Advocacy Report - AMECH · 2019-07-01 · Advocacy Report N°6/2019, June 2019 World Employment...

Advocacy Report

World Employment Confederation - Tour & Taxi Building - Avenue du Port 86c - Box 302 - B-1000 Brussels T +32 2 421 15 85 - [email protected] - www.wecglobal.org

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N°6/2019, June 2019

WEC Positions

Making Transitions work! – Inspiration and recommendations for futureproof labour markets

“Making Europe the best place to work” – Vision Paper

Upcoming Events

3 July 2019

Finnish EU Council Presidency Conference Sustainable growth: Skills and smart work organisation in the digital era

4 July 2019

Denis Pennel to address the topic of active labour market policies and cooperation with private employment services

4 July 2019

Jochem de Boer joins Skills Academy of the International Training Centre to showcase PrES role in skilling of workers

8 July 2019

Joint WEC/World Bank Webinar on cooperation between public Private Employment Services

Contact us

In case you have questions:

WEC Head Office

Tel. 0032 2 – 421 1586

[email protected]

www.wecglobal.org

Contents

Call out to National Federations! Apply now for WEC 2019 Awards! 2

Global Public Affairs

Executive Summary 3

WEC launches www.socialinnovationstories.org 4

Join the Global Public Affairs Network 4

ILO present Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work 5

G7 present tripartite employment declaration 6

OECD prepares new edition of Employment Protection Legislation Index 7

European Public Affairs

Executive summary 8

New European Parliament and next European Commission: Update on latest developments

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EU Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions: Final vote at EU Council level

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Seminar of the European Platform on tackling undeclared work 9

European Semester of labour market reforms: Strong focus on skills and training in the 2019 country-specific recommendations

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Finland took over the rotating EU Council Presidency 10

EU takes stock of first year GDPR 11

National Public Affairs

Germany: WEC-Europe Public Affairs Manager Michael Freytag to address BAP Committee for International Affairs

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Thought Leadership

WEC-Europe participates in CEPS Conference “Sustainability in the age of platforms”

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WEC-Europe participates in Brussels Economic Forum 14

Summer Days “The Future of Work organised by the European Confederation of Independent trade unions and Bertelsmann Foundation

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www.socialinnovationstories.org

Advocacy Report N°6/2019, June 2019


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World Employment Conference 2019

Call out to National Federations! Apply now for WEC 2019 Awards!

For the first time, the World Employment Confederation is organising an award ceremony to highlight our national federation members’ best practices in three categories:

• Leadership in Social Innovation: recognising a truly innovative initiative that has changed the working life of agency workers or has helped user companies to improve their staffing process.

• Outstanding Advocacy: distinguishing an advocacy campaign which averted a chief regulatory threat for the industry.

• Rising Federation: praising a federation that has grown to become a model in its class and has the potential to make an even stronger impact within our industry.

All National Federation members of the World Employment Confederation are eligible to apply, as long as they have settled their WEC membership fees. For all details regarding the different award categories, judging criteria and terms and conditions for applicants, please read the Application Guidelines.

Applications are to be submitted through a dedicated online platform, Award Force, hosted by RCSA. You can enter for the WEC awards by selecting ‘WEC Awards’ under the ‘Program’ drop down box on the ‘Start Here’ page.

Key dates

• 17 June: applications open

• 16 August: applications close

• 1 October: notification to finalists

• 10 October: public announcement of finalists

• 29 October: award ceremony (at World Employment Conference 2019 in Brisbane, Australia)

To participate in the 2019 World Employment Conference, register here.

https://rcsaawards.awardsplatform.com/

https://www.rcsa.com.au/Web/Major_Events/2019%20WEC%20Conference.aspx



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Global Public Affairs

Executive Summary

WEC launches www.socialinnovationstories.org

▪ www.socialinnovationstories.org is a public online data base that showcases case-studies from the employment industry and how it contributes to working, learning and social protection across the world. It’ll be used to support WEC’s public affairs and seeks to inspire WEC members and stakeholders alike in creating new solutions for the world of work We welcome you to have a look!

▪ If you have case studies that you wish to include, do not hesitate to reach out to Jochem de Boer and Aurelie Pattyn at the WEC Head Office.

