France/Draft bill to reform Labour Code contains a few (bas) surprises for trade unions. The French government has issued its draft bill to reform the Labour Code to social partners, for consultation. As announced, the draft bill loosens the restrictions on the 35-hour week. There is a greater opportunity to adjust working hours over the year, or indeed over a three-year period. The draft bill also reconsiders the minimum 11-hour rest period between two days of work. Job preservation agreements which, currently reserved for companies in difficulty, can by majority agreement allow salaries and working time to be adjusted in order to avoid layoffs, could be extended to so-called “accords offensifs” (offensive agreements), which aims to developp employment Furthermore, the text specifies decrease in sales or revenue during three consecutive quarters or operating losses during one quarter is considered as an objective causes which can justify a redundancy, in order to reduce judges’ room for interpretation.
News update as of 18 February 2016
Great Britain/The ILO intervenes in discussions over reforms to the right to strike (Trade Union Bill). The ILO Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations relating to labor standards highlights the risk that some of the provisions of the draft law on reforming the right to strike, the Trade Union Bill, currently under examination by the House of Lords may actually violate the organization’s international conventions. The British unions, who are very critical of this upcoming legislation (c.f. article No. 9195), have attracted the attention of his committee that carries out an annual review of national legislation vis-à-vis ILO conventions. The committee has focused the government’s attention on restrictions that the new rules involve over exercising the right to strike in the transport and education sectors. As regards private sector companies in general, the committee of experts underlines that the requirements required to be carried out ahead of any action (on top of the employee vote there is also a minimum turnout requirement) justify that in return the government then facilitates voting arrangements by allowing electronic voting where currently only postal votes are permitted, which makes the procedures more complicated for the unions. The committee is also encouraging the British government to review its intention to allow agency workers to replace striking workers. The committee holds that agency workers should only be allowed for essential services, although the government still has not adopted a definitive position on this new measure that would have to be introduced in a different draft law. The influence of this ILO report on the Conservative government’s intentions remains to be seen. Since it came to power the government has been questioning the legitimacy of its position on social issues as much as the ILO and as the European Court of Human Rights have.
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