Industrial Relations in Europe 2012 - European Commission - Europa

The agreement is a significant achievement for the EU social dialogue in the professional football
sector. Its main goal is to offer minimum social standards concerning players' contracts. To ensure
that player contracts throughout Europe meet certain minimum standards, contracts must be in
writing and registered and must be signed by the parent or guardian in the case of a minor player.
Contracts must define the respective obligations of clubs and players. On the clubs' side, this
includes provisions on regular payment of salaries, social security or paid leave and mandatory
insurance coverage. The club must respect minimum wages for the players, if this has been agreed
by social partners at national level. On the players' side, contracts must also refer to their duty to
participate in training, to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to comply with disciplinary procedures.
Standard contracts will also contain provisions on dispute resolution and applicable law. Further,
the agreement provides that clubs and players will contractually commit themselves to act against
racism and other discriminatory acts and to fight against doping in football. The agreement also
contains provisions related to the protection of young sportspersons, in particular paragraph 6.5
which obliges clubs to respect Council Directive 94/33/EC of 22 June 1994 on the protection of
young people at work and to ensure that every youth player involved in its youth development
programme has the right to follow mandatory school education in accordance with national law and
that no one is prevented from continuing their non-football education.
The EU social partners in the professional football sector have committed themselves to
autonomously implementing the agreement by using the most appropriate legal instruments as
determined by the relevant parties at national level in the EU and in the remaining countries of the
UEFA territory. The agreement has been accompanied by a joint letter stipulating that in a certain
number of countries the standard of contractual protection is already above the standards provided
for in the autonomous agreement and, consequently, no further action is required. The agreement
should be implemented no later than three years after its date of signature in all countries
concerned.
The agreement, its implementation and monitoring is not only an expression of the autonomy of the
social partners, but also of the autonomy of sport as recognised in the Lisbon Treaty.
Hairdressing
The agreement of the social partners in the personal services (hairdressing) sector, Coiffure EU and
UNI Europa Hair & Beauty, is a comprehensive framework agreement on the protection of the
occupational health and safety of workers in the sector. It was signed on 26 April 2012 and aims to
reduce the risk of occupational diseases and accidents in hairdressing, in order to protect the health
and safety of workers. This is part of the overall objective of the EU sectoral social partners to
increase the professionalism and profitability of the hairdressing sector. The negotiations on this
agreement were launched on the own initiative of the European social partners and built upon their
previous work on health and safety.
There is scientific evidence that hairdressers are exposed to high risk of occupational disease, in
particular skin diseases and musculoskeletal disorders. Hairdressers are affected by these diseases to
a much greater extent than the general population. Therefore, since the establishment of the sectoral
social dialogue committee in this sector in 1999, the social partners have worked on these issues,
concluding a joint declaration ("covenant") on health and safety in 2005. New scientific research
conducted since then documented continuing high rates of risk and uneven progress between and
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