Rules on working conditions in Europe: Subordinated to freedom of services?

Abstract

Industrial relations in most European countries are based on a national regulatory framework consisting of both labour legislation and provisions laid down in collective agreements. This institutional framework provides rules and procedures for working conditions and social security. These rules and procedures are important contributions to a general feeling of justice and fair treatment, and are perceived as powerful instruments to defend workers’ rights. The introduction of free market principles has brought new challenges for the functioning of this framework, as liberalization and deregulation became the leading principles for the modelling of labour markets. Recent ECJ rulings and European Commission infringement procedures assert the primacy of the supranational principle of free movement in the business environment. The author discusses the inconsistencies in the EU approach.

Present Status of Organizational Work–Life Balance Practices in Bangladesh: Employees Expectation and Organizational Arrangements

“…It helps organizations to enhance WLB and retain the talent in the organizations (Bird, 2006;Jose, 2009;Holmes, 2010). Many organizations welcome this technique and consider that it can reduce the costs of office space and transport allowances (Horstman, 1999;Georgia, 2002;Cremers, 2010;Nicolaisen, 2011).…”

Stepping up to strike: a union mobilization case study of Polish migrant workers in the Netherlands

“…The difference is that posting, firstly, invokes a different set of social protections (Dølvik and Eldring 2008). Secondly, national regulators are explicitly limited by EU law in the extent they can impose national rules on posted workers, as in a series of controversial decisions, the European Court of Justice has judged interference by national regulation as a potential impediment to the freedom of movement (Cremers 2010(Cremers , 2013. 35 This enables and encourages employers to recruit migrants via transnational subcontractors and TWAs, because they can employ them under (partly) home-country terms of lower-wage countries.…”

“…Posted workers move abroad as part of a dependent work relationship with an employer from their home country or from another sending country, rather than moving as individuals to take up or seek a job in the host country. Although originally intended as a framework for firms to send employees abroad for short periods to perform specific tasks, it has become one of the formulations employers use to avoid labour regulation and employ low-wage migrants in precarious jobs (Bosch et al 2013: 174-175;Cremers 2010). Partly as a result of the growth of posting, it is now common to find groups of workers of various nationalities living and working at and around large construction sites in Western Europe.…”

“…Menz 2010a; Lillie and Greer 2007;Felini et al 2007;Cremers 2010Cremers , 2013. There has been less research, however, on the subjective experience of posted workers, as a distinct form of economic migrant and on how they encounter their host-country surroundings.…”

A Verification of a Questionnaire to Determine the Level of Management Culture

“…Management culture consists of four interrelated criteria that determine the quality of management of the organization: culture of managerial staff (Furnham & Stringfield, 1993;Raz & Fadlon, 2006;Pino et al, 2008;Ford & Collison, 2011 and others), culture of organization of management processes (Pye, 1993;Gebauer, 2013;Parker & Rees, 2013 and others), culture of documentation system (Briggs & Pate, 1996;Johnson & Guthrie, 2012 and others), culture of management working conditions (Sundquist & Johansson, 2000;Blekesaune, 2005;Vveinhardt, 2009;Cremers, 2010;Vveinhart, 2011b and others). General culture of managerial staff characterizes the managers of the organization, their individual characteristics, values and managerial education which determines the management style and operational efficiency of this chain.…”