Join the WEC Global Public Affairs Network!

▪ WEC has launched the Global Public Affairs Network for public affairs professionals in the industry to become involved in the WEC public affairs planning and positioning. If you wish to join, contact [email protected] at the WEC Head Office.

ILO presents Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work

▪ ILO concluded the ILO Future of Work Initiative with a Declaration for the Future of Work. It was negotiated and presented during the 2019 Centenary International Labour Conference (9-21 June 2019)

▪ The Declaration calls upon the ILO and its constituents to focus on Social dialogue, Skilling, Gender equality, Multilateralism, enabling environments for sustainable business practices and Informality to address challenges in the changing world of work.

▪ The ILO Office will now prepare concrete programme and policy proposals for the ILO Governing Body. ▪ The Declaration is a positive one as it acknowledges diverse Forms of Work and the role of business in decent job

creation. It sets a landmark in terms of ILO acceptance that the world has changed, and new policies are needed. ▪ Throughout the five-year Future of Work Initiative, employment industry executives and representatives

secured the industry’s voice.

G7 present Tripartite Declaration

▪ The G7 (annual meeting of the 7 largest developed economies) agreed a Tripartite Social Declaration with representatives from business and workers on labour market policy. It is the first tripartite G7 declaration.

▪ The declaration acknowledges the large changes in the world of work and their potential for decent work and economic growth. It identifies skilling and social protection key topics for policy focus.

▪ The G7 also explicitly calls upon the OECD and ILO to seek better policy coherence in dealing with the changes in the world of work.

▪ The Declaration is forward looking, business -friendly and addresses key WEC policy priorities such as skilling, diverse forms of work, social protection reform, informality and work classification. This is especially valuable as social partners are signatories to the declaration

OECD prepares new edition of Employment Protection Legislation Indicator (EPL)

▪ The 2020 OECD Employment Outlook will include an update of the Employment Protection Legislation Indicator (EPL). This will be the 4th version of the EPL since its creation in 1985

▪ The updates are focussed on (1.) creating better comparability between dismissal costs of fixed term and open-ended contracts, (2.) Better comparison between individual and collective dismissals and (3.) extending the measurement of dismissal to fixed term contracts and (4.) adjusting the measurement of the ease of hiring agency-workers

▪ WEC joined an OECD Expert meeting to discuss the proposed changes. WEC Head Office will prepare further written input into the process in liaison with the Global Public Affairs Network and BIAC.

http://www.socialinnovationstories.org/

www.socialinnovationstories.org

mailto:[email protected]



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Make Transitions Work! WEC Launches www.socialinnovationstories.org

To support the ‘Making Transitions Work!’ Position Paper for the Centenary International Labour Conference WEC launched www.socialinnovationstories.org, a website dedicated to highlighting how private employment services contribute to societies and labour markets. It includes all kinds best industry practices from all around the world. We invite you to have a look and be inspired by your peers.

We will continuously add stories to the website. If you have a practice from your organization of one your members you want to showcase do not hesitate to contact Aurelie Pattyn or Jochem de Boer at the WEC Head Office via [email protected] and [email protected].

Join the Global Public Affairs Network

The World Employment Confederation has set up the Global Public Affairs Network for its members. The Network discusses ongoing global labour market policy developments and the way WEC deals with them. It will be consulted in determining WEC’s positioning and global public affairs planning. WEC members are invited to join the Network to get involved in global public affairs and get early and in-depth insights into policy trends on the international level.

If you and/or a colleague focussed on public affairs is interested in joining the Global Public Affairs Network or you wish to know more about it, please contact Jochem de Boer at the Head Office via [email protected].








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ILO Presents Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work

The ILO has presented the ‘Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work’. It contains the priorities for the ILO and its members states in the changing world of work. social dialogue, skilling, gender equality, multilateralism, enabling environments for sustainable business practices and informality are the prominent themes addressed. Also, the Declaration recognizes diverse forms of work and emphasizes that they can (and need) to be vessels for decent work. The declaration was negotiated during the 2019 International Labour Conference (ILC) and it concludes the five-year ILO ‘Future of Work Initiative’ that addressed the impact of global economic megatrends on labour markets around the world. Executives from the employment industry were prominently involved throughout the process towards this declaration.

