FIXED-TERM CONTRACTS : COMMISSION AND SOCIAL PARTNERS DISPUTE ECJ OPINION.

• Position: European Commission and the European Court of Justice - Brief article

Contrary to the findings of the advocate-general in the Del Cerro Alonso case, the European Commission's Legal Service believes that the 1999 Directive on fixed-term contracts does cover pay. "The mere fact that the directive does not mention pay does not mean that pay does not come within its scope," it notes in an opinion submitted to the EU Court of Justice. While an act based on Article 137 of the EC Treaty "cannot directly determine the level or nature of pay, lawmakers are nonetheless perfectly at liberty to adopt a text having only indirect or incidental effects on pay". The member states are of course free to choose their own arrangements for determining pay levels, but they cannot allow fixed-term workers to be discriminated against in terms of pay.

EQUALITY AMONG EMPLOYEES

The social partners share that view. "It is unacceptable for there to be first and second-class...