The JHL public services union has won a landmark ruling on the use of fixed-term contracts. The worker concerned had had eight consecutive fixed-term contracts over a period of six years and the employer had tried to argue that this was permissible because the job was related to dealing with annual applications to the European Union’s structural funds. On 24 January, the High Court rejected the employers’ argument and awarded compensation to the employee. The Court ruled that if there is not a motivated and objective reason for a job being temporary, it is permanent. The fact that a work agency client company assignment is time-limited is not a sufficient reason. The High Court decision clearly improves the status of agency labour, says Katarina Murto, a bargaining expert at the union confederation SAK.
English: http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=28676&l=2;
http://www.epsu.org/cob/456; http://www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2012/p05
This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl or the communications officer of the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2012.