The latest human resources management news roundup from across Europe from the Federation of European Employers (FedEE).

International: Talks on global union merger

Two of the UK's largest trade unions, Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union (T&GWU), are moving ahead with plans to achieve a merger by May 2007. Meanwhile, talks continue between these two UK unions, Germany's IG Metall, the US Steel Workers union, the North American service employees' union (SEIU) and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers about the formation of a new transnational 'super union'.

Although the unions have agreed to share intelligence about developments in multinational companies and to support each others' collective disputes, it would appear that they are still at least ten years away from a full merger of their operations.

 Belgium: Collective agreement on workplace theft

Employers and trade union representatives on the Belgian National Council of Work (CNT) have concluded collective agreement number 89 on the prevention of company theft and the conduct of checks carried out by security personnel when employees leave their place of work.

The agreement guarantees the right of each employee to respect for their private life and requires employers to apply the principles of 'finality, proportionality and transparency' to any search procedures that are established. Employers must consult with employee representatives on such procedures, and individuals may only be searched with their consent and where there are valid grounds for suspicion.

Italy: Social security reforms

The Italian labour minister, Cesare Damiano, will shortly publish two inter-ministerial decrees to form the legal framework for additional social security schemes in the private sector. These will cover all workers except those on contracts lasting less than 3 months, self-employed workers and certain part-time workers.

These latest reforms arise mainly from concerns about pension coverage for atypical workers on fixed-term and other forms of temporary contract. Although the Dini and Biagi reforms of 1996 and 2003 both increased the contribution levels of atypical workers to the Italian social security system, the pensions of such workers are only expected to average about 30% of their final salaries.

UK: Statutory guidance ignores EU expansion

The UK Home Office has not updated its guidance on the employment of workers from the new EU member states, creating a situation where employers could find themselves unwittingly ignoring recent statutory requirements. The current guidance, which contains a defence referenced by section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, fails to take account of the worker's registration scheme for eight of the ten countries that joined the EU in May 2004, or of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU in January 2007. It is therefore still a defence under the Act for employers simply to ensure that a prospective worker possesses:

'a passport or national identity card, issued by a State which is a party to the European Economic Area Agreement or any other agreement forming part of the Communities Treaties which confers rights of entry to or residence in the United Kingdom, which describes the holder as a national of a State which is a party to that Agreement.'

The Home Office has confirmed to FedEE that its official guidance has not been updated to take into account recent EU expansion and that the statutory defence provided remains in force. However, it has pointed out that its on-line guidance for prospective employees includes (albeit confusing) information on the worker registration scheme and work permit rules for Bulgarian and Romanian nationals.

Other European news in brief

Austria: Employees in Austria are overpaying more than EUR 200m in tax each year because they are failing to submit regular tax assessment forms. Although the average annual repayment from the tax office is only EUR 220 euros, employees may submit their assessment forms in retrospect for the last five years.

Bulgaria
A recent arrest of several education ministry officials in Bulgaria has brought to light the widescale forgery of academic documents during the period from 2004-2006. The initial alarm about counterfeit degrees and diplomas came from the Greek education ministry, which had traced the documents to Albania, Bulgaria and Romania. The Bulgarian documents included degrees in economics, law, engineering and physics. These were purchased for around EUR 2,000 and used mainly to secure jobs in other European countries.

Germany
A spokesperson for Deutsche Post World Net AG has confirmed that the company has invited trade union Ver.di and other interested parties to talk about the foundation of an employers' federation to implement national wage agreements in the postal delivery sector.

Hungary
Employers in Hungary may no longer ask employees to carry over part of their vacation entitlement until June 30th or 31 December of the following year. The Constitutional Court has amended the Labour Code by ruling that all vacation entitlement must be taken in the year during which it is earned. As a transitional measure, vacation still outstanding from 2006 may still be carried forward, but only until 31 March 2007 (decision 74/2006).

Netherlands
Board members of Bourse-listed companies in the Netherlands earned 209 million euros in share options and share bonus payments during 2006, up from EUR 96 million in 2005. They also cashed in share options to the average value of EUR 543,000 per person last year.

Romania
Romanian companies with 20 or more employees must now comply with the new general framework law on employee reporting and consulting (467/2006). The law defines the terms 'reporting' and 'consulting', and specifies how both processes will be carried out. Employers will not be obliged to communicate information that might cause damage to their business, but employee representatives have the right to challenge such decisions before a court.

16 February 2007

Source: The Federation of European Employers (FedEE) http://www.fedee.com

[Copyright: FedEE Services 2007]