A4-0313/97

Resolution on the Commission Green Paper 'Partnership for a new organization of work' (COM(97)0128 - C4-0187/97)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission Green Paper, COM(97)0128 - C4-0187/97,

- having regard to the Commission White Paper 'Growth, Competitiveness and Employment - The Challenges and Ways Forward into the 21st century' (COM(93)0700 - C4-0509/93),

- having regard to the Commission communication 'The future of social protection: A framework for a European debate' (COM(95)0466 - C4-0524/95) and the Commission report on social protection in Europe - 1995 (COM(95)0457 - C4-0518/95),

- having regard to the Commission White Paper on education and training 'Teaching and Learning - Towards the learning society' (COM(95)0590 - C4- 0597/95),

- having regard to the Commission report to the Council and Parliament on the demographic situation in the European Union - 1995 (COM(96)0060 - C4- 0143/96),

- having regard to the Commission Green Paper 'Living and working in the information society: people first' (COM(96)0389 - C4-0522/96),

- having regard to the Commission communication on equality of opportunity for people with disabilities (COM(96)0406 - C4-0582/96),

- having regard to its resolution of 13 July 1995 on a coherent employment strategy for the European Union ((OJ C 249, 25.9.1995, p. 143.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 18 September 1996 on the reduction and adaptation of working time ((OJ C 320, 28.10.1996, p. 97.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 28 November 1996 on the Commission report 'Employment in Europe - 1996' and the Commission communication 'Action for Employment in Europe - A Confidence Pact' ((OJ C 380, 16.12.1996, p. 84.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 19 February 1997 on the Commission communication 'The future of social protection, a framework for a European debate' and the Commission report on social protection in Europe 1995 ((OJ C 85, 17.3.1997, p. 63.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 11 March 1997 on the Commission Green Paper 'Living and working in the information society: people first' ((OJ C 115, 14.4.1997, p. 36.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 12 March 1997 on the Commission White Paper on education and training 'Teaching and learning - Towards the learning society' ((OJ C 115, 14.4.1997, p. 85.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 14 March 1997 on the Commission report to the Council and the European Parliament on the demographic situation in the European Union - 1995 ((OJ C 115, 14.4.1997, p. 238.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 11 April 1997 on the Commission communication on equality of opportunity for people with handicaps ((OJ C 132, 28.4.1997, p. 313.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 19 November 1997 on the proposal for a Council Directive concerning the framework agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC ((Minutes of that Sitting, Part II, Item 6.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Women's Rights (A4-0313/97),

A. whereas it welcomes the new Green Paper as an important contribution to the European effort to strengthen competitiveness and increase employment,

B. whereas not only competitiveness but also the European social model is to a large extent the result of consultation between the two sides of industry, inter alia concerning the organization of work,

C. whereas the reform of the European organization of work is being driven by changes in markets, society, demographic trends and human resources, which influence and are influenced by new production technologies, the development of new products and forms of services, trends towards globalization and the completion of the internal market,

D. whereas it is disturbed to note that the rate of modernization of the organization of work in Europe is slow, and lags well behind the rate in Japan and the USA,

E. whereas experience shows that successful reorganization of work calls for a long-term approach and the creation of an atmosphere of confidence, which underlines the demands on business management to strike a balance between long- and short-term interests,

F. whereas the reorganization of work calls for an integrated strategy in which the coordination of efforts, human resources, markets and technology are seen as part of a whole,

G. whereas the reorganization of work should be viewed broadly, so as also to take account of the cultural and psychological dimensions of change, and the historical implications of organizational structures,

H. whereas the 'best practices' approach not only has advantages for the organization of the labour market but also warrants application to the organization of work,

I. whereas the responsibility for the reorganization of work must primarily lie in partnership based on agreements between employees, employers and their representatives; whereas, in this connection, Parliament has repeatedly called on the Council and Commission to ensure appropriate SME representation in the European social dialogue,

J. whereas a partnership which includes public bodies is required to create the necessary balance between flexibility and social security in changes to the organization of work,

K. whereas work cannot be reorganized with the sole objective of increasing productivity and meeting employers' need for greater flexibility; rather, the reorganization should have the aim of guaranteeing the rights of workers and increasing or maintaining the level of employment, for which reason it must always be based on negotiations between the two sides of industry,

L. whereas a partnership which includes public bodies means seeking solutions involving the adaptation of tax and social insurance systems, labour law, labour market policy, public social infrastructures, the education system, Community programmes and Community structural initiatives and helping increase knowledge and the dissemination of knowledge with a view to speeding up the reorganization of work,

M. having regard to the importance of working hours for the organization of work, including that in sectors and activities so far excluded from the Directive on working hours, for which European minimum standards should likewise be laid down,

1. Calls on the Commission, concerning the future effort, to:

(a) make proposals in the areas relating to the reorganization of work either in a separate White Paper or in a forthcoming social action programme,

(b) help to create the conditions for a partnership for the reorganization of work between the two sides of European industry and in this context also to examine the conditions for partnership at industry or sectoral levels,

(c) assess the scope for greater cooperation between the Member States' existing bodies for improving the organization of work, in which the unofficial 'Acteur Group' network and the European Foundation for Improving Living and Working Conditions should be regarded as natural components, as a stage in the process of developing knowledge of the new organization of work and in an increased exchange of experience between the Member States,

