10 July 2016
Content
I.Universal right to equality between women and men
II.Parental rights
1.Universal parental rights
2.Workers’ rights before giving birth
3.Workers’ right after birth: Maternity leave
4.Paid and unpaid parental leave: Fathers’ rights
5.Returning to work
6.Harmonisation of work and family life including child care and care of sick family members
III.Gender equality in pay
1.Principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value
2.Principle of living wage
3.Gender neutral systems
4.Wage transparency
5.Equal pay wage monitoring
6.Correcting gender wage gap
IV.Gender equality in promotion and career
1.Training and career development
2.Representation of women in decision-making and positions of power
V.The implementation and dissemination of collective agreements
Viewpoints
To bear in mind
I. Universal right to equality between women and men
The right to equality between women and men is a core value of the company.
Equality between women and men must be ensured in all areas, including recruiting/selection and all aspects of employment conditions, working conditions and all aspects of remuneration (cash and in kind).
The equality of full-time and part-time workers must be guaranteed. Special monitoring must be applied for part-timers to ensure their pro rata equality to those in full-time employment
II. Parental rights
Universal parental rights
The same parental rights must be observed equally in case of all employees, irrespective of their type of employment contract (open-ended, fixed-term, part-time or temporary).
The same parental rights must be observed in case of diverse family structures like single parents, same sex couples, cohabitants, adoptive parents.
Workers’ rights before giving birth
Women cannot be dismissed because of their pregnancy
Where risks are identified, the employer is required to take action to protect the pregnant female worker by moving her (1) to another position or (2) granting leave. In case of leave the (1) employment rights and (2) payment of an adequate allowance to compensate for any loss of income must be guaranteed by the employer.
Pregnant workers are not obliged to work night shifts, subject to the submission of a medical certificate.
Pregnant workers may undergo antenatal medical examinations during working hours without loss of pay.
………………..weeks of (maternity) leave must be guaranteed to the pregnant women before birth. (Note: according to EU Directive it is minimum 2 weeks).
The equality of full-time and part-time workers, irrespective of their type of employment contract must be guaranteed.
Workers’ right after birth: Maternity leave
Women cannot be dismissed because of their maternity
………………. weeks of maternity leave must be guaranteed to the women after birth. (Note: You can opt for more in your agreement!).
Women after birth are entitled for ……………..months of nursing brake of duration of …………….minutes. (Note: You can opt for more in your agreement!)
The equality of full-time and part-time workers, irrespective of their type of employment contract must be guaranteed.
Paid and unpaid parental leave: Fathers’ rights
Workers are entitled to parental leave on the birth or adoption of a child.
The right to parental leave subject to a length of service qualification shall not exceed one year. That period shall be calculated taking account of all the successive fixed-term contracts concluded with the same employer. (Note: You can opt for less time in your agreement!)
Wishing to take parental leave employee must give notice to the employer. The period of notice must be:………………
Women workers are entitled to paid parental leave of …………………days (Note: You can opt for more in your agreement!)
Fathers are entitled to ………………………days of paid paternity leave. (Note: You can opt for more days in your agreement!)
Both parents are entitled to unpaid parental leave.
The length of unpaid parental leave is ……………………… (Note: You can opt for more days in your agreement!))
Such leave may be taken until the child has reached before the age of ……………………………………….. (Note: You could decide on older age as well in your agreement!)
The equality of full-time and part-time workers, irrespective of their type of employment contract must be guaranteed.
Returning to work
After taking parental leave, workers shall have the right to return to the same job.
If that is not possible, the employer must provide the employee with an equivalent or similar job consistent with his or her employment contract or employment relationship.
Women returning to work are allowed to work part-time (four hours per day) returning later to full-time employment.
The person being in the parental leave is credited to pay progression implemented in the company during the time of the parental leave.
The time in parental leave will be taken into consideration in the case of classification in a wage group.
The time in parental leave will be taken into consideration in the case of service anniversary bonus payments.
