Ciett & Eurociett Public Affairs Report

June 2016 N° 5/2016

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Table of content

International Public Affairs Topics

Successful World Employment Conference in New Delhi 2

Capacity building for Ciett members in the South East Asian Region organised in New Delhi

3

ILO C181 reaches 32 ratifications with Mali 4

ILO publishes the World Employment and Social Outlook 5

ILO International Labour Conference: Conclusions on decent work in global supply chains adopted

6

ITUC poll ranks countries based on their non-respect of workers’ rights

7

Ciett takes part in the OECD Annual Forum 8 Group of multinational companies launch initiative on

responsible recruitment 9

Eurociett PA Priorities

New Skills Agenda for Europe published by DG Employment

10

Commission Communication on collaborative economy issued

10

Eurociett contributes to debate on EU Pillar of Social Rights

11

European Commission presents 2016 country-specific recommendations

12

Posting of Workers: EU Member States from central and eastern Europe raise objections to revision of the Directive

12

EURES Reform: Putting in place the new regulation 13

Meeting of the CEOs of Adecco, Manpower and Randstad with EU Commissioner Thyssen

13

EU Sectoral Social Dialogue: New project proposal prepared and update of the joint work programme / meeting with David Dion, Head of Unit Social Dialogue at DG Employment

13

Further European Affairs News

Eurociett EU Public Affairs Manager appointed as expert of the EU Centre of Expertise in the field of labour law and employment policy

14

Launch event of the EU Platform on the prevention of undeclared work

14

Final text of the EU Data protection regulation published 15

Slovakia takes over the rotating EU Council Presidency on 1

st July 2016

15

European Network of Public Employment Services Conference on long-term unemployment

15

National Public Affairs News

Singapore and ILO renew partnership on decent work 15

India: Flexi staff to grow to 2.9 million b 2018 15

Germany: National discussions on the stricter agency work regulation are progressing

16

Turkey: National law on temporary agency work adopted by the parliament and signed by the president

16

Ciett & Eurociett Positions

Ciett briefing on decent

work in global supply

chains

Summary report of the

Ciett World Employment

Conference 2016

Eurociett Position Paper on

the revision of the Posting

of Workers Directive

Upcoming events

22 June 2016: Eurociett EU

Public Affairs Manager Michael

Freytag to give a presentation

at a meeting of the German

Eurociett member BAP

28 June 2016: Sandro Pettineo

(Global PA Manager) will take

part in roundtable with brands

and user companies on ethical

recruitment in London

29 June 2016: Ciett/Eurociett

Managing Director to address

ETUC conference on the future

of work (ETUC)

6 July 2016: Eurociett meeting

with the new leadership of the

European Trade Union

Confederation (ETUC)

Contact us

In case you have questions on the public affairs report:

Ciett & Eurociett Secretariat Tel. 0032 2 – 421 1586 info@ciett.org www.ciett.org

Ciett & Eurociett Public Affairs Report

June 2015 N° 5 /2015

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Ciett World Employment Conference in New Delhi

A special thank you from the whole Ciett family to

Rituparna Chakraborty,

Suchita Dutta and the whole

ISF team for having

organised this great

conference!

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International Public Affairs

Successful World Employment Conference in New Delhi

On 25-27 May the 49th

Ciett World Employment Conference took place in New Delhi, India. The event was very successful as it brought together some 300 recruitment and employment specialists from over 35 countries and top-level policy-makers (ILO, OECD, IOM), key stakeholders (IOE, WAPES), user companies (Tata Group, IBM, Flipkart, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance), international organisations and partners (SIA) to discuss the role the industry can play in the changing world of work.

The theme of the conference was "the employment and recruitment industry in the new era of employment”, or Karmayug. A topic currently on top of the agendas of many organisations, including the OECD, ILO and the IOE.

The conference was hosted by the Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) and was a very fruitful event because it managed to raise the profile of the industry in India as well as at the regional level. The conference was supported by the Indian Ministry of Labour and Employment, and the minister, the Honourable Shi Bandaru Dattatreya, opened the conference, along with Ciett President, Annemarie Muntz, and ISF President, Rituparna Chakraborty.

During the World Employment Conference, ISF launched its latest report that provides an insight on the Indian staffing market, its complexity and its potential.

Ciett assessment: During the internal day, Ciett explored the challenges of the changing world of work with Ambassador Nicolas Niemtchinow, responsible of the ILO Future of Work Centenary Initiative, while at the National Federations Committee, member associations discussed common challenges and exchanged best practices.

Finally, the General Assembly approved the ongoing process of rebranding and repositioning of Ciett and elected two new Board Members, Mr Charles Cameron as the new Quality Standards & Compliance Officer and Mr Ian Grundy as the new Regional Representative for South East Asia.

