22 Amendments of José GUSMÃO related to 2023/2536(RSP)
Amendment 18 #
Recital A
A. whereas social partnershipindustrial relations and collective bargaining between trade unions and representatives of employers at sectoral and national level, ands well as social dialogue at EU level, are key aspects of the European social model, whose shared legacy of social dialogue, workers’ participation, collective bargaining, employee representation on boards, health and safety representation and tripartite system are the building blocks of a diverse and economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future that will contribute to better and more inclusive EU growthdevelopment;
Amendment 33 #
Recital B
B. whereas collective bargaining at the sectoral and cross-industry levels came under pressure or even was dismantled in some Member States in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, deeply contributing to the decline of collective bargaining coverage; whereas the share of workers covered by collective agreements has declined significantly over the past 30 years, with an estimated drop in EU average coverage from about 66 % in 2000 to about 56 % in 201811, owing to labour market reforms in many Member States that decentralised collective bargaining systems, the rise of precarious forms of employment and bogus self-employment; whereas in most Member States, collective bargaining covering rates tend to be higher for employees on permanent contracts and for those working in larger companies; _________________ 11 Visser, Jelle, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies, ‘Database on Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts’, Version 6.1, November 2019.
Amendment 41 #
Recital C
C. whereas European workers and employers are currently facing major challenges stemming from long-standing social challenges, such as poverty, social exclusion, social crises, climate and biodiversity emergencies and inequalities which continue to grow and must be tackled; whereas those challenges and raising inequalities have been exacerbated by the consequences of the pandemic and, since 24 February 2022, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine that has caused an energy and a cost-of- living crisis; whereas these events have shown a pressing need for broader and stronger participation by social partners, especially if the green and digital transitions to a sustainable, fair and social future for the EU are to be achieved; whereas workers or their representatives have the right to be informed and consulted in good time on matters relevant to them, in particular on the transfer, restructuring and merger of undertakings and on collective redundancies;
Amendment 61 #
Recital F
F. whereas some Member States are ensuring an enabling framework for social dialogue, while in some other Member States, social dialogue is under pressure for reasons including legislation that does not sufficiently enable workers to exercise their right to form or to join a trade union at the workplace, legislation that does not sufficiently protect the right to strike nor guarantees the access of trade union representatives to workplaces for the purpose of organising, ineffective consultation procedures, a lack of capacity and strict representational criteria; whereas the EU regulatory landscape in the field of employment law and company law remains excessively fragmented, which could result in a lack of legal certainty on applicable rules and rights for both employers and employees;
Amendment 73 #
Recital H
H. whereas the enabling conditions for a well-functioning social dialogue are: (i) the existence of strong, independent trade unions and technical capacity in employers’ organisations; (ii) access to relevant information and premises to participate in social dialogue; (iii) a commitment from all parties to engage constructively and in good faith in social dialogue; (iv) respect for the fundamental rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining; and (v) appropriate institutional support; (vi) adequate protection against any acts of anti-union discrimination for trade unions’ and workers’ representatives engaging in such processes;
Amendment 79 #
Recital I
I. whereas strong collective bargaining, in particular at sectoral or cross-industry level, contributes to quality jobcreate and preserve quality jobs and has positive impact on wages; whereas trade unions, workers’ representation and participation and collective bargaining coverage are essential for the enforcement of workers’ rights and the proper functioning of companies; whereas action is needed to ensure a balance of bargaining power between employers and trade unions, which can be improved by strengthening relevant legislations to enforce trade unions rights and democracy at work;
Amendment 84 #
Recital L
L. whereas social dialogue and collective bargaining are key instruments for employers and trade unions to use to establish fair wages andand preserve fair wages, to close the pension and gender pay gap, and good quality working conditions; whereas strong collective bargaining systems increase Member States’ resilience in times of economic crisis; whereas societies with strong collective bargaining systems tend to be wealthier and more equal; whereas the right to collective bargaining is an issue that concerns all European workers and that can also have crucial implications for democracy and the rule of law, including respect for fundamental social rights; whereas collective bargaining is a European fundamental right and the EU institutions are bound to respect it by Article 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU; whereas in this context, policies that respect, promote and strengthen collective bargaining and the position of workers in wage-setting systems play a critical role in achieving better working conditions;
Amendment 94 #
Recital M
M. whereas according to Article 152 TFEU, the Union ‘shall facilitate dialogue between the social partners, respecting their autonomy’; whereas in Commission Decision 98/500/EC13, the Commission established sectoral dialogue committees to promote dialogue between social partners across sectors at EU level and laid down precise provisions concerning the establishment, representational make-up and operation of new sectoral committees, intended to be central bodies for consultation, joint initiatives and negotiation that can lead to the conclusion of agreements and their subsequent transposition into EU laws by means of directives; whereas as the Commission acknowledged in its staff working document on the functioning and potential of the European sectoral social dialogue14, these committees have contributed to improving European employment and social policies and working conditions in Europe and have helped design appropriate industrial policies; whereas the Commission concluded that there is a direct correlation between the effectiveness of national social dialogue and effectiveness at European level, and that each influences the other; _________________ 13 Commission Decision 98/500/EC of 20 May 1998 on the establishment of Sectoral Dialogue Committees promoting the Dialogue between the social partners at European level (OJ L 225, 12.8.1998, p. 27). 14 Commission staff working document of 22 July 2010 on the functioning and potential of European sectoral social dialogue (SEC(2010)0964).
