Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Communication entitled Modernizing the organization of work - A positive approach to change"

(1999/C 374/08)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Committee's opinion on the Green Paper entitled Partnership for a new organization of work (CdR 288/97 fin)(1);

having regard to the Committee's Opinion on the Communication from the Commission on the Social Action Programme 1998-2000 (CdR 277/98 fin)(2);

having regard to the Committee's Opinion on the Guidelines for Member States' employment policies 1999 (CdR 279/98 fin)(3);

having regard to the Commission communication entitled "Modernizing the organization of work - A positive approach to change" (COM(1998) 592 final);

having regard to The Bureau's decision of 15 July 1998 to issue an opinion on this subject under the fourth paragraph of Article 198c and to instruct Commission 5 - Social Policy, Public Health, Consumer Protection, Research and Tourism - to draft that opinion;

having regard to the Draft Opinion (CdR 48/99 rev. 1) adopted by Commission 5 on 22 March 1999 (Rapporteur: Ms Buron, FR/PSE),

unanimously adopted the following opinion at its 30th plenary session on 15 and 16 September 1999 (meeting of 16 September).

1. Introduction

1.1. The Committee of the Regions welcomes the European Commission's communication aimed at stimulating and strengthening partnership for the modernization of work organization. The Commission would like the social partners to consider the best possible means of complementing the "adaptability" pillar of the employment guidelines.

1.2. The Committee of the Regions would point out that in its opinion on the Green Paper entitled "Partnership for a new organization of work", it recommended that the European Commission should take into account the various roles of local and regional authorities as:

- employers;

- enablers of local development;

- bodies responsible for providing a range of services to the general public.

The combination of these three roles clearly distinguishes local and regional authorities from private enterprise. Their aim in adjusting the organization of work must be twofold: (a) to strike a balance between flexibility and security for the employees of local and regional public services and (b) to ensure a continuous public service and satisfy user needs.

2. General comments

2.1. The Committee of the Regions shares the European Commission's conviction that the key to modernizing the organization of work lies more in negotiations between the social partners than in legislative processes, although of course legislation may be necessary, depending on the specific situation in each Member State. As each sector has its own peculiarities, it is at sectoral level that experiments in new ways of organizing work should be carried out.

Innovation and flexibility on the labour market must in any case be covered by a common EU legal framework, guaranteeing protection of workers under the various working arrangements.

2.2. The Committee of the Regions would stress its commitment to the employment guidelines, as stated in its opinion on the "Guidelines for Member States' employment policies 1999". It would point out that, in terms of adaptability, local and regional authorities act both as social partners and as a driving force in promoting employment. Indeed, they have to promote the adaptability of their own departments while at the same time fostering adaptability throughout their area by developing suitable forms of training, especially for the most vulnerable groups of people. Here, local and regional authorities are complementing the policies followed by businesses and often develop partnerships to improve the adaptability of the labour force (especially by means of training and reintegration programmes for the victims of social exclusion). The Committee of the Regions would like the European Commission to take account of this aspect of providing support for the local and regional economy in its future proceedings on the organization of work and adaptability.

3. Specific comments

Introduction to the Communication

3.1. The Commission stresses that the process of modernizing work organization must be carried out in close cooperation with the social partners. The Committee of the Regions calls on the Commission to acknowledge local and regional authorities as full social partners, even though the status of such authorities differs from one EU Member State to another. Indeed, status as an employer varies from country to country depending on the powers and legal status of local and regional authorities. However, all European local and regional authorities should be able to play a part in modernizing the organization of work. The Committee of the Regions would point out that local and regional authorities already take part in the sectoral social dialogue. The Committee of the Regions calls on the European Commission to continue its support for this social dialogue.

3.2. The Commission also stresses that this collaboration between social partners must take account of policies in the economic and employment sectors. To improve coordination, particularly in the employment sector, the Committee of the Regions calls on the Commission to involve local and regional authorities in the preparation of EU employment policies and employment guidelines. Dialogue on these guidelines, especially on adaptability, would promote greater consistency between the recommendations made by the European Commission and the action taken by local and regional authorities, which are, along with the Member States, important players in promoting employment.