A more detailed account of the conference can be found on the Ciett website, as well as the opening speech of Annemarie Muntz, and the closing address of the Ciett Vice-President, Hans Leentjes. You can also access the presentations of the conference in the Ciett Intranet.

For those that could not join the conference, you can take a peek at some of the pictures taken during the event.

Now it’s up to Prism’emploi, the French federation, to organise the next conference, which will take place on 27-29 September 2017 in Paris. This conference will be especially important because it will mark the 50

th anniversary of Ciett, which was founded in 1967 in

Paris. Please mark these dates in your calendars! Capacity building for Ciett members in the South East Asian Region organised in New Delhi

On 24 May, Ciett organised a capacity building for national federations of private employment agencies in South East Asia and the Middle East in New Delhi, India.

The event was financed through the ILO Fair Recruitment Initiative and was a follow-up to the capacity building workshop held on 3-4 March in Bangkok, Thailand.

The workshop, organised in cooperation with the ILO International Training Centre (ITC-ILO), aimed at professionalising national federations of private employment agencies as a way to

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improve the image of the industry and to raise quality of services of their member companies. Having professional associations and member agencies is essential to uphold ethical and responsible recruitment practices, especially in cross-border activities involving countries with no or little regulation on the industry.

The training was given by Ms Jeanne Schmitt from the employers’ activities department of the ITC-ILO. Representatives of national federations of agencies from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Lebanon (as countries of the Fair Recruitment Initiative) as well as from the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia took part. Among the other participants there were some ISF member agencies and ILO representatives from the Delhi office.

In addition, Tom Hadley (REC, UK), Jurrien Koops (ABU, NL), and Jakob Tietge (Dansk Erhverv) shared their experiences as more mature federations.

The conference took place one day prior to the Ciett World Employment Conference 2016, at the Taj Palace Hotel, and some of the participants in the capacity building were invited as observers in the Annual Conference as a way to exchange with other Ciett members from around the world and to discuss relevant topics for the industry from the global perspective.

Ciett assessment: The event was well attended, around 35 participants, and it explored the services to members that national federations can provide to remain relevant and effective.

As such, the issue of fair recruitment was part of the discussion among different national federations as it is the responsibility of the national federations to ensure that their members operate according to national law and deliver high quality services to improve the image of the industry and raise its profile.

ILO C181 reaches 32 ratifications with Mali

Earlier in May, Mali ratified the ILO Convention on Private Employment Agencies, 1997 (No. 181). Convention No. 181 is now at 32 total ratifications, showing the growing support for this instrument as a way to fight unemployment, improve labour market participation, and deliver decent work. Last year, three countries ratified the instrument: Niger, Mongolia and France.

The benefits of the private employment services industry when appropriately regulated along the principles of Convention No. 181 have been also recently recognised by the latest ILO World Employment and Social Outlook (see story below).

Notably, the report stresses that private employment services, together with the public ones, are central to deliver skills development policies and in realising the right to work. Furthermore, Convention No. 181 has provisions that protect workers from the risks of encountering poor working conditions.

Strengthening the stance of the Convention, the latest conclusions of the committee on global supply chains at the ILC also recognise that C181 is one of the relevant instruments that has to be promoted to uphold decent work in global supply chains. The Convention will enter into force next year.

Ciett assessment: This is a very positive signal that reinforces the need to adopt appropriate regulation on the industry. Ciett will continue to work with the ILO to promote the Convention and support other governments in ratifying the instrument.

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ILO publishes the World Employment and Social Outlook on transforming jobs to end poverty

On 19 May 2016 the ILO published the World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO) 2016: Transforming jobs to end poverty.

The report offers an in-depth analysis on how several factors, like income inequality and the availability of quality jobs in developing and developed countries, have influenced poverty and it provides policy recommendations to end poverty to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

The report finds that over 36% of the emerging and developing world live in poverty – on a daily income of less than US$ 3.10 purchasing power parity (PPP).

In order to eradicate poverty by 2030, it will be needed around 10 Trillion US Dollars. To generate this kind of money, the report calls for the creation more and better jobs.

In particular chapter 3 looks at how jobs should be transformed in order to end poverty.

In a nutshell, the report recommends:

Better quality jobs;

Strengthen rights at work and enable employer and worker organizations to reach the poor;

Alleviate poverty through well-designed employment and social policies;

Reinforce governments’ capacity to implement poverty-reducing policies and standards;

Boosting resources and making the rich aware of their responsibility;

Involve the ILO in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal.

