Brussels, 16/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - Representatives of European "social partners" (ETUC representing European trade unions, UNICE/UEAPME representing employers and CEEP representing public service companies) signed a Framework Agreement on Telework on 16 July in Brussels in the presence of Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou. Unveiled by the Danish Presidency at the Social Council in Kolding (see Europe of 13 July, p.8), the Framework Agreement is particularly important in that it affects 4.5 million employed teleworkers (more than 7 million including the self-employed), which is expected to rise threefold to over 17 million by 2010. The European Framework Agreement is innovative in that for the first time it will be implemented by the "social partners" (employers and trade unions) themselves, rather than through a directive. It is to be implemented within 3 years of the date of signature. The signatory parties will review the agreement five years after the date of signature if requested by one of the signatory parties. Social partner organisations in candidate countries are invited to implement it.
After it was signed, Commissioner Diamantopoulou told the press that the innovative agreement was a step in the direction of independent social dialogue at European level and that it was possible today to open a new social dialogue chapter in the Treaty. She said that they did not have much experience of telework yet, adding tat it was an issue with its own characteristics and therefore important to have commitment to a concrete timetable for implementing the agreement. UNICE President Georges Jacobs said it was the first time they had not reached agreement under threat from the Commission but freely decided by both sides. It is also a first for UNICE since the UEAPME (European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Businesses) also signed the agreement and the employer members signed it in a unanimous fashion, explained Jacobs, which is exceptional! He said that the agreement takes account of a new form of organising work involving flexibility on behalf of both employer and employee. Telework is a choice freely made by employer and employee, he said, but two situations have to be noted: 1) where people are recruited as teleworkers; and 2) where people become teleworkers in the course of their career, people for whom it is important to have clear conditions for a return to "traditional" work. It is a good agreement, balanced and flexible and a genuine advance for social dialogue. The Secretary General of the ETUC, Emilio Gabaglio (which negotiated along with its partner representing managers EUROCADRES/CEC), said the agreement was an important step in the development of social dialogue for various reasons: 1) in line with the European Employment Strategy and the Lisbon objectives, the social partners are contributing to something concrete; 2) the Framework Agreement has value added in the sense that there are very few regulations on telework at national level. For the first time, the European Framework Agreement is ahead of the sector; 3) through the agreement it was possible to implement flexibility, associating it with rights for people entering into this kind of contractual relationship; 4) the agreement covers the range of so-called voluntary, but often compulsory, agreements. This time it is for the ETUC its affiliates in the EU and other countries (Norway and Iceland for example) to ensure that the agreement is implemented through social relations. He concluded that they were providing the proof that the social partners are capable of fulfilling their mission and making a major contribution to the Lisbon strategy. At the end of the year, with our partners the employers, we are planning to agree on a social dialogue programme that should give rise to a number of initiatives, said Gabaglio.