Documents UNI Europa, Brussels 12 results

"The European minimum wage directive offers the European trade union movement a historic opportunity to rebuild its power by strengthening collective bargaining.
With the European minimum wage directive adopted in 2022, all European countries will be obliged to protect and promote collective bargaining. Where collective bargaining coverage is below 80 per cent, they will be obliged to draw up and implement national action plans in 2025 to increase coverage. This will be the first time in history for so many European countries to be legally obliged to think about, consider and plan concrete actions and measures to strengthen trade unions and employers' organisations to negotiate agreements for workers."

"This report highlights how advancements in the EU's Green Public Procurement (GPP) process can pave the way for progress in Socially Responsible Public Procurement (SRPP). GPP and SRPP complement each other in the shared goal of transforming the EU into a fair and prosperous society with a modern and competitive economy as outlined in the EU Green Deal. This social dimension in public procurement also reflects the EU's commitments to the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the United Nations 2030 Agenda, and the Porto 2021 Social Commitment.
In this summary report, UNI Europa conducts a comparative analysis, mapping advancements in
the public procurement across several sectoral files encompassing Green Public Procurement (GPP)
in relation to Socially Responsible Public Procurement (SRPP), while evaluating them in comparison
to the previous legislative files:
1. Clean Vehicles Directive
2. Energy Performance of Buildings Directive
3. Energy Efficiency Directive
4. Net Zero Industry Act Regulation
5. Energy Labelling Directive & Regulation
6. Batteries Regulation Directive & Regulation
7. Ecodesign of Sustainable Products Directive & Regulation
8. Construction Products Regulation
9. Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive & Regulation."

"The digital future is already here - the digitalisation of Europe is exciting but carries with it challenges as well as opportunities. Europe needs to respond quickly to this development to ensure that it leads to economic growth, quality jobs, a skilled workforce and social justice.The European Commission has responded to digital development with the Digital Single Market Package (the DSM Package) and with it hopes to ensure the proper functioning of the single market by facilitating digitalisation and addressing challenges like geo-blocking, EU copyright and telecom rules, and high costs of parcel delivery in Europe.Although UNI Europa welcomes the Commission's effort to respond to digital development, it finds the Commission's approach too narrow and consumer-focused and lacking in emphasis on how this development affects workers, industries and services.

UNI Europa calls on the Commission to ensure a broader focus in its digital agenda, in order that it empowers European citizens, fosters cohesion and is inclusive of the needs, rights and ambitions of all Europeans.While new possibilities, in terms of better information and communication, more productivity, economic growth and smart services, are promising, there is also a dark side to digitalisation which can negatively impact European citizens and industries. We need to make sure further digitalisation isn't coupled with wage dumping, mass redundancies, excessively dominant online platforms (including sharing economy portals), precarious working conditions, a rise in atypical employment and the invasion of employee privacy (personal data). ..."

"The Arts, Media and Entertainment sector is characterised by project-based work and freelancing traditions which means it is likely to be ahead of the curve and show trends now that will likely expand in the future with new working relationships driven, among other things, by the rise of internet platforms and other forms of digital working.
Working conditions of atypical workers in European labour markets show a range of factors that could contribute to precariousness and vulnerability
- little or no job security or legal/conventional/contractual protection;
- insecure, low or inadequate income;
- absence of worker choice regarding basic working conditions such as workplace, job description, working time, etc;
absence of proper social protection in case of unemployment, pregnancy and maternity, incapacity (e.g. sickness, accidents) and old age;
- low health and safety standards;
- limited access to training opportunities;
- limited trade union representation or collective bargaining coverage.
There are growing concerns amongst unions, and indeed policy-makers, that many forms of work arrangements do not provide workers with adequate protection and are increasingly resulting in precarious work. Regulatory frameworks, enforcement and labour inspections systems, active labour market policies and the judicial systems will need updating to be accessible to all workers, regardless of the nature of their employment relationship or work arrangement."

"After 3 years of surveys carried in 13 European countries, it is clear that platform work is here to stay, and even growing at a rapid pace. It has become a way to gain additional income for many people across Europe, with particularly high levels in European countries where salaries are low.
At the same time, we see digital management practices we often associate with platform work, such as rating systems and the online logging of work hours, spreading to conventional forms of employment.
Hence, the ‘platform dynamic' that involves precarious work, reduced worker autonomy, and flexibility for the employer, not the worker, is gaining prominence in European labour markets. In other words, we see the 'platformisation of work'. Luckily, this is not an inevitable feature of platform technology. At the end, the authors stimulate thinking about platform applications that do not exploit workers and support public policy goals."