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Tisdagen den 11 september 2018 - Strasbourg

7.3. Olika sätt att återintegrera arbetstagare efter skada eller sjukdom i sysselsättning av hög kvalitet (A8-0208/2018 - Jana Žitňanská)

Explicații orale privind votul

  Rory Palmer (S&D). – Mr President, as we meet here, the British Trades Union Congress meets this week for its 150th annual congress. firmly on their agenda is the important need to strengthen and protect employment rights.

The report that we have just approved this morning sets out the important need to strengthen the rights of people in the workplace with a terminal illness. That is the subject of the important ‘Dying to Work’ campaign, which has secured the support of Members from across this House, of trade unions and of employers. We must redouble our efforts, and I call again on the Commission today to take legislative action to ensure that people with a terminal illness are supported by their employers and have their full rights in the workplace protected.

  Jasenko Selimovic (ALDE). – Mr President, bearing in mind Europe’s ageing population and the fact that almost 30% of Europeans report having a chronic physical or mental health problem, illness or disability, the issue of the reintegration of workers is of the highest importance. I would like to thank all my colleagues who worked on this report.

I hope that we will raise awareness about stress and burnout at work, talk more about mental health in the workplace and, most importantly, recognise the psychological and social factors that a return to work entails for individuals, and recommend tailormade measures in different cases, since we don’t have one measure that fits all. Workplaces should ensure a physically and mentally safe and healthy working environment throughout people’s working life, and active and healthy ageing for workers. Member State employers should have the obligation to keep a positive work-oriented approach to people with disabilities, especially because they are very often excluded. Older workers are in favour of upskilling, ensuring their competences are used in the best way possible.

  Alex Mayer (S&D). – Mr President, I welcome this report and the specific reference to the TUC’s Dying to Work Charter. The charter already covers three quarters of a million workers, and has been signed by many leading businesses and organisations such as E.ON, the Royal Mail and the University of Essex, in my region.

The campaign is about protecting workers if they get a terminal diagnosis. With the terrible news from the doctor, a person’s world is turned upside down. Some want to stop working, others to carry on, but nobody wants to face the sack. Then there is the question of stressful HR procedures, reduced financial security and loss of death in service payments. The majority of employers want to do the right thing, not to penalise a worker with incurable cancer, and that is why in the absence of legislation I am urging more companies across the East of England, large and small, to adopt the Dying to Work Charter. If it doesn’t affect you today, it could do tomorrow, so please sign up.

  Jiří Pospíšil (PPE). – Pane předsedající, já jsem podpořil tuto zprávu, chci pogratulovat kolegyni Žitňanské k mimořádně kvalitnímu materiálu. Ta zpráva není o vizích, že bychom měli rychle přijímat nějakou novou evropskou legislativu, ale snaží se upozornit na konkrétní možnosti, kde mohou členské státy usnadnit život pracujícím, kteří se po úrazu snaží zapojit do pracovního postupu. Tady chci zdůraznit, že se domnívám, že základem je otázka národního práva, a měli bychom tedy vyzývat jednotlivé členské státy, aby jejich pracovní právo bylo dostatečně flexibilní a dostatečně umožnilo zapojit do pracovního procesu člověka, který po nemoci chce opět pracovat a v určité fázi ještě není schopen pracovat v původním nasazení za původních podmínek, jako pracoval před nemocí. Je dobře, že ta zpráva vyjmenovává celou řadu konkrétních opatření, a myslím, že pro jednotlivé členské státy může být dobrým vodítkem.