Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the 'Communication entitled Modernizing the organization of work - A positive approach to change'
Date: 1999-09-16
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: employment policy, labour law, organisation of work, regional policy, social partners

C 374/32

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

23.12.1999

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

2. General comments

1.1.
The Committee of the Regions welcomes the European
stimulating and
Commission’s communication aimed at
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.

(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.

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 commit-
ment 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 Com-
mittee 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.

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3. Specific comments

Introduction to the Communication

3.1.
The Commission stresses that the process of moderniz-
ing 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 Com-
mission 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.

The Commission emphasizes that the modernization
3.4.
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 Euro-
pean 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 consul-
tation 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 rec-
ommends 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.

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A framework for future action

The Committee of the Regions would point out that
3.9.
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 develop-
ment 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.

is necessary to develop the contractual

3.12.
Even though local public services in several Member
States have very specific features in terms of work contracts,
it
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
it has launched an initiative entitled ‘Act locally for
that,
level’s
employment’ designed to ensure the local/regional
commitment to the guidelines, and it calls on the Commission
to include this initiative in its strategy.

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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.

4.2.
The Committee of the Regions is particularly con-
cerned 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.

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

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

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

— an ageing population, which will affect the nature and size
the labour force and bring new requirements for

of
services;

4.1.
The Committee of the Regions welcomes the Com-
mission’s call for mobilization of the social partners and will
actively support this strategy.

— 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