Amendment 96 #
Recital N
N. whereas the Commission is responsible for promoting and facilitating European social dialogue in accordance with Article 154 TFEU; whereas European sectoral social partners and their national affiliates should continue to receive support on administrative capacity, legal assistance and representation, representation and EU funding for joint activities through European projects and capacity-building initiatives;
Amendment 99 #
Recital O
O. whereas workers engaging in non- standard forms of work or in new forms of employment suffer from a lack of representation; whereas the emergence of new forms of employment makes it difficult for trade unions to organise and recruit new members; whereas the European Commission has recently adopted new guidelines which make clear EU competition law does not stand in the way of solo self-employed workers engaging in collective bargaining; whereas the right to engage in collective actions and bargaining has been clarified and extended to solo self-employed workers;
Amendment 107 #
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that social dialogue and collective bargaining contribute to the social market economy, one of the aims of the Treaty of LisbonEuropean social model as well as to a sustainable and inclusive economic development,; reiterates that, in line with the Treaties, which explicitly protect the autonomy of social partners and the self- regulatory systems in place in some Member States, social dialogue must be protected in order for social partners to regulate themselves autonomously, ensuring total legitimacy and strong progress on collective agreement coverage; welcomes the Commission proposal for a Council recommendation on strengthening social dialogue in the EU while stressing the need to establish clear coercive instruments in these recommendations that would effectively constraint Member State to improve social dialogue and collective bargaining; stresses that more robust proposals on social conditionality, sanctions or alert system in case social partners are side lined are needed in the Council recommendations; stresses that social dialogue at national and Union level needs to be further improved and that more efforts are needed to support collective bargaining coverage and prevent social partners’ membership and organisational density from decreasing; regrets, however, that the proposal does not lay out any sustainable solutions for organising and financing sectoral social dialogue committees; calls on the Commission to maintain its logistical support for sectoral social dialogue committees and to increase its financial, legal and political support; calls on the Commission to continue supporting and closely monitoring sectoral social dialogue in order to ensure alignment between committees and that social dialogue can make a significant contribution to EU policies; strongly urges the Commission to come up with new proposals that fully respect social partners’ autonomy and avoid severely devaluing European sectoral social dialogue;
Amendment 118 #
Paragraph 2
2. Urges the Commission to monitor the implementation of its recommendation at sectoral, national and Union level, jointly with the Member States and relevant social partners; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that this monitoring allows social partners to, among other things, identify situations from which they have been excluded or in which they were inadequately involved in national-level consultations on Union and national policy, including access to justice and the right to redress;
Amendment 122 #
Paragraph 3
3. Believes that freedom of assembly and association and workers’ rights to organise, to collective union representation and to collectively call for reforms within their workplaces are basic human rights and are fundamental aspects of the European project and core principles of the European social model, which have been affirmed and legally upheld by the EU institutions;
Amendment 127 #
Paragraph 4
4. Is concerned that the density of employers’ organisations and trade unions is declining across all Member States; warns that the decrease in collective bargaining coverage is not only due to the decline in trade union density, but also to the lack of representation within employers’ organisation and employers’ lack of involvement and willingness to participate in collective bargaining; warns that the decrease in collective bargaining coverage has also been in some instances the result of systematic dismantling as part of austerity measures following the 2008 financial crisis as well as legislation that does not sufficiently enable workers to exercise their right to form or to join a trade union at the workplace or legislation that do not sufficiently protect the right to strike;
Amendment 140 #
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to fully involve and consult with social partners on economic, social and employment policies and decision- making in open processes, including thein a more democratic and thoroughly transformed European Semester process;
Amendment 161 #
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Member States to repeal any national legislation that hampers collective bargaining, including any legislation that inhibits trade unions’ access to workplaces for the purpose of organising or going on strike; calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote sectoral- level collective bargaining as an important instrument to increase collective agreement coverage, making sure that derogations from collective agreements concluded at a higher level are restricted to situations in which those derogations are needed to maintain quality employment;
Amendment 169 #
Paragraph 9
