Social Agenda Issue 52 - EN

Bridging the gap: Non-standard workers and self-employed people presently face gaps in terms of formal social protection coverage. The first proposal is a revision of the 1991 Written Statement Directive on information to workers about their employment conditions, proposed on 21 December 2017 by the European Commission. It started as an assessment as to whether the directive was still fit for purpose in the twenty-first century. With the adoption of the Pillar, the proposal goes far beyond a sheer revision, and sets new rights for all workers. Indeed, the Pillar upholds the right to be informed in writing at the start of an employment relationship about the rights and obligations resulting from this relationship. It also sets out the right to secure and adaptable employment (principles 7 and 5 of the Pillar), The proposal will serve in particular to combat cases of insufficient protection for workers in non-standard forms of employment, such as workers on zero-hour or on-demand contracts (e.g. fast food chain workers, workers in logistical centres, shelf stockers in supermarkets), domestic or voucher-based workers and platform workers (e.g. on- demand drivers or couriers). The second proposal is a Recommendation put forward by the Commission on 13 March 2018. It is also a brainchild of the Pillar as it seeks to implement its 12th principle: “Regardless of the type and duration of their employment relationship, workers and, under comparable conditions, the self-employed have the right to adequate social protection”. Not to mention the principles on secure and adaptable employment, unemployment benefits, access to healthcare and old age income and pensions… Employment relationship The proposal for a directive on transparent and predictable working conditions would allow 200 million workers to benefit from new and better rights. It actually defines what a worker is: “A person who for a certain period of time performs services for and under the direction of another person in return for remuneration”, a definition that stems from European Court of Justice case law. Whereas the 1991 directive makes it possible to exclude from the rules those workers who have contracts of less than 8 hours per week or shorter than one month or casual workers, the 2017 proposal only allows the exclusion of people working less than 8 hours per month. The proposal also extends the type of information to be provided by an employer to information on probation, training and overtime arrangements. Workers with variable work schedules should have © Belga Image EMPLOYMENT Positive and negative effects Employee sharing, interim management and job sharing have positive effects on working conditions and the labour market, according to a research report on the new forms of employment that have emerged since 2000, produced in 2015 by Eurofound. However, safety nets are needed for other new forms of employment, such as casual work, Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based mobile work and crowd employment. More information: http://europa.eu/!ph76HH 1 2 / SOC I A L AG E NDA / J U LY 2 0 1 8