Conference on THE RIGHT TO DISCONNECT AND TELEWORK
A perspective from the EU institutions, Member States and social partners
15 March 2022
Hemicycle – European Parliament – Brussels & online
Agenda
Moderated by: Ms Tamsin Rose
To download the agenda in PDF, please click here
08:30 – 09:00
Participants’ arrival and registration, welcome coffee
09:00 – 09:05
Welcome by moderator
09:05 – 09:30
Opening remarks by
Dragoș Pîslaru, Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, Élisabeth Borne, French Minister for Labour, Employment and Inclusion and Nicolas Schmit, Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, European Commission
09:30 – 10:15
Discussion on main challenges and opportunities: the EU perspective
- Alex Agius Saliba, Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur of the European Parliament Resolution on the right to disconnect
- Esther Lynch, Deputy General Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
- Maxime Cerutti, Director, BusinessEurope
- Joost Korte, Director-General, European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
10:15 – 10:45
Coffee Break
10:45 – 10:55
Presentation by
Ivailo Kalfin, Executive Director, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound)
10:55 – 12:15
Session 1 – National approaches to telework and the right to disconnect
- Brecht Stalmans, Legal officer, Ministry of Employment, Belgium
- Tara Coogan, Director, Industrial Relations, Workplace Regulation and Economic Migration Division of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ireland
- Ingrid Vanhecke, Deputy Director for international affairs, Netherlands
- Ana Couto de Olim, Director General of the Directorate of Employment and Vocational Training Services, Portugal
Questions&Answers
12:15 – 12:45
Fireside chat
- Sandrine Cazes, Senior Economist, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- Maxime Legrand, President, CEC European Managers
- Jean-Emmanuel Ray, Professor of Law, University Panthéon-Sorbonne
12:45 – 14:15
Lunch Break
14:15 – 14:25
Presentation by
Manuela Tomei, Director, Conditions of Work and Equality Department, International Labour Organization (ILO)
14:25 – 15:30
Session 2: The role of social partners’ agreements and social dialogue
- Rebekah Smith, Deputy Director of Social Affairs, BusinessEurope
- Isabelle Schömann, Confederal Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
- Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary, UNI Europa
- Guillaume Afellat, Policy advisor, SGI Europe
- Sylvie Brunet, Member of the European Parliament
- Elena Lizzi, Member of the European Parliament
Questions&Answers
15:30 – 16:00
Coffee Break
16:00 – 16:10
Presentation by
William Cockburn, Interim Executive Director, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU OSHA)
16:10 – 17:40
Session 3: Challenges and opportunities of telework and the right to disconnect
Short conversation 1: Working time, working conditions and health and safety
- Tomáš Zdechovský, Member of the European Parliament
- Kim Van Sparrentak, Member of the European Parliament
- Nayla Glaise, President, EUROCADRES
- Véronique Willems, Secretary General, European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME United)
Short conversation 2: The gender and digital divide, disadvantaged workers
- Péter Pálvölgyi, Chief executive officer, AllDigital
- Mikael Leyi, Secretary General, Solidar
- Margarita de la Pisa, Member of the European Parliament
- Jose Gusmão, Member of the European Parliament
17:40 – 18:00
Closing remarks by
Evelyn Regner, Vice-President of the European Parliament and Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President for Democracy & Demography, European Commission