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Digital Bargaining Hub
The hub provides real-world bargaining clauses, union guidance, and framework agreements that can be adapted for use at the bargaining table.
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4 Telework, working time, work-life balance and platform work
This theme is concerned with locations, working time, and work life balance.
These themes are increasingly important because for many workers, the internet has made it possible to work from anywhere at any time. Remote work arrangements can have positive side effects. For example, they can reduce travel time and provide workers with greater control over their work time schedules. However, there is also plenty of evidence that remote work can increase pressure on workers to work longer hours and that working from home can erode work-life balance.
Additional risks of remote work include inadequate infrastructure and poor ergonomic conditions and high levels of surveillance. Monitoring and surveillance in particular can have significant impacts on workers’ privacy and mental well-being.
The following issues need to be addressed by collective bargaining negotiations and agreements:
In all of these areas, workers and unions can also benefit from strong legislative frameworks and protections.
This subsection is concerned with how technology has changed where work is performed.
Digitalisation has made it possible to work from anywhere. There are a number of different terms that have emerged to refer to work that takes place outside of the employer's premises. These include terms like remote work, telework, work-from-home, smart working, and agile work. These work arrangements have become commonplace in light of the Covid pandemic. Irrespective of where work is done, workers need protections.
Trade unions in action: Protecting workers regardless of where the work is performed
Regardless of where work is preformed, workers should be have the same rights and protections that they would have if they were working on the employer's premises.
One example comes from Italy where the union FPCGIL, negotiated language for government workers that explicitly confirms that workers remain employees and subject to all national legislation and collective bargaining provisions even if they are working remotely.
A second example comes from American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a union located in the United States. When it comes to how work is evaluated, AFSCME has negotiated language that ensures that workers who are engaged in telework will benefit from the same rights and protections as office workers . It also clearly states that the decision to engage in telework will not adversely affect employees.
Remote days must be agreed with the manager, also with reference to the content of the service and must be previously requested and authorised in the IRIS Web application. During remote working days, the employment relationship will continue to be governed by current legislation and national collective bargaining. The employee is obliged to comply with the communication and prior request requirements.
Country
Italy
Year
2020
Document type
Collective Bargaining Agreement
Clause number
10064
Employee performance for teleworkers will be evaluated fairly and equitably using elements and standards developed under the same Agency’s performance management program that covers workers at traditional office/duty locations. Telework will not be counted as a factor to adversely affect employees with regard to work assignments, periodic appraisal of job performance, awards, recognition, training and developmental opportunities, promotions and retention incentives.
Union
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Country
United States
Year
2021
Document type
Collective Bargaining Agreement
Clause number
10268
Trade unions in action: Opting in to telework
Some workers enjoy working remotely; others value the separation between their work and home. Ensuring that telework is voluntary can help to ensure that workers' needs are met. The example below comes from a works council agreement involving German trade union Ver.di. A second example, from Italian Union FPCGIL, refers to telework as 'agile work'.
Employees cannot be obliged to work from home (voluntary principle).
Country
Germany
Year
2021
Document type
Works Council Agreement
Clause number
10065
Agile working is voluntary, subject to authorisation by the employer. Staff in agile work who wish to opt for full return to work in presence will make a request to their employer, in compliance with the measures for the prevention and safety of employees in relation to the Coronavirus health emergency. Similarly, staff who have opted to work exclusively in the presence of their employer may request to resume agile work by making a request to their employer.
Country
Italy
Year
2020
Document type
Collective Bargaining Agreement
Clause number
10066
This sub-theme is concerned with working time and how long workers work.
In the context of mobile working, telework or working from home, working time has emerged as a key challenge from the perspective of workers and trade unions. Digitally enabled work can increasingly happen anywhere and at any time, making it difficult to monitor and document. Bargaining for working time monitoring provisions can help ensure that overwork doesn't become a problem.
Trade unions in action: Determining reasonable working hours
Unions have long bargained over working time. In an era of digital work arrangements, unions should continue to ensure that agreements meet the minimum standards of their respective national working time regulations.
Employers have different needs when it comes to staffing. Some collective agreements contain an explicit schedule for when workers must be 'on the clock'. Others provide workers with some latitude by defining 'core hours' and allowing workers to create their own schedules around these. In Korea, the National Public Research Labour Union has negotiated language that discourages employers from sending any work-related communications after hours. This can reduce the possibility of employees engaging in overwork.
A second example is from the Austrian public service trade union Younion. This union has developed a set of guiding principles on remote work. These are provided below and include provisions for the documentation of working time. Monitoring working time is key to ensuring that workers aren't being overworked.
Employers shall refrain from giving work instructions by phone, text, etc. outside of working hours.
Country
South Korea
Year
2021
Document type
Collective bargaining agreement
Clause number
10390
Self-determined mobile working
• Voluntariness and mutual willingness and agreement.
• A legal framework and collective agreements at company level are needed
• Clear rules and criteria on who can work mobile and how. […]
• Clear regulations
• Working hours apply […], as provided for in the Working Hours Act.
• Records of working time must be kept - employer is obliged to ensure that the employee fulfils his obligations and keeps a record: Duty of care of the employer.
