This EU-funded cross-sectoral project will contribute to the ongoing debate on working time by establishing basic principles and a common understanding of what fair working time models should look like, how they can address the deteorioration of working conditions and reduce the possible negative impact of the twin transition on workers.
The discussion on working time reduction to improve work-life balance on the one hand side, and on the difficulty to earn a living wage in atypical forms of employment on the other side shows the challenges of work organization and raise concerns around the quality of work nowadays.
The project intends to voice the concerns of workers in this debate, to provide trade unions with the necessary insights and training on this topic and to build capacity for future collective bargaining and social dialogue.
It will explore how fair work organization can be ensured allowing workers to improve their mental health and work-life balance, whilst providing a decent wage and helping more people into jobs.
Focusing on four sectors – Property Services, Care, Commerce and ICT & related services – UNI Europa will commission research to identify both underlying risks for workers and good practice examples of working time models.
The research outcomes will be presented in workshops providing an opportunity to UNI Europa affiliates from the four sectors to feed back on the findings and to give input for the elaboration of policy recommendations on fair working time.
The recommendations, that will be launched during the project’s final conference, will explain how different work organization models can be beneficial for employees while contributing to the aims of the twin transition.
They should provide a basis for a future-proof definition of fair working time and will be disseminated across the UNI Europa network and among relevant industry stakeholders, thus feeding into the activities of trade unions at global, EU and national level.