Read the full ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work via this link.

The declaration is very much focused on the changing world of work and seeks to address the (new) ways to secure decent work. Apart from predictable focusses on social dialogue and multilateralism, special focus is on skilling, gender equality and specific target groups (young, old, disabled). A new prominent feature in the focus of the declaration is the issue of the business environment and its importance for job quality and creation. Finally, the persistent challenge of Informality is addressed.

Diverse Forms of Work and Platform Work

An unambiguous reference to diverse forms of work is made. For the first time the ILO recognizes that quality employment needs to be available in diverse forms of work, as opposed to focusing on only one form of work as vessel for decent work. This is the first time a ILO document refers to this wording. Also, privacy and other challenged related to the digital transformation of work are addressed, including a reference to ‘platform work’, This highlights the ILO Constituents’ growing concern over the digitalisation of the labour market.

Future of Work Initiative & the Declaration

The Future of Work Initiative started in 2014 to prepare the 100th anniversary International Labour Conference in 2019. It included national dialogues with national tripartite representatives and the ILO Commission on the Future of Work. These fora debated how globalization, digitalisation, demographics and climate change were affecting labour markets. The outcomes of the discussions fed into intense two weeks negotiations in Genève during the ILC that drafted the final Declaration text.

Employment industry involvement

Throughout the Future of Work Initiative representatives and positioning from the employment industry were present. It started with presentation of the 2016 WEC Future of Work White Paper. After that the CEO of The Adecco Group, Alain Dehaze, was a member of the ILO Commission on the Future of Work. Finally, several members, including WEC president Annemarie Muntz, joined the negotiations in the International Labour Conference.

Assessment and next steps:

The declaration seeks to secure a revised mandate for the ILO to develop policies and standards that are in tune with

the changing world of work; as such the Declaration is about the relevance of the ILO for the 21st century labour

markets of its members states. The Declaration does not alter the goals of the organisation, it re-affirms its existing

purpose (achieving social justice) and updates the priorities in achieving it. It does so by identifying the role of the

ILO, as well as a call to action of member states. Returning priorities to this mentioned are Social dialogue, Gender

equality, Multilateralism and Lifelong learning. Important – and positive – element of the Declaration is the focus on

the environment for sustainable business to provide decent jobs. Secondly, the text includes reference to ‘Diverse

Forms of Work’ which is a very strong move away from the narrative that only one form of work is adequate in

delivering decent work and economic growth. Still, concrete follow up steps by the ILO aren’t mentioned, and the

Declaration leaves ample room for cherry-picking from all sides of the political spectrum. As such “the devil is in the

https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_711288.pdf



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follow-up” both on the national and international level. Still, concluding, the Declaration delivers a strong fait

accompli on the changes in the world of work (including new ways of working/organising work) and the need to

improve the quality work based on these changes. That is a clear positive.

The declaration calls upon the ILO Office to develop proposals for the Governing Body. The WEC will monitor the Governing Body roll out program of the declaration and liaise with ILO Office and the IOE to input this process.

The WEC input will be develop in close collaboration with the WEC Global Public Affairs Network (GPAN).

G7 presents Social Tripartite Declaration

The G7 together with representatives from social partners agreed on a Social Tripartite Declaration. It focusses on promoting (1.) better policy coherence between the ILO and the OECD, (2.) social protection coverage, (3.) adapting labour institutions and promoting skilling and (4.) gender equality. Even though the statement is very low on concrete commitments of G7 members, it clearly addresses the need for flexibility in the world of work and the ability for G7 states (UK, USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy & EU) to future proof their labour markets and focus on support, regardless of the form of work. It was for the first time a tripartite G7 Employment Declaration was made. Workers and employers representation with the ILO and OECD (resp. ITUC, TUAC, IOE and BIAC) were involved in its drafting. This provides extra weight to the declaration. Moreover, given its acknowledgement of new forms of work and labour market flexibility, it showcases a change in tone from the trade union side. Better global policy coherence The most concrete outcome the Declaration states is better policy coherence between OECD and ILO. This needs to be done in the field of international financial programs, trade, and a sustainable and inclusive future of work. The G7 asks for more aligned reporting on progress. It showcases the wish of the signatories for a common assessment and understanding of labour market developments to serve as basis for international labour market policy-making. Diverse forms, flexibility & skilling The declaration addresses the positive impact of diverse forms of work in bringing flexibility to people and labour markets. The Declaration is balanced in addressing both the need of business-friendly environments as well as providing decent work and social protection. Especially social protection (reform) and skilling are addressed as key instruments for managing the change by governments and social partners. Also, persistent Informality and the need for appropriate employment classification is addressed as areas of focus in the world of work. Read the full G7 Tripartite Social Declaration via this link.

