The future of the workplace

Social dialogue: CEMR and EPSU take lead of project on future of workplace in Europe

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) have won the leadership of an EU project on “The future of the workplace: providing quality jobs, modern and sustainable workplaces in local and regional government”.

The project, which began in January 2012, aims at contributing to the creation and maintenance of quality public services via a sustainable workforce. Its main objective will be to further explore future workplace needs, while developing the social dialogue between trade unions and trade employers' organisations in the local and regional government sector at both national and EU levels.

Indeed, there are clear synergies between the themes to be discussed in the framework of this project and EU-level initiatives. Thus, using the Europe 2020 strategy and a number of its flagship initiatives (“An agenda for new skills for new jobs”, “Youth on the move”, “Innovation Union” and “A digital agenda for Europe”) as a starting point, the project will also aim at delivering results through tailor-made recommendations arising from the project.

Given the current societal, demographic and economic challenges* municipalities and regions are faced with, six workshops and a final pan-European conference are to be organised on a number of different themes in order to find sustainable solutions for the adaptation and modernisation of local and regional government administrations.

The first of such workshops was held on 19 January 2012 and discussed alternative funding mechanisms for the local and regional government sector.

At this occasion, workshop participants called on national governments to fully take into account the value and importance of social dialogue in this time of crisis and austerity rather than merely impose cuts on the public sector without negotiations. Only thus will a long term perspective be ensured when it comes to budget cuts and cost-saving. Supporting social dialogue can thus greatly assist with the ability to change and find innovative ways of cooperating, which is an important part of the response to the financial crisis.

Participants discussed such funding alternatives as public-private partnerships, public-public cooperation and the involvement of the voluntary sector in the provision of public services. It was notably recommended that the potential of public-public cooperation and its effects on employment be further looked into while the involvement of the voluntary sector and its own effects on employment and on the quality of working conditions also be further explored.

The next workshop is to be held online on 28 February 2012 and will discuss recruitment and retention in the local and regional government sector. A final publication will be released at the end of the project putting forward recommendations, in the hopes of changing and adapting workplaces within local and regional government administrations.

* Challenges include: reduced financial capacities of the local and regional government sector, demographic and societal changes, changing work patterns and the need to reconcile work, family and private life.