The WESO features some critical figures, for example:

The report considers temporary employment in the developed countries and informality in the developing ones, see for example appendix D and figure 1D.1 on page 32. This is inappropriate and misleading, because these are two different things, so they should not be put together.

Furthermore, on page 55, the report finds that the working poor are over represented in temporary work. Yet, it also finds that 66% of waged salaried poor have a permanent employment contract.

On the more positive side, the report recognises:

(Page 123) “the establishment of public or private employment services are central to deliver skills development policies and in realising the right to work”;

(Page 124) C181 has provisions to protect workers employed via private employment agencies and they as such “do not run the risk of encountering poor working conditions”.

(Page 175) private employment services can also complement public employment services (PES), in ways that facilitate the achievement of decent work goals. The Ciett Economic report is also quoted in this sentence.

Ciett assessment: Although the report is relevant to Ciett only marginally because it focuses mostly on poverty and on developing countries, it is still important because it shows that job creation is the key factor in fighting poverty. This resonates in the new Ciett positioning, where Ciett members state that the employment and recruitment industry enables prosperity.

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The report overall represents a good achievement because it points at ILO Convention No. 181 as one of the standards that fight poverty by delivering decent work, and it explicitly refers to the role of private employment services and their contribution in the labour market.

ILO International Labour Conference: Conclusions on decent work in global supply chains adopted

From 30 May to 10 June the ILO held the 105

th session of the International Labour

Conference (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

On the agenda there were the recurrent committees, such as the Committee on the Application of Standards, and the one on Advancing social justice: reviewing the impact of the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation. Along with the recurrent discussions, there was also the committee on decent work in global supply chains and the one on employment and decent work for the transition to peace.

The discussion on global supply chains was of major interest for Ciett because as employment and recruitment agencies Ciett members are part of the labour supply chain and could be affected by the negotiations.

Although this was not a standard setting discussion, the high stakes and expectations of trade unions and employers’ delegations, in conjunction with the fact that this was the first attempt of the ILO to address global supply chains, made the committee a very polarised one.

Notably, this was the case because the discussion could prepare the ground for future adoption of a convention of global supply chains, which was an objective of the trade unions, headed by the Dutch Catelene Passchier, while the employers, led by the US Ed Potter, totally rejected such possibility. The text of the conclusions can be downloaded from here.

One of the difficult parts in the text was paragraph 3, which mentions that “informality, non-standard forms of employment and the use of intermediaries are common”. Although the association of non-standard forms of employment + informality + intermediaries is not ideal, it was very difficult to find a compromise on the paragraph as the trade unions were very tough.

Other references to non-standard forms of employment are to be found in paragraphs 16 (i) and 16 (j), which are, given the circumstances, acceptable, especially 16 (j) incorporates the language from the meeting of experts on non-standard forms of employment of February 2015.

On the more positive side, the conclusions:

Reflect the separation of the responsibility between governments (duty to protect) and business (duty to respect), in accordance with the UN guiding principles on business and human rights – which Ciett and the IOE advocated for;

Recognise, among the relevant ILO instruments to promote decent work in global supply chains, the ILO Convention on Private Employment Agencies, 1997 (No. 181), which the ILO should continue to encourage ratification.

As future action, the ILO will conduct further research on global supply chains and decent work and a meeting of experts will be held in the future to discuss failures that lead to decent work deficits in global supply chains and consider what measures can be taken to

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address them, including capacity building, specific programmes or standards.

As for the text of the conclusions on employment and decent work for the transition to peace, thanks to Bev Jack (South Africa), in paragraph 25 (e) on labour law, labour administration and labour market information, there is a call to “establish or restore and strengthen public employment services, including emergency employment services, ensure the regulation of private employment agencies, and promote a synergy between all labour market actors […]”. In addition, Convention No. 181 is listed in the annex of ILO conventions relevant to employment and decent work for peace and resilience.

Ciett assessment: The discussion on global supply chains proved to be quite tough, especially because the workers were united, while the employers’ delegation was less assertive, at least at the beginning of the discussion, in defending its ground.

Nevertheless, given the circumstances and the great contribution of some of our members, including Ciett President, Annemarie Muntz, and especially the tireless and committed work of Greg Chen from ABADI (Indonesia), who was sitting in the drafting committee and negotiating until late at night, the final text has overall improved from previous versions.

Overall, even though it started a bit rough, the employers managed to avoid that this general discussion would lead to a Convention. In fact it is now up to the meeting of experts – to be held in the future – to look more in depth into how to address decent work deficits. So, de facto, the whole discussion has been put off until the next meeting of experts.

