During April-June 2017, social partners had the occasion to express their views on both topics. Now, the second stage consultation on the modernisation of labour contract rules has started, and the one on access to social protection will follow soon. This second stage consultation builds upon the outcome of the first phase discussions.

In April 2017, the Commission presented the European Pillar of Social Rights in two legal forms: Commission’s Recommendation and as a proposal for a joint proclamation by the Parliament, the Council and the Commission.

The final version of the European Pillar of Social Rights (it consists of 20 principles and rights) is aimed at achieving agreement concerning better working and living conditions across the EU. In order to deliver on the Pillar’s circumstances, Commission also presented a legislative proposal to improve work-life balance of working parents and dependants as well as launching a first stage of two social partner consultations: one to modernise the rules on labour contracts, and another one on access to social protection for all.

Present Commission made a “more social Europe” as one of its priorities from the very beginning; it was reflected in Political Guidelines of July 2014. In September 2015, in the first President Juncker's State of the Union, he underlined the need to step up work for a fair and truly pan-European labour market. As part of these efforts, the Commission wants to develop a European Pillar of Social Rights, which takes account of the changing European social realities.  

In the State of the Union address (September 2017), the President confirmed the Commission’s commitment to move forward with the Pillar as an essential means to create a deeper, fairer and more social internal market. Thus he underlined that in order to avoid social fragmentation and social dumping in Europe, the member states should agree on the European Pillar of Social Rights as soon as possible (as the latest at the Gothenburg summit in November 2017).

However, national social systems will remain diverse and separate for a long time; but the new “European Social Standards Union” will make a common understanding of what is socially fair.

Vice-President responsible for the Euro, Social Dialogue, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, Valdis Dombrovskis underlined in Brussels (25 September 2017) that the role of social partners has been central in the process to adopt the European Pillar of Social Rights. It is particularly important, he stressed, to address challenges related to new forms of employment and provides adequate working conditions in so-called atypical forms of employments. Clear rules and common fair employment standards can ultimately protect companies that provide workers with adequate information on their working conditions. He added that the Commission’s proposal is aimed at balancing essential protection for workers with companies’ scope for job creation and labour market innovation.

Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen, added that workers in the EU have the right to be informed in writing at the start of employment about their rights and obligations. But millions of Europeans working in non-standard contracts are uncertain about their rights. The Commission’s idea is to cover all workers in the EU states by these basic rules, independent of their employment status and regardless of whether they are ICT workers or delivery people. Ensuring fairer and more predictable employment contracts is a basis for fair working conditions among the EU states.

The Commission wants to broaden the scope of the current Directive on employment contracts (the so-called Written Statement Directive, see below), extending it to new forms of employment, such as on-demand workers, voucher-based workers and platform workers, so that no one is left behind. The current rules should also be modernised, taking account of developments on the labour market in the past decades. By improving the timeliness and information that is given at the start of an employment contract, workers will be better aware of their rights, and therefore more able to enforce these rights. For employers, bringing the rules up to date will bring more legal clarity and certainty and will avoid unfair competition.

Social partners will be able to share their views on the envisaged updates of EU legislation on employment contracts until 3 November 2017. The Commission aims to present a legislative proposal before the end of the year. The Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden, on 17 November 2017. https://www.socialsummit17.se/

“Written Statement Directive” and labour contracts’ modernisation

The Written Statement Directive exists since 1991 and gives employees starting a new job the right to be notified in writing of the essential aspects of their employment relationship. The aim of this Directive is to make sure workers are aware of their rights. The world of work has been changing rapidly and new forms of work have emerged. As a consequence, the current Directive no longer covers all types of employment relationships. Under the framework of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Commission therefore launched a social partner consultation to revise the Directive, so that it would reflect labour market changes.