9. Underlines that reforms in the Member States should not negatively affect collective bargaining and that collective bargaining needs to be promoted at sectoral level, including by supporting the capacity- building of social partners; stresses that any labour market reforms at national level must contribute toshall promote worker’s rights and further implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights, including Principle 8 thereof on social dialogue and the involvement of workers, as well as collective bargaining, respect for the autonomy of social partners and the rights to collective action and to be informed and consulted in good time on the transfer, restructuring and merging of undertakings and on collective redundancies; calls on the Commission to analyse any labour reforms relating to these issues in the Member States’ national recovery and resilience plans;
Amendment 185 #
Paragraph 11
11. Calls for the EU industrial strategy to promote the role of social partners and ensure that the jobs of tomorrow are not only green, but above all decent, well paid and based on good working conditions, including as regards health and safety at work, robust social protection and gender equality; calls on the Member States, in the context of the European Green Deal and the RePowerEU plan, to adopt and implement, in close cooperation with social partners, comprehensive and coherent policy packages to benefit all societal groups and to make optimal use of public and private funding, including social conditionalities for the creation of quality jobs with fair working conditions and good pay, the promotion of collective bargaining and respect for collective agreements and worker’s rights; considers furthermore that all EU financial support to undertakings, including the Green Deal industrial plan programmes, should be made conditional on the undertakings’ compliance with the applicable working and employment conditions and/or employer obligations, including any applicable collective agreements; urges the Commission and the Member States to enforce the requirements that companies receiving public support must avoid redundancies and the worsening of working conditions and that, under the EU industrial plan, undertakings must respect collective bargaining and information and consultation processes with unions on investments, restructuring and any reforms; stresses that any companies benefiting from public funding shouldn’t be allowed to pay out dividend to their shareholders nor buy their own shares; public funding must also be linked with training obligations under which companies agree to put in place paid apprenticeships with the right to be retained, as well as cost-free, on-the-job re- and up-skilling programs for workers;
Amendment 197 #
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Commission to strongly enforce the social clause in the existing EU Public Procurement Directive16and to revise the directive in order to reinforce sustainable tendering criteria to promote the best use of public spending, quality employment and social inclusion,further strengtheningsocial clauses in public contracts to require economic operators and subcontractors to fully respect workers’ right to collective bargaining and to set conditions for the full implementation of the applicable sectoral collective agreements , ensuring compliance with fair working and employment conditions and the obligations resulting from the relevant collective bargaining agreements,and to exclude from tenders companies that have been condemned for engaging in criminal activities or union-busting or that have refused to participate in collective bargaining; calls for this revision to exempt all social and welfare services from procurement obligations and to establish a European exclusion mechanism to exclude primary contractors and subcontractors who have repeatedly engaged in unfair competition and tax fraud; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure compliance with and monitoring and enforcement of the Public Procurement Directive; throughout the full subcontracting chain, ensuring joint liability and the proper verification of self-declarations by the economic operators; _________________ 16 Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC (OJ L 94, 28.3.2014, p. 65).
Amendment 209 #
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Calls on the Commission to introduce a European regulation on decent work in subcontracting chains; stresses that such regulation shall limit the possibility to contract out and shorten the length of the subcontracting chain, promote joint and several liability, strengthen work stability, guarantee workers’ equal treatment and support trade unions and worker representatives along the entire subcontracting chain; calls on the Member states to strengthen the role of trade unions’ and workers’ representatives alongside supply chains;
Amendment 221 #
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the Member States to ratify and implement all ILO core conventions, including No 155 concerning Occupational Safety and Health and the Working Environment and No 187 concerning the promotional framework for occupational safety and health, which have both been recently designated as ILO core conventions and which have not yet been ratified by all Member States; calls upon Member states to ratify the Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) of the International Labour Organization (ILO); calls on the Commission to encourage the Member States to ratify and implement all the ILO core conventions;
Amendment 230 #
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission to respect the agreements between European social partners at both cross-industry and sectoral level, as laid down in the Treaties; highlights that respect for European social partner agreements includes their implementation at the joint request of the signatory parties for matters covered by Article 153 TFEU, by means of a Council decision following a proposal from the Commission; calls on the Commission to clarify the procedure and criteria it will use to deal with agreements negotiated with a view to becoming legally binding;