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Project meeting R EDUCING P RECARIOUS W ORK IN E UROPE T HROUGH S OCIAL D IALOGUE University Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg 08. -09.10. 2015 Presentation Denmark Slide 2 Standard employment Slide 3 Regulation of the employment relationship Mixture of collective agreements and legislation: Collective agreements (wage-earners): working time, overtime work, minimum wages, terms of notice, pension, representation at the workplace.. Legislation (wage-earners, to some extent self-employed): exists next to the collective agreements. In some cases overlap between legislation and collective agreements. In some cases legislation becomes effective if the employee is not covered by collective agreements. Therefore: well regulated employment relationship in DK. Working under a collective agreement (regardless of type of contract) = employment is considered typical/standard. Precarious work in DK is mainly related to working at the unregulated part af the labour market (outside a collective agreement or no enforcement of the collective agreements), often foreign labour. Slide 4 Variations in terms of notice, but still a flexible Danish workforce After 1 year of employment After 5 years of employment After 10 years of employment Construction3 days5 days Manufacturing and transportation 21 days2 months3 months The Employers' and Salaried Employees' Act 3 months5 months6 months Slide 5 Part of private sector where firms are members of the Danish Employers Association (DA) Part of private sector where firms are members of the employers association in the finance sector (FA) The unorganize d part of private sector (firms are not members of an employers association) Private sector (total) Public sector Labour market (total) 8889597410084 Table 2.1: Coverage collective agreements in 2012 (percent) Slide 6 Firm member of an employer organization Firm covered by collective agreements Firm neither member of an employer organization or covered by collective agreements Agriculture505442 Certain parts of manufacturing 88906 Construction87885 Cleaning505935 Hotel and restaurants736120 Table 3.1.: Firms membership of employer organization and collective agreement coverage in selected industries (%) Source: Andersen & Feldbo-Kolding (2013:121-123) based on answers from a survey on 829 firms use of eastern European labour Slide 7 Collective agreement coverage by type of employment, 2010 (Scheuer 2011) Collective agreement coverage (percent) Full time, open-ended74 Part time, open-ended79 Fixed-term (date)68 Fixed-term (task)72 TAW62 Total74 Slide 8 Gaps - standard employment contract None? Maybe social protection gaps Reforms of the unemployment insurance system as an example: 2010: shorter benefit period (from 4 to2 years), harder to become eligible - has in some sectors led to a demand for more job security to compensate for less social protection (severance pay in some collective agreements). On the road to a less flexible workforce in DK? 2015: political discussions about a new unemployment insurance system (lower benefits for young people.) Slide 9 Less than full time employment Part time employment Slide 10 Figure 4.1: Part time employment as percentage of total employment, 15-64 years, 1992-2013, LFS Slide 11 MenWomenMen and women Could not find full time work15,219,718,3 Own illness or disability9,46,97,7 Other family or personal responsibilities10,526,021,1 Looking after children or incapacitated adults -3,92,7 In education or training 55,534,140,8 Other reasons 9,29,4 Table 4.1.: main reason for part time employment in Denmark, 15-64 years, 2013 (%) Source: Eurostat LFS. Slide 12 Gaps? PT is not perceived as non standard employment (by unions, employers, researchers, interviewees) Overall, allmost like full time employees: Less access to labour market pension compared to full time employees due to shorter working hours (87 % vs 94 %) Some differences in union membership (3-10 percent lower than full time) And in access to education and training (84 % vs 91 %). And UIF-membership Slide 13 But larger gaps, especially for short PT Overrepresentation of PT in the unregulated part of the LM (hotel, cleaning) which may suggest poorer wages and working conditions If less than 8 hours a week, excluded from the Act on Salarieed Employees and collective agreements and no employment contract Difficult to become eligible for UIB because of shorter working hours (eligibility 13 hours a week during a three year period). Union membership declines with fewer working hours How many? According to LFS 2015 11 % of all part time employees worked 1- 14 hours a week.. Slide 14 Temporary employment Fixed-term contracts and TAW Slide 15 Fixed-term contracts 8,6 % More common among younger people (under 30) More widespread in the public sector within teaching, child care, elder care, health and social service Is found within various job functions, not only low status jobs Both voluntarily and involuntarily 2.7 % less than a month, 8.7 % 1-3 months, 13. 7 % 4-6 months (=25 % max 6 months) (LFS 2014) Slide 16 TAW 1% of all employment in 2014 22.000 full time positions/69.000 persons High labour turnover More present in the construction sector, the transportation sector, within office work and in social and health related services Mainly skilled or unskilled Young people and non-Danes overrepresented Slide 17 Gaps Both FT and TAW regulated through the collective agreements Historically TAW was not a part of the collective agreements. Their rights have become normalized, but still confusion as to who is the employer cases in Labour Court TAW is to a larger extent done outside collective agreements (62 % compared to 74 % as average) + foreign workers overrepresented suggest poorer wages and working conditions. Slide 18 Gaps (especially for short FT and TAW) Less access to seniority dependent rights and benefits (paid holidays after 9 months, education, pension.) TAW working for different temp agencies most problems. No written employment contract if employment is less than one month Certain wage gaps for FT, 6-7 % higher wages if SEC (study from 2000) Examples of differential treatment at the workplace Problems qualifying for unemployment benefits due to short working periods. Slide 19 Cost-driven Subcontracted work Slide 20 The construction sector Long tradition for different subcontractors at building sites Posting Eastern European labour TAW on the rise Gaps: foreign companies without collective agreements enter the Danish labour market. But: RUT-register and 48 hour meetings have made foreign companies sign collective agreements Employers: gaps when foreign one man businesses work for private persons. Unions: still problem with enforcement of collective agreements Slide 21 Cleaning Privatization of public cleaning - Erosion of the wages and working conditions because subcontractors are not covered by collective agreements or do not enforce them Eastern European labour, 11 % (no knowledge on the rules and regulations in DK)