The Commission’s evaluation of the Directive has shown that many workers in the EU do not receive a written confirmation of their working conditions or do not receive all the information they need in a timely manner, including domestic workers and those who perform on-call work. Moreover, whatever the level of information provided to workers, some practices in some precarious labour relationships may be detrimental to workers, especially as regards casual work. According to a report by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), casual work (such as zero-hour contracts) raises particular concerns about working conditions and is characterised by low levels of job and income security.

Suggested changes to the Directive

Three areas for action are considered: first, the scope of the directive could be clarified, encompassing all workers, including those on short-term assignments or those having new and atypical employment relationships.

Second, the revision could reinforce the principle of written information about applicable working conditions and update the list of required elements, for instance with the working schedule, conditions of a probation period or overtime.

Third, beyond proper information in writing in a timely manner, the modernised rule could also establish some basics right such as the right to a degree of predictability of work for workers with very flexible contracts or the right to a maximum duration of a probation period.

Consulting social partners

According to the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (art. 154 TFEU), the Commission has the duty to consult European social partners prior to presenting any legislative proposal in the social field. The consultation must follow a compulsory two-stage procedure. In the first stage the Commission consults the social partners on the possible direction of an initiative. In the second stage, the focus is on the content of an initiative. This process gives the European social partners the possibility to be directly involved and influence the drafting of social proposals. Moreover, social partners may suspend the Commission initiative whilst deciding to enter into negotiations themselves. If this does not happen, the Commission can review the current Directive. The Commission intends to propose a revision of this directive by the end of the year.

The first stage consultation of social partners showed diverging views from workers and employers organisations. While the worker's organisations agreed with the need to enhance the effectiveness of the Written Statement Directive and the goal to improve the working conditions for vulnerable workers, a large majority of employers' organisations rejected those ideas. Therefore the social partners were not in a position to initiate formally the joint negotiation process provided for in art. 155 TFEU. However, they reserved the possibility to do so in the context of the second phase consultation.

Delivering on the European Pillar of Social Rights

On 26 April 2017, along the presentation of the European Pillar of Social Rights*), the Commission put forward a number of initiatives related to work-life balance, the information of workers, access to social protection and working time. They all aim at different aspects of the Pillar. The package includes in particular a legislative proposal for a Directive on Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers to give families real choices when the birth of a child or a close relative in need of care make more flexible working arrangements necessary. The proposed measures are intended in particular to increase possibilities for men to take up parental and caring responsibilities. This will benefit children and help increase women's participation in the labour market, thereby reducing the difference between men and women in employment which stood in 2015 still at 11.6%p and increases even to 30% when families have young children under the age of 6. This proposal is now under discussion in the European Parliament and Council.

*) The European Pillar of Social Rights sets out a number of key principles and rights to support fair and well-functioning labour markets and welfare systems. It serves to guide a process of convergence towards better working and living conditions among participating member states. It is primarily conceived for the euro area states, but is applicable to all EU countries wishing to participate. There are 3 main categories (and 20 principles) of the pillar: -equal opportunities and access to labour market; -fair working conditions, and -social protection and inclusion.

See: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/deeper-and-fairer-economic-and-monetary-union/european-pillar-social-rights_en

As regards the Written Statement Directive and access to social protection, the Commission launched consultations with social partners, while it provided legal guidance to the Working Time Directive in line with a growing body of case law. Also national reforms would be encouraged through policy guidance and coordination in the framework of the European Semester. This will be supported by the new social scoreboard put forward with the 26 April package. This monitoring tool will replace the current scoreboard of key employment and social indicators to better monitor societal progress at large.

Most of the tools to deliver on the Pillar are in the hands of local, regional and national authorities, as well as social partners, and civil society at large. The European Union – and the European Commission in particular – can help by acting in areas where it shares a competence, by setting the framework, giving the direction and establishing a level-playing field, in full respect of specific national situations and institutional set-ups.

Commission’s plan on access to social protection

When presenting the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Commission has launched a consultation of the Social Partners to collect their views on the possible direction of an EU action to ensure that people in all forms of employment have adequate access to social protection and employment services. The Commission will take the next step by launching a second stage consultation shortly this autumn.