According to a press release published on Tuesday evening 7 November, as the second consultation phase between social partners on the revision of the directive on the written declaration (directive 91/533) reaches an end, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is calling on the European Commission not to wait until the conclusion of the negotiations between social partners to present a request for examination of this text.
The ETUC believes the maximum nine-month duration for negotiations planned by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (article 154, §4) is too long to be able to complete this legislative dossier under this mandate. This trade union organisation believes this negotiating period could be used to delay any decision-making. The trade unions also consider that the employers have defined an overly restrictive scope for applying the above-mentioned directive (see EUROPE 11893). The organisation points out that this summer it was prepared to opening negotiations with the employers but that BusinessEurope had been slow to announce what position it would be taking (see EUROPE 11869).
It should be recalled that the trade unions are requesting that: the directive also covers the self-employed and part-time workers (‘gig economy workers’); - contractual information is extended to payment conditions and working time; the directive guarantees the right to appropriate remuneration and a guaranteed number of hours of work in an effort to put an end to “zero hour” contracts; - the directive ensures online platform responsibility with regard to their employees. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)