Documents opinion 19 results

"A controversial legal opinion calling for the annulment of the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages (AMWD) was based on a “historically mistaken” reading of EU law that failed to consider established case law.
Last month, Advocate General Emiliou delivered an Opinion on a case brought by Denmark against the European Parliament and the Council of the EU which called for the annulment of the entire Directive on the grounds “it is incompatible with Article 153(5) of the treaties.”
The ETUC rejects this argument and is looking to the Court to come to a different conclusion and not follow the non-binding proposals of the Advocate General, and instead to uphold the AMWD in its entirety for the following reasons:
The Advocate General reached his conclusions by failing to attach sufficient weight or even to recognise important aspects of the international and European legal framework or relevant case law;
The AG also ignores the social objectives the EU is obliged to deliver upon under the treaties in general and under Social Policy title in particular, as well as the specificities of social directives leaving sufficient flexibility to member states and social partners to reach those objectives while implementing the AMWD;
The methodology applied by the Advocate General furthermore demonstrates several shortcomings, together with certain inconsistencies and a lack of contextualisation;
The Advocate General relied on a literal and technical interpretation of the ‘pay' exclusion which is not consistent with the Treaties, EU secondary law and, in particular, the established case law of the CJEU"

"Wie denken Lohnabhängige über den Kapitalismus und seine Zukunft? Welche Gesellschaftsbilder lassen sich identifizieren? Woraus speist sich alltägliche Kritik? Und was bindet ArbeiterInnen und Angestellte dennoch an den Status quo?
Die hier präsentierten empirischen Studien zeigen die Grundstruktur eines
Arbeitsbewusstseins, das mit der Formel »guter Betrieb, schlechte Gesellschaft« beschrieben wird. Ungerechtigkeits- und Missachtungserfahrungen sind unter den Lohnabhängigen weit verbreitet; sie lösen mitunter sogar Gewaltfantasien aus. Es mangelt aber an einem mit Handlungsperspektiven verknüpften intellektuellen Bezugssystem, das solche Stimmungen politisch bündeln könnte.
Daher bleiben radikale Proteste aus und die Arbeitenden beziehen sich trotz krisenbedingter Zumutungen positiv auf »ihren« Betrieb. Zwischen identitätsstiftendem Betriebs- und kritischem Gesellschaftsbewusstsein besteht subjektiv kaum ein Zusammenhang. Die finanzkapitalistische Landnahme verfügt daher trotz Krise über eine stabile Basis in den Subjekten."

"The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) commissioned Ipsos MORI to develop and conduct a poll of full-time, part-time and self-employed workers aged 18+ about occupational health and safety. Ipsos MORI carried out fieldwork in 31 European countries, conducting a total of 16,622 interviews between 23rd November 2012 and 5th February 2013. The poll is based on a sample of workers, rather than the entire population. The results are therefore subject to sampling tolerances. Although comparisons between country and European data may be included for reference purposes, only those differences between groups of workers at country level (e.g. by age or gender) that are statistically significant are presented in this report. In addition, it is important to bear in mind that the research deals with perceptions rather than facts."