Almost 140 years after the strike for an eight-hour day which gave birth to our modern May Day, the rise of the 24-hour economy has put working time back at the centre of public debate. More people than ever will be working night shifts for manufacturing, distribution and transport companies this Christmas, to meet increased demand and tight supply deadlines. People working regularly from home are also six times as likely to work in their free time and twice as likely to work 48 hours in a week, according to the European Working Conditions Survey.
A comparison of statutory maximum working hours and collectively agreed hours illustrates that agreements lead to considerably fewer weekly hours, according to a new report on working time by the European Trade Union Institute for industriAll Europe. That makes respect for the right to collective bargaining crucial to achieving fair working time.
Structures allowing millions of workers to bargain collectively have however been attacked during this century as a result of austerity
and flourishing union-busting. Access to negotiated conditions has thereby been removed for over three million workers. …(far right extremists libertarians bros whining?)….
The biggest falls in coverage have come in Greece and Romania—two of the countries with the highest working time. Analysis of Eurofound data by the ETUC shows that in countries where just one in ten workers are covered—Poland, Greece, Romania, Estonia and Hungary—the average collectively agreed working time is 1,848 hours. The Greek government has recently made things even worse with a law further extending working time.
By contrast, in countries where nine in ten workers are covered by a collective agreement—Sweden, Finland, Belgium, France and
Austria—the average collectively-agreed working time is 1,674 hours a year. That is a difference of 174 hours—equivalent to four week’s work based on the EU average collectively agreed working time of 38 hours per week.
Or, to put it another way, in countries where collective
agreements are rare workers work an extra month without pay by comparison with their well-protected counterparts elsewhere.
The claim that collective bargaining was bad for competitiveness has been discredited. On the contrary, it has been proved to be good for the economy and society. The EU and national governments now have to be proactive in rebuilding collective-bargaining coverage.
Reduction of working time without loss of pay has been proven to enhance productivity and workers’ wellbeing. Eurofound’s data show high incidence of collective bargaining is the best way to achieve that win-win scenario.
Soooo…9 in 10 Swedish workers are unionized….aka…pensions, health care plans, …..🤔
But..but…far right extremists libertarians bros tech in America will get everyone fired and….well…free to starve…🤢
🎄🎁
by BikkaZz