EU guidelines and rules - comparative labour law

New lesson guidelines

The EU 2020 strategy (2010)

The EU 2020 strategy aims to achieve significant employment targets by 2020:

• 75% of people aged 20-64 years old in employment.
• Improving participation in education and training, contributing to the idea of the EU as a high-skill economy.

How to achieve them?

Better functioning of the labour market

Flexicurity strategy (for all EU countries)

• Flexibility: Easy firing and hiring, flexible working time, flexible organization, wage flexibility, and outsourcing flexibility.
• Security: It must be present in every moment of transitions. We need security because of the ease of firing; in other words, since it is very easy to be fired we need security.

There are different types of transitions:

1. From job to unemployment: When I lose my job, I receive an amount of money to survive (called benefit). Another type of transition may be the training for job-searching people. For example, in Denmark, they have the so-called activation policy: the government gives unemployed people the same wage they used to have as a worker, but they must work hard to find a new job. They train you full-time and help you to find a job. If you are not able to find it, they pay a company to hire you instead of giving you the salary (so they pay your salary through the company).
2. From school or university to job searching: According to this strategy, you should receive subsidies while you are searching for a job. For example, in some countries, the government pays you the train ticket if you need to move to attend a job interview.
3. From a well-paid job to a low-paid job: To allow you to accept a low-paid job, some countries give you money allowing you to have the same income you used to have before.
4. From no family to family: Some countries give money to families that have to afford a lot of expenses.
5. The risk of no updated skills: It is difficult to find or keep your job. In some countries, there exists specific insurance against this risk.

A flexible labour market should be balanced by security (active labour market policy + income support during transitions).

Equipping people with the right skills for employment

• Supporting job creation (for example, by removing obstacles to set up a business, tax reduction):
• Removing administrative obstacles to setting up one's business and to hiring.
• Increasing the number of graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
• Stimulating recruitment through a reduction of taxes on labour.
• Incentives to shift jobs from the informal into the regular economy.
• Promoting entrepreneurship and self-employment.

Improving the quality of work and working conditions

High quality of work goes hand in hand with high productivity and competitiveness.

Free movement of workers

According to Article 45 of the TFEU:

1. Freedom of movement for workers shall be secured within the Union.
2. Such freedom of movement entails the abolition of any discrimination based on nationality between workers of the Member States in terms of employment, remuneration, and other conditions of work and employment.
3. It entails the right, subject to limitations justified on grounds of public policy, public security, or public health:
   • (a) To accept offers of employment actually made.
   • (b) To move freely within the territory of Member States for this purpose.
   • (c) To stay in a Member State for the purpose of employment in accordance with the provisions governing the employment of nationals of that State laid down by law, regulation, or administrative action.
   • (d) To remain in the territory of a Member State after having been employed in that State, subject to conditions which shall be embodied in regulations to be drawn up by the Commission.
4. The provisions of this article shall not apply to employment in the public service.

So, the free movement of workers means:

• The abolition of any discrimination between nationals and foreigners belonging to the EU. Within the EU, workers must be treated in the same way.
• A worker can move to another EU country to accept an offer of employment but also to look for employment.
• You can stay in another country to work.
• Also, non-active people (retired people) can move to another EU country, but there is one main difference: workers enjoy better conditions than non-active citizens because they immediately have the right to social assistance provided by the host state. So, the same social assistance provided by a member state to nationals is also for non-national citizens.

So, workers have immediately the right to social assistance:

• If I am a job seeker (which means that I am registered in some specific offices), the country will not give me immediately the right for social assistance. The country can fix a certain minimum period to obtain it.
• If you lose your job but are still considered as a worker:
• When you cannot work because you are unwell, you still receive the benefits.