Best practices on organising and defending self-employed workers: initial research results Paris 7 September 2017 Lionel Fulton Labour Research Department
Contents of presentation Some figures on self-employment Initial survey responses Barriers to organising self-employed Collective bargaining for self-employed workers Other forms of support for self-employed Unions for self-employed Priorities for future
A picture of self-employment Taken from Eurostat Eurostat definition: Self-employed persons are the ones who work in their own business, farm or professional practice. A self-employed person is considered to be working if she/he meets one of the following criteria: works for the purpose of earning profit, spends time on the operation of a business or is in the process of setting up his/her business
Employers, self-employed and employees 2016 EU28 (000) 200 000,0 180 000,0 182 123,5 160 000,0 140 000,0 120 000,0 Change since 2011 +4.4% 100 000,0 80 000,0 60 000,0 +1.1% 40 000,0 20 000,0-3.0% 8 732,3 21 791,2 0,0 Employers Self employed (own account) Employees
Own account self-employed by occupation 2016 (EU28) Managers Professionals Technicians and associate professionals Clerical support workers Service and sales workers Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers Craft and related trades workers Plant and machine operators and assemblers Elementary occupations
Fewer in agriculture and retail more in 800,0 professional services 2011-16 400,0 0,0-400,0-800,0
Not all countries have seen increase in 100,0% self-employed (% change) 80,0% 60,0% 40,0% 20,0% 0,0% -20,0% -40,0% BE BG CZ DK DE EE IR GR ES FR HR IT CY LV LT LU HUMT NL AT PL PT RO SI SK FI SE GB Change in own account self-employed (excluding agriculture )2011 to 2016: Eurostat
Another view of the self-employed(%) Director (medium to large employer) Director (small employer) Farmer (no employees) Independent (own account) Dependent (own account) Liberal profession Other Eurofound 2017 from EWCS
Responses to questionnaire Country Unions Country Unions Austria (1) ÖGB Lithuania (2) Solidarumas, Solidarumas- Translators and Interpreters Belgium (4) CGSLB, CSC-CNE, CSC, FGTB Netherlands (2) CNV, FNV- Zelfstandigen Bulgaria (1) CITUB/KNSB Norway (1) NITO Czech Republic CMKOS, OS KOVO Poland (1) NSZZ Solidarność (2) Denmark (3) HK, IDA, LO Serbia (1) Nezavisnost Finland (4) AKAVA, AKT, Team, Union of Journalists Slovakia (1) KOZ SR Germany (4) DGB, DJV, IG Metall, Ver.di Slovenia (1) ZSSS Sindikat prekarcev Hungary (2) LIGA, SZEF Sweden (3) Pappers, Saco, TCO Ireland (1) SIPTU UK (2) Equity, NUJ Italy (4) CGIL, CISL- vivace, FABI, UIL-Temp Countries (20) Unions (42)
But still some missing Among EU states no responses from 10 countries: Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal and Romania And some national confederations missing They will be included if they come in in the new few weeks!
External barriers to organising selfemployed 3 countries where unions cannot recruit self-employed Bulgaria: unions have made proposals to change this Poland: unions have complained to ILO and constitutional court and changes have been promised Serbia: employment law to be changes in 2018, may also change this Other legal barriers Austria: individuals who are employers cannot be involved in union decision-making ( 4 Abs 4 Z 4 ArbVG) Hungary: labour code is not valid for self-employed, which means only employees benefit from being union members
Internal barriers to organising selfemployed Rules of some unions do not allow the self-employed to join particularly if they are also employers FGTB (Belgium): In Belgium, there is a binary choice between employers and employees. There is nothing to stop self-employed workers joining unions, but this is scarcely of interest in practice. IG Metall (Germany): self-employed allowed to join union in January 2016 CCOO (Spain): self-employed without employees can join; those with employees cannot SACO (Sweden): Many unions have a policy of not organising self-employed workers
Collective bargaining remains exception But even if the self-employed can join unions their position is clearly different especially in area of collective bargaining 9 countries where collective agreements or agreements like collective agreements exist Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK But in all cases there are limits
Limits on collective agreements 1 Austria: only for permanent freelance journalists and home workers Belgium: only in rare cases and legislation does not give same status to agreements signed Denmark: a few self-employed freelancers Germany: only for employee-like persons, who must perform duties without employees and depend to 50% (33% in media) on the employer for their income in practice only in media
Limits on collective agreements 2 Italy: only for Co.Co.Co workers (type of project-based workers) not for freelance workers Also for small group of financial advisers in Intesa San Paolo Group Netherlands: but as model contracts not collective agreements new arrangements, in place since May 2016 provide the possibility of asking the tax administration to approve a model contract for a sector, a company or a group of companies. However, this is contested as has not yet been implemented.