The green paper

3.3. The Committee of the Regions welcomes the European Commission's affirmation that it does not intend to use the Green Paper as a basis for a new legislative initiative to prescribe a single form of organization of work. Indeed, the consultation procedures peculiar to each country and each sector must be observed in order to make allowance for the particular ways in which work is organized and to arrive at negotiated procedures which are acceptable to workers. In addition, the fact that the way in which work is organized is constantly evolving means that it is impossible to lay down hard and fast rules; on the contrary, a process of constant adjustment is needed, bearing in mind that flexibility, not only in working hours but also as regards individual job profiles, is now an accepted feature of work in both the public and private sectors.

3.4. The Commission emphasizes that the modernization process needs to be speeded up. Local and regional authorities are already working on modernization. They would like an opportunity to compare their experience with that of others and to learn what their counterparts are doing. The Committee of the Regions asks the European Commission to facilitate and support such exchanges of experience.

3.5. The Committee of the Regions would draw the European Commission's attention to the fact that the concepts of competitiveness and productivity do not have the same meaning for local and regional authorities as they do for businesses. Local public services are at the heart of any community. In the interests of users, they have to reconcile productivity with public service and competitiveness with continuity of provision. Local and regional authorities thus must give priority to quality and continuity of service. This applies in particular to daily opening hours (which have increased greatly in recent years because of the need to cater for as many members of the public as possible, who are restricted by their own working hours). Dialogue therefore needs to be established not only between workers and trade union organizations but also with users.

3.6. Local and regional authorities likewise have a special role to play in reconciling family and working life. As employers, their policies are often ones of equal opportunity and even positive discrimination when it comes to filling senior posts. But local and regional authorities are also often responsible for providing services (child-minding, help for dependants) for all employers in the community. They thus have a dual role here too.

3.7. The Committee of the Regions would emphasize that local and regional authorities are ready to play a leading role in developing a new approach to the organization of work. They are already working on modernization and negotiating with their union counterparts at sectoral level and they have an open attitude towards change. The Committee of the Regions asks the European Commission to take into account the results of this ongoing activity by local and regional authorities. It suggests in particular that the consultation process launched with the Green Paper and followed up with the current communication should be taken further, especially in order to contribute to the development of EU policies on adaptability.

The Luxembourg employment strategy

3.8. The Committee of the Regions reiterates its request that local and regional authorities should be involved in the framing of EU employment policies, and that the European Commission should set up a genuine partnership and consultation structure. Local and regional authorities will endeavour to form partnerships in the context of the sectoral social dialogue, but also have an enabling role at local and regional level in that they are a forum for dialogue with other partners, service providers and businesses, for example by providing public employment services which develop the adaptability of business employees. The Committee of the Regions recommends that the work of the expert group on the evolution of labour law should continue and would like to be able to hold discussions with that group on the topic of modernizing local and regional public services.

A framework for future action

3.9. The Committee of the Regions would point out that the local and regional public sector has a number of highly specific features, as described above, and would ask the European Commission to take this into account.

3.10. The Committee of the Regions, like the Commission, acknowledges the need for a new approach to modernizing the organization of work. The Committee of the Regions would nevertheless like the Commission to explain more clearly how it sees this new approach. The Committee of the Regions :

- recommends that the social partners should have a means of comparing their objectives and methods at European level;

- emphasizes the need for the Commission to comply with the principle of subsidiarity while also respecting the independence of the social partners;

- expressly requests that the Commission should incorporate the agreements concluded by the social partners in the guidelines and that all the social partners involved in this modernization process should have the opportunity to play a part in redefining the employment guidelines;

- hopes that recognition of the central role of the social partners as a whole, both at sectoral and intersectoral level, will go hand in hand with the provision of means which enable them to play that role.

3.11. Objectives: the Committee of the Regions would point out that, for local and regional public services, the process of modernizing the organization of work is part of the wider objective of modernizing and improving the services offered to the general public. The flexibility requirement must meet the new needs of users in two ways:

- flexible working hours to improve the availability of public services on a daily and weekly basis;

- flexible tasking to meet the new requirements of certain types of user: help for the victims of social exclusion, cultural and social reintegration, support for the development of new activities.

