Resolution of the European Committee of the Regions on the initiative for strengthening social dialogue
Date: 2023-03-16
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU initiative, European social policy, collective bargaining, labour market, social dialogue (EU), social partners, social rights, social situation, working conditions








C_2023188EN.01000601.xml










30.5.2023   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 188/6






Resolution of the European Committee of the Regions on the initiative for strengthening social dialogue
(2023/C 188/02)
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS (CoR),






—


having regard to the proposal for a Council Recommendation on strengthening social dialogue in the European Union (1);










—


having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on strengthening social dialogue in the European Union: harnessing its full potential for managing fair transitions (2);





1.   

welcomes the European Commission’s Strengthening Social Dialogue initiative, as it aims to put social dialogue at the heart of decision-making at the European and national levels, addresses the need for strong social dialogue at all levels, and provides guidance on how best to strengthen social dialogue and collective bargaining;



2.   

points out that, in accordance with Article 152 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Union shall facilitate dialogue between the social partners, respecting their autonomy, while the Commission is responsible for promoting and facilitating European social dialogue, in accordance with Article 154 TFEU. The Commission’s initiative also represents an implementation measure for Principle 8 of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), according to which social partners are to be consulted on the design and implementation of economic, employment and social policies. The CoR therefore emphasises the importance of such synergies, highlighting its own request for increased transparency, multi-level participation, democratisation and meaningful involvement of social partners within the European Semester process;



3.   

considers that labour market reforms at national level must contribute to the implementation of the EPSR. The CoR expects the Commission to analyse labour reforms in the national recovery and resilience plans related to these specific aspects;



4.   

stresses that the Commission initiative is consistent with the proposals of the Conference on the Future of Europe (COFE), in particular with COFE proposal No 13 on social dialogue and collective bargaining as a way to make labour markets inclusive, and with COFE proposal No 39.5, according to which proper civil and social dialogue mechanisms and processes should be guaranteed at every step of the EU decision-making process;



5.   

believes that there is a urgent need to strengthen social dialogue at EU, national, local and sectoral levels, due to the many pressures deriving from the impact of transitions on work and the fall in the share of workers covered by collective agreements (from 66 % in 2000 to 56 % in 2019);



6.   

stresses the fact that workers in smaller companies or in non-standard employment situations are often either not covered or under-represented in collective bargaining agreements. The Committee also points out that platform workers are often prevented from exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, not least due to the lack of shared means of communication and opportunities to meet online or in person (3);



7.   

points out that, in order for social dialogue to become the standard way in which the EU and the Member States develop policies impacting the world of work, social dialogue needs to be promoted at both cross-sectoral and sectoral levels. This should include collective bargaining, support for capacity building, the conditions for higher collective bargaining coverage, and active promotion of the added value of social dialogue;



8.   

shares the Commission’s assessment of the relevant contribution of social dialogue in delivering social fairness, effective crisis management — especially during COVID-19 — and fair management of change; during the pandemic, social partners at the local and regional level have been crucial in continuing to provide essential public services despite the difficult economic and financial context;



9.   

shares the Commission’s opinion that social dialogue is far from being adequately achieved everywhere in Europe; recalls that sectoral social dialogue, including at the local and regional level, is a fundamental precondition to achieving a high level of collective bargaining coverage;



10.   

urges Member States to implement the Directive on adequate minimum wages (4), which requires Member States to ensure that, in the awarding and performance of public procurement or concession contracts, economic operators and their subcontractors comply with the applicable obligations regarding wages, the right to organise and collective bargaining on wage-setting;



11.   

welcomes the proposal to appoint a social dialogue coordinator in each Commission directorate-general and to commit to the enhanced involvement of cross-industry social partners ahead of the Commission Work Programme. This would ensure a more consistent approach to consultations of social partners and ensure that social partners are properly consulted according to Article 154 TFEU;



12.   

insists that the Commission initiative be followed by a sustained administrative, financial, legal and political support for European sectoral social partners and their national affiliates in strengthening the capacity of social partners to engage in social dialogue at both national and European level, while respecting their autonomy and complying with the principle of subsidiarity and Member States’ competences;



13.   

underlines that local and regional authorities (LRAs) are crucial in promoting social dialogue, as local and regional public administrations employ more than 12,3 million workers providing a wide range of public services (5) and remain closest to SMEs and the local labour force in the regions. Local and regional authorities, along with labour organisations, have local knowledge, which provides the best basis for holding social dialogue and producing flexible and sustainable agreements. Member States should therefore ensure that adequate social dialogue structures are in place to encourage collective bargaining and to address relevant challenges in relation to employment in local and regional administrations;



14.   

points out the importance of the European sectoral social dialogue committee for local and regional employers (6) in ensuring that the needs, interests and specificities of local and regional governments and their workers are taken into account within EU legislation on organisation and working conditions. The CoR also highlights the significant work done so far by this committee on relevant issues such as restructuring, digitalisation, migration and anti-discrimination, health and safety at work, the fight against violence by third parties, gender equality etc., and calls for a broader commitment from social dialogue partners to implementing the recommendations;



15.   

