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wortking directive

»EU parliament directive 48hr opt -out axed

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Welcome to le site de la FICT/ Welcome on the site of FICT

Editorial of the FICT General Secretary
Michel yard expresses his vision of the challenges the FICT has to face for her next Executive Board meeting in Kopenhagen on 25th September

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CEC Triennial Congress 2009
European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium: your representatives were there
- 4 June: Public Conference, at the Forum on Innovation, on the theme "The Role of Social Partners to Stimulate Creativity and Innovation – An answer to the economical crisis"
an innovative answer to the crisis requires qualitative changes in management
- 4-5 June2009 : statutory meetings -¨European Parliament & European Economic and Social Committee"

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The european social dialogue was an opportunity for interesting debates!
The FICT has been actively participating on behalf of CEC.
to understand essentials in European social dialogue
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EU Parliament working directive 48hr opt-out axed

Strike a blow for Social Europe! was the rallying call, and an absolute majority in the European Parliament backed it, in a vote updating the working time directive.

The parliament voted to scrap Britain and 14 other countries’ right to let employees work a longer-than-48-hour-maximum week if they want to.

Next come conciliation talks between parliament and EU governments.

But, failing agreement, the existing law stands.

The official steering the legislation through parliament, Spanish socialist Alejandro Cercas, said: “Let’s bring about a real reconciliation of family and social life, in a social Europe.”

This would see Britain’s exemption from the 48-hour rule end in three years. British Labour MEP Stephen Hughes and a few like-minded UK socialists also voted, at odds with their
government, to scrap the opt-outs.

“What we will get into, I’m sure, is a debate of how long the phase-out period should be, and what sort of transition period before the opt-out ends, and quite frankly I’ve said to British ministers and other ministers that I’m not really bothered… I don’t care whether it’s 6,7,8 years, as long as in principle we know that the opt-out will end.”

Parliament also voted to count all hours on call — for example, for hospital doctors — as working
time. Hospitals are being sued for not complying with European court rulings on this.

Philippe de Buck of the employers’ group BusinessEurope said:

“Clearing up the on-call problem was what started the whole revision of this directive. Then the European Commission wanted to go over more content and now it’s up against it, because a new Commission coming in next year will have to take the problem up again from the starting point.”

Labour unions have said that allowing people to work more than 48 hours would put pressure on them to do so and raise the risk of accidents

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The Obligations of Public Services...

The European Commission has reflation the process of adoption of a new European regulation concerning the public services of passenger transportations by rail and by road...

Since 2001, this proposition is in wait of the first reading of the council.

The European Commission relaunched the process of adoption of a new European regulation concerning the Public Services of passenger transportations by rail and by road as a replacement regulations 1191/69 EEC and 1893/91/ EEC.

The Austrian presidency in exercise for 6 months to come, seems inclined to seize the council this new simplified proposition which takes into account at the same moment debates intervened on the occasion of the White Book of the Commission on the Interest General Services (IGS) and the educations of the jurisprudence called " Altmark ".

This new grinding takes into account also propositions expressed in the European Parliament and in the council.

With regard to the precedent, this regulation is widely simplified considering the projects of 2000 and 2002. It leaves a wide place with the subsidiarity.

The contents of the new proposition articulate around:

-The obligation of contracts for Public service

-The allocation of contracts

-The period of transition for the allocation of contracts

-The compensation of Public Obligation Services ( POS)

In a first analysis we can recognize points positive as:

-The recognition of the POS and the legitimacy of their financial compensation

-The assertion of the necessity of monopolies

-Importance given to the obligation of the contracts for public service

-The recognition of the integration of networks (no distinction Rail - road for exceptions, recognition of the multimodal contracts)

-The assertion of the (Public / private) principle of neutrality

The FICT welcomes with interest the reflation of the process which puts the bases of a regulated competition. So the not fixation of list of criteria of selection which proper authorities have to observe during the allocation of P.S's contracts, as well as renunciation to be promulgated, for the sector of the ground public transports, the specific rules in subcontracting or in abuse of dominant position can be only more relevant.

The Commission chose in its new proposition also in wisdom not to intervene in the definition of the adequate qualitative level of the public transports, or the information of the travelers, criteria which will be elaborated with the OA.

On the other hand, the FICT wishes an evolution of the clause of 50 % for the stake in correspondence of the allocation of contracts (in value) by an OA shape to the regulation in 4 years (bus) or 5 years (rail) because, there is a risk of explode of contracts unfavourable to the integration of networks.

THE UITP EUROTEAM organizes a conference on this subject on February 21, 2006 in Brussels.

http://www.uitp.com/eupolicy/events.cfm

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Agreement on the stress...

The social partners (CES, UNICE, CEEP, Committee of liaison EUROCADRES / CEC)...

A negotiation among social partners (UNICE, UEAPME and CEEP for the employers, CES, CEC and EUROCADRES for the employees) undertook on September 14, 2003 and ended on May 27, 2004. The delegation of the employees represents the 25 member countries of the Union more the countries of the AELE as well as the European executives.

The strong points of this agreement:

-The stress is a question which affects as much the company as the employees and the quite complete company; to fight against the stress is so useful of some point of view that one takes place

-The stress in the work in the sense of the agreement is the one that affects collectively individuals; it does not concern the cases of violence and harassing which will be the object of a following separate treatment

-The stress in the work can be caused by the contents, the organization, the environment of the work as well as by an incapacity of communication

-Examples of signs identifying the appearance of the stress are given such as the increase of the absenteeism, the turn-over of the employees, the degradation of relations among the individuals, the complaints of the employees, ....