In local public services, modernization is more closely linked to the problem of employment than it is elsewhere: although the constraints on public budgets limit the scope for creating jobs in public services, efficient local public services are a powerful stimulus to job-creation in the local community. The adaptability of local public service workers will have an impact on the other guidelines:

- business creation, by helping new entrepreneurs and the most vulnerable categories to set up businesses (e.g. support for ethnic groups, young people, women);

- equal opportunities, by providing women with the back-up services they need if they are going to go out to work.

3.12. Even though local public services in several Member States have very specific features in terms of work contracts, it is necessary to develop the contractual framework by encouraging flexibility and training while safeguarding the long-term security that is necessary for the continuity of public services.

3.13. New technologies: local public services are concerned about the introduction of new technologies on two counts - from the point of view of their internal organization, and in terms of services to the public. The introduction of new technologies makes it possible to decentralize services to users and to reach people in outlying areas who are entitled to the same level of service as city-dwellers. The Committee of the Regions would ask the Commission to take greater account of the social role of new technologies.

3.14. Equal opportunities: local public services traditionally employ a high proportion of women. Local and regional authorities nevertheless wish to open up access for women to senior and managerial posts and to encourage women to set up businesses.

3.15. Role of the Member States: in the context of the employment guidelines and national employment plans, the Committee of the Regions would ask the Commission to include the local and regional dimension in future guidelines. This will make it possible to hold a dialogue between the three levels most involved in creating jobs:

- local/regional level, where job-creating initiatives are put into practice;

- national level, and in some cases regional level, where support can be provided for the initiatives by making suitable adjustments to the legislative framework;

- European level, which must continue to provide the momentum and promote exchanges of experience.

Only action which is coordinated between these three levels will have a lasting and positive impact on employment and the quality of life.

3.16. Role of the European Union: the Committee of the Regions therefore expressly requests that the Commission see to it that representatives of local and regional authorities are involved in the expert group set up to support national and local initiatives. The Committee of the Regions welcomes the fact that one of the Commission's aims is to "identify and exchange good practice, promote cooperation and support lagging sectors and regions", but it considers it absolutely vital that local and regional authorities should be involved in these activities. The Committee of the Regions would point out that, it has launched an initiative entitled "Act locally for employment" designed to ensure the local/regional level's commitment to the guidelines, and it calls on the Commission to include this initiative in its strategy.

3.17. In many Member States, local and regional authorities are responsible for areas which in other Member States would be the responsibility of private enterprise. When it comes to project financing, these entities should be treated on an equal footing.

The Structural Funds should be used to support educational and skill-enhancement projects and the like organized by local and regional authorities, as well as those organized by private enterprise.

At the request of the Luxembourg European Council, the Commission has set up a high-level group of experts to analyse likely industrial changes in the European Union.

It would seem that a similar group is needed to identify changes in public services in the European Union.

4. Conclusions: the next steps

4.1. The Committee of the Regions welcomes the Commission's call for mobilization of the social partners and will actively support this strategy.

4.2. The Committee of the Regions is particularly concerned about the development of the guidelines and would ask the Helsinki European Council to take the local and regional dimension into account. It will support all steps taken by the Commission to this end.

4.3. The Committee of the Regions would like the Commission to extend this consultation process to topics related to the modernization of work organization: teleworking, information society, vocational training, worker participation.

4.4. The Committee of the Regions asks the Commission to take into account, in the next steps, certain particular problems which will have a profound effect on the organization of work:

- an ageing population, which will affect the nature and size of the labour force and bring new requirements for services;

- changes in social protection policies and objectives, the necessary modernization of which must not endanger workers' standard of living and quality of life.

Brussels, 16 September 1999.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Manfred DAMMEYER

(1) OJ C 64, 27.2.1998, p. 85.

(2) OJ C 93, 6.4.1999, p. 56.

(3) OJ C 51, 22.2.1999, p. 59-62.