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The European Court in Luxembourg ruled negatively on a case brought by the European trade unions against the European Commission. The Court of Appeal is of the opinion that the European Commission can ignore an agreement between employers and employees. This means that national agreements between social partners are not binding on officials at EU and in other EU countries.
The agreement reached between the social partners revolves around government employees having the right to be actively informed by their employer, for example during reorganisations. In the Netherlands, government employees have largely the same rights as employees in business. In many other European countries that is hardly or not the case.
The European trade unions wanted for all 9.8 million civil servants at all national governments in the EU countries a minimum package & #8216; participation & #8217; They had reached agreement on this with the employers' organizations, but several EU countries rejected it. This means that a so-called binding declaration only applies in the country where the agreement has been concluded.
The Secretary General of the umbrella European trade unions (EPSU), the Dutchman Jan Willem Goudriaan, says about this in a press release from the Dutch Falcon Federation umbrella organization FNV: 'It is a slap in the face of all officials. They deserve the same rights as employees in the business world. This statement creates a great deal of uncertainty about the possibilities of social partners to be able to conclude legally valid agreements within EU in the future. '
The EPSU is now considering the verdict and considering the steps to be taken.
