EUROCIETT - European Confederation of Private Employment Agencies
Eurociett/UNI Europa pan-European conference on temporary agency work and labour market transitions in Europe
On 19 December 2012, Eurociett and UNI Europa held the pan-European conference to launch the key results of their joint report "the Role of Temporary Agency Work and Labour Market Transitions in Europe".
The report provides facts and figures on the stepping-stone function of temporary agency work and presents case studies on transitions from unemployment to work, from education to employment, from temporary to permanent employment and for vulnerable groups and on the role of the sectoral social partners. The case studies focus on six EU Member States: France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom, and Germany.
Further to the launch of the report, the pan-European conference offered a platform for the EU sectoral social partners to put forward their joint recommendations to EU policy makers on temporary agency work facilitating transitions in the labour market.
At the signing ceremony, Eurociett President, Annemarie Muntz, and UNI Europa Secretary General, Oliver Röthig, stressed the need to achieve appropriate regulation on the industry, especially through the full implementation of the Directive on temporary agency work (208/104/EC), and encouraged social dialogue and cooperation between employment services as a way to facilitate labour market transitions.
Eurociett and UNI Europa also called for further research into the stepping-stone function of temporary agency work and emphasised that temporary agency workers should be on an equal footing with other non-traditional forms of work in terms of access to social protection and social charges.
The conference took place at the Hotel Bloom! in Brussels and marked the conclusion of a year-long project, co-funded by the European Commission, where Eurociett and UNI Europa's members regularly met to exchange information and data on the added value of the temporary agency work in facilitating transitions.
The conference attracted over 90 participants from Eurociett and UNI Europa's members, key stakeholders from the European Commission, ILO, OECD, Academia, NGOs, and media.
The event was opened by two keynote speakers: Mr Santiago Loranca Garcia, Head of Unit of European Employment Strategy, from DG Employment at the European Commission, and Maria Münderlein from the University of Rotterdam.
Social partners from Italy, France, Belgium and Netherlands shared best practices on temporary agency work and transitions in a roundtable discussion.
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DocumentationEurociett/UNI Europa Joint RecommendationsThe Role of Temporary Agency Work and Labour Market Transitions in EuropeTranslationsKey documents from the pan-European conference
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Eurociett / FlexWorkResearch ConferenceThe University of Amsterdam has organised, with the support of Eurociett a research conference on “External Forms of Flexibility in the Labour Market: Competition or Complementarity”. It is part of their cooperation in Flexworkresearch (www.flexworkresearch.org), the knowledge centre for researchers and policymakers on flexible work. The conference took place in Leuven, Belgium on October 27-28 2011 at the Faculty Club. Some 25 reknowned researchers were invited to share their latest research findings with members of Eurociett and some policymakers.
You can now download the powerpoints from the presenters in the program below.
Thursday 27 October:
Friday 28 October:
Eurociett Stakeholders Conference
On 23 June 2011, Eurociett held its bi-annual European stakeholders conference entitled “EU2020 From Strategy into Action: How the Agency Work Industry can get More People Back to Work”. The event will take place at the Residence Palace in Brussels.
In this context, key issues such as job creation, flexible yet secure work and social inclusion were raised during 2 panel discussions. The high-level speakers were drawn from EU Institutions, Business Community and Civil Society.
8:30-9:00: WELCOME, REGISTRATION & COFFEE
9:00-9:30: INTRODUCTION TO THE CONFERENCE
9:30-11:00: First Panel discussion - “How to ensure a more inclusive labour market?”
Europe 2020 puts forward as one of three priorities “Inclusive Growth: Fostering a high employment economy delivering social and territorial cohesion”. What can be the role of agency work to increase labour market participation as well as to facilitate the entry of the most disadvantaged workers in the labour market (especially young people)?
Is agency work a trap for poverty and social exclusion or does it represent a stepping stone to the labour market and facilitate upward mobility? How to develop partnerships between labour market institutions to improve the match between supply and demand of work? What could be the contribution of agency work to the Flagship initiative “An agenda for new skills and jobs?”
Setting the scene: Göran Hultin | Caden Corporation S.A.
11:00-11:30: Coffee Break
11:30-12:45: Second panel discussion - “How to secure the right balance between flexibility and security in the labour market?”
The need to balance flexibility and security in the labour market remains a priority of Europe 2020 Strategy: “Implementing flexicurity principles and enabling people to acquire new skills to adapt to new conditions and potential career shifts will be key”.
Training, life-long learning, portability of rights, flexible and reliable contractual arrangements, effective active labour market policies and modern social security systems providing adequate income support during transitions are all key issues to be tackled in order to modernise the European labour market
How can the Agency work industry contribute to address these challenges? To what extent temporary work agencies can be seen as “transitions brokers” in the labour market? What should be the role of social partners to define the right level of flexibility and security?