-The responsibility of the fight against the stress falls to the employer who has to give himself the same obligations as those resultant of the directive suit of 1989 on the health and the safety in the work

-Measures to prevent the stress or to fight against can be collective, individual or the two; their elaboration can necessity the external contribution of expertise in the company; their application has to imply the employees and their representatives

-Among the examples of measures we obtained to quote the clarification of the objectives of the company, the support for the management and the forming of the executives and the employees in the question of the stress and to avoid it, information and consultation of the employees and their representatives

-The application of the agreement is of the responsibility of organizations members of the European social partners who are engaged by the agreement; application has to intervene in 3 years and an annual review will be presented in front of the committee of the social dialogue (social partners more Commission) from the signature of the agreement; the balance will be pulled 4-th year

The application of this agreement does not establish a valid ground to reduce general level of protection granted to the employees in the field of this agreement.

This agreement does not carry damage in the right of the social partners to end, at suited level, including at European level, adapting andor completing agreements the present agreement in a way which takes into account specific necessities of the concerned social partners.

For the CEC, this result is important because it recognizes the role of the executives and the dimension of the stress bound to the opaqueness of strategies when they are dictated only by financial reasons and can not be communicated to the employees. The executives are it then at the same moment the victims, they are under the stress, and at the same time they can relieve this stress on their co-workers.

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European Work Council...

The European Commission decided to consult the social partners on best way of which EWC, created by a directive about ten years ago can resolve problems inherent to an economic and social environment in transfer...

The European Work Councils, it is not less than 650 companies or group which subscribed to agreements on EWC: it concerns about 11 million employees and, more directly, 10 000 of their representatives.

Directive 94/45/CE concerning the institution of an European Work Councils or a procedure in the companies of community dimension and the groups of companies of community dimension to inform and to consult the employees was adopted by the council on September 22, 1994. The council adopted on December 15, 1997 directive 97/74/CE which spreads in United Kingdom the application of the directive 94/45/ CE.

The Commission has, by virtue of the article 15 of the directive of 1994, to revise, in consultation with States members and the social partners at European level, modalities of application of the aforementioned directive to propose to the council possible necessary modifications. In April, 2000, the Commission presented to the European Parliament and to the council a report on the state of legal and practical application of the directive.

In September, 2001, the European Parliament adopted a resolution relative to the report of the Commission. While recognizing the positive impact of the directive, resolution underlines certain number of deficiencies and invites the Commission to present a proposition of revision of the directive to remedy it. The text puts particularly in light challenges put by industrial reorganizations and underlines the positive contribution which the participation of the employees, through the European Work Council, can bring to facilitate the process of adaptation.

More recently, in September, 2003, the European Economic and Social Committee
( EESC ) adopted a preparatory opinion concerning directive, at the request of the Commission. This opinion wants above all an informative corpus having for object to review the experience acquired further to the implemented of the directive. The interest lives{*lies*} notably in the fact that it leans, in this end, on a wide range of studies and analyses expressing the point of view of the employers and the employees.

A report, landscape modified since the last report of the Directive in 2000, and different incapacities were revealed in the functioning of the EWC. The role of the social dialogue widens and it's the same for the domain of competence of the EWC, which are interested more and more in sectors as health and safety, equality of opportunity, forming and mobility.

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Working Time directive...

The new editorial retained by the European Parliament gives a definition more precise and more limited by the executives leaders who could remain out of shot of the directive (art.17-1-a)...

According to the treaty (art 138), the Commission consulted the social partners on the possible modification of the directive. This consultation ended with a statement of the social partners at European level indicating that they could not engage of negotiations on this question.
From then on, the Commission presented a modification of the directive 2003/88/CE which will follow the normal programme of the procedure of codecision.
During the first reading were also noted specific capacities for flexible, executive of working time according to necessities. This new editorial staff by the European Parliament gives a definition more precise and more limited by the executives leaders who could remain out of vision of the directive (art.17-1-a).
We can notice also a consideration of new professional realities: autonomy and responsibility more and more required do not have to be translated, as allowed it the former text by the exclusion from an increasing number of executives and from the other employees of the field of the directive.

The FICT totally supports proposition and action of its European Confederation (CEC) for a modification of the derogatory regime in the time of work which should be reserved only for the top managers, better to protect health, safety as well as private and domestic life of the autonomous executives.

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium
Your representatives of the FICT have attended
- June 4th, public conference, Extraordinary Liaison Forum of European sectoral social dialogue on the theme: “The Role of Social Partners to Stimulate Creativity and Innovation – An Answer to the Economic Crisis”
An innovative answer to the crisis requires qualitative changes in management

- June 4-5th : statutory meetings: Thursday and Friday 4-5 June 2009 - European Parliament & European Economic and Social Committee

The 5 last news

News 2009 - by FICT 10/09/2009 @ 23:20

25/09/09 - The Executive Board of the FICT will hold its next session in Copenhagen, Dänemark

10/09/09 - A significant evolution of our website with the implementation of a photos gallery
first pictures show the presence of FICT at the Innovation Forum at Brussels, 04/06/09

04 et 05/06/09 - The FICT has taken part to the triannual CEC Congress 2009 at the European Parliament in Brussels involving itself in the Innovation Forum and in the statutary meetings that have been held

27/04/09 - The FICT has taken part within its membership to CEC, to the European Social Forum which has been held at the European Parliament of Brussels

^... / ... Read more...