European trade unions and employers’ representatives signed, on Tuesday 28 June, a work programme providing for action in six areas over the period 2022-2024, including ‘telework and right to disconnect’, for which the European social partners have undertaken to negotiate a legally binding agreement, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) announced in a statement.
The work programme was signed by the ETUC, BusinessEurope, SGI Europe and SMEunited in the presence of European Commission Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis.
Other areas of work include the green transition, youth employment, work-related privacy and surveillance, improving skills matching and capacity building.
With regard to telework and right to disconnect, the social partners undertake to update the 2002 Autonomous Agreement on Telework to be put forward for adoption as a legally binding agreement. The Commission will then be asked to transcribe it into a European directive as foreseen in the European rules on social dialogue.
In 2002, the European social partners concluded a prospective agreement on telework, defining this new form of organisation and/or performance of work within an employment relationship (see EUROPE 8256/26). The agreement addressed issues such as the provision of equipment, health and safety, and established that teleworkers have the same rights as employees, the ETUC recalls.
For the update, the social partners will have to take into account the evolution of digitalisation and draw lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic. “This includes issues such as hybrid work, the right to disconnect, work organisation, in particular the management of online workers, and security issues” but also the link between working time and privacy, and data protection.
For youth employment, the social partners are planning a joint seminar and statement following up on the ‘Framework of Actions on Youth Employment’ to explore best practices, challenges and tools to facilitate youth employment. A joint seminar and guidelines are also on the agenda for workplace monitoring and surveillance technologies “to exchange views on trends” and their relevance for “social partners and collective bargaining at all appropriate levels across Europe”, says the work programme.
On skills, a seminar followed by a joint research project will focus on effective access to training, social partners’ involvement in skills intelligence, and addressing skills mismatches and skills shortages.
Link to the work programme: https://aeur.eu/f/2ds (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)