Teleworking: progress on the 2002 framework agreement

Teleworking: progress on the 2002 framework agreement

Social Dialogue Committee, 16 May 2006

The framework agreement on teleworking applies to anyone who works away from their employer's premises regularly, and uses information technology to do so. It was signed in 2002 by the European social partners (ETUC, UNICE representing private sector employers, UEAPME for the small & medium enterprises and CEEP for public sector employers). The agreement set 2005 as the implementation deadline; a joint report on implementation was planned for 2006, based on national reports covering different sectors.

Trade union meeting

ETUC affiliates met in May to review progress on the agreement. Progress varies across the member countries, according to a preliminary assessment carried out by the ETUC. The main issues raised were:

• whether the agreement covers the self-employed: the scope of the UK implementation guidance talks about telework as a method of working that anyone can adopt, but also about teleworking within a contract between an employer and employee (meaningless for most self-employed people in the UK and other countries such as Spain and Portugal)

• the issue of rights and protection deriving from the individual contract of employment (which teleworkers should have on the same basis as fellow employees)

• the confusion between teleworkers and homeworkers - the latter are only covered by limited statutory instruments such as health and safety

• the need for clearer implementation procedures as the word 'voluntary agreement' often causes problems at national level. For example, some employers don't respect the national practice of adopting a legally binding and erga omnes collective agreement but rather choose 'softer' means, such as guidelines, to transpose the framework agreement.

Next steps

The social partners' secretariats will produce a draft report ready for discussion (and hopefully adoption) at the next Social Dialogue Committee, which is on 28 June. It was agreed that the report would:

concentrate on themes - for example the different ways in which the agreement was implemented - rather than a country-by-country account

take into account the heterogeneous nature of the issue, acknowledging the agreement's premise that implementation will reflect the differing practices in member states

be an evaluation of actual implementation in the member states rather than an impact assessment.