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New Agreement
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European-level representatives of employers and trade unions have signed an agreement giving some 4.5 million employed teleworkers in the European Union (EU) more security, whilst maintaining business flexibility.
The agreement defines telework, and sets up a general framework at European level for teleworkers' working conditions. It recognises that teleworkers are afforded the general protection granted to workers based on the employer's premises, and highlights seven key areas where the specificities of telework need to be taken into account.
The agreement is to be implemented by 2005, and EU member organisations will report on its implementation. A European report will be prepared on the basis of national reports within four years of the signing of the agreement.
The new agreement contributes directly to the strategy defined at the March 2000 Lisbon European Council. It is also designed to respond to, and to promote, the shift to the knowledge economy and the knowledge society, as set out in Lisbon. It seeks to manage this transition and to reconcile the needs for flexibility and security which both employees and companies need.
Anna Diamantopoulou, European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, said: "This is a landmark deal. Not only will this initiative benefit both workers and businesses, but it is the first European agreement to be implemented by the social partners themselves. This shows the coming of age of European social dialogue."
The European Union's 10 million teleworkers are made up of:
- Home-based employed teleworkers, most of whom work alternately at home and on the employer's premises.
- Self-employed teleworkers, who normally work from home.
- Mobile workers, who spend at least ten hours per week away from home, or their main place of work (for example on business trips, travelling or on customers' premises, during which time they use online computer connections).
- Casual workers, who could fall under the first group (home-based), but spend less than ten hours per week teleworking from home.
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