• Right of non-reachability.
• Travel to work is working time.
• Appropriate equipment: The necessary equipment should be set out in as much detail as possible in a (company) agreement so that all employees can work under good conditions even in the case of mobile work.
• Desk sharing only with the mandatory consent of the works councils/staff representatives.
• Accident insurance coverage.
• Home office as an external workplace.
• Duty to instruct. Obligation to evaluate workplaces
• Strengthening prevention specialists and occupational psychologists.
• Mobile work needs leadership.
• More resources for labour inspection.
Union
Younion Die Daseinsgewerkschaft
Country
Austria
Year
2020
Document type
Guidance
Clause number
10070
This sub-theme is concerned with working time schedules and work-life balance.
Flexible work locations and flexible hours mean that workers can work at any time. This creates a very real risk that workers will end up working ALL the time. There is now significant research that finds that ‘always being connected’ has blurred the separation between workers' working time and personal time. This has negative consequences for workers' health and well-being. Bargaining for workplace email and mobile phone policies and disconnection provisions can help ensure work-life balance.
Trade unions in action: Protecting workers' right to disconnect
The right to disconnect is emerging as an important policy issue in many countries. In 2021, France was the first country to pass a right to disconnect law. Similar legislation is now under discussion in other parts of the world.
At the same time, unions are including disconnection protections for workers in collective agreements and negotiated protocols. The clause below comes from the union FPCGIL. The sectoral agreement, for local and regional government workers in Italy, was developed using social dialogue and ensures that workers have a right to disconnect when the workday has concluded.
[…] the worker is granted the right to disconnection at the end of the working hours and during breaks on the basis of the working hours. […] it must be ensured that the maximum duration of the daily and weekly working hours is respected in order to safeguard the worker in terms of health and safety.
Country
Italy
Year
2020
Document type
Collective Bargaining Agreement
Clause number
99999
This sub-theme is concerned with platform work, a new form of work that has changed the spatial, temporal and legal dimensions of what it means to have a job.
Non-standard forms of employment like those commonly found in the platform economy are often based on flexible and precarious contractual arrangements. While the organisation of platform work cuts across many themes and sub-themes, a defining characteristic of platform work is that workers can log on and work where they want, when they want. This casual form of work has also presented challenges to workers' ability to exercise their collective labour rights. Unions can help by offering mutual aid, and, where possible, clarifying workers' employment relationships.
Trade unions in action: Unionising platform workers
Trade unions are actively organising and unionising platform workers, but they do face some challenges in doing so. Because most platform workers are treated as 'self-employed', unions should be aware that there are legal questions around collective bargaining for self-employed workers in some jurisdictions.
Nonetheless, there is a lot to be done. Unions have successfully negotiated codes of conduct with platform providers and have taken steps to provide legal advice to crowd and platform workers.
The first ever agreement between a digital platform and a trade union was negotiated in 2018 in Denmark between the cleaning platform Hilfr and the 3F trade union. The agreement clarified workers' employment status and established certain collective social and labour rights for workers on the platform.
With this collective agreement we are bridging the ‘Danish labor market model’ and new digital platforms; by doing so we are offering initial answers to one of the major issues of our time: how to reap the benefits of new technology without undermining labor rights and proper working conditions.
The pilot collective agreement will be implemented by introducing a new category of Hilfrs in parallel with the existing freelance Hilfrs. This means users of the platform can chose between two groups of Hilfrs – Freelance Hilfrs and Super Hilfrs which will be covered by the collective agreement.
A cleaner can apply to become a Super Hilfr and be covered by the collective agreement – even if they have not worked a 100 hours yet. But after a 100 hours, you actively have to say no to not become a Super Hilfr covered by the collective agreement
Key facts about the collective agreement:
- People who work more than 100 hours on Hilfr.dk will automatically be eligible for Super Hilfr-status
- A minimum payment of 141, 21 DKK (19 €) pr. hour.
- A contribution to the pension savings
- Holiday pay contribution
- Sick pay
Union
United Federation of Danish Workers - Public Sector Group
Country
Denmark
Year
2018
Document type
Collective Bargaining Agreement
Clause number
10088
Additional reading on Theme 4: Telework, working time, work-life balance and platform work
Eurofound 2020: Living, Working and COVID-19. Available at: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2020/living-working-and-covid-19.
Stanford, J. and Bennett, K. 2021: Bargaining Tech. Strategies for Shaping Technological Change to Benefit Workers. Centre for Future Work. https://centreforfuturework.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Bargaining-Tech.pdf.
On platform work, see the joint initiative of trade unions in Germany, Austria and Sweden to support crowd and platform workers: http://faircrowd.work/. The German service trade union ver.di is also offering support and legal advice services for crowd workers. www.cloud-crowd.verdi.de.
Johnston, H., Caia, A., Ceremigna, M., Monica, S., Hernández, D., & Dumitrescu, V. (2020). Working on digital labour platforms: A trade union guide. Bruxelles. https://www. etui. org/sites/default/files/2021-02/Working on digital labour platforms-A trade union guide for trainers on crowd-% 2C app-and platform-based work_2021. pdf.