Tag: EU Social Dialogue

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Marta Branca speaking at the EESC Hearing on the European Health Union

On Monday, 29th March, HOSPEEM Secretary General, Marta Branca delivered the following remarks to a European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) public hearing on ‘building a European Health Union’.

To fully profit from the European Health Union’s undertaking and take care of those who take care of us, we have to generate dialogue between all stakeholders’ levels. Therefore, we highly appreciate the representation of social partners and civil society organisations, professional representation, and representatives from the Committee of the Regions.

Additionally, as representatives of national employers’ organisations, we are looking forward to providing and exchanging our expertise and practices to harness the European project’s full potential.

Looking at the European Commission proposal, we are confident that the EHU will help in four areas, by:

  1. Creating shared governance, including coordination among governments and key stakeholders, such as social partners;
  2. Building a responsive culture to a crisis, where information is circulated timely and avoiding misinformation;
  3. Ensuring sufficient monetary resources in the system and flexibility to reallocate and inject extra funds to respond to the crisis. Investment in health is never a cost.
  4. Allocate appropriate level and distribution of human and physical resources, including personal protective equipment.

 In the future, HOSPEEM is interested in receiving more information on the conducting the so-called “stress test” and the auditing process, including which indicators would be used.

 While the health system’s stress test outcome might reveal significant shortages, the actors present with me at this panel have known them for decades. Hopefully, it will be a wake-up call for the Member States to acknowledge the sector as an investment rather than expenditure that has to be cut by reforms and austerity measures.

 As we all know by now, a country’s economy is only as healthy as its population contributing to it. Suppose that Member States start to invest in all building blocks of the health system, a direct effect will be a healthier population resulting in an increased and meaningful contribution to the economy.

 Let me come back to the stress tests. We are convinced that to maximise the full potential of a stress test in the health sector, it needs to be designed and implemented in cooperation with independent key players from the health systems. I should not compromise the autonomy of the Member States and national social partners regarding Art. 154 and 168 (7) of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union.

 To audit the stress test as laid out by the European Commission, we are looking forward to receiving more information concerning their transparency and planning to involve healthcare stakeholders and social partners.

 Turning now to the report of rapporteur Vardakastanis: Please allow me to elaborate on three elements that we consider important to highlight in this discussion:

  1. Indeed, the European Health Union’s rollout needs to connect with the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan implementation. The Plan foresees the proposal of new tools to measure the barriers and gaps in healthcare access. Member States are encouraged to boost the digitalisation of the health systems and to tackle health inequality while also being encouraged to invest in the health and care workforce, improving their working conditions and access to training.
  2. We certainly need to shift our thinking about healthcare. While the points outlined by the rapporteur are very true, we would like to see the reference to service provision, digital transformation and occupational safety and health measures.
  3. Regarding the principle of subsidiarity in healthcare services, which according to the rapporteur should be revised and reformed, HOSPEEM would like to reiterate that the health system’s management, including the health workforce, needs to remain a Member State competence. Diversity exists in the organisation of national health systems that are largely linked to historical developments and cultures. For these reasons, we encourage the Members States to work together with the social partners and the European institutions, particularly the European Commission, to exchange practices and work together in solidarity. 

Link to the full speech

Link to EESC website

News Hospeem

HOSPEEM January newsletter is published

In this January Newsletter edition, you find a collection of challenges and lessons learnt in light of the COVID-19 outbreak by hospital and healthcare employers  well as a call for political support from European institutions to strengthen capacity building of sectoral social partners to be represented in the European sectoral social dialogue in the light of the recent publication of the Eurofound representativeness study for the Hospital Sector.

This newsletter also includes news from our Members in the U.K. and in the Netherlands, EU news, events and publications relevant for hospital employers.

15 January 2021: HOSPEEM Newsletter 2021 – Issue 1

News Hospeem

HOSPEEM’s summary on European Commission Expert Panel Opinion on Effective Ways of Investing in Health on the organisation of resilient health and social care following the COVID-19 pandemic

Following the publication of the Expert Panel’s opinion on Effective Ways of Investing in Health on the organisation of resilient health and social care following the COVID-19 pandemic, HOSPEEM drafted a summary focusing on the health workforce.

About the opinion

The opinion identifies the building blocks of resilient health and social care, explores the elements and conditions for capacity building to strengthen health system resilience, addresses healthcare needs of vulnerable patients at times of crisis, and defines a blueprint for health systems’ resilience testing.

Download the HOSPEEM summary

Download the European Commission Expert Panel’s opinion

Download the European Commission fact sheet

Social Dialogue Hospeem

Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital and Healthcare Sector: Main activities and outcomes in 2020

In this document you can find the highlights of the work of the HOSPEEM-EPSU Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital and Healthcare Sector. In 2020 the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital and Healthcare Sector  dealt with a wide range of topics in the framework of the EPSU-HOSPEEM Joint Work Programme and carried out project-related activities.

