Collective Bargaining (COBEG) - EFJ Expert Group

The Steering Committee of the EFJ agreed to establish an EFJ Collective Bargaining Expert Group in order to establish an efficient network of expertise and information on collective bargaining and industrial relations issues on April 1st, 2000. The Annual General Meeting of the EFJ meeting in Nuremberg has confirmed this in May 2000. The Expert Group had its first meeting on October 2. Members come from Finland, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Cyprus and France. The first project is to draft a survey on 'Working Time in Journalism: A comparative analysis by EFJ unions'. This project will be finished by January 2001 and will be available on the IFJ/EFJ website. The project is supported by the European Commission. The Collective Bargaining Expert Group considered at its first meeting to draft a model contract on working conditions with best practice examples on working time, payment in cases of illness, editorial statutes, training and further training; life insurance/other benefits; consultation and information rights and authors' rights. The next meeting of the Group will be in Brussels, January 15, 2001.