EU & Labour Law
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One in five construction workers in Sweden are posted
Over 18,000 workers were this spring posted by companies from other countries to work in Sweden, most of them in the construction industry. The number of posted workers in that industry was nearly as high as one fifth of all the working members of the Byggnads union – Sweden’s main union for construction workers. These…
6 minutes -
EU standardisation of services worries trade unions
Common EU standards are aiming to speed up cross-border trade in services. Just as long as this doesn’t mean introducing EU rules through the backdoor which would be in breach with member states’ labour law and collective agreements, say trade unions – whose concern is shared by the Swedish government.
3 minutes -
ILO critical of Sweden’s handling of the Laval case
Sweden’s Labour Court and ”lex Laval” comes under severe criticism from the International Labour Organisation, giving the Swedish government plenty of food for thought.
4 minutes -
Pan-European protests as EU introduces new working hours for pilots
When SAS employees were forced to agree to a 47.5 hour week they came closer to the general rule within the EU. Now further EU adjustments await. Brussels is preparing new rules on flight working hours and member states will not be allowed to adopt stricter rules. But according to pilot organisations and air safety…
5 minutes -
Nordic worry over EU internal market package
The European Commission’s proposal for how to apply the EU directive on the posting of workers must not limit our powers to control foreign companies! That was the unified message from government officials, authority representatives, the social partners and researchers from all Nordic countries when they met in Oslo to discuss how to deal with…
6 minutes -
Nordic opposition to minimum wage shows lack of solidarity?
Should we have a statutory minimum wage? Absolutely not say Nordic trade unions, and they’re usually backed by employers’ organisations. It’s an attitude people elsewhere in Europe find difficult to understand.
5 minutes -
The Commission wants to exclude small businesses from working environment rules
In the Nordic countries small businesses must follow the same working environment rules as big businesses. Now the EU Commission wants to ease the regulations for smaller businesses.
3 minutes -
Unique collective agreement for Sweden’s staffing agencies
Staffing agencies in Sweden are experiencing a boom. In the last quarter of 2010 turnovers were up 42 percent on 2009 figures. Staffing agencies do however provoke conflicting feelings and staffing was one of the key themes during the latest collective bargaining process.
8 minutes -
Time for transnational collective agreements?
This year workers in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden will be told how many shares they have earned in the French corporation Suez S.A.
6 minutes