The equality of full-time and part-time workers, irrespective of their type of employment contract must be guaranteed.
Harmonisation of work and family life including child care and care of sick family members
Parents have the right to request changes in working hours and/or patterns for a set period of time.
Employees have the right to request changes in working hours and/or patterns for a set period of time to care their sick family members.
The company (HR + TU) must review the organisation of work and organisation of working time of the parents from a point of view of harmonisation of family life and childcare.
Parents/employees with care duties must have the right to organise their own work schedule with the condition that they take always into consideration the fulfilment of work duties.
or
The company – in case of the demand of the worker – has to ensure flexible work schedule to combine work with family responsibilities, with the condition that the negotiated flexible work schedule takes into consideration the fulfilment of work duties.
or
The company – in case of the demand of the worker and if the type of the given work makes it possible - may ensure partially or fully for the employee to work from home.
Maximum work time/over-time per day/week/month/year must correspond to the EU and national regulations or be more favourable for the employee.
The single mother/father has the right to negotiate to be exempted from working in shifts (night shift).
Parents may request leave on grounds of force majeure for family reasons. Such leave may be requested in particular in cases of sickness or accidents of close relatives. The employment contract of parents/family members while leave on grounds for family reasons cannot be suspended.
The equality of full-time and part-time workers, irrespective of their type of employment contract, must be guaranteed in the respect of measures to harmonise work and family life.
III. Gender equality in pay
Principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value
The principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value must be applied in the company irrespective of the type of their contract and working hours.
The value of work should be assessed and compared based on objective criteria, such as educational, professional and training requirements, skills, effort and responsibility, work undertaken and the nature of tasks involved, preferably using the job classification system.
The equal pay principle must be ensured in every aspect of pay, including wage and non-wage (in kind) parts of the income.
Principle of living wage
Men and women, irrespective of their age, the type of their contract, working hours and character of job, have to get a living wage which meets the basic needs of workers and their families and provides some discretionary income.
“Zero hours” contracts are not allowed at the company,
or
“Zero hours” contracts and/or on-call work contracts (where workers can be called upon at short notice to go into work) must guarantee a minimum number of working hours per week to secure living wage for the worker and his/her family.
or
“Zero hours” contracts and/or on-call work and/or part-time contracts in the company must guarantee a minimum number of working hours per month which secure the 100% of minimum wage.
Gender neutral systems
The job evaluation and job classification system should be based on the same criteria for both men and women. It should be drawn up so as to exclude any discrimination on grounds of sex.
Indirect pay discrimination related to the undervaluation of jobs typically done by women must be avoided.
The equality of full-time and part-time workers, irrespective of their type of employment contract must be guaranteed in respect of job evaluation and classification.
Wage transparency
Right to information. Employees need to have information about the pay levels for categories of employees who perform the same work or work of equal value.
Information on pay should include complementary or variable components beyond the fixed basic salary, such as payments in kind and bonuses.
Employees and their representatives can request information on pay levels, broken down by gender, for categories of employees doing the same work or work of equal value.
or
Employers in enterprises and organisations with at least 50 employees, regularly inform employees, workers’ representatives and social partners on the average remuneration by category of employee or position, broken down by gender,
or
In companies with more than 250 employees pay audits must to be realised. Audits should include an analysis of the proportion of women and men in each category of employee or position, an analysis of the job evaluation and classification system used and detailed information on pay and pay differentials on grounds of gender. These audits should be made available to workers’ representatives and social partners on request. Employees also should have access to the Collective Bargaining Agreement that applies to the company.
Equal pay wage monitoring
Regular wage monitoring must be carried out jointly by the trade union and HR yearly/2 yearly/ X yearly.
The company must guarantee time and training for trade union representatives to be able to take part in the regular monitoring process.
An action plan has to be established for the implementation of corrective measures of wage differentials.
Correcting the gender pay gap
To reduce the gender pay gap and promote equal pay for equal wage the company allocates individual increases. Individual pay increases should be allocated at least yearly/two yearly/ X yearly in terms of testing skill level, individual professionalism, position in employment, seniority, training, job category, working conditions, difficulty and complexity of the work.