In fact, the trade unions are already looking to push for the same agenda in the next meeting of experts. Reading their reactions after the ILC, it is clear that they will re-table their objectives. The ITUC quoted Sharan Burrow (Secretary General) and Catelene Passchier (spokesperson for the workers in the discussion) still pushing for the adoption of a convention. Sharan Burrow maintained that: “a convention that requires governments to hold companies to account is essential and these conclusions allow this debate to continue”; while Catelene Passchier said that: “Everyone is connected [in global supply chains] but no-one is responsible. We need accountability and governance, particularly from the ‘economic employer’, the lead firm in the supply chain. We need standards that apply wherever the supply chain reaches”. A similar call has been echoed by Philip Jennings Secretary General of UNI Global. Ciett will continue to monitor the discussion and liaise with the IOE for future ILO meetings on the topic.

ITUC poll ranks countries based on their non-respect of workers’ rights

The ITUC published its assessment on how workers’ rights are observed and respected around the world.

The survey ranks 141 countries based on their ability to respect workers’ rights (mostly collective bargaining and freedom of association) on a scale from 1, indicating irregular violation of rights, to 5 no guarantee of rights; there is also the 5+ countries where there is no respect of workers’ rights due to the breakdown of the general rule of law.

The survey, which is built on a list of composite indicators based on ILO documents, including the ILO supervisory system and the digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee of the Governing Body of the ILO, is set up in a way that there is no good country, but simply less bad ones for workers, i.e. countries in category 1,

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such as Austria, Denmark, Uruguay, etc. The Middle East and Northern Africa regions are the worst for workers’ rights.

The survey also tracks the evolution and the trends in some countries and compare them to last year’ score. Indonesia, Paraguay, Belgium and Serbia have worsened their ranking, while Ireland and Canada have improved it from 2015.

Finally, the last part of the report documents the violations and the examples that have determined and that justify the current score for each country. Yet at first look, it is a collection of cases and anecdotes that could be true, but quoting the case of 6 workers in China (p. 53) that were sacked after leading a strike and detained by the police, hardly makes a case for a trend or development in the whole country.

Ciett assessment: The report, which can be downloaded from the ITUC website, represents an interesting publication that provides insight on potential arguments that trade unions will be using in the future, including in tripartite meetings at the ILO and other forums.

The report is accompanied by an infographic on violation of workers’ rights, and one on the ten worst countries for working people.

Ciett takes part in the OECD Annual Forum

On 31 May and 1 June, Annemarie Muntz (Ciett President) and Denis Pennel (Ciett Managing Director) took part in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) annual forum in Paris.

The general theme for this year is "Productive Economies, Inclusive Societies”, which explored:

Productivity and inclusive growth;

Innovation and the digital economy;

International collaboration.

Under each of these sub-themes, the Forum addressed different topics, such as: access to quality jobs, integrating migrants, the future of work and education, and boosting trade and investment.

Under the future of work theme, Randstad CEO, Jacques van den Broek spoke in the panel on the digital economy and its impact on the labour market of today and tomorrow. The panel particularly reflected on the role of online platforms that are enabling workers to hold multiple jobs and at the same time, with the new way of organising work, they are challenging the traditional employer-employee relationship.

The OECD Forum is a major international conference that brings together governments, business, civil society and academia to exchange ideas and debate policies.

The Forum took place one day prior to the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM), the executive body of the organisation, where the Ministers confirmed their international commitments to tackle some of the major economic, social and environmental challenges, particularly the slow growth rate of the global economy, weak trade and investment and high levels of unemployment.

During the OECD week, some key reports were published, such as the Economic Outlook and the update of the Better Life Index.

The Outlook finds that the global economy is stuck in a situation of low growth that will

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require more coordinated and comprehensive use of fiscal, monetary and structural policies to move to a higher growth path. While the update of the Better Life Index shows that being healthy and having a good job are two major elements that contribute to happiness.

Ciett assessment: The OECD Forum is a great platform for networking and for exploring themes of global relevance, such as the future of work.

In fact, under the lens of the digital economy, the Forum addressed how to harness the benefits of the current revolution in technology, and ensure the creation of quality jobs and economic growth.

Ciett participated in the Forum and strengthened its position as thought leader in the changing world of work. Ciett will continue to work with the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) to contribute to the various policy initiatives both ongoing and upcoming at the OECD.

Group of multinational companies launch initiative on responsible recruitment

Earlier in May, a group of 5 multinational companies the Coca-Cola Company, HP Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IKEA, and Unilever; launched a new initiative: the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment, which focuses on promoting ethical recruitment practices and combating the exploitation of migrant workers in global supply chains across industries.

