This week the largest trade union Federation in Europe will be formed following the merger of the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF), the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF) and the European Trade Union Federation for Textiles, Clothing and Leather (ETUF:TCL). The new European Trade Union Federation (ETUF) will become the main union body for industrial workers in Europe. It will have its head office in the same building as the ETUC in Brussels and its aim will be to target multinational companies from its improved power base to “fight for decent working conditions and secure employment.”

The Bulgarian minimum wage rose on May 1st from BGN 270 to BGN 290 (148.27 euros) a month. Trade unions are pressing the government to raise the minimum wage still further to BGN 330 (168.73 euros) by 2013.

Germany’s leading coalition party, the CDU, has decided to introduce a mandatory minimum wage covering all sectors of the economy. Agreement has yet to be reached with the other two coalition parties, but the CDU proposal would involve the establishment of a wage-setting body drawn from both sides of industry.

The European Commission has proposed a new directive to simplify the re-registration of cars moving permanently between EU member states. The proposition would allow for vehicles to be registered in the member state where the owner ‘normally resides’. Citizens who move to another EU country would have six months to re-register their vehicle. There will however be exceptions for those who move within the EU to work on assignments for longer pre-defined periods.

The Italian government has approved a number of important employment law reforms. These clamp down on the misuse of flexible employment contracts and make it easier to carry out
individual redundancies. In return, several improvements have been introduced to the unemployment benefit system. A compehensive briefing on the reforms is available from Uberto Percivale of Baker & McKenzie’s Milan office.

Although employment in service-based businesses across the EU was hard hit by the recent recession, growth has now resumed – albeit not yet at pre-recession levels. By contrast, employment in the construction sector grew by 15% between Q1 2004 and Q2 2008 before subsequently falling by over 17%, with no evidence of recovery. Employment in production has been in long-term decline, but was accelerated by the recession. Between the Q1 2008 and Q3 2010 industrial employment fell by 11.4 % before leveling out as the recession waned. Most hard hit during the recession were mining and quarrying, petroleum and gas production, tobacco products, textiles and clothing and leather goods.

Irish minister Brendan Howlin has announced that the government is drawing up a draft Bill on Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest.

This new legislation is designed to protect whistleblowers who report what they genuinely perceive as possible criminal offences – or failure to comply with a legal obligation, the miscarriage of justice or the infringement of health and safety legislation. However, as currently conceived, the legislation will not apply to disclosures made on an anonymous basis. But protection will extend to matters arising in another country – provided they breach the laws of Ireland or the other jurisdiction.

The final draft of the Bill is expected to be published in the second quarter of this year.

The German Federal Labour Court has declared that it is discriminatory to vary annual leave allowances according to an employee’s age – even if the scaling of allowances is set out in a collective agreement.

According to the agreement in question, holiday entitlements ranged from 26 days for employees under the age of 30 years to 30 days for those over the age of 40. The court could not find any justification for disadvantaging those under the age of 40 and held that it could only be remedied through an upward adjustment, granting 30 days leave to all employees irrespective of their age.

Curiously, the court did concede that age-related scaling might be legitimate if it was provided to take into account the increased need for recreation time by older employees. Therefore,  differences in entitlement might be justified for employees nearing retirement  (20/03/12 no.9 AZR 529/10).

The French Supreme Court has recently ruled that dismissing a state careworker who lived 20km away from their workplace – instead of the 200 metres maximum distance stipulated in their employment contract – was unlawful. According to rights afforded under the European Convention on Human Rights and the French Labour code an employee is free to choose a place of residence for themselves and their family. The court held that any restriction placed upon this is valid only if it is essential to protect the legitimate interests of the employer and proportionate to the aim pursued. (Cass. Soc. 28/02/12, no. 10-18308).

An amendment to the Bulgarian Commercial Code has been proposed that would give employees the right to submit a claim as a priority creditor if their company files for bankruptcy.

Current legal provisions allow bankruptcy proceedings to be initiated by debtors, creditors, liquidators or the National Revenue Agency. In 2011, the Labour Ministry issued around 2300 citations for unpaid salaries and there have been a number of high-profile cases of major delays in meeting outstanding salary obligations by Bulgarian companies in liquidation.

The proposal is currently open for public consultation prior to its approval by the Cabinet and submission to the national Parliament.