The size of equality allowance must be negotiated by social partners on the base of gender pay gap in the company/sector.
and/or
The size of equality allowance must be negotiated by social partners on the base of financial possibilities (productivity performance and income generation capacity).
X % of total wage costs should be allocated to diminish pay inequality between men and women.
The equality of full-time and part-time workers, irrespective of their type of employment contract, must be guaranteed.
IV. Gender equality in promotion and career
Training and career development
The company has to secure equal treatment in relation to promotion of all employees regardless of gender, age, type of contract and number of working hours.
The company has to secure equal rights to further training and carrier development regardless of gender, age, type of contract and number of working hours,
or
The company secures training of staff with quotas expressed as percentages of women and men in order to generate a more balanced distribution in positions of responsibility.
The employer has to offer the same rights (time and financial coverage for further training) to employees regardless of gender, type of contract and number of working hours.
The employer should cover the financial burdens of the retraining/further training of the employee regardless of gender, age, type of contract and number of working hours if the employee has to face consequences of company restructuration/reorganisation/loss of job.
The employer has to guarantee time for retraining/further training of the employee regardless of gender, age, type of contract and number of working hours if the employee has to face consequences of company restructuration/reorganisation/loss of job.
Representation of women in decision-making and positions of power
The employer has to act for fairer representation of women in the management at different levels.
Female trade unionists should be represented (take part) in the collective and wage bargaining and proportional female representation in works council and/or other bodies representing the employees should be realised.
V. The implementation and dissemination of Collective Agreements
The Collective Agreement is a binding document.
If a party to a Collective Agreement violates its contractual obligations, this party can be sued for breach of contract, which may result in damages to be paid.
Legal disputes concerning the Collective Agreement fall within the jurisdiction of the regional Court, or (at branch level) within the joint bodies for arbitration of conflicts concerning Collective Agreements.
The Collective Agreement concluded in branch/sector/company level must be disseminated among all workers of branch/sector/company.
The text of relevant Collective Agreement must be placed on Bulletin Board of the company/must be published in trade union press/must be published on-line.
The Collective Agreement can be consulted in the WageIndicator Collective Agreement database if it was previously sent to it in order to be archived.
Viewpoints
When choosing the items and composing the list the working groups must pay attention to the following issues:
what are the most urgent needs in their sector/profession/company/region?
what are the items which are regulated by law but it seems to be insufficient – there would be needed a better (most serious) regulation?
what are the items regulated by (Dutch) law but which in the reality in the company level are not implemented?
What are the items which are needed to the implementation of the already existing (Dutch laws, EU regulations) for example in the field of wage equality, family life and work harmonisation, gender equality, etc?
what are the items which would be relatively easy to implement if they would be included in the collective agreement (they would not mean extra cost for the employers or would raise the productivity/work intensity, decrease the stress at workplace and so it would mean net profit increase for the employer)?
what are the items which would mean relatively low cost for employer?
what are the items which would need change in work organisation/HR practice, etc. to be implemented?
To Bear in Mind
The collective agreement (should or may) offer more favourable conditions for the employees as the legal regulation (law).
Equality is statutorily protected (including EC legislation).
The contract of employment allows containing clauses less favourable to the employee than the relevant collective agreement only if the collective agreement expressly allows this.
The terms and conditions of employment contained in a collective agreement by which both the employer and the employee are bound are automatically incorporated into the employment contract.
The terms and conditions of employment contained in a collective agreement by which only the employer is bound are not incorporated into the employment contract, but there is an obligation of the employer (towards the contracting organisations) to apply the collective agreement as well with regard to unorganised employees.
The terms and conditions of employment contained in extended provisions of a collective agreement are automatically incorporated into all employment contracts to which they apply, regardless of whether the employers and employees are organised or not.
A new collective agreement modifies the contract of employment if both parties to the employment contract are bound by the collective agreement, or if the collective agreement is extended.