This thesis examines the moderating role of trade union representation in addressing the gap in employer-provided training between permanent workers and workers with fixed-term contracts (FTCs) from a cross-country, comparative perspective. The impact of trade union representation is measured on two different levels: (1) access to trade union representation at the workplace at the individual-level (2) average trade union representation at the country-level, measured as trade union power. The statistical analyses are performed using data from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) and multilevel modelling. Our result suggests that, across the European countries, workers with FTCs receive less employer-paid training than permanent workers. Regarding the impact of trade union representation, statistically significant result is found only at the individual-level, where access to trade union representation increases employer-paid training regardless of employment contract. For the interaction between access to trade union representation at the individual-level and FTC, no significant relationship is found. However, the models with the cross-level interaction between trade union power and FTC indicate that employer-paid training increases for permanent workers only. Our findings suggest that trade union representation at the workplace could operate as an equalizer between permanent workers and FTC workers, while at the country-level, their lobbying effect is beneficial for permanent workers only

L'interpretazione della riforma del lavoro a termine è stata oggetto di un acceso dibattito dottrinale che ha portato a conclusioni diametralmente opposte relativamente a molti punti cardine della nuova disciplina, quali: la stipula di primo contratto a termine e la necessità di esigenze di natura temporanea; le norme antifrodatorie; le norme antidiscriminatorie; le clausole di contingentamento e più in generale il ruolo del sindacato. Da una attenta analisi della riforma che parta dal contenuto della direttiva emerge che nel nostro sistema normativo esiste ancora una regola importante, ma non più scritta: i contratti a tempo indeterminato rappresentano la forma comune dei rapporti di lavoro. Da questa regola discendono una serie di considerazioni: il primo contratto a termine non è libero ma subordinato all'esistenza di ragioni oggettive che si devono intendere anche temporanee; la proroga è ammessa solo a fronte di ragioni oggettive e sopravvenute; la successione di contratti a termine è vietata quando avviene in frode alla legge; in caso di illegittima stipulazione del contratto a termine il rapporto di lavoro si deve intendere a tempo indeterminato. Quanto al ruolo del sindacato questo è stato sicuramente innovato, ma il sistema predisposto dalla riforma del lavoro a termine in molte parti ricalca la disciplina previgente contenuta nella L. 56/87 tanto che non pare corretto parlare di mortificazione del ruolo della contrattazione collettiva ma solo di riduzione dei compiti ad essa affidati. / Interpretation of the fixed term work reform has given rise to lively doctrinal debate that has led to completely opposite conclusions. Conclusions reached refer to hinge points of this new doctrine and include: the drawing up of first fixed term contracts and the necessity for temporary working requirements, anti-fraud norms, anti-discrimination norms, clauses in the fixing of quotas, and in general, the role of trade unions. Careful analysis of the reforms, starting from the content of this directive, reveals that our normative system still contains an important rule, although it is no longer written, that is: open-ended contracts still represent the most common job relationship form. Several considerations can be derived from this rule: the drawing of first fixed term contracts is not free, but subject to objective circumstances that must be proved. Mainly, the repeated extension of fixed term contracts is forbidden when it takes place against the law, and if a fixed term contract is unlawfully drawn up, then the job relationship must be intended as an open-ended one. The job of trade unions has certainly been re-emphasised due to this reform but, since the new job relationship system established by the fixed term work reform continues to enforce Law 56/87, it is not correct to talk of de-evaluation as related to collective work negotiations. Rather, trade unions will have a lesser role, and responsibilities and tasks normally charged to the trade union will be reduced.

This paper aims to study, from a legal dogmatic method, the Swedish legislation on fixed-term work related to the EU directive 99/70/EC 1. In particular, the directives demand to prevent abuse of frequent temporary employment. An employer may, in agreement with the Swedish legislation combine different types of temporary employment, to prolong the time in the temporary employment. In this proceeding an employer can avoid employing an employee in a permanent position. For example, an employee can be employed in a probationary period of six months, in a general temporary employment for a maximum of 24 months, and thereafter in a temporary position for a maximum of 24 months before the employment turns into a permanent position. This provided that the employments were made by the same employer, and within five years. The EU Commission has requested Sweden to change its legislation in harmony with the fixed-term work directive requirements to prevent abuse of repetitive fixed-term contracts. Sweden now has two months to implement the Directive otherwise the Commission may bring an action against Sweden at the European Court of Justice. The Ministry of Employment and the TCO have presented a legislative draft on how the Swedish law should instead be designed. In 2012 there were 661,000 people with fixed-term contracts in Sweden, 288,000 of them were men and 373,000 were women. There are mostly women who have fixed-term employments. This may result in women being more vulnerable than men in terms of for example the economy. Fixed-term employments can cause difficulties in obtaining loans or gaining access to the housing market. For society, temporary jobs lead to higher costs compared to permanent employment. If fixed-term employments are increasing, it will lead to more short periods of unemployment and rising costs including unemployment insurance.

