Surveys
Germany: Trade union institute highlights danger of German export bias
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 15/01/2009
Germany's success in holding down labour-cost growth in recent years has boosted export competitiveness, but raised the risks of an increased exposure to fluctuations in world trade, according to a November 2008 analysis of labour costs by a trade union-linked research institute.
International: Call centre employment and HR practices examined
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 12/07/2007
Research published in May 2007 analyses employment and HR management in call centres in 17 countries worldwide. It finds that the widespread view of call centres as “electronic sweatshops” with low pay, poor quality of work and little collective representation of workers is not true in all countries and types of call centre.
Sweden: Three-year pay deal signed in local government
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 12/07/2007
On 25 May 2007, the Municipal Workers’ Union (Kommunal) and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKL) signed a three-year collective agreement covering some 415,000 blue-collar local government workers.
Sweden: Deal follows brief strike in construction sector
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 06/06/2007
On 24 April 2007, the Building Workers’ Union (Byggnads) and the Swedish Construction Federation (Sveriges Byggindustrier, BI) signed a three-year collective agreement for 70,000 workers in the construction sector. The deal followed a two-day strike involving 500 workers at PEAB, a major building company, which mediation had been unable to prevent.
Sweden: High pay increases are agreed in hotels and restaurants
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 06/06/2007
On 4 May 2007, the bargaining parties in the hotels and restaurants sector accepted a mediator’s proposal for a three-year collective agreement. The deal gives workers total pay increases of 12%–13%, well above the 10.2% norm in this year’s agreements in manufacturing industry.
Sweden: Bargaining in manufacturing approaches completion
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 09/05/2007
The 2007 bargaining round in manufacturing industry has progressed rapidly after three-year agreements were concluded in metalworking in mid-March, providing for a total average pay increase of 10.2%.
Sweden: Agreement reached in wholesale and retail
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 09/05/2007
With the 2007 bargaining round in manufacturing industry mostly completed, on 29 March the first major collective agreement was signed in private sector services, providing 120,000 workers in wholesale and retail with a pay increase of 13.6% over three years.
Sweden: Union membership falls
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 11/04/2007
Recently released figures indicate that overall trade union membership fell in 2006, despite the fact that employment is increasing.
Sweden: Few strikes in 2006
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 01/03/2007
According to figures recently issued by the National Mediation Office, 1,971 working days were lost due to industrial action in 2006.
Sweden: Industry bargaining under way
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 01/02/2007
January saw the formal opening shots in the 2007 bargaining round. This should see the renewal of around 500 national sectoral agreements concluded for three-year terms in 2004, which will expire in March 2007.
Commitment matters
Source: IRS Employment Review
Date: 01/12/2006
British employees are more likely to be disaffected with their work life than their counterparts in mainland Europe, according to a study by research and consultancy business ISR.
UK workplace discrimination relatively low
Source: Equal Opportunities Review
Date: 01/12/2006
Levels of workplace discrimination in the UK are low by global standards, according to a major survey - the Kelly Global Workforce Index.
European Union: Flexicurity in the spotlight
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/12/2006
With "flexicurity" - a balance between flexibility and security on the labour market - high on the EU agenda at present, the European Commission has recently published research examining the extent to which flexicurity currently exists in the member states.
Employee engagement is "low" in the UK
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/12/2006
A recent survey carried out by the global research and consultancy firm, ISR, indicates that more employees in the UK are thinking about leaving their jobs than in other major European economies.
TUC calls for flexible hours for over-50s
Source: Personnel Today
Date: 28/11/2006
The TUC is calling on the government to extend flexible working rights to the over-50s after new figures revealed more than one-third of UK workers believe they will be unable to do their job at 60 years old.
European Union: Employing an ageing workforce
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/11/2006
Increasing the employment of "older workers" has been a focus of European Union policy for many years. A new study examines national policies and looks at company practice on this issue across Europe in a series of case studies.
European Company Statute state of play
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/11/2006
The European Company Statute and its employee involvement Directive came into force in October 2004. Two years on, we review progress in national implementation and in the establishment of European Companies.
European Union: Collective bargaining trends in Europe
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/08/2006
The European Trade Union Confederation recently published the results of its mid-year survey of collective bargaining trends in Europe. Its main findings are that the pay moderation that has characterised the EU15 member states is set to continue and that annual working time is increasing in some countries.
Case studies
International: DNV sets up global employee forum
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 15/10/2009
DNV, a risk-management services multinational based in Norway, has set up a global employee information and consultation forum. We look at the DNV case and at other companies that have established "world works councils".
International: Post-merger EWC agreed at GDF Suez
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 18/06/2009
An agreement signed in May 2009 to create a European Works Council (EWC) at GDF Suez, the newly merged energy multinational, has been hailed as a "benchmark" by trade unions, not least because it reflects some of the changes recently made to the EWCs Directive.
Outsourcing HR at Novo Nordisk
Source: IRS Employment Review
Date: 07/11/2003
We talk to a medical products manufacturer that has become one of the few employers in the UK to outsource its HR function - and has saved at least £300,000 a year in the process.