The five founding companies committed to the “employer-pays” principle, which in other words is the no-fee charging provision of the Ciett code of conduct. In their press release, the Leadership Group stated that over the coming months to “develop a practical roadmap to underpin this call to action, a valuable tool for companies as they report under the UK Modern Slavery Act, California Transparency in Supply Chains Act and the US Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).”

The work of the Leadership Group is supported by a number of NGOs and advocacy groups, the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, and Verité. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) was also invited at the launch of the initiative.

Ciett assessment and next steps: This is an initiative that stems from the concerns of multinational companies in managing their supply chains and the conditions of recruitment of workers across their operations. It is complementary with other similar initiatives where Ciett is directly involved, namely the Fair Recruitment Initiative of the ILO and the International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS) of the IOM.

Ciett will monitor the initiative and will contribute to its work as to create synergies between various programmes that aim at enhancing protection of migrant workers. Under the Fair Recruitment Initiative, Ciett is closely working with the IHRB and Verité, and on 28 June a roundtable with companies and brands will be organised to raise awareness on the Fair Recruitment Initiative and its objectives, i.e. promote appropriate regulation on employment and recruitment agencies (ILO Convention No. 181) and consolidate national federations of agencies.

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Top European Public Affairs Priorities

New Skills Agenda for Europe published by the European Commission

On the 10th

of June, the European Commission published its “New Skills Agenda for Europe”, a flagship initiative in the area of human capital, employability and competitiveness. The Communication first looks at an assessment of current skills needs, mismatches and shortages, the rising need and relevance of digital skills and then focuses on three main priorities for an EU skills policy, namely:

- To improve the quality and relevance of skills formation, focusing on basic skills, but also the need for more complex and higher skills, including a renewed focus on vocational education and training as well as on digital skills.

- Making skills and qualifications more visible and comparable: Here the EU Commission focuses on improving transparency and comparability of skills and on an early profiling of migrants and refugees entering EU labour markets

- Improving skills intelligence and information for better career choices. In this third dimension, the European Commission focuses on better information on skill needs, on bosting skills intelligence and cooperation in economic sectors and on better understanding the performance of graduates.

The EU Commission proposes an EU Skills Agenda focusing on more work-based learning and partnerships between education and business, increased mobility and more opportunities for the validation of non-formal and informal learning. Finally the EU Commission underlines that existing EU funding instruments, such as the European Social Funds should be used to implement the New Skills Agenda for Europe and that the Europe 2020 European Semester will be used to ensure effective policy coordination between the EU Member States.

The EU Commission Communication also includes 10 concrete actions in the area of skills and qualifications, including a Council Recommendation for a Skills Guarantee, a proposal to support vocational education and training, the launch of a “Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition” and a skills profile tool for third country nationals. The employment and recruitment industry is specially referred to with regard to its contribution in providing skills assessment for refugees and migrant workers.

Eurociett Actions:

1. A first, positive assessment of the New Skills Agenda for Europe has been drafted by the Eurociett Secretariat and circulated to the Public Affairs Committee.

2. On the day of publication, Eurociett issued a PR statement and used social media channels to comment on the EU Commission initiative.

3. Eurociett (Michael Freytag) has also attended a high-level launch event on the New Skills Agenda for Europe, which took place on 20

th June 2016.

EU Commission Communication on the collaborative economy issued

On 2nd

of June 2016, the European Commission adapted “A European agenda for the collaborative economy”. The collaborative or sharing economy is a fast growing business activity, including a broad range of economic activities and sectors (house sharing, passengers’ transport, and household services). The Commission defines the collaborative economy as “business models where activities are facilitated by collaborative platforms that create an open marketplace for temporary usage of goods

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and services often provided by private individuals.” The collaborative economy involves three actors, namely the service provider, the user of these services and intermediaries that connect, via online platforms providers and users.

The EU Commission Communication looks at several key issues of the collaborative economy, namely

- Market access requirements (looking at the professional service provision and the role of collaborative platforms)

- Liability regimes linked to collaborative economy models

- The protection of the users of collaborative platforms

- The status and position of self-employed and workers in the collaborative economy

- Taxation issues

The European Commission calls for monitoring these collaborative economy models, including period surveys, the mapping of regulatory developments, the establishment of a stakeholder dialogue in the context of the EU Single Market Forum and the summing up the monitoring in the EU Single Market Scoreboard.

Eurociett Actions:

1. A first summary and assessment of the collaborative economy Communication has been circulated on the day of publication to the Eurociett PA Committee members. A press statement has been issued.

2. Later in June or early July 2016, a Eurociett opinion piece on the EU Single Market and the collaborative economy will be published by Michael Freytag on Euractiv.

3. Jointly with Eurociett members, the initiative is currently further assessed and next actions ore planned. Given the close links of this initiative to EU and global debates on the changing world of work, Eurociett will most certainly publish a comprehensive position paper on the topic.

