Collective Bargaining and Working Time Challenges in Europe

Panel: What’s going on with working time? We see concurrent efforts of governments and firms to shorten the work week (e.g., four-day work week experiments, Spain working time reduction) and lengthen the work week (e.g., India to 60 hours, Greece 13-hour work day). How should we understand this polarized discussion on working time?

Chair: Janna Besamusca

Speakers:

• Kea Tijdens, WageIndicator Foundation
• Agnieszka Piasna, European Trade Union Institute (ETUI)
• Chandra Shekar, Organising Secretary All India, Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC)

BARTIME key output presentation: Overtime Work and Wage Adequacy

Speaker: 

• Ferran Elias Moreno, University of Girona

European Labour Authority presentation: Promoting the full payment of overtime hours

Speakers:

• Konstantinos KOUTSOGIANNIS, European Labour Authority
• Ciprian-Mihai Sarghe, European Labour Authority

Panel: What should be the bargaining and policy agendas over overtime work? Overtime – especially unpaid overtime – is a widespread phenomenon in Europe. It has been cited negatively as a source of sickness and a method of avoiding full payment of wages and social security payments (underdeclared work). Yet it can also be a supplemental source of income and a tool to increase the competitiveness of firms in globalized economies. Where should efforts to negotiate overtime premiums be focused, should overtime be rooted out and compensated through time-off,  or should we prioritize making sure all overtime hours are paid?

Chair: Marta Kahancova, Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI)

Speakers: 

• Saskia Boumans, Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement (de Burcht)
• Daniela Ceccon, WageIndicator Foundation