Los trabajadores y trabajadoras agrícolas ocupan la última posición en las cadenas globales agroalimentarias. Éstas, hegemonizadas por las grandes distribuidoras, trasladan de arriba a abajo una ...creciente presión competitiva en la que la calidad es un elemento central. Este artículo aborda las consecuencias que los requerimientos de calidad tienen sobre la mano de obra en La Ribera del Xúquer (Valencia), un territorio citrícola de exportación. Nuestros resultados indican que los estándares de calidad no suponen una mayor calidad de trabajo en el campo, aumentan las diferencias entre trabajadores y refuerzan la segmentación étnica. En los almacenes, tradicionalmente feminizados, los requerimientos de calidad si bien suponen una mayor polivalencia y control del espacio, comportamiento y cuerpo de la trabajadora, han contribuido a un cumplimiento más estricto del convenio colectivo.
In the 1990s, German employers' associations started offering bargaining‐free membership. Firms can be members without the obligation to adhere to a collective agreement. This study examines the ...characteristics of firms choosing a bargaining‐free membership. It shows the influence of works councils, union density, foreign ownership, firm size and firm age.
•We propose a methodology to investigate the legal contribution of collective bargaining with respect to statutory law.•We compare 400 norms from six collective agreements in Portugal to their ...equivalent norms set by statutory law (if any).•59% of norms are found to be equal to the Labour Code; 27% (11%) are more favourable for the worker (employer).•We conclude that collective bargaining in Portugal has a relatively small role as an effective source of labour law.•We also present several potential explanations for our findings, including the wide range of statutory law.
Labour law can be established both by statutory law and by collective bargaining. How much value does the latter effectively add? In this paper we propose a methodology to address this question: we compare the specific contents of collective agreements (except minimum wages) to their equivalent norms set by statutory law (if any). We illustrate this approach by analysing in detail over 400 norms from six collective agreements in Portugal and then comparing them to the country’s Labour Code. We find that as many as 59 % of those collective bargaining norms are exactly or virtually equal to the Labour Code; only 27 % (an average of 16 norms per convention) are more favourable for the worker; and 11 % (8) are more favourable for the employer. We conclude that collective bargaining in Portugal has a relatively small role as an effective source of labour law. We also present several potential explanations for our findings, including the wide range of statutory law.
Critical thinking is a key construct in social work education; however, a universally accepted definition of the construct remains elusive. To determine collective agreement in meaning and viable ...methods of assessment for critical thinking in social work education, researchers administered an online survey to a national sample of social work educators. Respondents were 184 educators, who provided feedback on critical thinking components. Findings supported social work educators' interest in student reflection, intellectual curiosity, and analytical abilities. We suggest the need for further discussion regarding deconstructing critical thinking into process and demonstration.
The article analyses the CJEU ruling C-311/21 TimePartner, where the Court interpreted the option provided in the Temporary Agency Work Directive for social partners to derogate from the principle of ...equal treatment. The CJEU concluded that the term ‘while respecting the overall protection of temporary agency workers’ is a criterion for using the option to derogate, and that a derogating collective agreement must be subject to legal review of fulfilling this criterion, even in Member States where collective agreements are presumed to be correct. Furthermore, the CJEU ruled that in order to respect the overall protection, any disadvantages in basic working conditions, i.e., working time and pay, should be set off against other advantages relating to the basic working conditions for the temporary agency workers. Finally, that the assessment is an in concreto comparison of disadvantages and advantages in terms of the basic working conditions applicable at the specific user undertaking. The article argues that the CJEU, with this approach, at the same time restricts the room for negotiation of national social partners concluding derogating agreements, and directs the legal review of the national judiciaries. This approach may interfere in the national industrial relations systems in some Member States more than others. The article then discusses how the Danish legal framework respects the overall protection of temporary agency workers. Temporary agency workers are addressed in many collective agreements in force at user undertakings with a view to counteracting circumvention of the collective agreement, and likewise, many temporary work agencies are covered by collective agreements. The transposition process in 2013 of the option to derogate is presented. The Danish Supreme Court in 2019 ruled, that the term ‘respecting the overall protection’ in the derogation provision in the Danish Temporary Agency Workers Act constitutes a legal criterion, which can be subject to judicial review, and is not an automatic consequence of a collective agreement. The article discusses how an assessment of the level of protection would be carried out in Danish industrial judiciaries, taking inspiration from earlier industrial case law comparing the overall protection of competing collective agreements. The article finally asserts that the approach of the CJEU in the TimePartner ruling protects temporary agency workers rather than pursuing flexibility in the labour markets, and as such favours one of the dual aims of the Directive. In that light, the approach taken by the CJEU ensures that derogating collective agreements meet certain standards in terms of the basic working conditions of temporary agency workers. At the same time, the ruling does not interfere with other negotiated or legislated working conditions, where the TAW Directive does not in itself require equal treatment or ‘overall protection’. The limitation of the TAW Directive to concern equal treatment only for basic working conditions, and not all working conditions, thus continues to allow a degree of flexibility for employers as well as for temporary agency workers.
This article critically examines the European Court of Justice's (ECJ) decision in the TimePartner case and its implications for labour market integration in the context of temporary agency work. The ...author supports the ECJ's position on the rule-exception relationship within Directive 2008/104/EC, emphasising equal treatment for temporary agency workers. The analysis explores the alignment between the ECJ's approach and the Directive's goal of creating a non-discriminatory, transparent, and proportionate framework for worker protection. Within the German legal landscape, where there has been reluctance to implement the Directive, complex collective agreements have led to substantial remuneration disparities between regular employees and temporary agency workers. The absence of statutory regulations on overall protection for temporary agency workers, coupled with reluctance on the part of courts to intervene in collective agreements, presents challenges for labour market integration. The article also addresses the assumption of an inherent warranted correctness of collective agreements and its potential implications for EU law enforcement, recognising this may limit the judicial review of collective agreements for compliance with EU Directives, potentially undermining EU law effectiveness. In conclusion, this analysis sheds light on the consequences of the ECJ's TimePartner case decision, particularly in Germany, and suggests the need for more detailed, industry-specific collective agreements to better meet the Directive's requirements.
In 1996, Germany introduced the Altersteilzeit (ATZ) policy, which provided incentives for partial retirement. Using linked establishment survey and administrative employment data, the authors ...estimate changes in part-time employment rates and retirement after ATZ. Among men, part-time work increased and retirements were postponed by at least 0.6 years without any displacement of full-time work. For women, the increases in working lives appeared to be even larger. These estimates are based on a nationally representative sample of firms. When analysis is restricted to a subset of firms with collective agreements covering partial retirement, and when the staggered timing of those agreements is used to identify estimates, the authors find extensions of working life of more than 1 year. Overall, these findings suggest that policies encouraging partial retirement may have potential for increasing the duration of working life.
Directive 2008/104/EC calls for the equal treatment of agency workers and directly employed staff at the user company. This article focuses on the limits of this principle inherent in the Directive ...and on how the European Court of Justice has recently striven to interpret agency workers’ right to equal treatment as broadly as possible. The article also explores how the European Court of Justice has tried to broaden the material scope of agency workers’ right to equal treatment and points out the possible shortcomings of the narrow interpretation given to derogations by collective agreements. Finally, possible ways of enhancing the Directive’s effectiveness are addressed.
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