LABOUR ANS SOCIAL RIGTHS IN A CONTEXT OF AUSTERITY Adoración Guamán. University of Valencia

Table of contents: 1. National labour regulations and economic integration: the 4 stages of the modification of national labour law through market integration 2. The 4th stage: crisis, austerity measures and the effects on national labour regulations. The case of Spain 3. The 5th stage: Juncker initiatives for a « social Europe ». Deep de-regulation and re-regulation. EU assault of national social competences 4. Conclusions: the end of national social competences?

1. The 4 stages of the modification of national labour law through market and economic integration  First stage: harmonization of some social regulations for establishing the single market and the economic freedoms  Second stage: deregulation. Elimination of NTBs by ECJ case-law (negative integration or first deregulation)  Third stage:  Privatization  Establishment of the “Social Dimension of the EU” in the treaties, the EUCFR and secondary law

1. The 4 stages of the modification of national labour law through market and economic integration The “social dimension” of de EU  Goals  Legitimation of the market integration through “social measures”  Indirect control of state policies by coordination mechanisms and soft law (OMC)  Ensure a level-playing field, limit the risk of social dumping or "race to the bottom", and facilitate economic integration.  Results: Is there an European Social Model?  Not social objectives autonomous of economic integration  Not autonomous protection of social rights: The Charter does not establish any new power or task for the Union  Clear limitation of EU competences: Article 153 TFEU  The EU operates under “shared competence” (Article 4 TFEU), and can only establish minimum requirements.

2. The 4th stage: crisis, austerity measures, country specific recommendations… and labour law reforms  ‘The European Rescue of the Washington Consensus’  Economic governance instruments (European Semester, CSR, Memoranda):  Labour law reforms  Goals:  Reduction of wages  Reduction of the remaining components of worker’s protection  Regulatory convergence (de-regulation and re-regulation)  Consequences  Break down the stability principle  Transfer of the economic risk: from employer to employees  Labour law colonised by market rules  Destruction of the traditional labour law model  Reduction of the protection for individual or collective dismissals  Reforms of working time schemes and atypical employment law  Decentralisation of collective bargaining systems  Reforms of unemployment insurance and restructuring public services.

2. The 4th stage and its consequences in Spain: main ideas  Spain lost more than 3.7 million jobs between  Labour law and labour rights have been considered the main causes of job loss  Labour relations model is accused of “rigidity” and “flexibilisation” is proposed as solution  Several labour reforms have been adopted between 2010 and 2014 ("labour policies of precariousness”) Two phases  Socialist party government ( )  Popular party government ( )  These reforms have been done following the country-specific recommendations (vid. 2015)  A quantitative recovery of jobs has started during 2014, but:  Fix term contracts  Part-time contracts  Atypical contracts (easier dismissal)  Low salaries  Less collective bargaining protection

Evolution of unemployment

2. Labour law reforms during the crisis: ( ): the permanent reform 1. Individual Labour Law Reforms: De-Mutualising risk towards the Employee: A. Changing the nature of the “open ended contract”: from stability to hyper-flexibility and incertitude Creation of a new type of contract, the “contract supporting entrepreneurs” with a one-year trial period and tax and social security discounts Internal “flexibility”: mechanisms modify labour conditions inside the enterprise Deeply modification of the dismissal procedure and reduction of its cost regarding unfair dismissal severance pay and redundancy payment. Less control possibilities for administrative and judicial authorities

Labour law reforms during the crisis: ( ): the permanent reform b) Changing the nature of the “training contracts”: from training to low cost labour force: Reform of training contracts: less security to ensure formation and participation of Temporary Agencies c) Changing the nature of “part time work”: the perfect way for labour fraud Part-time contracts promotion by deregulation of extra-hours and a new part-time contract linked to training d) The end of the causality principle in temporary contracts: temporality as a way to employment creation New temporary contracts for young people (first young employment contract )

Labour law reforms during the crisis: Phase II ( ): the permanent reform 2. Collective Labour Law Reforms: Reducing Workers’ Collective Power a) Widening the opportunities for the employer to modify industry collective agreements at the level of the undertaking (opting out) b) Granting to the enterprise collective agreement a priority over the sectorial agreement c) Limiting the temporal validity of collective agreements

Evolution of collective agreements

Evolution of wages

3. The current stage: a crucial step to the disolution of nacional social competences  The Five Presidents' Report: Completing Europe's Economic and Monetary Union  Goals and phases  Recommendation for a Council Recommendation on the establishment of National Competitiveness Boards within the Euro Area and the WAGES  REFIT and de-regulation  Pillar of Social Rights:  "flexicurity"  to express a number of essential principles to support well-functioning and fair labour markets and welfare systems (mini-jobs, Italian Job-act model, unique contrat)  New mobility package (reform of the Directive 96/71)  New generation of FTAs (TTIP, CETA, TISA)

Conclusion: a new standard by giving social competences away?  EU member states are de facto losing their competences for defining social and labour rights  There is going to be an assault of social competences by the new Commission initiatives  What could be done? Block the EU by south European country social alliance