Brussels, 14/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Irish EU Presidency has made "Making Work Pay" the priority theme of its agenda on employment and social policy. In response to the recommendations of the report by the Kok Task Force on employment aimed at reactivating the labour market in the EU (a report which was endorsed by the European Council in December - see EUROPE of 13 December, p.13), the Irish Presidency decided to explore every possible avenue to achieve this goal. The Presidency therefore convened a meeting of the Social Troika in Galway (Ireland) on Thursday to allow European social partners to exchange ideas on the report published by the Commission last week on "Making Work Pay" (see EUROPE of 7 January, p.9). The Troika will be followed on Friday by the informal meeting of employment and social affairs ministers of the enlarged Europe, to be held under the presidency of Frank Fahey (Labour Minister) and Mary Coughlan (Minister for Social Affairs and the Family) in the presence of European Commissioner, Anna Diamantopoulou. Investment in human resources to promote employment and productiveness in Europe will also be discussed at the Informal Council which, among other things, will focus on the role of the European Social Fund in this connection (for the agenda, see EUROPE of 7 January, p.9). We give below the points on which European social partners will insist in Galway.
ETUC: more quality and long-term jobs
In order to reactivate the European job market, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) considers it essential to invest in: - human capital, supporting collective agreements on worker training. ETUC considers that, if the innovation economy is to be a success, lifelong learning is essential; - personal services, as the development of the services sector is a key factor for attaining higher employment rates and for improving social cohesion in a context of population ageing; - environment-friendly technologies, social renovation of city centres and rural development. ETUC considers it is also important, in order to create more quality jobs, to ensure greater possibility to reconcile professional and family life, implemnt the Barcelona targets on childcare, guarantee the right to social security for atypical workers, allow women to gain access to quality jobs and guarantee lifelong learning for all.
UNICE: Highly critical judgement on "Making Work Pay" concept
The Union of Industrial and Employers Confederatio nof Europe (UNICE), for its part, expressed disappointment about the Commission's communication on "Making Work Pay". UNICE considers the text is so general that it brings no added value. This is why the European employers' association warns the general tone and approach send the wrong signals. It goes on to explain that it does not support promotion of a concept which means: - focusing exclusively on supply side measures and deliberately ruling out demand side aspects; - disregarding the fact that labour costs do matter (not only differences between net pay and what a person had through social benefits without working but also excessively high indirect labour costs paid by employers which out-price even medium qualified work; - over-emphasising the merits of leave systems as a way to reconcile work and family life; - and paying no heed to the importance of flexible form of employment in order to integrate more people in the unsheltered labour market or to avoid career breaks for working parents. A Commission communication which presents a detailed analysis of the measures taken in the Member States for making work pay while taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of the labour market would be more interesting for the debate, UNICE concluded.
UEAPME calls for reforms in national social protection systems
The European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME) reaffirms national governments should undertake indepth reforms in their social protection systems to make work more attractive and to comply with the aims of the Lisbon strategy. While recognising that there is no one solution to making work more attractive, UEAPME proposes a number of general elements to be implemented, namely: 1) national governments must review the criteria for social benefits, in order to encourage people to seek work; 2) Member States should review their tax policy in order to increase the financial advantages of work; 3) a better balance must be found between social benefits and income from employment, and social partners should accept salary differences in relation to the level of production; 4) authorities should develop support programmes that give unemployed people the incentive to take on a job, as many individuals who leave welfare for work do not earn enough to get out of poverty; and 5) labour costs on the lower segment of the labour market have to be reduced in order to help combat undeclared work, especially in the labour intensive sectors.
CEEP supports better working conditions for women
In a statement to EUROPE, the Secretary General of the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation (CEEP), Rainer Plassmann, pointed out that, as the CEEP had not been invited to the social Troika by the Presidency - which is probably due to an error given that the CEEP is an official European social partner - it has not worked on the issues on the meeting's agenda. Mr Plassmann regretted that the employers' side would therefore not be fully represented in Galway and deplored the lack of support on the part of the other partners in this respect. Nonetheless, CEEP considers that, for improving employment, it is first of all necessary to improve working conditions for women, especially by setting up crèches and childcare, but also by encouraging companies to promote careers for women as they are above all essential in high posts and mainly in the services sector where they are under-represented for now in many countries.