(d) submit to the European Parliament a summary of the views expressed during the debate on the Green Paper, and information as to the form which the Commission considers that further efforts to reform the organization of work in Europe should take;

2. Calls on the Member States and the Commission, in their reports on the implementation of the provisions of Directive 93/104/EC ((OJ L 307, 13.12.1993, p. 18.)) on working hours, provided for by Article 18(5) thereof, to devote attention to the modernization of the organization of work from the point of view of working hours;

3. Calls on the Community and the Member States to do more to help stimulate a substantially greater involvement of life-long learning under which adaptations to the tax systems, social insurance, labour market policy and legislation (including the question of entitlement to study leave) should be taken into account, and to ensure that these adaptations are in line with the priorities needed to reach groups which are not adequately covered by further training systems;

4. Calls on the Commission to examine the conditions under which it might, via the social dialogue, help bring about agreements on life-long learning;

5. Considers that modification of the Structural Funds should help increase the development of new growth sectors rather than prop up old structures, and therefore calls on the Commission in the current review of the Structural Funds to take into account the need for stepped-up life-long learning and the new organization of work;

6. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to overhaul Objective 4 aid, the Adapt and Leonardo da Vinci programmes, the fifth framework programme for research and technological development and other Community initiatives involved to make them better able to promote development in the organization of work and life-long learning;

7. Considers that the Member States should give greater attention to the scope for a new organization of work in small and medium-sized undertakings, which could be done by partnership between the two sides of industry, public authorities and research institutes to establish local and regional networks to provide advice and disseminate knowledge and technology;

8. Calls on the Commission to step up its efforts to promote an active labour market policy in the Member States, in which a combination of giving employees the opportunity of further training and the unemployed the chance to enter the labour market via a rotation system should be regarded as a positive example;

9. Considers that there should be tax changes, reducing taxes on labour while increasing taxes on for example capital and environmentally unfriendly activities;

10. Considers that a differentiation of taxation should be regarded as one way of stimulating in-house training in which reductions in payroll tax/charges for workers undergoing training and tax relief for resources earmarked for individual or collective training should be considered;

11. Considers worker participation in decisions about changes in the organization of work to be essential; calls on the Commission therefore to consider submitting proposals for binding minimum standards on workers' rights to information, consultation and participation at all levels;

12. Considers that changes in working time are highly important in the context of the new organization of work, and that such changes should principally be a matter for collective agreement between the social partners, but that fundamental working time standards should be governed by national and European legislation;

13. Considers that the changes to working hours should be accompanied by the creation of all the necessary associated social support infrastructure (training, child care, transport);

14. Notes that organization of family life is often dependent on, and is sometimes disrupted by, the organization of work; calls therefore on all parties concerned, when preparing and establishing a partnership for a new organization of work, to take account of family responsibilities, both of men and of women, and of care of the sick and elderly;

15. Reminds the Commission of the calls contained in Parliament's abovementioned resolution of 18 September 1996 for further study of reductions in working hours;

16. Believes that any discussion of a new organisation of work must go hand in hand with a reappraisal of women's and men's roles both on the labour market and in society as a whole, in order to overcome gender segregation on the labour market and the unequal division of responsibilities in the domestic sphere;

17. Notes that an agreement on part-time work has been reached under the social dialogue, but that this agreement does not cover other atypical forms of work such as teleworking, as pointed out in its abovementioned resolution of 19 November 1997; calls therefore once again on the Commission to submit proposals for ways of guaranteeing workers' social security and social protection in the case of other atypical forms of work;

18. Emphasizes the importance to be given to equal opportunities considerations in the new organization of work and considers that greater attention should be paid to equal opportunities in studies on changes to the organization of work;

19. Calls on the Commission to take more generally into account the situation of immigrant and ethnic minorities on the European labour market, and calls on all parties involved in the new organization of work to seek in their objectives to ensure that increased flexibility does not increase discrimination against a particular group;

20. Calls on the Commission to study ways of developing the participation of workers in the profits and results of enterprises in connection with the new organization of work;

21. Notes that increasing use is being made of freelance workers in the reorganization of work and in new enterprises; calls for this phenomenon to be taken into account in developing new forms of social security;

22. Stresses the objective set by the Commission in its communication on 'equality of opportunity for people with disabilities' of developing a uniform strategy for employment of the disabled and stepping up measures to integrate people with disabilities, and expects the Commission, therefore, in accordance with this objective, to devote special attention to efforts on behalf of people with disabilities in its future action with regard to reform of the organization of work;

23. Calls on the Member States to consider the advantages of requiring employers to bear more of the costs arising from shortcomings in the working environment, with the aim of demonstrating the benefits to be derived from an improved working environment, inter alia in the form of less absenteeism, better quality of work and reduced risks that employees may be compelled to leave enterprises;

24. Warns in particular against the creation of a two-tier society with an unskilled, unprotected, largely female workforce in atypical work such as telework and homeworking on the one hand, and a highly skilled minority benefiting from continuous training in new technologies on the other;

25. Recalls that Structural Funds used to facilitate the reorganisation of work must, according to the Regulations reforming the Structural Funds in 1993, apply the principle of equal opportunities between women and men, and that the guidelines for the Adapt Community Initiative specify that attention will be given to actions aiming at promoting equal opportunities for women;

26. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Economic and Social Committee and the two sides of European industry.