In the light of Europe's continuing economic and debt crisis, the EU has been increasing its coordination of member states' economic policy, and this has started to encroach on national pay developments.
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Employment law country guides

Our country guides set out the key elements of national law as it applies to: recruitment and selection; pay and benefits; employee rights; contracts of employment; training and development; equal opportunities; industrial relations; health and safety; and termination of employment.
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Latest country guide updates
› France: "Occupational security contracts" for redundant employees

› Spain: Conversion of fixed-term into open-ended contracts

› Spain: Training contracts

› Poland: Overtime compensation

› Poland: Membership of employee councils
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EU developments
State of play

Draft EU employment legislation state of play, October 2011
Our monthly update explains the current position on all significant items of employment-related draft EU legislation that are in the legislative pipeline, or due to be proposed in the near future.

In-depth

EU intervenes in national wage developments
During 2011, against the background of the continuing economic and debt crisis, the EU has intervened to an unprecedented extent in pay developments in the member states. It has issued a series of recommendations aimed at achieving moderate wage growth and reform of wage-setting mechanisms.

Commission reviews Directive on temporary workers' health and safety
The European Commission published, in July 2011, an evaluation of the implementation in the EU member states of the 1991 Directive on the health and safety of fixed-term contract and temporary agency workers. It found problems with the Directive's implementation in a number of countries, notably with regard to the provision of information to agency workers.

News

› European employers oppose changes to Pregnant Workers Directive

› New EU economic rules protect wage bargaining

› European-level trade unions agree to merge
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Editor's message
Editor
THE EU AND PAY
EU employment law is specifically prohibited by the Treaty from dealing with pay matters (with the exception of equal pay). However, in the light of Europe's continuing economic and debt crisis, the EU has been increasing its coordination of member states' economic policy, and this has started to encroach on national pay developments.

This year, the EU institutions have issued a series of recommendations to member states, calling for wage moderation and changes to pay-setting mechanisms, with the aim of restoring economic growth and competitiveness. While the UK, with its current low wage growth and decentralised pay-setting, has escaped criticism so far, the EU has targeted countries such as Belgium, Italy, and Spain, calling for changes to their systems of automatically indexing pay to inflation and/or centralised wage bargaining.

The increased interventionism on pay is strongly opposed by trade unions. They fear downward pressure on pay and the dismantling of national industrial relations systems, and they have recently gained some concessions in the EU's approach. Although employers support the substantive thrust of the EU's recommendations, they stress that wage setting is a matter for the national social partners and not an area of EU competence.

email Mark Carley
International editor, XpertHR
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