Eurociett contributes to debates on EU pillar of social rights

Following the launch of the Consultation on an EU Pillar of Social Rights, the political discussion at EU level has started. The EU Pillar of Social Rights looks at the modernisation of the EU Directives and Regulations in the area of employment and social affairs, aims to restore convergence of European economies and assesses the impact of the changing world of work on labour markets and society. Concretely, the EU Pillar of Social Rights includes three focus areas, namely:

- Equal opportunities and access to the labour market

- Fair working conditions, establishing a balance between right and obligations, as well as been security and flexibility and including a focus on social dialogue

- Adequate and sustainable social protection systems, including access to services such as childcare, healthcare and long-term care.

Eurociett Actions:

1. A Eurociett contribution to the Consultation on an EU Pillar of Social Rights is currently being drafted in close cooperation with the Eurociett PA Committee and under the overall supervision and direction of the Eurociett Board.

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2. Eurociett participated in a special EU social partners’ consultation seminar on the EU Pillar of Social Rights organised by the European Commission on 6

th of

June 2016. Eurociett’s Managing Director Denis Pennel was invited to join the employers group coordinated by BusinessEurope and intervened in the discussion focusing on the role of the employment and recruitment industry in a changing world of work.

3. On 13th

June 2016, the Eurociett EU Public Affairs Manager Michael Freytag welcomed a group of 15 students form the University of Amsterdam at the Eurociett offices to give a presentation on the EU Pillar of Social Rights and the related Eurociett advocacy on the topic.

4. On 15th

June 2016, a Eurociett delegation (Annemarie Muntz, Denis Pennel and Michael Freytag) implemented a high-level meeting with Allan Larsson, special advisor to Commission President Juncker on the EU Pillar of Social Rights.

European Commission presents 2016 country specific recommendations for labour market reforms

On 18th

of May, the European Commission published the 2016 edition of the country-specific recommendations of the Europe 2020 Strategy, which are based on the priorities of the Annual Growth Survey and the national reform programmes submitted by the EU Member States.

As in previous years, a broad range of issues are being addressed in the country-specific recommendations, including a focus on employment protection for workers and the framework for labour contracts, active labour market policies, skills and life-long learning as well as competition in the services sector.

While the employment and recruitment industry is not directly or specifically addressed in the recommendations, there are some recommendations that could be of interest to our industry, namely a call to strengthen business services and to remove regulatory burdens and unjustified restrictions for business services (of which the employment and recruitment industry forms part of), the need to strengthen the effectiveness of public employment services and the need for more cooperation between public and private employment services being referred to in the national country reports prepared by the Commission and finally, for the Netherlands, the need to further facilitate the transition from fixed-term to permanent contracts.

Eurociett Action: Eurociett maintained close contacts with the relevant units of DG Employment and issued a press statement on day of publication of the Europe 2020 country-specific recommendations.

Posting of Workers: EU Member States from central and eastern Europe raise objections to revision of the Directive

The political discussions on the revision of the Posting of Workers Directive have raised sharp opposition from several EU Member States. More than ten EU countries, mainly from central and eastern Europe (including Poland, Denmark and the Czech Republic) have triggered the so-called “yellow-card procedure”, raising objections to the Commission proposal arguing that it does not respect the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity. The EU Commission will now re-assess its proposal and has the options of maintaining, amending or withdrawing it. At this stage, an official statement from the European Commission is not expected prior to the UK referendum. In the European Parliament, discussions are progressing and MEPs are interested to obtain the input from stakeholders. The Dutch EU Council Presidency issued a progress report on the discussions in the Council working group, which was presented during the Employment Council meeting on 16/17 June 2016.

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Eurociett Actions: A Eurociett Position Paper on the Revision of the Posting of Workers Directive has ben drafted and endorsed by the Eurociett Public Affairs Committee. A Eurociett delegation (Annemarie Muntz, Denis Pennel, Michael Freytag and Mathilde Bonnichon implemented face to-to-face meetings with the EP rapporteurs Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (MEP/EPP/France) and Agnes Jongerius (MEP/S&D/NL). In parallel, Eurociett monitors closely the discussions linked to the yellow-card procedure.

EURES Reform: Putting the new regulation in practice

Following the adoption of the EU Regulation on the reform of the European Mobility Scheme EURES, focus is shifting on the implementation and application of the Regulation in practice. On 6

th June, the European Commission organised a half day launch event on

EURES, involving national EURES advisors, EU Social Partners, the European Commission and European Parliament.