Setting the scene: Daniela Vincenti | Managing Editor | Euractiv
12.45-13:15: CLOSING SPEECHES
Further photographs from the event can be viewed here
Conference on Vocational Training for Temporary Agency Workers
As part of the joint research project on Vocational Training for Temporary Agency Workers, Eurociett and UNI-Europa held a conference on the 4th December 2008 in Brussels. The event gathered close to 100 attendees, including EU decision-makers, academics and journalists. The objective of the event was to discuss the role that temporary work agencies could play in facilitating transitions in the EU labour market, with a special focus on promoting vocational training opportunities provided to temporary agency workers.
Portuguese MEP José Silva Peneda opened the conference. He said that vocational training for temporary agency work was a heterogeneous practice throughout the EU. Among the main challenges, he saw a need to motivate people for training and avoid early school leaving. Among the main priorities, José Silva Peneda stressed that training schemes should be more demand-driven. There is a definite need to invest in more skills enhancement, and therefore a need to involve local authorities as they are closest to the citizens. Cooperation between private employment agencies and public employment services should be promoted as both provide training opportunities to temporary agency workers. In these times of economic crisis, workers need to adapt, and the use of training can serve to boost self-confidence and minimise risks linked to change.
Sadiq Kwesi Boateng also presented the new “Adult Education Survey” carried out by Eurostat within the EU. In particular, he underlined the notion that non-formal education was becoming increasingly important.
Dr Anneleen Peeters, from IDEA Consult, then presented the overview of the study on vocational training for temporary agency workers, and, after the coffee break, she resumed presenting the six case studies. This study is the first one to provide an EU-wide overview of the training provisions of temporary agency workers. Amongst other things, it appears that the general system of vocational training must be better adapted to the specificities of the sector. Future challenges include the collaboration with other stakeholders and ensuring that the temporary agency work sector has full access to EU-funded or national programmes aimed at promoting vocational training for workers. It will also be necessary to monitor the future development of the training programmes specifically dedicated to temporary agency workers.
A first roundtable, chaired by Fabrice Warneck, and composed of Jacques Solovieff, from the FAF.TT [France], Adriana Stel, from the STOOF [Netherlands], Vincent Vandenameele, from the VFU-FFI [Belgium], and both Juan Solaeche and Pedro Molina, from SINDETT [Spain] outlined the current situation in their respective countries, presented the sectoral bipartite training funds established there, and the challenges faced and overcome. Objectives and achievements were discussed, and a certain consensus appeared. The need to develop training schemes in cooperation with other sectoral training funds, to carefully monitor and assess spending, and the need to react quickly to needs in the labour market were stressed.
After lunch, a second roundtable, chaired by Denis Pennel, concentrated on how to move forward and facilitate access to vocational training for temporary agency workers. The participants of this roundtable were Patrick Werquin, from the OECD, Annemarie Muntz, from Eurociett, Marcel Nuyten, from FNV Bondgenoten, Mario van Mierlo, from EuroCommerce, and Christiane Westphal, from the Commission. It appeared that training needs should be more focused on those needs dictated by the labour market, if it is to truly facilitate transitions. As temporary work agencies are close to the labour market, they can best identify these needs. There is therefore an important role to play for employers, in close cooperation with different partners.
Fabrice Warneck concluded by saying that there was a need to team-up different players, to identify needs, to start from these needs, and then promote best-practices, and finally to improve the transferability of rights, where certification is important. Conference on Cross Border Activities
As part of the joint research project aimed at the establishment of a European Observatory on Cross-Border Activities within the Temporary Agency Work sector, Eurociett and UNI-Europa held a conference on the 3rd of December 2009 in Brussels. The event gathered close to 100 attendees, including EU decision-makers, academics and journalists.
The programme was as follows:
08:30 - 09:00 - Registration
09:00 - 09:30 - Opening speeches
09:30 - 09:50 - Setting the context: Presentation of the 2008 report on regulation on temporary agency work in EU 27
09:50 - 11:00 - Cross-border activities within TAW: Presentation of the overview report by the external experts
11:00 - 11:30 - Coffee break
11:30 - 12:30 - Cross-border activities within TAW: The view from the practioneers [countries and sectors]
Chair & introduction: Frédéric Turlan | Liaisons Sociales Europe Editor in chief
12:30 - 13:00 - Presentation setting up a joint European Observatory on Cross-Border Activities within Temporary Agency Work
by Fabrice Warneck [UNI-Europa] & Denis Pennel [Eurociett]
13:00 - 14:30 - Lunch
14:30 - 15:30 - The implementation of the Directive 2008/104/EC on temporary agency work: What impact on cross-border mobility? How will this directive interfere with the Posting of Workers Directive? How efficient is the Posting of Workers Directive in protecting agency workers and allowing for the development of TAW cross-border activities?
Co-chairs: Fabrice Warneck [UNI-Europa] & Denis Pennel [Eurociett]
15:30 - 16:00 - Closing speeches
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Stakeholder Conference DocumentationVocational Training Conference DocumentationCross Border Conference Documentation |