The essays main intent is to examine whether there has been a proper implementation of the Council’s directive 1999/70/EG into Swedish law regarding the requirement for measures to prevent the abuse of successive fixed-term employment contracts. To achieve this purpose there is a need for an examination of current law. The essay also has some secondary purposes. One of these secondary purposes is the question of whether the implementation of the Council’s directive 1999/70/EG has lead to a reduction of the workers employment protection, which is closely connected to my main question and the violation case. My other secondary purposes are to make a connection between fixed-term employment and labor market flexibilization and flexicurity, to see if the rules about fixed-term work has affected gender equality, and to discuss whether there has been a shift of power in the relationship between employers and employees. I have come to the conclusion that Sweden has not implemented the Council’s directive 1999/70/EG properly regarding the requirement for measures to prevent abuse of successive fixed-term employments. I have found that the Swedish rules that apply today may be circumvented by combining various forms of fixed-term employments and that some forms of fixed-term employment requires a more clear definition. To prevent the abuse of successive fixed-term contracts, I suggest the introduction of a maximum total duration for all forms of fixed-term employment together, combined with a rule about the maximum number of times a fixed-term employment contract may be renewed. Furthermore I have found factors indicating that a reduction of workers employment protection level has taken place, but I can not draw any firm conclusions about it because the essay has not examined the issue in a completely thorough manner. I have also found a connection between labor market flexibilization and the use of fixed-term employment and that Sweden should examine whether the flexicurity-model can provide some useful solutions to increase employment without reducing workers employment protection level. Gender equality regarding the share of fixed-term employment contracts has slightly increased, both in Sweden and in the EU, since the origin of the Council’s directive 1999/70/EG. Also I have found that the new rules for fixed-term employment may have resulted in a shift of power that favors the employer. / Uppsatsen syftar främst till att undersöka huruvida det skett en korrekt implementering av visstidsdirektivet i svensk rätt avseende kravet på åtgärder för att förhindra missbruk av flera på varandra följande visstidsanställningar. För att uppnå detta syfte krävs en utredning av gällande rätt. Uppsatsen har också några underordnade syften. Ett av dessa underordnade syften är frågan om huruvida implementeringen av visstidsdirektivet inneburit en minskning av arbetstagarnas anställningsskydd, som är nära kopplat till min huvudsakliga fråga och överträdelseärendet. Mina andra underordnade syften är att koppla reglerna om tidsbegränsade anställningar till arbetsmarknadens flexibilisering och flexicurity, att se om reglerna om tidsbegränsade anställningar påverkat jämställdhet mellan könen och att diskutera huruvida det skett förändringar i maktförhållandet mellan arbetsgivare och arbetstagare. Jag har kommit fram till slutsatsen att Sverige inte har implementerat visstidsdirektivet på ett korrekt sätt avseende kravet på åtgärder för att förhindra missbruk av flera på varandra följande visstidsanställningar. Jag har konstaterat att de svenska reglerna som gäller idag kan kringgås genom att olika former av tidsbegränsade anställningar kombineras och att vissa av anställningsformerna kräver en tydligare definition. För att förhindra missbruk av flera på varandra följande visstidsanställningar föreslår jag att det införs en övre sammanlagd tidsgräns för alla tidsbegränsade anställningsformer kombinerat med en regel om maximalt antal gånger ett tidsbegränsat anställningsavtal får förnyas. Jag har funnit faktorer som visar på att en minskning av arbetstagarskyddet har skett, men jag kan inte dra några säkra slutsatser om det eftersom uppsatsen inte behandlat frågan på ett uttömmande sätt. Vidare har jag funnit ett samband mellan arbetsmarknadens flexibilisering och användandet av tidsbegränsade anställningar och att Sverige borde undersöka om flexicurity-modellen kan bidra med några lösningar för att öka sysselsättningen utan att minska nivån på arbetstagarnas anställningsskydd. Jämställdhet mellan könen rörande andelen tidsbegränsat anställda har ökat något, både i Sverige och EU, sedan visstidsdirektivets tillkomst. Jag har också kommit fram till att de nya reglerna om tidsbegränsade anställningar kan ha inneburit en maktförskjutning som gynnar arbetsgivaren.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Charles Link, Dept. of Economics. Includes bibliographical references.

