it to be formally adopted by both the Parliament and the Council. The new directive will extend the current worker rights to people employed in non-standard forms of employment that are not full-time and open-ended. The directive will also lighten the administrative burden on employers by giving them the opportunity to provide the requested information electronically. More specifically, the worker rights that are covered include the following.
According to Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, up to three million people active in new forms of work (such as workers on zero-hours contracts and domestic workers) will be covered by the new directive.
With regard to the proposal on the work–life balance directive, the Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Parliament reached a provisional agreement on 24 January 2019. The new directive will provide the following rights.
The ETUC welcomed the agreement,[4] while there was no official response from employer organisations. It should be noted that the directive received support from AGE Platform Europe (a European network of non-profit organisations for people aged 50+), which called for it to be swiftly incorporated into national laws and practices. [5]
On 6 February, the European cross-industry social partners (ETUC, BusinessEurope, the European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public Services and Services of general interest (CEEP) and SMEunited) signed a joint work programme for 2019–2021.
Negotiations started in May 2018. The main element of controversy was whether a declaration to negotiate a European framework agreement related to the impact of broadly defined digitalisation on the working environment would be included in the text (in accordance with the demands of the trade unions). In the end, the document was accepted by the employer organisations. The programme addresses six priorities:
On 20 March, the spring Tripartite Social Summit took place. The main theme was ‘For a stronger, united and forward-looking Europe’. Discussions focused on three areas:
One of the focal points for discussion between EU leaders and social partners was how to benefit more effectively from the free movement of workers in order to achieve well-functioning labour markets. Recent steps in that direction include: