Non-standard employment

The Norwegian parliament (Stortinget) approved in December 1999 new regulations on private employment agencies and the leasing of labour [1], which liberalise existing rules (NO9904128N [2]). The ban on private employment agencies is abolished, while there are significant alterations to the

The Employment Relations Act 1999 [1] implements the package of individual, collective and "family-friendly" employment rights set out in the Labour government's Fairness at work [2] white paper issued in May 1998 (UK9806129F [3]). Introduced in parliament in February 1999 (UK9902180F [4]), the

In September 1999, the Dutch government proposed obliging parents (mostly mothers) of small children receiving benefits to work. The proposal - part of the overall Work and Care Act - received heavy criticism, but it appears that a majority in the Lower House of parliament is prepared to vote in

October and November 1999 have seen a number of examples of increased cooperation of various kinds between trade unions in Portugal and their counterparts in other EU Member States, often reflecting increased cross-border mobility of workers. We look at the cases of textiles, nursing, fishing and

A demonstration of lorry and bus drivers was organised by the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) on 5 October 1999, designed to highlight the continuing lack of action on the regulation of working time in the road transport sector for mobile workers and self-employed drivers.

October 1999 saw the release of a report on part-time work in France by Gilbert Cette of the Economic Analysis Council. The document sets out the current state of play on part-time work, which has to date experienced only very moderate growth in France and is for the most part imposed by "employers

At the beginning of September 1999, Italy's Radicals political party announced that it had collected enough signatures to hold 20 referenda in spring 2000, with the aim of repealing various legislative provisions. Many of the issues covered by the referenda concern trade union or labour issues, like

From January 2000, insurance for work-related accidents and occupational illnesses will be obligatory for Portugal's numerous self-employed workers, many of whom work in the construction sector where the level of accidents is the highest. The new legislation is one more step towards defining the