Newsletter août, 2023

Eramet creates a "Global Forum" with trade union organisations

On 5 July 2023, Eramet, a French multinational mining and metallurgy company announced the creation of a global employee representative body.
Eramet Global Forum will negotiate international agreements on social protection, quality of life at work, diversity, inclusion, and parenthood.

Germany: Whistleblower Protection Act enters into force

The German Whistleblower Protection Act came into force on 2 July 2023.
It requires employers with more than 50 employees will have an obligation to have an internal reporting channel to which employees can report misconduct.
It transposes Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on protecting persons who report breaches of EU law (the Whistleblowing Directive).

The Environmental Planning Act, will come into effect on 1 January 2024.
It includes the reporting obligation for work-related mobility of persons, which is plan of the country’s agreement to reduce CO2 emissions.
As of 1 January 2024, organisations with 100 or more employees, who offer them a mobility facility (a financial allowance, reimbursement for public transport, or vehicle), are obliged to report on the business traffic and commuting. Employers with less than 100 employees can report voluntarily.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) held its 111th annual Conference in Geneva, from 5 to 16 June 2023. It closed with the adoption of a new recommendation on quality apprenticeships, and new resolutions on just transition and labour protection.
Around 5,000 delegates representing governments, workers, and employers from the ILO’s 187 Member States were accredited to the Conference.

On 29 June 2023, Eurofound published a new research report on Minimum Wages in 2023.
The report analyses gross statutory minimum wages valid in 2023 in a highly inflationary environment and maps wage levels in collective agreements for some low-paid workers in countries without a statutory minimum wage, comparing wage trends and longer-term trends in labor productivity.
It also examines the early impacts of the EU directive on adequate minimum wages.

South Korean construction management firm HanmiGlobal announced a new welfare policy which entails additional incentives for all workers expecting a child.
The company’s policy is aimed to boost Korean fertility rate, which is the world lowest since 2013.

On 13 July 2023, the High Court ruled that the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2022, which removed the ban to hire agency workers while workers were on strike , are unlawful.