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

Austria: First step towards open borders
 
Austria has now opened up part of its labour market to workers from all the new member states that joined the EU on May 1st 2004 (NMS).  

Austrian enterprises currently lack 50,000 qualified specialists and there is an especially critical shortage of skilled labour in the metal industry. For this reason, the Austrian government has agreed to a pilot project that will allow 800 engineering turners, drillers and welders from the NMS to take up employment for a period of 50 weeks. This is likely to be extendable for a second period, although no detailed regulations for this will be issued until next year. 

Jobs may only be filled on condition that no suitable worker can be found from the established EU member states. It is also necessary to guarantee that NMS workers enjoy the same conditions of employment (including wage rates) as equivalent Austrian workers.  

Finland: Novel pay agreement for 30,000 finance staff
 
Employers and trade unions in the Finnish financial sector have concluded a new-style collective agreement that incorporates a pay element based on performance appraisal.  

The four-year agreement will begin with a 3.6 percent across-the-board increase payable on June 1st 2007, plus a further 1 percent 'salary pot', which may be apportioned according to job performance and paid to staff on October 1st 2007. Next October, there will be a general increase of 3.3 percent, plus a 1.55 percent pot for individual reviews (which must be determined and paid at the same time as the general increase). Increases for 2009 and 2010 will be agreed by June 15th 2009.  

Trade unions will monitor the development of the new system and its outcomes. They will also be involved in the training of staff carrying out the performance reviews.

Germany: Metal industry pay norm breaker

A collective agreement covering metal industry companies in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg is worth more than twice the 2.5 percent offer tabled by metal industry employers during two rounds of negotiations across the country in recent months.  

The deal gives employees two unconsolidated payments of 400 euros in April and May 2007, a rise in basic rates of 4.1 percent from June 2007 and a further increase of 1.7 percent in June 2008 to cover just five months until the start of the next wage round.   Although the settlement has been heralded as being worth just 3.3 percent, this does not take into account the initial (albeit unconsolidated) payments and the compounding effects of the two increases. In fact, the total transaction will cost metal industry employers an average of 5.3 percent during the full 19-month period - much closer to the 6.5 percent claim made by the trade union IG-Metall at the start of wage negotiations.  

Metal industry employers and the IG Metall trade union in several German regions have already accepted the same 19-month wage deal as that concluded in Baden-Wuerttemberg. The regions include Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Northrhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein.  

United Kingdom: Employers to screen all new hires
 
A UK Home Office consultation paper has been published, setting out proposals for new recruitment procedures and imposing tough penalties for non-compliance. If the proposals become law, all UK employers will be required from next year to check the birth certificate and/or passport of all new hires, even if they claim to be UK nationals. If a successful job applicant is from outside the EU/EEA permit-free zone, employers will (as at present) be required to ensure they possess the correct endorsements in their passport. Failure to apply uniform hiring procedures could result in prosecution for discrimination on racial, ethnic or nationality grounds.  

The new workplace regime will be policed by 1,200 compliance officers and penalties for employing an illegal immigrant without carrying out the appropriate checks on their status will be up to BPS 7,500 (10,945 euros) per worker for a first offence and BPS 10,000 (14,591 euros) per worker for subsequent offences. It will be a defence for employers to produce copies of identity documents and permits, even if the original documents prove to be false.

Other European news in brief

Belgium:
The Belgian government has announced a new tax incentive for companies to help cut CO2 emissions from company cars. The maximum company car costs that may be offset against corporation tax have been increased from 75 percent to 90 percent, but only for cars with low CO2 emissions. The offset for high-polluting vehicles has been reduced to 60 percent, so that it will now cost companies far more to keep such vehicles within their fleet range.

Cyprus/ Malta:

The European Commission has concluded that both Cyprus and Malta have met the economic requirements for them to be admitted to the eurozone. The Commission has therefore proposed to the Council that both countries adopt the euro on 1 January 2008. The final decision will be taken by EU finance ministers in July 2007.

France:

The smoking ban appears to have caused few problems in French workplaces. Between 1 February 2007, when the ban took effect, and 15 March 2007, the labour inspectorate visited 4,073 workplaces and found just 34 instances of infringement. Fines were levied in just two cases.

Luxembourg:

Employers in Luxembourg no longer need to obtain prior authorisation from the Labour and Employment Ministry before they can implement overtime working. All they need to do is obtain consent from employee representatives (or in their absence individual employees) and submit a notification to the Labour and Mines Inspectorate on the day prior to the overtime being worked. If consent has been obtained, it will automatically be deemed to be authorised.

Norway:

According to SSB, the Norwegian state statistical service, the number of people in the age group 67 to 74 who wish to remain in employment has increased from 6.9 percent to 10.9 percent over the last year.

Romania:

An increasing number of foreign financial companies are lining up to take advantage of Romania's new compulsory second- pillar pensions system. The second pillar will consist of a privately-managed personal savings account that will be mandatory for all workers under the age of 35 and optional for all those under the age of 45. The initial contribution rate will be 2 percent of earnings, but this will rise progressively during an eight-year. transitional period to 6 percent. Romanian workers subject to the new pensions will have just four months to sign up to a scheme when the law comes into force on 1 January 2008.

Copyright: FedEE Services Ltd.

Source: The Federation of European Employers (FedEE) http://www.fedee.com
[Copyright: FedEE Services 2007]