Social Agenda Issue 54

NEWS IN BRIEF Transparent and predictable working conditions: Towards new rules 7 FEBRUARY 2019 The European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers reached a provisional agreement on the Commission’s proposal to create more transparent and predictable working conditions, in particular for workers in non-standard forms of employment. EU rules adopted in 1991 foresee that employees should get information in writing about their working conditions. However, in recent years, 1 in 4 employment contracts concerned atypical forms of employment. Today workers who have contracts of less than 8 hours per week (32 per month) or shorter than one month or casual workers can be excluded from the rules and are therefore not covered. The new directive will make sure that only people working less than 12 hours a month can be excluded. Thanks to this measure, an additional 2 to 3 million workers, such as workers on zero-hour contracts and domestic workers, will be covered and protected by the updated rules. Protection against cancer at work: Almost there 29 JANUARY 2019 The European Parliament, the EU Council of Ministers and the European Commission reached a provisional agreement on the Commission's third proposal to broaden the list of recognised cancer-causing chemicals in the workplace. It will improve working conditions for over 1 million EU workers and prevent over 22 000 cases of work-related illness. For instance, it will ensure better protection of workers in the nickel-cadmium battery manufacture, zinc and copper smelting, laboratories, electronics, funeral and embalming, construction, healthcare, plastics and recycling sectors. The agreement will be submitted to the Council's Permanent Representatives Committee for approval. It will then be subject to a final vote by the plenary session of the European Parliament. Atypical employment: an additional 2 to 3 million workers will be covered and protected by the updated working conditions rules. © Belga Image © Belga Image Better protection: Third broadening of the list of recognised cancer- causing chemicals, against which protection is required. 4 / SOC I A L AG E NDA / MA R C H 2 0 1 9