Download the document

Consultations, News Hospeem

Input for new initiatives at EU, national, regional or local level in the frame of the Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights

Brussels, 13 November 2020

The European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association (HOSPEEM) welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the envisioned Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights, in particular on Principle 8, which encourages the EU Member States to support the increased capacity of social partners to promote social dialogue.

Since HOSPEEM’s recognition as European sectoral social partner in 2006, we have been active in capacity building of national employers’ organisation in forms of EU-funded projects, focusing among others on East Central and Southern Europe, including accession countries [1],[2],[3] and by participating in the Eurofound research study on capacity building for effective social dialogue in the European Union. Besides HOSPEEM’s recruitment efforts, we met with former European Commissioner Marianne Thyssen’s cabinet staff, raising awareness and inquiring support from the European institutions. Likewise, we have sent meeting requests to various Permanent Representations to the EU to discuss this very topic.

As the recently published Eurofound representativeness study for the human health sector revealed, there are nine EU Member States[4] where employer organisations exist and active in collective bargaining but are not affiliated to HOSPEEM. As a direct consequence, those organisations and countries do not have the opportunity to represent their national interest and contribute to the agenda-setting and decision-making in the frame of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committees. Additionally, their voices are not being heard when, for example, European sectoral social partners close framework agreements which can be transposed in binding legislation across the EU (cf. Council Directive 2010/32/EU). The study also noted that there are seven EU Member States[5] where “there is no sectoral employer organisation”.

Whereas HOSPEEM sees Eurofound’s findings as an excellent opportunity to increase its membership and hence its representation at European level, we also believe that European institutions and Members States miss the opportunity to draw on the full potential of EU legislation, such as TFEU Art. 154, further strengthening the delivery of a strong social Europe for just transitions.

We are aware that the existence of autonomous employer organisations, with the mandate to negotiate collective bargaining at the national level, is still limited in various EU Member States among others due to historical and organisational national structures. We, therefore, welcome the European Commission Communication on the 2020 European Semester: Country-specific recommendations highlighting that “a well-functioning social dialogue is key to ensure that measures taken are successful, inclusive and sustainable” and that “in some Member States there is clearly room for a better functioning social dialogue”.

To echo the quadripartite statement on the Relaunch of Social Dialogue[6], HOSPEEM would like to stress that trust, formal and timely consultation with the social partners as well as support through robust EU-funding is a pre-requisite for a well-functioning social dialogue. Furthermore, the independence of social dialogue and social partners from the national government and political influence is essential, to fully representing the interest of workers and employers alike.

We, therefore, call upon the European Commission, in collaboration with EU Member States and consultation with European social partners to develop coherent structures and implement robust mechanisms as well as initiatives for:

  • the formation of employer organisations on a national level; and
  • encourage already established employer organisations to become actively involved in European sectoral social dialogue structures while respecting national specificities and autonomy.
[1] HOSPEEM (2008) HOSPEEM-EPSU Project on Strengthening social dialogue in the hospital sector in the new Member States and candidate countries https://hospeem.org/activities/projects/strengthening-social-dialogue-in-the-hospital-sector-in-the-new-member-states-and-candidate-countries/
[2] HOSPEEM (2011) HOSPEEM-EPSU Project on Strengthening social dialogue in the hospital sector in the Baltic countries https://hospeem.org/activities/projects/strengthening-social-dialogue-in-the-hospital-sector-in-the-baltic-countries/
[3] HOSPEEM (2019) HOSPEEM-EPSU Project on Strengthening social dialogue in the hospital sector https://hospeem.org/activities/hospeem-epsu-project-2019-2020-on-strengthening-social-dialogue-in-the-hospital-sector-in-the-east-south-and-central-europe/
[4] Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, and Portugal (The Bulgarian employers’ organisation left HOSPEEM in beginning of 2020 and the Belgian employers’ organisation joined HOSPEEM mid-2020.)
[5] Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Malta, and Poland
[6] co-signed by the European Commission, the European Council, and the cross-sectoral social partners in June 2016

Download the HOSPEEM response to the EPSRS (Pdf)

News Hospeem

Press Release on the Representativeness of the European Social Partner Organisations: Human Health Sector

PRESS RELEASE

Brussels, 12 November 2020

HOSPEEM welcomes the findings of the Eurofound representativeness study for the human health sector.

HOSPEEM calls for political support by the European Union and the Member States to promote social dialogue at the national level and to create an enabling environment for sectoral social partners in fostering capacity building processes.

HOSPEEM continues to be the most representative European hospital employers’ association, a leading voice in the EU sectoral social dialogue also initiating Council decision’s[1]. HOSPEEM’s members facilitate the most efficient provision of services while ensuring healthcare professionals and patients’ safety alike. Unlike any other sector, the COVID-19 pandemic is massively impacting the hospital sector, ranging from reorganising healthcare services and putting mental and physical strains on the health workforce and hospital employers, as highlighted in HOSPEEM’s statement on COVID-19. The European Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital Sector (SSDC HS) continues to be the primary European forum for sectoral social partners to address these and other relevant and challenging topics on both national and EU health agendas.

