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We outlined in our last issue (page 3) the measures that most EU Members were considering to 'balance the books' in pensions funding. The coming increase in pensioners compared to those of working age means that the system in many countries would come under unsustainable strain if nothing is changed. Now various governments are attempting reforms and are finding the path anything but smooth.
After protests and some strikes in Italy last year, following the right-wing government's attempts to change the law, France has recently been gripped by several days of a general strike over the same issue and, unprecedentedly, the usually calm surface of Austrian labour relations was convulsed by a nationwide stoppage in May. In Germany Chancellor Schröder has apparently won the backing of his party for similar reforms while trade union reaction remains uncertain.
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A sea of banners greets French Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin's reforms while Austrian strikers demand 'Stop the pensions robbery' | ||
While the measures proposed by different governments bear some similarities, attitudes to to those opposing them have varied. The Prime Minister of France, Jean Pierre Raffarin tried persuasion: 'In 1960 there were four workers to pay for the pension of every retired person', he wrote in an open letter, 'In 2000 there were only two; in 2020 a single worker will have to subsidise the needs of each pensioner'. However Bernard Thibault of the CGT union confederation replied 'The government would be wrong to believe that ... it is protected from a large-scale social movement on pensions'. In Italy the 3 biggest union organisations have jointly proposed amendments to the government bill in an effort to head off a general strike which Adriano Musi, the UIL pensions secretary, has stated 'will be unavoidable' if they are rejected. The Austrian government has already pushed aside compromise proposals backed by both unions and employers amid fears that they are using the issue to dismantle Austria's strong tradition of social partnership by enacting the reforms this autumn.
Two other EU members have slightly different concerns on pensions. The focus in the UK remains on company or 'supplementary' schemes with unions negotiating to save final salary deals (last issue page 2) while the Belgian government is trying to encourage just such schemes under the 'Vandenbroucke' law through which the social affairs minister wants companies to set up 'social' pension plans. While the authorities try to make the new arrangements sound attractive perhaps most workers would agree with Paris decorator Jean-Marc Morato 'Forty years is enough I have friends of 60, they ache all over, they're half dead'.
In an address to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) the EU Commissioner for the Environment Margot Wallström called on unions to play a bigger part in ensuring that economic development did not harm the environment. She said that although she knew 'that trade unions in other parts of the world are often more sceptical about sustainable development and environmental protection', concern for job creation, poverty eradication and core labour standards 'should make the environmental policy community and trade unions close allies'. Sustainable development is the EU phrase for a policy which is in favour of economic growth but only when environmental and social concerns are built into such development. In the words of Ms. Wallström 'economic growth in tandem with social cohesion and environmental protection'. Such an aim is often linked to the behaviour of individual companies by the concept of corporate social responsibility (see issue 16 page 4). Firms are encouraged to operate a 'triple bottom line' which takes into account the social and environmental impact of what they do as well as profit and loss. Trade unions have always been interested in the social costs of corporate actions such as redundancy and restructuring and have sought to gain influence through information and consultation laws but now environmental considerations are rising up their agenda.
However some commentators doubt the strength of union commitment to such matters. In their report 'Towards a sustainable corporate social responsibility', the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions opines 'Trade union organisations, recognised partners in the in-company social dialogue, nevertheless appear to be behind the times as regards CSR, even though this concept is quite in keeping with their history and identity ... trade unions do not always have the necessary resources (e.g., training networks) for developing an active strategy in this field'. Commissioner Wallström, after outlining the measures that the EU is taking to put flesh on the bones of the recent declarations of the Johannesburg environmental summit, linked these concerns with trade unions in a number of ways. Firstly the over-use of environmental resources was paralleled by the under-use of human ones. This was being addressed by the Lisbon strategy of expanding and equalising employment opportunity. Secondly the EU was trying to decouple economic growth from environmental damage by promoting clean fuels and pollution control. These new industries had grown by 5% in every year since 1994 and now employ 1.6 million people. Thirdly, health and safety of workers was linked to the environmental performance of their companies. Here she used the example of the EU's new chemicals policy (see issue 22 page 7) which put people's health and the environment first. 'Workers who handle chemicals are in the front-line. They want risks to be as low as possible and you have an important role to play in representing their interests by shaping this policy' she reminded ETUC leaders.
In conclusion the commissioner said that she expected trade unions to make their voices heard on these issues which were not just a matter for 'Brussels'. 'The ETUC must continue to talk about sustainable development. National and sectoral union associations must also address this issue....In return, I give you my commitment that you will be more systematically invited to work together with us as a key partner'.
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'Towards a sustainable corporate social responsibility' can be downloaded from the internet at: |
http://www.eurofound.eu.int/publications/EF0317.htm
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'Adobe Acrobat' software to read it can be downloaded free from:: |
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