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EU social partners: Agreement reached on implementing ILO maritime labour convention
In November 2007, European-level social partner organisations in the maritime shipping industry reached an agreement - the first of its kind - to incorporate certain provisions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) maritime labour convention in EU law.
International: BASF agrees SE employment involvement arrangements
BASF, the Germany-based chemicals multinational, has decided to convert into a European Company (Societas Europaea, SE) incorporated at European level on the basis of the EU's European Company Statute. In November 2007, it signed an agreement with employee representatives from across Europe on employee involvement in BASF SE, which will come into being at the start of 2008. The agreement has been hailed as significant by European trade unions.
France: ILO finds that 'new recruitment contract' breaches convention
In November 2007, the governing body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) found that France's "new recruitment contract" scheme, introduced in 2005 with the aim of boosting employment in small companies, breaches ILO convention no.158 on termination of employment.
Germany: Dispute continues over postal services sector minimum wage
The issue of setting a legally binding minimum wage for the postal services sector caused considerable strain in Germany's conservative-social democrat coalition government in November 2007.
Ireland: Agency work causes controversy
In late 2007, the use - or abuse - of temporary agency work has become a high-profile issue in Irish industrial relations. Unions are pressing for legislation to ensure equal treatment for agency workers. The Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) has succeeded in negotiating a "model" agreement on agency staff at a Tesco distribution centre.
Spain: Employers and unions agree on pay moderation for 2008
Spain's central trade union and employers' confederations reached an understanding in late October 2007 that they will renew for a seventh successive year their national agreement providing a framework for lower-level collective bargaining. This will mean average pay increases of around 3% in 2008.
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