Assessment:

This G7 Tripartite Social Declaration is a very positive one. Not just because of its clear positive and future oriented text, but also because of social partner involvement and buy-in. The Declaration shows that the developed economies have a convergent narrative on the changing world of work and its most relevant policy directions. It clearly (again) identifies skilling as key policy focus, but also adds the social protection systems as tool to guide the changing world of work.

This will especially impact the way G7 members, the European Union and the OECD will perceive policy solutions to the changing world of work. Secondly common G7 understanding will contribute to the way developed economies will influence labour market discussions within the G20 and the ILO.

The Declaration to a large extent aligns with the forward-looking policy-narrative that the WEC has been pushing for. As such it is instrumental in convincing national and international stakeholders. Not in the least as it includes the signature of the International workers’ representation.

https://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/g7_social_tripartite_declaration_final.pdf



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OECD prepares new edition of Employment Protection Legislation Index

The OECD organised an expert meeting on the 2020 update of the OECD Employment Protection Legislation Index (EPL). Most important changes involved a better understanding of dismissal procedures for fixed term and casual contracts. In 2020 an updated EPL will be presented in the OECD Employment Outlook. The EPL is the main OECD indicator to measure the strictness of hire and fire legislation. It is based on an extensive questionnaire to OECD members states and Latin American countries. End of June an expert meeting was held to reflect upon proposals on revising the questionnaire and weighting system for the indexation. The proposals referred to a more granular understanding and rating of the reasons for fair dismissals for open ended contracts (economic and personal), Better balancing the measurement of personal versus collective dismissal, extending the measurement of dismissal to fixed term contracts and adjusting the measurement of the ease of hiring agency-workers. The workers’ perspective in the EPL? In the meeting there was some critique on the fact that the EPL didn’t consider the worker perspective and it’s just focussed on employer impact. When the EPL is perceived in isolation, these critiques are right. Yet, the EPL is one in many OECD variables to assess labour market functioning as a whole and that hiring and firing legislation is a crucial part of that functioning. Without it any labour market assessment would be flawed. WEC was able to put this perspective forward. Apart from various interventions over the concerns of worker rights in this index, (bogus) self-employed was regularly addressed. There was a push for EU style social dialogue variable to be considered in the EPL variable (that firing a union representative/ works council member should not be perceived as a limitation of dismissals). On the agency-work part of the meeting there was discussion on the differences between the contractual relationship of an agency with the user-company and the employment relationship with the agency-worker. Assessment and next steps: The WEC Head Office will liaise with the Global Public Affairs Network and the business representation at the OECD, BIAC, to coordinate written input into this process.



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European Public Affairs

Executive Summary

• A strong focus was laid in June 2016 on assessing the EU stakeholder and policymaker changers following the European Parliament elections of May 2019. The EP Employment Committee composition will drastically change, as many opinion leaders of that committee have not run again or have not been re-elected.

• The EU Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions has been adopted by the EU Council and will soon be published in the EU official journal

• The World Employment Confederation-Europe participated in a seminar of the European Platform on tackling undeclared work, which was focusing on awareness raising.

• The World Employment Confederation-Europe participated in the GDPR Stocktaking Meeting to learn on how different stakeholders (EC, regulators, businesses and consumers) have responded to the GDPR.

New European Parliament and next European Commission: Update on the latest developments

Following the European Parliament elections of May 2019, the constituting phase of the European Parliament is taken place with the formation of the political groups:

• The European People’s party has elected Manfred Weber as their group leader.

