Amendments to the Employment Contracts Act are being debated in the Riigikogu, with the aim of adapting to the changed needs of the labour market. However, a number of misconceptions and fears have arisen as a result of the amendment. Piia Zimmermann, legal adviser to the Confederation of Employers, answers common questions.
Empowering people in industrial relations is not about scaring and misleading them about change, but about informing them about their rights and opportunities and raising awareness.
The debate on the inclusion of foreign labour in the Estonian labour market should shift the focus from the question “should we?”. “on what principles?” bringing workers here. Labour migration policy needs to establish coherent and clear principles, with short- and long-term objectives, write OSKA analysts Silja Lassur, Andres Viia and Yngve Rosenblad.
The Confederation of Estonian Employers has collected nearly 170 suggestions on how to reduce the administrative burden and bureaucracy that hampers business. The 12 proposals with the broadest impact and quickest implementation are now in the Government's Economic Cabinet and could be approved as early as this spring.
In a letter sent to the Legal Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu, major Estonian business federations support the planned amendments to the Employment Contracts Act to make working time more flexible. The unions also point out that there are a number of lies and myths circulating about the changes.
As previous promises to cut red tape have not been very fruitful and unnecessary bureaucracy has continued to proliferate, it is now possible to make history by controlling it, says Raul Aron, an advisor-analyst at the Confederation of Employers.
The Confederation of Finnish Employers has collected 170 proposals to cut unnecessary red tape and today submitted a summary to the Chancellery and the Prime Minister's Growth Council. Of these, the 12 proposals with the greatest impact and the quickest to be resolved could reach the Cabinet of Ministers' Economic Cabinet for action as early as May.
On 22-23 April, a delegation of Estonian entrepreneurs visited Brussels at the invitation of the European Commission Representation in Estonia to discuss key issues for the future of Europe.
Making labour law more flexible is the best news in industrial relations in the last 10 years, explains Ain Käpp, a member of the Employers' Confederation council and head of the labour market working group. It will give part-time workers more security and help attract new people to the labour market.
Although recruiting from abroad is more complicated, time-consuming and expensive than recruiting from Estonia, employers have to do it for different reasons. Risto Mäeots, Head of Magnetic MRO, Erkki Keldo, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs and Industry, and Ain Käpp, Head of the Labour Market Working Group of the Confederation of Estonian Employers, take part in the programme.
"My passion is hospitality, a field in which I have been active for 30 years. Working in hotels every day has given me a deep understanding of the importance of the workforce - both finding talent and retaining and developing it," says Ain Käpp, head of the Employers' Confederation's labour market working group and council member.
The lingering economic downturn has dulled the pain of the labour shortage crisis, but it has not taken away its cause, explains Ain Käpp, head of the Confederation of Employers' Labour Market Working Group. That's why every step that brings more workers into the labour market is important.
Making labour law more flexible and modernising the recruitment of foreign workers are indispensable steps to help attract new people to the labour market, explains Ain Käpp, head of the Central Confederation of Employers' labour market working group and member of the council, on ERR's opinion pages. In addition, a more flexible law will increase the rights of part-time workers.
The Confederation of Finnish Employers supports the state's plans to make labour law more flexible, as both employers and employees expect and need this.
The Confederation of Employers calls on businesses to point out those laws and regulatory requirements that create unnecessary costs, waste time or prevent flexible working.