Eurociett Actions: The Eurociett Vice-President Bettina Schaller was invited as one of the main speakers to a panel debate on the opportunity and challenges of the new EURES Regulation.

In parallel, some Eurociett members have started discussions at national level on the implementation of the EURES reform. In the Netherlands, a cooperation agreement has been signed on 17

th June 2016, establishing a cooperation between the Dutch

employment and recruitment industry, the national federation ABU and the public employment service to implement the new partnership principle of the EURES reform.

Meeting of the CEOs of Adecco, Manpower and Randstad with Commissioner Thyssen

On 2nd

June, the CEO’s of Adecco, Manpower and Randstad had a joint meeting with the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Mobility Marianne Thyssen. The meeting focused on broader labour market trends and challenges linked to demographic shifts, technological change and changing skills needs, but also on concrete EU policy priorities, such as the revision of the Posting of Workers Directive, the reformed EURES network and the offer of the CEO’s to set up a Workshop/Roundtable on issues related to the changing world of work

Eurociett Actions: While the meeting was requested and organised by the headquarters of the three Eurociett corporate members, the Eurociett Secretariat provided support by drafting a briefing and by providing background information on current EU employment and social affairs dossiers.

EU Sectoral Social Dialogue: New project proposal prepared and update of the joint work programme / meeting with David Dion, Head of Unit Social Dialogue at DG Employment

Activities in the context of the EU Sectoral Social Dialogue currently focus on the following key areas:

- To launch a project proposal to the European Commission to fund the next joint project on online talent platforms and the changing world of work,

- To organise a sectoral social dialogue roundtable event in Turkey in September 2016.

A discussion took place during the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee meeting of June 2016 on open-ended contracts for agency workers in France, on the revision of the Posting of Workers Directive and to adopt the revised sectoral social dialogue work programme.

Eurociett Actions: The Eurociett Secretariat team prepared the project proposal for the next joint project, set up a draft agenda for the roundtable event in Turkey and prepared the discussion with UNI Europa on open-ended contracts, the revised work programme

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and the posting of workers.

On 27 April, Denis Pennel and Michael Freytag implemented a meeting with David Dion, Head of Unit Social Dialogue at DG Employment of the European Commission to present activities and achievements of the EU Sectoral Social Dialogue on temporary agency work, to discuss the need for capacity building and support of sectoral social dialogue particularly in countries of central and eastern Europe and to address the changing world of work. A detailed meeting report is available at the Eurociett Secretariat upon request.

Further European Public Affairs Priorities

Eurociett EU Public Affairs Manager appointed as expert of the EU Centre of Expertise in the field of labour law and employment policy

In April 2016, Eurociett, represented by Michael Freytag, has been appointed as external expert of a newly established European Centre of Expertise in the field of labour law, employment and labour market policy, which is financed by the European Commission and jointly managed by the University of Frankfurt and the UK based-consultancy ICF. The centre of expertise will focus mainly on the following areas:

- EU labour law and national labour law (including collective rights and individual rights)

- Employment protection legislation - Posting of workers - Undeclared work - New forms of employment - Self-employment - Work –life balance

By joining this Centre of Expertise, we would be asked to contribute to some of the themes, while we would not have to cover all of them.

Activities of experts in the Centre of Expertise cover the responding to ad hoc requests for information, the preparation of articles for input to thematic reviews drafted on request of the European Commission, which provide the opportunity to share best-practices of the employment and recruitment industry as well as to develop content, participate in and act as speaker at meetings, conferences and events. In a medium term perspective, the Centre of Expertise might also subcontract specific tasks or analysis activities to the experts belonging the Centre of Expertise.

Launch event of the EU Platform on the prevention of undeclared work

The EU platform on the prevention and deterrence of undeclared work has been official launched during an EU stakeholder conference on 27

th May. The first meeting of the

platform focused on presenting recent research on the phenomenon of undeclared work, on the role of different actors in tackling it and on the priorities, governance and work programme of the European platform on the prevention of undeclared work. Eurociett and the employment and recruitment industry has not been selected as sectoral social partner to contribute to the work of the platform as observer, as the agency work sector is not considered to an economic sector characterised by a high share of undeclared work. At the same time, Eurociett might be invited to some meetings and contribute to debates in an expert capacity.

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Final text of the EU Data protection regulation published

The EU Regulation on data protection has been adopted at EU level and published in the EU official journal early May. The regulation entered into force 20 days after its publication. The regulation aims to remove differences in data protection rules between EU Member States, establish one-stop shops as well as specific data-protection officers to be established at company level. At the same time, the Regulation only established certain European principles, while Member States are allowed to introduce more specific provisions and requirements, for example linked to the role of Works Councils in data protection.