Limits on collective agreements 3 Spain: as agreements of professional interest but only for economically dependent workers (75% and 100% of their income from a single source) Sweden: freelance journalists and actors UK: actors working in all major entertainment businesses (actors are self-employed for tax purposes but count as workers for collective bargaining)
Legal problems with collective 7 countries specifically report legal problems in attempting to negotiate collective agreements Denmark: case of Danish Union of Journalists against Aller Media found that self-employed were not covered by collective agreements Finland: impossible to reach collective agreements Ireland: prevented by Section 4 of Competition Act 2002 (now changed) Italy: no details agreements Netherlands: one case went to the European Court of Justice Spain: the limited nature of the agreements of professional interest is a problem UK: employers cannot be compelled to negotiate about self-employed
Other forms of support to selfemployed (pay) Majority provide support (24 on pay issues) Give guidance on fees (example: rates survey) Denmark (HK, IDA, National Union of Journalists), Germany (DJV, Ver.di), Ireland (SIPTU), Sweden (some TCO unions), UK (NUJ) But problems in doing so in Denmark, Germany, Sweden Ver.di (Germany): We offer a free survey (to circumvent EU competition legislation) SACO (Sweden) says In general, it s difficult to provide information on fees since it can be in violation of competition rules. Some unions provide information on what elements the fee should include without stating a specific sum.
Other forms of support (non-pay) 1 Majority (28) provide other support Legal advice most frequent (16 say they provide this) This can be extensive: IG Metall (Germany) will cover legal costs when members have to go to court to get the money they are owed. Claims for damages are covered up to a limit of 30,000. The legal cost limit is 100,000. In areas of intellectual property rights, trademark rights and patent rights the union will pay for a single consultation with a specialist lawyer. Less specific in other cases: CISL- vivace (Italy): members can use legal services
Other forms of support (non-pay) 2 Other types of support Training (including on setting up as entrepreneurs) Discounted rates for external products and services(professional insurance, car hire, health insurance depending on country) Taxation advice Advice on contracts Information on developments in the industry
Specific internet tools for self-employed 12 unions say that they have created a site or specific pages for the self-employed Wide range of services available: Sample contracts (HK Denmark) News and developments (Ver.di Germany) Service for the freelancers to sell their photography online (DJV Germany) Online discussion forums exists at least for journalists, where the self-employed have the possibility to discuss employers (TCO Sweden)
Two interesting examples IG Metall (Germany): website to allow users to rate the sites they are using CISL vivace (Italy): website to allow users to run a test to see if the employment relationship is in line with the law and is freelance friendly, as well as sharing the results with other members of the freelance community.
Unions with significant numbers of selfemployed 13 countries indicated that such unions existed Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK 7 countries said that they did not Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia Slovakia: Yes, there are unions for the self-employed, but these are unions for business people and not part of the trade union confederation
Three types of unions for selfemployed Unions for traditionally (and now increasingly) self-employed occupations Artists, actors, musicians, journalists, media professionals, translators, interpreters, tour guides (NUJ UK has a freelance branch with 4,000 members) Unions set up specifically to recruit new more precarious workers UIL-TEMP, NIDL CGIL, FELSA CISL (Italy) Including specifically for self-employed vivace (Italy), UPTA UGT (Spain) Large unions looking to recruit self-employed (may already have selfemployed areas) GpA (Austria), IG Metall, Ver.di with 30,000 freelance members (Germany), UNIONEN (Sweden), GMB (UK)
Workers forced into self-employment Almost all unions (35) said that it happened Serbia was the only country where it did not 21 union organisations had campaigned against it and 5 unions reported successes Ireland: new Competition Amendment Act 2017 contains a definition of false self-employment 22 union organisations had taken legal action and 8 reported successes (another 9 said the results were mixed or it was too soon to say)
Priorities for EU institutions Change competition law (8) CSC Belgium: Review legislation on freedom of trade, so that collective agreements for self-employed can t be attacked as constrains on freedom of trade Prevent the use of self-employed to drive down conditions social dumping (11) ZSSS Sindikat Prekarcev Sovenia: Changing the agenda of flexibilisation and stop sharing bullshit about sharing and collaborative economy
Priorities for national governments Responses similar to those for EU institutions But more emphasis on a level playing field in terms of social contributions and employment rights CNV Netherlands: Get rid of fiscal schemes that function as a subsidy for hiring companies to hire self-employed and stimulate (bogus) selfemployment. Make sure employers have to pay the applicable social premiums in the case of bogus self-employment Create an equal labour market by realising access to affordable pension and disability schemes for self-employed workers as employees
Priorities for ETUC Similar to those for EU institutions But also include: Share best practice and experiences Produce a definition of what is an autonomous worker
Priorities for national unions Again similar to other priorities But two interesting comments on union approach: Unions should have higher regard for the selfemployed (Ver.di Germany) Unions should recognise that technological change means that less and less work is performed with traditional subordination (NSZZ Solidarność)
Final thoughts In most countries few legal barriers to recruiting and organising self-employed But big problems in negotiating for them Unions are offering other services to self-employed But other than in traditional areas not clear how successful this has been (in contrast to other atypical workers) Many unions see issue primarily in terms of bogus selfemployed There are other non-union bodies out there willing to represent them
Thank you for your attention! Please send me more questionnaires lfulton@lrd.org.uk Questions and comments