• The S&D group elected on 18th Iratxe Garcia Pérez as their group leader.

• The liberal ALDE group agreed to integrate as new party group members the French En Marche! Members of Parliament and to rename their group to “Renew Europe”. Dacian Ciolos has been elected as party group leader of Renew Europe!.

• The European Conservative and Reformist group will remain a very diverse group, including mostly conservative, Eurosceptic and populist parties. The Flemish nationalist party N-VA will for example remain a member of ECR, as will the German AFD

Meetings of the political groups will continue until end of June 2019, while the first European Parliament plenary meeting is being held in the first week of July 2019. During that plenary meeting, the President of the European Parliament and the Vice-Presidents will be elected.

Regarding the formation of the next European Commission, a special European Council dinner was held in May 2019 to take stock of the results of the EP elections. Discussions continued during a regular European Council meeting 20 -21 June 2019, while no agreement on the next European Commission President could be reached. The European Council agreed that there needs to be a package with regarding the nomination of the Commission President, the Council President, the EP President and the ECB President, reflecting the diversity of the EU. Discussions on the appointment of the next EU Commission President and further leading positions of the EU institutions were continued during a special European Council on 30 June 2019, but again, no agreement was reached.

Besides the EP leading candidates for the position of the Commission President, Manfred Weber (EPP), Frans Timmermans (S&D) and Magarethe Vesthagen (Renew Europe) also the name of Michel Barnier is put forward frequently in Brussels.

During the European Council meeting of 20 – 21 June 2019, a new strategic agenda for 2019-2024 was adopted, focusing on protecting citizens and freedoms, developing a strong and vibrant economic base, building a climate neutral, green, fair and social Europe and promoting European interests and values at global stage. With regard to the social dimension, the strategic agenda focuses on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights at national and European level with due respect of respective competences. The agenda calls for creating opportunities for all and fighting inequalities. Adequate social protection, inclusive labour markets and cohesion shall help to preserve the European way of life

In Autumn 2019, the Member States will nominate their commissioner candidates, followed by hearings in the European Parliament and the election of the next European Commission.



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A WEC-Europe assessment of the EP elections has been circulated to all members and updates are provided on a regular basis to the members of the Public Affairs Committee. The new European Parliament will certainly be more diverse and fragmented, also including a large share of newcomers to the Brussels political scene. First indications of the composition of the European Parliament Employment and social affairs committee also indicate that several influential MEPs have also not run again or failed to be re-elected.

With regard to the next European Commission, a lot is still in flux and thus too early to assess, given the inability of the EU Heads of State and Government to reach an agreement on the next European Commission President in June.

EU Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions: Final vote at the EU Council level

The Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions, which has been subject to discussion and some controversy in 2018 and 2019, has been formally adopted by the EU Council on 13th of June 2019. In the coming weeks, the Directive will be published in the EU official journal and will come into force on the 20th day after publication. It will t then enter a three-year implementation phase.

Main elements of the Directive are information obligations on the employment relationship and several basic, minimum rights that should apply to all workers. The Directive aims to provide more protection for workers in casual or short-term contracts, as well as gig workers.


The World Employment Confederation-Europe has been very active on Directive and in coordination with other actors, important improvements could be achieved, namely the removal of EU wide definitions of the worker, the employer and the employment relationship, an extension of the period to provide information on the employment relationship from the first day in the Commission Proposal to a period of one week for some elements and up to one month for the remaining part. Also some improvements could be achieved regarding the wording on certain rights that shall apply to all workers.

Seminar of the European Platform tackling undeclared work

On 12th of June 2019, the WEC-Europe Public Affairs Manager Michael Freytag contributed to a seminar of the European Platform for tackling undeclared work. The seminar gathered national experts and labour inspectorates involved in the prevention of undeclared work, as well as EU level social partners from the construction sector and agency work industry.

The seminar looked at similar campaigns run by other departments of the European Commission, such as the campaign on the European Pillar of Social Rights and the European Vocational Skills Week, before discussing target groups of a European campaign for declared work. Further sessions of the workshop looked at communication channels, the use of social media as well as key messages and slogans for the campaign. Based on the discussion at the workshop, the European Commission will develop a campaign toolkit, which can then be used by the EU Member States and the EU Social Partners during a campaign week in 2020.


