News

UNI Europa hosts European conference for the security print sector
Over 80 delegates from 14 countries participated in a 3 day conference for the security printing sector organised by UNI Europa Graphical & Packaging and UNI Europa Finance. David Tarren presented his latest study on the trends in the sector and in the terms and conditions of the workforce. Click here for further information.

EWC Project reaches its conclusion
The European-wide REDITER project, in which ADAPT participated, which supported EWC representatives to understand the legal changes brought about by the EWC Recast Directive has been a huge success. In total over 160 delegates from across Europe attended the National Seminars, including the UK Seminar held in Eastbourne in November 2010. Click here for more information.

New report from the IPPR offers ideas for UK labour market reform
The labour market has changed dramatically since the 1980s. A more flexible labour market, with high numbers of part-time and temporary jobs, has made entry into work easier. But is there a price for this flexibility? With the emergence of a large pool of skilled and disposable labour, incentives for employers to invest in staff training and retention have been reduced. Six million people, or one in four of the UK's working-age population, are in low-paid jobs, and policymakers have become increasingly concerned by the high proportion of people cycling between low-paid jobs and unemployment. These concerns add pressure to a government already focused on reducing unemployment and tackling the deficit.

The polarisation of the UK economy, which has seen the loss of thousands of skilled and semi-skilled jobs, has been most pronounced in London. The result is intense competition at the lower end of the labour market, as large numbers of people with low and intermediate skills compete for entry-level jobs. When competition is high, and recruitment is relatively easy, employers have few incentives to address turnover by improving wages or working conditions. The extremely high cost of housing, transport and childcare in London relative to earnings can make it more difficult for Londoners (particularly parents) to move off benefits, accept offers of part-time work or travel to take up better jobs. As a result, many people are simply shifting between different low-paid and insecure jobs, with some squeezed or priced out of the labour market altogether.

The impact of labour market reforms present real trade-offs, but increased job security need not be at the expense of flexibility. The government has policy choices, not just about whether and how to address job insecurity but also about how it supports people to cope when they lose a job and to find work. Yet the government's employment and skills programmes have had limited impact, inadequately supporting people at the bottom of the labour market to manage change. We argue that this is the result both of specific failures in delivery and implementation, and of a more fundamental failure to grapple with wider problems in the labour market. The report can be accessed here.
UK Government's commitment to labour market deregulation

Despite a declaration that he is "not a deeply ideological person", in an interview with the Guardian newspaper in 2005, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has finally shown the true nature of his modern Conservative Party. One of the key proposals contained in the Government's consultation document, ‘Resolving workplace disputes', is an increase in the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims from 1 to 2 years.

If it becomes law, the proposal will take employment rights back 15 years to when the qualifying period was increased from 6 months to two years by the last Conservative government, through the Employment Rights Act 1996, which was subsequently reduced to 1 year by the Labour Government in 1999.

According to the Sarah Veale, Head of Equality and Employment Rights at the TUC, nearly three million workers have been with their current employer for less than two years suggesting that the proposals, if they become law, will reduce the rights of a large group of workers. The Government claims that "Business have told us of their concerns that the existing legislation is too weighted against employers when it comes to the decision to take on people". With employment protection in the UK quite possibly the weakest in Europe, this is clearly an ideological position. However if the Government actually believes that businesses are in a position of weakness when recruiting staff, its suggestion that, in the face of growing Tribunal claims, "the change will reduce the number of claims to an employment tribunal by between 3,700 to 4,700 a year", clearly demonstrates that a big reason for this change is not to reduce conflict at work but to reduce access to justice.

So the proposals appear to be simply a continuation of the Conservative's policy of labour market deregulation in which the short-term interests of business trump the long term interests of society.

Employment outlook According to the European Commission, and despite uneven developments throughout Europe, unemployment across EU27 decreased in January by 0.1%, following 11 months at its peak crisis level. Employment among men has increased but there are now more unemployed women than there was a year ago. Across the EU youth unemployment remains stubbornly high at 20.6% and overall economic conditions are to remain weak for some time. There is evidence of reduced restructuring activity among EU firms in February though job losses are persistent, with the UK seeing the largest losses (13,181 jobs), followed by Poland (1,475 jobs), Italy (1,038 jobs) and France (959 jobs).

European Working Conditions Survey Eurofound has published the initial findings from its 5th European working conditions survey. The research, conducted every 5 years, examined employment and working conditions across EU27 member states plus Turkey, Croatia, Norway, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo. So far the initial analysis has revealed that in relation to previous years:

• on average, working time is falling but working at high speeds remains a job requirement in a large number jobs

• the extent to which workers can make their own decisions about how they do their job has not changed but workers in the EU27 remain as exposed to physical hazards as EU12 workers were 20 years ago

• training paid for by employers was at its highest level since 1995, yet one in ten workers paid for their own job training in 2010, an increase of 50% over the past 5 years.
The 2010 results are available on the Eurofound website and the accompanying survey mapping tool allows viewers to tailor findings, for example by country, occupation, gender and age group.

Developments in sectoral industrial relations in the EU The European Commission has just published a report into the characteristics of national and sectoral bargaining. The report's findings suggest that while industrial relations vary from country to country, the variations are more significant between sectors across Europe. The report's authors also suggest that despite the relatively recent emergence of sectoral level studies, social dialogue here is set to become the more significant in the coming years.

Industrial Relations in Europe 2010 Each year the Commission publishes an overview of industrial relations across Europe. The crisis exerted huge pressure upon national industrial relations systems and provoked a variety of responses from governments, trade unions and employers. This 2010 update examines the trends and developments in the relationships between workers, employers, their respective representatives and public authorities during 2008-10. Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in EU employment affairs.

Anticipedia This, relatively new innovation, was introduced by the European Commission to generate discussion among those interested in restructuring. The Anticipedia site is a web based tool for the collection, exchange and dissemination of information on economic change and is an ideal place to discuss the dynamics of restructuring in order to improve our understanding of change at work. You'll need to sign up to use the site but you'll find it pretty straight forward to use. Even if you don't register, it is worth keeping an eye out for new research on the developments across Europe.

Mango staff to get John Lewis style scheme (source: Guardian newspaper) Mango, the Spanish retailer of women's clothes, looks set to offer its workforce a John Lewis-style profit sharing scheme in a year or two. The UK firm John Lewis is owned by a trust and operates an employee-owned partnership through which the workforce receives a share of the company's annual profits. The introduction of the new scheme is said to have been prompted by the firm's expansion into Russia and China and concerns by the General Manager that as a result, staff could "start to feel just like a number and become detached and unhappy".

Stress is growing cause of sickness absence (Source: UK CIPD) Stress is the most common cause of long term absence according to research published recently. 35% of employers said that stress has been the most common cause of long term absence in the last 12 months. The survey, by CIPD and Simply Health, also revealed higher levels of stress related sickness absence in the public sector compared to the other sectors. 73% of manual and 79% of non-manual public sector employers rated stress as a top-five common cause of absence. This compares to an average across all sectors of 51% and 63% respectively.

Can the UK lead the world in Manu-Services ? A new report by Andrew Sissons, for the Work Foundation, examines the future role of British manufacturing and suggests that the industry has "moved beyond simply making things" and that "it is now a complex industry that engages with customers and other businesses in a range of ways." Sisson argues that there has been a rise in what he terms ‘manu-services', through which companies "combine goods and services into packages", and that the UK can become a leader in this area. Sisson's then provides a policy framework to support this growth area.