underlines the reference made to the recently adopted Commission Communication on harnessing talent in Europe’s regions, which states that enhancing the involvement of social partners in the regions facing or at risk of a talent development trap appears crucial for the development of place-based solutions to support better working conditions as well as adequate wages, and to tackle skills and labour shortages;



16.   

calls on the European social partners to interact with the CoR’s consultation platforms such as the network of regional hubs (RegHubs) (7), which will in 2023 dedicate one of its consultations to the Working Time Directive (WTD) (8), a topic of particular relevance for the European social dialogue;



17.   

notes the need to analyse the impact on social dialogue and collective bargaining procedures of the privatisation of public services traditionally provided by national, regional or local authorities (energy, water, transport, postal services etc.); reiterates the need to maintain social dialogue and collective bargaining procedures, as well as to put in place measures to avoid deterioration of working conditions following a change of ownership;



18.   

points out the increasing rates of third-party violence, particularly against women (9), which also affects workers employed by local and regional governments given the high levels of female representation in services typically provided by LRAs (such as healthcare and social services) and the proximity between the perpetrators and victims of third-party violence;



19.   

stresses the importance of social dialogue in improving labour migration policy and dialogue and points in this regard to its opinion on Legal migration — Attracting skills and talent to the EU (10) and to the joint guidelines on migration and strengthening anti-discrimination in local and regional governments, adopted by the sectoral social dialogue committee on local and regional governments (11). In this context, the CoR also points to COFE proposal No 41.1 to launch a communication campaign across the EU aimed at increasing awareness among EU companies recruiting non-EU nationals of the existence of the European Cooperation Network of Employment Services (EURES), the EU Immigration Portal and the EU Skills Profile Tool for Third Country Nationals. In addition, the Commission should encourage Member States to simplify the process for the reception and integration of legal migrants and their access to the EU labour market;



20.   

calls for a strengthening of the equal treatment of workers coming from non-EU countries, in particular as regards working conditions, freedom of association and affiliation and social security benefits, taking into account intersectional forms of disadvantage such as gender, age, sexual orientation and identity, religion, and others;



21.   

points out that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) advocates for labour migration to be addressed by labour authorities in cooperation with social partners with the aim of developing credible and sustainable labour migration and anti-discrimination policies that are rights-based and consistent, take into account local and regional circumstances and, as such, can contribute to regional inclusion processes;



22.   

welcomes the further measures set out in the ‘Skills and talent’ package, including the creation of an EU talent pilot project specifically for people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the proposed EU Talent Pool, as well as the plan to extend it to refugees residing in the EU. The CoR points out that, when designing these tools, more needs to be done to also consider relevant soft skills that job seekers can provide, and to develop fair, accessible and user-friendly labour migration schemes, as excessively bureaucratic procedures may affect refugees’ access to the labour market, thus making them increasingly at risk of having to resort to precarious work and exposed to abuse and exploitation;



23.   

highlights the role of the European Labour Authority (ELA) in ensuring that the EU rules on labour mobility and social security coordination are enforced in a fair, simple and effective way, including through the provision of information, concerted and joint inspections, enhanced administrative cooperation, and the promotion of labour mobility, particularly through EURES;



24.   

welcomes the inclusion in the EU social partners work programme of issues linked to skills shortages and how to best achieve just transition. The CoR highlights the role of regions and cities as employers in these areas and therefore requests their adequate representation in relevant meetings of the cross-industry social partners;



25.   

welcomes the Council Recommendation on ensuring a fair transition towards climate neutrality, including the need to integrate fair transition objectives into policy-making at all levels and encourage regional and local authorities to play an active role in the development, implementation and monitoring of fair transition policies, and to actively involve social partners at national, regional and local levels, while respecting their autonomy;



26.   

highlights the key role of local and regional authorities as employers, and encourages their active involvement, in ensuring adequate participation and tailored capacity-building for social partners in the delivery of policies supported by the European Social Fund Plus. Welcomes in this context, the requirement to spend at least 0,25 % of the funds on supporting capacity-building of social partners for those countries who received a country-specific recommendation on social dialogue. Action taken solely at Member State level will lead to missing valuable synergies;



27.   

instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Swedish and Spanish Presidencies of the Council of the EU and the President of the European Council.



Brussels, 16 March 2023.


The President of the European Committee of the Regions

Vasco ALVES CORDEIRO




(1)  COM(2023) 38 final.

(2)  COM(2023) 40 final.

(3)  Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions — Improving working conditions in platform work (OJ C 375, 30.9.2022, p. 45).

(4)  Directive (EU) 2022/2041 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union (OJ L 275, 25.10.2022, p. 33).

(5)  Eurofound, Representativeness of the European social partner organisations: Local and regional government sector and social services, 2020.

(6)  The sectoral social dialogue committee on local and regional governments is composed of the two mutually recognised sectoral social partners in the LRG sector: the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and EPSU (European Federation of Public Service Unions).

(7)  https://portal.cor.europa.eu/reghub/Pages/default.aspx

(8)  Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time (OJ L 299, 18.11.2003, p. 9).

(9)  https://www.etuc.org/en/document/safe-home-safe-work-final-report-national-country-studies

(10)  Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions on legal migration: Attracting skills and talent to the EU (OJ C 79, 2.3.2023, p. 59).

(11)  Social dialogue texts database — Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion — European Commission (europa.eu).