The World Employment Confederation-Europe joined the European Platform for tacking undeclared work as an observer in 2019, given the fact that issues directly concerning the agency work industry are directly addressed by the platform. Michael Freytag represented the World Employment Confederation-Europe at the platform seminar and coordinates the involvement of the World Employment Confederation-Europe in the activities of the platform.



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European Semester of labour market reforms: Strong focus on skills and training in the 2019 country-specific recommendations

On 5th of June 2019, the European Commission published its 2019 country-specific recommendations, which form part of the Europe 2020 Strategy for labour market reforms and economic convergence in Europe.

The 2019 recommendations include a strong focus on skills, skills enhancement and measures to address skill shortages for many EU countries. Also the need to reform social protection systems is addressed for several European countries.

Other areas, which are also covered by the World Employment Confederation-Europe Vision paper and which are essential for more efficient labour markets (such as the need for a diversity of labour contracts and the need to foster cooperation between employment services), are less prominently covered in the 2019 European Commission country-specific recommendations.

The 2019 country-specific recommendations should also be seen in the light of the upcoming change of leadership of the main EU institutions, which the European Parliament elections having taken place less than two weeks ago and a new European Commission to take office in Autumn 2019. In this “political transition phase”, the European Commission focused on recommendations to Member States for labour market reforms which are more general and of a transversal/cross-industry nature.

The EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Marianne Thyssen underlined in a press statement: “This Commission has worked hard to build a fairer Europe, a sustainable and inclusive Europe, a Europe that leaves no one behind. The European Pillar of Social Rights establishes principles and rights for all EU citizens. This has to be implemented at national level. With the world of work changing fast, it is essential that Member States follow up with reforms in initial education and lifelong learning, labour markets and social protection.”

Via this link, you can consult the recommendations for your respective country and the Commission assessment of recent labour market reforms.

First World Employment Confederation-Europe reactions have been sent out using mostly social media channels. Meeting with the European Commission/DG Employment took place in the past months to provide input into this important, European policy process.


The Europe 2020 European Semester process and the 2019 country-specific recommendations are an essential policy framework to push for labour market reforms, promote social innovation and contribute to more dynamic, inclusive labour markets. The World Employment Confederation-Europe keeps close contacts with the relevant European Commission services in charge of the European Semester process to raise issues of interested of and affecting the private employment industry. This input has been strongly welcomed by the European Commission. Unfortunately, research done by the European, cross-industry employers’ organisation BusinessEurope shows that the actual uptake and implementation of the Europe 2020 country-specific recommendations at national level is rather limited.

Finland took over the rotating EU Council Presidency

On 1st of July 2019, Finland took over the rotating EU Council Presidency for a term of six months. Finland takes the Presidency at a time of institutional transition, with the European Parliament just having assumed regular activities again after the elections and the appointment and election of the next European Commission still ongoing. Also the international environment is rather complex and characterised by increasing tensions and threats.

The main theme of the Finnish Presidency is “Sustainable Europe – sustainable Future”. The priorities for Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union are to strengthen common values and the rule of law, to make the

https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-and-fiscal-policy-coordination/eu-economic-governance-monitoring-prevention-correction/european-semester/european-semester-timeline/eu-country-specific-recommendations_en



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EU more competitive and socially inclusive, to strengthen the EU’s position as a global leader in climate action and to protect the security of citizens comprehensively.

In terms of concrete legislation to be discussed at Council level and in the working groups, there will be less on the agenda, as many fields especially in the field of employment and social affairs were closed prior to the EP elections and as no new legislation will be proposed in the second half of this year due to the institutional transition.

An unresolved issue for the Finnish EU Presidency remain the Brexit negotiations, where the Presidency is currently waiting for a new proposal from the UK on how to move forward. Prior to such a proposal, the internal leadership question in the British conservative party and in the British government needs to be solved.

Furthermore, EU Member States are still in process of negotiating the next EU multi-annual financial framework, which provides the framework for funding of EU policies.

The complete EU Council Presidency Programme can be downloaded here.