This essay aims to study the new regulation of the Swedish legislation regarding fixed-term work with a comparison to the EU directive 99/70/EC[1]. The essay also aims to study if the new legislation makes any difference for the individuals that has a fixed-term employment. The EU directive 99/70/EC is the legislation which shows how the member states in the EU are supposed to prevent employers from abusing frequent temporary employment and aims to protect the employees. Previously, an employer in Sweden could use the fixed-term contracts for temporary employments and just keep on giving the employee a temporary position in a spiral. In this way, the employer could avoid to give an employee a permanent employment and this makes for an unsafe future for the affected individual. In may 2016 Sweden, after criticism from the EU-commission, changed the Swedish legislation and aimed to stop the abusing of fixed-term contracts. Sweden wanted to try to keep the balance between the employer’s flexibility and the employee’s safety and this essay aims to investigate to what extent the change fulfills the purpose. [1] Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP. Later know as the EU directive 99/70/EC.

In terms of the common law contract of employment an employee who is a party to a fixed term contract, unlike an indefinite period contract, cannot be dismissed. The contract terminates upon an agreed or ascertainable date determined by the parties and the conclusion of the contract. Section 186(1)(b) of the Labour Relations Act 1995, however, defines the failure to renew a fixed term contract on the same or similar terms where the employee reasonably expected the contract to be renewed, as a dismissal. In this treatise the scope and content of this provision is considered with reference to relevant case law. The factors and considerations that establish a reasonable expectation are highlighted and considered. The question as to whether or not this provision also provides for the situation where an employee expects indefinite employment is also considered and critically discussed. The author concludes that the provision should not be interpreted in such a manner that an expectation of permanent employment is created.

This essay is about flexibility in relation to employment protection through a gender perspective. It handles the regulations of fixed term employments and how they are regulated in collective agreements in different sectors. The sectors studied are chosen by statistics on male- and female dominated sectors to apply a gender perspective. 90 percent of Swedish workers are covered by collective agreements and many of the studied agreements differ markedly from both the regulation in the Swedish law and from each other. The study shows that depending on which sector you are working in your employment protection will differ. Especially in female dominated sectors the regulations of fixed term employments are even more flexible than the law and the regulations in male dominated sectors. According to the gender structure of the labor market, women have lower status, which could be an explanation to why the regulations tend to be less favorable for women. The result of the study shows that collective agreements in female dominated sectors tend to have regulations according to the Swedish law or less favorable than the law. The male dominated sectors on the other hand tend to have collective agreements that are stricter regulated than the law when it comes to the area of fixed term employments. By that said the regulations of fixed term employments seem through a gender perspective be better for men than for women.

Magister Legum - LLM / This study is encouraged by the fact that the field of labour law has drastically changed after enactment of amendments in various labour legislation such as Employment Equity Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Labour Relations Act during 2013 and 2014. These changes have compelled employers to review their policies in line with the amendments of these Acts. This study will however focus on the impact of the newly introduced section 198 to the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995. The study will specifically focus on the continued use of fixed-term contracts of employment within the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Sector of South Africa.

Fixed-term employment Abstract The topic of this master thesis is, as its name indicates, legislation of fixed-term employment in the Czech Labour Code. This thesis further develops and in some parts modifies my student work named "Reflection on fixed-term employment not only in perspective of conflict of opinions between the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court". This topic became relevant again with the ongoing judicial dispute between the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, as neither of the courts decided to withdraw of its way of interpretation of section 39 subsection 5 of the Czech Labour Code. The aim of this thesis is to briefly introduce the current legislation and its historical sources, analyse it critically and propose a regulation de lege ferenda. The thesis is divided into five chapters, while subchapters 2., 3. and 4. are further divided into thematically different subchapters. The first chapter briefly introduces the current legislation in the Czech Labour Code. The second chapter contains a summary of the history of fixed-term employment and the position of labour law within the legal system in general with the purpose of presenting historical background. The third chapter focuses on an analysis of the institute of fixed-term employment in terms of elements of...