1 / 23

Flexi-Security and the ETUC

Flexi-Security and the ETUC. UNI- Europa conference on Flexicurity, Copenhague, February 2008 Ronald Janssen, ETUC. Flexi-security:The ETUC’s starting point. Definition: Policies that at the same time and deliberately enhance both the flexibility of as well as security on labour markets.

gwyn
Download Presentation

Flexi-Security and the ETUC

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Flexi-Security and the ETUC UNI- Europa conference on Flexicurity, Copenhague, February 2008 Ronald Janssen, ETUC

  2. Flexi-security:The ETUC’s starting point • Definition: Policies that at the same time and deliberately enhance both the flexibility of as well as security on labour markets. • Philosophy: Thinking flexibility and security together: Business as well as labour are in need of security as well as flexibility

  3. Why Labour needs flexibility • Workers that are mobile and skilled have a better bargaining position • They will not accept the ‘blackmail’ to cut wages in order to subsidize jobs and firms that have failed to innovate • A job for life’ (if it exists) not always a perfect guarantee • Internal functional flexibility (with multi-skilling, rotating jobs, training) safeguards jobs through innovation • Flexibility and autonomy in working time

  4. Why Business profits from a secure work force • Stable jobs are good for productivity • A secure work force: open to innovation and change • A secure work force: willing to share its (tacit) knowledge (thé competitive advantage in today’s world!) • Workers will only be willing to move between jobs if the economy is built up of good and stable jobs offering secure work cntracts

  5. A stable workforce is a productive workforce

  6. Implementing flexi-security: ‘Easier said than done’ • What all too often happens is ‘flexi-security’ being hijacked by one particular interest • Resulting in a ‘polluted’ debate, in ‘unbalanced’ policies, in ‘winner takes it all’ strategy

  7. Where’s the balance in the following policy proposal? • Reduce level of job protection and make it easy and cheap for business to fire workers • Benefits harm incentives to take up a job, so they need to be ‘adequate’,(not generous) and ‘modern’ (‘workfare’ and in-work benefits). • Lifelong learning: Employers already pay much, time for workers to invest their time • Easy firing of workers will create new jobs, so no need for accompanying job and growth friendly economic policies

  8. In other words… • …if workers want security, let them ‘eat their cake’ and take up a new job. • … if we want to tackle precarious work and get the ‘outsiders’ in, then ‘insiders’ need to give up on thier well protected jobs

  9. What would be the consequences of unbalanced flexicurity? • Higher inequality • Not more but less jobs • Good, regular jobs, replaced by insecure, precarious ones • In other words, a new ‘insiders/outsider’ divide with managers and supervisors gaining a lot and this at the expense of ‘casualized’ labour.

  10. ‘Easy firing’ tends to increase inequality

  11. What is behind this? • ‘Easy firing’ reduces worker motivation, loyality,motivation • To maintain more productivity, more supervision is necessary • Higher demand for managers: ‘The sky becomes the limit’ • How to finance them? Compress wages for the rest of workers (possible because of reduced job protection).

  12. More jobs ?

  13. European labour markets: Too rigid?

  14. ETUC’s proposals for balanced flexicurity policy • General strategy: Get business back into the equation by putting the promotion of quality of jobs at the heart of the strategy ( implies stable employment,collective bargaining rights,…) • One key discussion: No ‘blind’ but ‘smart’ reforms of job protection systems and labour law

  15. At the heart of the flexicurity discussion: Job protection systems • Do not throw away the ‘baby with the bathwater It’s not as simple as giving up on job protection in exchange for employment security • Job protection and employment security are not substitutes but complement each other • It’s about using robust labour law and robust job protection as a powerful platform to bargain employment or transitional security

  16. Advance notification (months) for 4 year tenure workers in case of collective dismissal

  17. Sweden: Career transition agreement • Long period of advance notification used to provide support for workers • All firms pay into (sector) fund • From the moment of notification, sector fund steps in into firm to provide job counselling, job search help, re-training, paid internships with another employer, financial support for setting up a new business

  18. Older workers in Sweden • ‘Last in, first out’ principle entrenched in Swedish labour law • But: Collective agreements can deviate from this • Result: Trade unions and business striking deals for transitional security and severance pay for older workers

  19. Netherlands: Dual EPL system • Dual system of job protection: Either firm pays (a lot), either firm asks prior permissal to fire to regional labour office • In latter case,there’s an opportunity for trade unions to bargain a collective agreement on transitional security for workers to be fired.

  20. Joint recommendation of European social partners on job protection and labour law • Recommend ‘to review, and if neccesary adjust, the design of labour law and job protection • ‘with a view to’ • Ensure balance between flexibility and security. Provide adequate security for all contracts • Develop complementary employment security measures • Enhance legal certainty with regard to scope, coverage of labour law • Respect the European Social Aquis • Promote stable employment relationships • Improve work/life balance

  21. Where are we now? Common European Flexicurity principles: A number of good things … • Internal flexicurity as important as external flexicurity • Each country to decide its own arrangement • Improve transition from unstable to stable and legally secure jobs (Implicit target: stable jobs) • Aware of financial and budgetary limits

  22. Where are we now? • … but also some questions? • Where has ‘security’ gone to? • Contractual arrangements to be flexible and ‘reliable’ • Adequate social benefits providing incentives and support for job transitions • If ‘new jobs’ so important, why are growth friendly macro economic policies and innovation policies not being mentioned? • Impression created that more exceptions in labour law are necessary to provide ‘stepping stones’ for ‘groups at risk’.

  23. Conclusion • The ‘flexicurity’ battlefield is moving from the level of European principles… • ….to national level implementation • Watch out for Commission/Council’s country recommendations.. • … and go ‘on the offensive’ instead

More Related