Assessment:

The Finnish EU Council Presidency will provide a useful framework from a communications and advocacy point of view to put forward main World Employment Confederation-Europe messages. WEC-Europe’s Public Affairs Manager Michael Freytag will for example participate on 2nd and 3rd of July 2019 in a high-level conference on “Sustainable growth: skills and smart work organisation in the digital age” and the World Employment Confederation-Europe Head Office had a meeting with the Finnish Social Affairs Attaché of the Finnish Permanent Representation to the EU in May and a breakfast meeting with the Finnish Permanent Representative to the EU end of June, which was organised by one of the Brussels think tanks the World Employment Confederation-Europe is a member of.

EU takes stock of first year of the General Data Protection Regulation

13 June the EU organised a GDPR stocktaking meeting to discuss the first years’ experiences with the GDPR. It addressed the European Commission’s priorities for the next year as well as the experiences of the National Data Protection Authorities (DPAs), Businesses and Consumers.

EC: “more Codes of Conducts needed.”

Responsible Euro commissioner Vĕra Jourová (Justice and Consumers) kicked off by outlining her input into the new EC mandate. She’s preparing a report to input the 2020 evaluation of the GDPR. This report focusses on (1.) assessing the national implementation, (2.) the resources of DPAs, (3.) the efforts of businesses of implementing the GDPR, (4.) the use of the GDPR tools by citizens and (5.) global governance of personal data protection. Until the next EC mandate, she’ll be focussed on (1.) promoting uniform application, (2.) efficient and pragmatic enforcement and (3.) supporting small companies adjust to the GDPR. In this she highlighted the importance of codes of conduct and sector specific certification.

DPAs: “Underestimated the resources needed for the GDPR. ”

Next representatives from DPA addressed enforcement of the GDPR on the national ground. In this discussion the (new) resources and structures of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and DPAs, as well as the increase of complex cross-border data-protection issues and complaints was put forward A significant increase in awareness surrounding privacy and GDPR was noticeable putting pressure on the DPA enforcement obligations and resources. The underestimation of the impact of GDPR on DPAs and the EDPB was broadly acknowledged. In their future programme DPAs will increase focus towards the functioning of the GDPR ‘one-stop shop’ and reorientation from the provision of information to enforcement.

Businesses: “GDPR to convergence beyond EU.”

In the next panel, three businesses provided their views. They focussed on creating business cases that are compliant with GDPR and took consumers’ privacy at the centre. In discussing complaints and information request from data-subjects, the businesses highlighted that data-subjects are often unaware of the allocation of GDPR roles.

https://eu2019.fi/en/priorities/programme



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Finally, the businesses on stage acknowledged that they expect GPDR-like regulation to develop across the world, and that integrating GDPR compliance throughout all operative jurisdictions anticipates this development.

Consumers: “Concerns of oversight on big-data companies”

In the final, panel in which consumers’ experiences were shared, focus was on the big-tech companies. Attention was raised their lack of compliance, as well as the lack of effective oversight. Consumer organisations highlighted that even though awareness on privacy has raised amongst consumers, the effective execution of data-protection rights is still frustrated. Quickly, privacy in the employment relationship was addressed. Particularly concern was raised on the development of pre-employment screening without knowledge of the data subject.

Assessment

The meeting provided a good overview of the priorities of the various stakeholders on the topic. From both the Commission and the regulators a stronger focus was placed on (uniform) enforcement of the GDPR, now that everybody (including the DPAs) have had a year to adjust to the GDPR.



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National Public Affairs

Germany: WEC-Europe Public Affairs Manager Michael Freytag to address BAP Committee for International Affairs

On 18th of July 2019, WEC-Europe’s Public Affairs Manager Michael Freytag will be travelling to Berlin to address the BAP Committee for International Affairs and give a presentation on current European affairs. These will focus on the outcomes of the European Parliament elections and the process towards the nomination of the next European Commission, the WEC-Europe actions to strive for more appropriate and less restrictive agency work regulation and the World Employment Confederation activities and thought leadership in the area of social innovation.

WEC Assessment and next steps:

Attending events and meetings of World Employment Confederation members is a very useful instrument to one on the one hand get the latest updates on national employment industry market and regulatory trends and developments, while at the same time providing an update to members on what is happening at European and global level.



