EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET, the European social partners for commerce, welcome the launching of the European Employment Strategy, starting with the publication of the 1998 Employment Guidelines, drawn up on the basis of the Council Resolution of 15 December 1997. They also welcome the draft Employment Guidelines for 1999 to which they want to contribute in a positive and constructive way.

The recent European Commission Communication "Modernising the organisation of work - A positive approach to change" gives an important challenge to the social partners to take the initiative in developing the European dimension of labour relations. EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET welcome this challenge and see this Communication as a guideline for their future social dialogue about employment and work organisation related issues.

European commerce is the essential link in distributing goods and services between producers and more than 370 million consumers in the European Union. There are 4.7 million commercial companies operating in the EU, which is 30% of all European enterprises, generating 13 % of total European GDP. 95 % of these enterprises are SMEs employing fewer than 10 workers.

Commerce is the second largest employer with more than 22.5 million employees representing 16 % of total EU employment. In addition, in contrast to other sectors of economy, there has been a positive employment development in commerce. Between 1985 and 1995, 1.5 million new jobs were created in European commerce. This is half the amount of jobs lost in the manufacturing industry over the same period. In terms of job creation, 15.5% of new jobs came from commerce. However, the prospects for commerce to be able to retain present employment levels, taking account of job losses recorded in some parts of commerce in particular since 1994, and to create new jobs will largely depend on an increase in purchasing power. Economic growth as well as an increase in purchasing power could lead to the development of new services in commerce.

In the context of the enlargement of the EU to the East, EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET have been working with the social partners for commerce in the applicant countries in promoting industrial relations through a series of round table meetings. To date, two round tables have taken place, respectively in Estonia and Hungary and this process will continue through 1999. In view of their future membership, EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET consider it necessary to look at the challenges and the impact of the enlargement, in particular in the area of employment.

I – Employment and the Social Dialogue Dimension

Since the establishment of their Social Dialogue in 1985, the European social partners for commerce have worked closely together on employment policy matters, including the signing of a Memorandum on vocational training in retail trade and a Joint opinion on Promoting Employment in European Commerce.

In recent years, the social partners in commerce have focused their attention on future developments in employment structures, backed up by a number of joint research projects.

Current changes in information technology (IT) and the rapid development of electronic commerce will lead to important changes in the conditions for distributing goods and services. Electronic commerce will lead to changes in the whole structure of the commerce sector. New areas of work will be created, traditional ones will be redefined. Therefore, it is important to consider the influence of technological and structural developments on employment and the conditions of employment in the commerce sector.

With this in mind, EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET commissioned two important studies: the first one on future employment developments in European commerce (Institut für Arbeit und Technik, December 1997) and the second on the effects of the development of electronic commerce on the employment situation in European commerce (Athens University, June 1998). Furthermore, EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET will in January 1999 begin a joint project to analyse the impact of IT (in particular electronic commerce) on vocational training in the retail and wholesale trades. This project illustrates the willingness of the social partners to tackle these issues through concrete action to support employment in their sector.

The Athens University report concluded that electronic commerce will create new demands in terms of training of employees. For example, changes in logistics systems will have a direct impact on personnel structures in enterprises. As a consequence, employees’ skills will have to be enhanced and continuous education and training will be key to enabling all employees to adapt to the changes, in turn leading to greater job satisfaction.

Future developments in commerce will call for changes in work organisation. The fundamental areas of work and work processes in the enterprises will be subject to change in relation to work planning and the use of distance work. Therefore, it is important for commerce to address these challenges and to consider their impact on new organisation of work.

EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET subscribe to the approach set out in the Employment guidelines for 1998, recognising their importance for reducing unemployment levels and increasing employability. Future dialogue between EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET

must focus on the need to improve worker employability and to encourage adaptation of businesses and of their employees to the challenges posed by current technological developments affecting the sector.

EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET are aware that the sector will be subject to structural adjustments due notably to demographic changes. Therefore, where necessary and appropriate, they will promote employment policies to reconcile family and working life following on from initiatives that have already been taken. These policies will also have to meet the need of enterprises to adapt to ever-changing consumer demands.

Furthermore, EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET will endeavour to develop new initiatives to foster employee retention and to ensure that commerce continues to create job opportunities, in particular by creating jobs that are attractive to young people entering working life.

Employees working in the sector must acquire new skills in response to progress in IT to increase their employability on the labour market. Particular attention needs to be paid to mature workers and to employees in SMEs who face changes because of increasing competition.

There is a clear positive trend in some parts of commerce towards the replacement of existing low-skilled jobs by jobs which require a higher level of education. For commerce to continue to offer career prospects to its workers, it is important to provide additional education and training to them. At the same time, new areas of work will emerge which will be attractive to persons with a higher education. In this instance, existing employees, through additional education and training schemes, should also be given a chance to access these new jobs.

European retail and wholesale trade is an increasingly global industry, with enterprises reaching outside their traditional home markets to other EU Member States or outside the European Union. Cross-border activities in commerce as well as labour mobility within the EU will increase. At the same time, as new technologies are applied, international competition will intensify. Further initiatives for employment promotion in commerce will need to take these trends fully into account.

EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET are fully aware of the challenges that commerce is facing and of their responsibility in setting a European framework. The European social partners in commerce will therefore continue to work on initiatives to create and preserve jobs.

EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET will continue the on-going work on job-creating initiatives and endeavour to translate the priorities described above into concrete actions, particularly in the following fields :

Commerce will be subject to considerable changes in the future. Therefore, a more thorough analysis is needed to look at existing areas of work and the current breakdown of the workforce. Employment features in commerce, including a large number of part-time workers, will need to be fully taken into account. This could provide a basis for recommendations on the training needs for employees in commerce to improve their employability in view of the changing nature of jobs in the sector.

EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET will be bringing forward recommendations on actions to be taken to retain mature workers as part of the workforce. Mature workers must be considered as valuable resources in terms of their experience and skills. In order for them to improve their employability, mature workers should be able to upgrade their skills.

Commerce will be faced with growing international competition and new technological development. This will impact on working practices and require further analysis of new skill demands of the workforce.

EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET will work towards a framework for the conditions of distance working. With IT developments, many job functions will become independent of the geographic location in which they are carried out. This also represents a new challenge for employers and employees in the planning and carrying of their work.

The European social partners in commerce want to engage in an in-depth study of opportunities as well as the existing barriers for SMEs in training their staff. In the European Union, there are four million businesses employing less than ten employees. SMEs need particular attention to enable them to provide training for their staff. In this regard, they also want to conduct a detailed analysis of the way in which SMEs make use of the possibilities available to them in providing education and training for their employees.

In view of the European Employment Strategy, the social partners will review the development of their initiatives on a annual basis and submit any relevant results to the competent European and national authorities.

EuroCommerce and Euro-FIET will continue to work towards making commerce a more attractive sector to work in. Therefore, they will endeavour to maintain and where possible increase employment in the sector.