EU needs a fair
balance between the demands of work and private life
By Montserrat Mir Roca
ETUC Confederal Secretary
When
the nuts and bolts of the long-awaited European Pillar of Social Rights are unveiled
at the end of April, the European Commission will at the same time set out
plans to achieve a better balance between work and private life. This issue
affects the lives of millions of Europeans, and has a direct bearing on
economic growth and popular support for the EU. Trade unions believe ambitious
action is needed.
Let’s
look at the economic arguments. The EU has set the target of a 75% employment
rate for both women and men by 2020. But – especially in the wake of
austerity-based cuts in public services – people cannot take up paid work if
there is no-one to look after their children, ageing parents, or sick or
disabled family members. And of course, the great majority of carers are women.
Without support, many women are forced into part-time, temporary and
poor-quality jobs with no opportunity to develop the professional potential and
skills Europe so badly needs.
New
research by the European
Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions estimates the
total cost of women’s inactivity in the workforce to be around €370 billion
across the EU, or 2.8% of GDP, including loss of tax revenues and payment of
benefits. Enabling more women to work by investing in ‘work-life balance’ would
be one sure way to boost Europe’s economic recovery.
There
is plenty of evidence that in Nordic countries, for example, which offer a more
generous and flexible approach to responsibilities outside the workplace, workers
suffer less stress and the economy benefits from greater productivity.
The
European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) believes a coordinated mix of
legislation and non-legislative measures is required now, including paid paternity
and parental leave, flexible working arrangements, and universal, affordable
child and elderly care with financial support from EU social and structural
funds. Creating a better work-life balance would be in the interests not only
of workers and their families but also employers and society in general.
We
recognise the political difficulties facing the Commission as it contemplates
the future of Europe, and we hope that Commissioners have taken our arguments
on board. The trade unions are ready to support the Commission if the proposal
on work-life balance matches the real needs of men and women trying to achieve
this balance. But we fear that workers will find the final proposals disappointing.
This could have been a major opportunity to show Europeans that the EU is
listening.
Will
it work this time?
We
have waited almost 25 years for progress on maternity leave. The last attempt
to improve maternity provisions was abandoned after the draft legislation had
been blocked by the Members States in the European Council for some six years.
The
EU should be ensuring better leave provisions and care facilities for both
working parents in all Member States. The existing, out-dated EU directives on
maternity and parental leave have largely failed to improve gender equality, neither
expanding women’s opportunities in the labour market, nor encouraging men to use
leave provisions and take a greater share of caring responsibilities. Currently,
only 10% of fathers take up their option of one month’s paternity leave. Indeed,
arrangements in some Member States tend to reinforce traditional gender roles,
offering men a bit of extra time off but no opportunity for sharing
responsibilities. Women are left to compensate for inadequate social care,
depriving them of careers, equal pay and economic independence. The EU must
also bring the minimum standards existing in some countries up closer to the
level of Member States that promote a better work-life balance.
We
have called for practical measures and policies that would make a real difference
to people’s lives. We understand the Commission will propose new legislation, which
we welcome in principle, but we are waiting to see what it contains. The ETUC
has called, for example, for statutory maternity leave of at least 18 weeks on
full pay; breastfeeding facilities; a Paternity Leave Directive guaranteeing at
least two weeks, non-transferable paid leave for new fathers, and paid parental
leave of at least 24 weeks which should be available until a child reaches the
age of eight.
Stop
stigmatising parents
Women
need stronger protection from dismissal for at least six months after they
return to work after maternity leave. A survey carried out among our members
revealed that in every country new mothers are being sacked or demoted. In
short, when women become parents their pay and promotion chances go down,
whereas men’s go up. Carers’ leave should be introduced at EU level, and paid.
And flexible working arrangements, while important, need careful regulation,
which should be negotiated between trade unions and employers. Expecting parents
to telework eight hours a day with a toddler around their feet is expecting
miracles.
Accessible,
affordable childcare is key not only to increase women’s participation in the
workforce, but also to meeting Europe’s demographic challenge. Member States
where childcare is unavailable not only have higher levels of female
unemployment, they also have lower birth-rates. And as the population ages, the
burden of care for elderly and disabled parents and grandparents is falling
more and more onto families – and therefore women. With social care under
pressure across Europe, working people must have the flexibility to meet these
responsibilities.
In
the end, the ETUC’s red line is pay. The EU must require all leave schemes to be
covered by adequate pay arrangements. This would go a long way towards reducing
the gender pay gap, facilitating women’s re-entry into the labour market and encouraging
men to make use of parental and paternity leave. To secure Europe’s future
prosperity, Member States need to invest in work-life balance, to the benefit of
all.
About
Montserrat Mir Roca
Montserrat
Mir Roca is Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation.
Previously, she was a member of the national executive of the CC.OO trade union
in Spain.
This article is shared by our friends at Social Europe, with their permission https://www.socialeurope.eu/2017/04/eu-needs-fair-work-life-balance/