Slovakia takes over the rotating EU Council Presidency on 1st July 2016

Slovakia will take over the rotating EU Council Presidency as of 1st

of July 20106. Among the priorities of the Slovak Presidency is the impact of the UK Referendum on European integration, the posting of workers and work mobility in the EU, the migration/refugee crisis as well as EU – Russian relations. On the posting of workers dossier, the Slovak Presidency aims for fair mobility, respecting the interests of both sending and receiving countries. At the same time, discussions on this dossier are expected to be delayed by the so-called yellow-card procedure triggered by 11, mainly central and eastern European EU Member States, who claim to that the Commission proposal, does not respect the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. More information on the Slovak EU Council Presidency can be found the corresponding website; a calendar of main events can be downloaded here.

European Network of Public Employment Services Conference on long-term unemployment

The European Network of Public Employment Services hosted on 2nd

of June a stakeholder conference on the integration of long-term unemployed into the labour market. The one day event included keynote speeches of Commissioner Thyssen and the chair of the EU Public Employment Services Network Frank-Jürgen Weise, both stressing the need for more and better cooperation between public and private employment services, as well as interventions of Michel Servoz (Director General at DG Employment of the European Commission) and Max Uebe (Head of Unit Employment Policy). Six different workshops throughout the day focused on practical aspects of support to long-term unemployed, including single-points of contacts, service provision to long-term unemployed, cooperation with private employment services and social services as well as on individualised services. Eurociett was represented at the event by Michael Freytag (EU Public Affairs Manager).

National Public Affairs News

Singapore and ILO renew partnership on decent work

The Ministry of Manpower in Singapore and the ILO have renewed their partnership agreement to promote decent work in South East Asia. Under the Agreement, the ILO and the Singapore Ministry of Manpower will work together on activities related to occupational safety and health, tripartism and social dialogue.

The activities proposed include preparation and development of statistics and new data collection methods for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), a regional workshop on OSH and social dialogue, and the organisation of the XXI World Congress on Safety, currently scheduled to be held in September 2017 in Singapore. It will also support the work of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

India: flexi staff to grow to 2.9 million by 2018

According to a report from the Indian Staffing Federation, "Indian Flexi Staffing Industry Research 2016: Sectoral and State Analysis”, India is expected to employ 2.9 million ‘flexi staff’ by 2018, becoming the third largest country to employ contract employees globally.

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The report showed that in 2015, 15 sectors employed 1.81 million flexi staff. It stated that with a growth rate of 12.3% over 2015-18 for 11 states, flexi-staffing is becoming the job creation engine where over 9 million youth would be added to the organised workforce in the next 20 years. The highest growth is expected in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Gujarat.

According to the report, with every 1% conversion of informal workers to flexi, 1.5 million gain access to social security. A legal framework to protect the interest of this growing fraternity and many more ready to be tapped is the need of the hour.

Germany: Discussions on the new law are progressing

The draft German law to reform agency work regulation has been adopted by the cabinet of ministers in May and now enters the parliamentary procedure. The main, controversial elements of the reform, equal treatment after 9 months and a maximum length of assignments of 18 months have been included in the draft law as planned, despite the critics voiced especially by employers’ organisations. A major weakness of the draft law is the fact that it does not include a clear definition of equal pay/equal treatment, which will lead to legal uncertainty. The draft law furthermore provides drastic sanctions in cases of non-compliance. Overall, the draft law is expected to reduce the flexibility and adaptability of the German labour market and have a negative impact on the German employment and recruitment industry. Some moderate, technical improvements have been introduced in the final discussion between the three coalition parties. A more detailed summary and assessment of the draft law (in German) is available at the Eurociett Secretariat.

Turkey: Law on temporary agency work adopted and signed by the President

In Turkey, the first specific law on temporary agency work has been adopted and signed by the President. It now enters implementation phase, involving the adoption of certain further regulations which will be put in place in the coming months. The new law includes a license / authorisation scheme, provides for reasons for use, establishes quotas on the maximum number of agency workers that can be assigned to user companies and trade unions needs to be informed about the use of agency work services and he hiring of agency workers at a client company. The use of agency workers is prohibited to replace workers who are on strike, in cases of mass redundancies in the last six months, in the public sector and the mining industry. The new law provides for equal treatment of the agency workers and includes specific provisions on health and safety at work

Abbreviations

ILO International Labour Organisation

ITUC International Trade Union Congress

EU European Union

OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

IOE International Organisation of Employers

WAPES World Association of Public Employment Services

IOM International Organisation for Migration

CEO Chief Executive Officer

EPP European People Party (party group in the EP)

S&D Socialists and Democrats (party group in the EP)

MEP Member of the European Parliament