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Thought Leadership

WEC-Europe participated in CEPS Workshop “Sustainability in the age of platforms”

On 11th of June 2019, the WEC-Europe Public Affairs Manager Michael Freytag participated in a Workshop organized by the Centre for European Policy Studies on sustainability in the age of platforms. The workshop focused on two main themes, namely social and environmental sustainability of the platform economy.

The social sustainability included a debate on the employment status of online platforms labour suppliers, the working conditions and rights of workers working via online platforms and related practices of selected online platforms.

The second panel focused on the environmental sustainability and centred around issues such as energy consumption and environmental aspects of working remotely via online platforms. The conference was linked to a report published by CEPS and the Academy of internet finance at the Zhejiang University, which looked into the topic of the sustainability of the platform economy and includes case studies on platforms such as Alibaba, eBay, Lufax, Rakuten.


The conference was a great opportunity to discuss latest developments linked to the online platform economy, following-up on the WEC-Europe/UNI-Europa project on “Online talent platforms, labour market intermediaries and the changing world of work.” Both the discussions on social and ecological sustainability were enriched by a broad range of high-level speakers from Europe and other parts of the world.

WEC-Europe’s Public Affairs Manager Michael Freytag participated in the EU Brussels Economic Forum 2019 on 18th of June

On 18th of June 2019, WEC-Europe’s Public Affairs Manager Michael Freytag participated in the EU Brussels Economic Forum 2019. The one-day conference gathering senior EU experts and stakeholders focused on understanding the economic roots of the populist backlash, the new global order. The afternoon sessions were particularly relevant, as they focused on a new social contract for Europe and a new kind of growth for Europe.

The Conference was organised by the European Commission’s department for economic and financial affairs (DG ECFIN) and included keynote speeches of Sir Christopher Pissarides, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, the EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici and Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President of the European Commission.


The Conference provided a very good opportunity to reach out to a broader group of stakeholders and policy makers, which are active in the field of economic and financial affairs and are also discussing issues linked to the changing world of work and social innovation, such as the new social contract and new kinds of growth. Michael Freytag represented the World Employment Confederation-Europe at the conference and contributed to the debate. Furthermore, The Adecco Group, represented by Christopher Catoir, CEO Northern Europe and France, was offered a speaking slot in a panel debate on the new social contract, allowing to pass key messages of the employment industry.



15

Summer Days “The Future of Work organised by the European Confederation of Independent trade unions and Bertelsmann Foundation

On 26th and 27th of June, the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) and the Bertelsmann Foundation hosted the Conference “Summer Days – The Future of Work: Legal frame, interest representation and social protection. The event involved with the Centre for European Policy Studies and the European Policy Studies two of the main, European affairs think tanks, as well as speakers from the European Commission/DG Employment and the ILO.

A first session with Martin Risak, Professor of Law from the University of Vienna and Birgit Wintermann from the Bertelsmann Foundation focused on advantages and risks linked to the changing word of work. A second session centred around the employment status of people in new forms of work and the rising share of self-employed and bogus self-employed in new forms of work. The third session then centred around new ways of social protection, addressing the transferability and portability of rights, but also the coverage of adequacy of social protection in new forms of work. First findings of the European Policy Centre Task Force on Social Protection in the 21st century were introduced in this session by the European Policy Centre. The final session then centred around interest representation and the role of employers and trade unions in the changing world of work.

WEC-Europe’s Public Affairs Manager Michael Freytag participated in the conference and contributed actively in the debate, putting forward key messages of the World Employment Confederation-Europe on the changing world of work ad on social innovation.


The Conference provided an excellent opportunity for contributing to the European debates on social protection and the changing world of work. Due to the organisers, a large share of the participants had a trade union background and a rather critical view on diverse forms of work and the changing world of work.

Abbreviations

ALDE Alliance of liberals and democrats in Europe

CEPS Centre for European Policy Studies

ECB European Central Bank

EP European Parliament

EPC European Policy Centre

EPP European People’s Party

EU European Union

S&D Socialists and Democrats

Advocacy Report - AMECH · 2019-07-01 · Advocacy Report N°6/2019, June 2019 World Employment...

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