EALCJ The European Association of Labour Court Judges Newsletter No.17 February 2011 The Fifteenth Annual Conference of the European Association will be held in Malta on Friday and Saturday, the 3 & 4 June 2011 The subject of the conference will be: Access to Justice for Precarious workers - Posted workers, non-unionised workers and migrant workers The Congress will take place at the Grand Excelsior Hotel, Malta. Malta is a particularly appropriate setting for this Congress because it is at the centre of the Mediterranean, which, in classical terms, means it is at the centre of the world. It has always been a cross-roads, with Italy and Western Europe to 1
the north and west, North Africa to the south and Asia Minor to the east. Its complex language reflects the influences of Greece, Carthage, Italy (until the middle of the last century the language of its courts) and Great Britain which awarded it the George Cross. Although it is the smallest and one of the newest members of the EU it is in a unique position to reflect the polyglot nature of the modern EU. The Congress is taking place at the invitation of the Chief Justice of Malta and the Minister of Justice and Home Affairs and with the support of the European Commission. We will have a formal dinner at the Auberge d Aragon, one of the oldest buildings in Valetta built in 1571 to house the knights hospitallers from the langue of Aragon. Our President elect is Judge Abigail Lofaro, the first woman to be appointed a High Court Judge in Malta who has played an important part in bringing the Congress to Malta. The content of the Congress will follow on from the 2010 Congress in Rome, a report of which follows, and, indeed, from the 2009 Congress in Liverpool. Our concern has been to identify areas which are not fully covered by EU based labour law protection. In Liverpool we concentrated on migrant workers and, in Rome, on the scope of protection for various types of workers, particularly the extension of protection to groups of potentially excluded workers such as fixed-term workers, part-timers and agency workers. In Malta we will concentrate not on scope, but on access, looking at the formal access provisions, but also at the various practical difficulties which particular groups of workers have in taking advantage of the rights they have been given, with particular reference to posted workers, but we will also look at other migrant workers and at other disadvantaged groups. Rome Congress 11 th June 2010 and 12 th This was, perhaps, our most successful Congress to date, thanks to the splendid support of Judge Giovanni Mammone, Judge of the Corte di Cassazione in Rome and a former President of our Association. We were honoured to have the first morning of the Congress in the rococco magnificence of the Aula Gialombardo (named after the greatest Italian jurist of the 20 th Century) in the Corte di Cassazione and to be addressed by the First President of the Court and by the President of the Labour Chamber. 2
From there we moved to the less grand, but comfortable and elegant rooms of the Residenza di Ripetta, in the very heart of Rome, close to the Piazza di Popolo. In the evening we had the great honour of dining in the Campdoglio, on the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the city, where the great figures of the Roman Republic from Cicero to Julius Caesar held sway. The Congress was attended by 39 Judges from 17 countries and the whole Congress was packed with lively debate. The President of the Supreme Court, in his address, complimented the Association on the importance of its role in giving an international dimension to the judgments of national judges, who can both learn from the experience of others and contribute their own experience. It has always been clear that the problems faced by the national courts of Europe are very similar and the solutions usually have much in common, though sometimes they are very different. Judges face applying general principles of law and justice to changing employment circumstances as the nature of employment becomes more flexible. Meanwhile, some employers are looking at ways to avoid the protection that the legislature seeks to give to workers, by making use of atypical work arrangements. We are all trying to provide protection to all, but we are also aware of the challenges of the global economy, both in terms of work being moved to other countries outside the EU, and in terms of migrant and immigrant workers coming from different parts of the EU or from outside. We also have the challenge of the black economy, which works outside the law, partly with EU nationals and partly with illegal immigrants. It was clear that the Courts are facing up to these problems at a national level, but we also discussed in detail the three Directives on fixedterm workers, part-time workers and agency workers. The Agency Workers Directive has not yet been fully implemented and all three of these Directives create challenges for national courts which have different traditions of approach. Liverpool Congress 2009 The Full Report of this Congress is now available on the EALCJ website at www.ealcj.org. We are keen to hear any comments on this Report, particularly if it contains errors or misunderstandings in relation to specific national jurisdictions. 3
We are also keen to disseminate this Report as fully as possible. We would be delighted if national judges wished to use it as the basis of articles in national journals or in education. If any one would like a hard copy, please contact the Secretary- General. Website You are reminded of our website at www.ealcj.org which contains reports of all our Congresses since formation in 1995, past newsletters,national reports from most of the Congresses and summaries of the workings of the Labour Courts of most of the Members States of the EU and EEA. We hope that you find this a useful resource and are keen to develop it further. Officers of the Association President Helmut Zimmerman President Elect Abigail Lofaro Secretary-General Colin Sara Convenor Prof Alan Neal Treasurer Michael Homfray-Davies National Representatives Austria Judge Marleis Glawischnig Belgium Alain Simon Czech Republic Judge Zedenek Novotny Denmark Judge Paul Soegaard Estonia Judge Mare Merimaa Finland Judge Jorma Saloheimo France Judge Michel Blatman Germany Judge Helmutt Zimmerman Greece Andriani Papadopoulou Hungary Judge Hando Tunde Ireland (EAT) Kate O Mahony Ireland (Labour Court) Kevin Duffy Iceland Judge Oskaarson Italy Judge Giovanni Mammone Lithuania Judge Diana Labokaite Luxembourg Judge Tom Moes Malta Judge Abigail Lofaro Netherlands Gerrard Boot Norway Judge Jakob Wahl Slovenia Judge Miran Blaha United Kingdom Judge John van Gelder 4
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