HOSPEEM believes that the political support by European institutions and Members States is needed to deliver on the envisaged Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights, in particular, the capacity building of social partners to promote social dialogue as well as on the Country-Specific Recommendations of the European Semester.

The European Commission and European Parliament indeed recognise the increasing importance of health, by proposing to build a European Health Union, to include health services in the European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection and the Critical Infrastructure Directive. Together with the European Council, the institutions also agreed on a EUR 5.07 billion EU4Health budget[2].

The role and active involvement of sectoral social partners at EU level are therefore essential to ensure that their voice is heard.

[1] Eurofound (2020) European sectoral social partner organisations and their representativeness https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/fr/observatories/eurwork/representativeness-studies

[2] Amount in 2018 prices

Download the Press Release (Pdf)

Activities, News Hospeem

EU-OSHA Campaign – Healthy Workplaces Lighten the Load

Brussels, 29 October 2020

The EU-level Sectoral Social Partners for the Hospital Sector (SSDC HS), the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association (HOSPEEM) and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) became official campaign partner of the EU-OSHA Campaign 2020-2022 Healthy Workplaces Lighten the Load.

Marta Branca, Vice-Secretary General of HOSPEEM, said: “Sustainable participation of all health professionals is the most direct contribution to dealing with potential workforce-related issues. HOSPEEM will continue to promote the creation and maintenance of the safest possible workplaces and to promote active participation in continuing professional development (CPD) and life-long learning (LLL) for all health professionals. Ergonomic design is needed to improve healthcare facilities and to overcome the possible future decline in numbers of healthcare workers. I am convinced that our work and initiatives in the field of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in the framework of the EU SSDC HS will lead to safer and healthier workplaces across Europe.”

Jan-Willem Goudriaan, General Secretary of EPSU, stressed that “MSDs are by far the most common work-related health problem among European workers. The social and economic consequences of this are now becoming abundantly clear. Millions of workers are no longer able to do certain tasks or even have to stop work altogether before retirement age. EPSU is strongly convinced that the wellbeing at work is a fundamental right, and we are ready to cooperate with employers to ensure it.”

Recent European statistics underline the need to address prevention of MSD in the health sector: The 2019 European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks showed that 59% establishments in the sector reported existing risk factors such as painful positions and 54% lifting or moving people or heavy loads. These findings are supported by results from the 6th European Working Conditions Survey, which highlighted that 47% of respondents working in the sector reported backache in the past 12 months.

To keep MSD high on the European and national agenda, coordinated responses from social partners are needed that are also in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights, the EU’s Framework Directive on OSH and the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work.
Next to becoming official campaign partners, we set out to:
1.) Update the existing HOSPEEM-EPSU Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention (2010);
2.) Continue the discussion among European social partners to exchange good practices and strategies in the field of MSD;
3.) Continue to exchange on the relevance of the current regulatory framework on MSD at European level.

Throughout the years, HOSPEEM and EPSU have considered MSD of great importance in the health sector, e.g. by carrying out a project on MSDs and psycho-social risks and stress at work. The cooperation of employers and trade unions is fundamental in successfully managing and preventing MSDs.

Download our Press Release published on 12 October

Webinar on musculoskeletal disorders in the health sector, 25 February 2021

News Hospeem

HOSPEEM July newsletter is published

In this July 2020 edition, you will find the Joint Statement on the 10th anniversary of the Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work as well as the latest COVID-19 related news. This newsletter includes also other relevant news,  Member’s news, EU news, events and publications for hospital employers.

27 July 2020 HOSPEEM Newsletter 2020 – Issue 3

News Hospeem

HOSPEEM April newsletter is published

In this April 2020 edition, you will find the HOSPEEM statement on the COVID-19 outbreak and on the CEEP launch of the EU platform “SGIs facing COVID-19” as well as information on the latest HOSPEEM General Assembly, and HOSPEEM-EPSU Social Dialogue meeting and project.

This newsletter includes also other relevant news, EU news, events and publications for hospital employers.

HOSPEEM Newsletter 2020– Issue 2 (29 April 2020)

Activities, Activity reports, News Hospeem

The year 2019 at a glance: HOSPEEM Activity report

The HOSPEEM Activity Report 2019 is published. This activity report presents key information on HOSPEEM and the main activities carried out during the year.

2019 has been a year rich in achievements for HOSPEEM ensuring that the views of hospital and healthcare employers are being heard at the highest level.

Firstly, the HOSPEEM-EPSU project on “Strengthening Social Dialogue in the hospital sector in the East, South and Central Europe” has successfully started with regional workshops taking place in Bucharest in June 2019 and in Rome in November 2019.

Secondly, several HOSPEEM experts and representatives shared their knowledge across Europe joining their efforts to actively represent members’ views in the European arena.

Thirdly, a new work programme 2020-2022 for the European sectoral social dialogue was successfully adopted.

Download the report

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