Organizations representing employees have proposed granting social partners the legal right to agree on employment-related exceptions through sectoral or company-level collective agreements, where potential harm from such exceptions could be offset by other safeguards, the Estonian Trade Union Confederation (EAKL) announced on Friday.

According to the signatories, planned changes such as variable-hour contracts and the reduction of rest periods would leave employees, as the weaker party in the labor market, unprotected against potential employer abuses. The trade unions argue that the draft law significantly harms employees' interests and are therefore urging the government to halt the legislative process and begin negotiations with social partners to reach compromises.

Kaia Vask, head of the EAKL, stated that in this instance, officials have ignored the fundamental principle of social dialogue, which identifies the Estonian Employers' Confederation and the Estonian Trade Union Confederation as key social partners in the process of amending the Employment Contracts Act.

"In the current situation, the only solution is to suspend the legislative process for amending the Employment Contracts Act and to begin negotiations with social partners to reach a compromise," Vask added.

In a joint statement, Dr. Neeme Tõnisson, president of the Estonian Medical Association, highlighted the critical need for adequate rest for doctors working under heavy workloads, stressing that reducing rest periods is unacceptable as it could compromise the quality of care.

Jüri Lember, chairman of the Estonian Seafarers' Independent Union, called the draft law yet another example of incompetent legislation. "Variable-hour contracts, which are incomprehensible to employees, play directly into the hands of employers, as they create opportunities to organize work in ways that may not even require paying wages to employees on a regular basis," he said.

"The voluntary nature of flexible working time agreements is illusory because, upon hiring, employees are often presented with contract terms on a 'take it or leave it' basis," said Gert Raudsep, chairman of the Estonian Theater Union. "It is likely that these legislative changes could force full-time employees into part-time, including flexible working arrangements. Additionally, contradictory legal provisions leave employees without the ability to refuse extra work."

The joint statement has been signed by the Estonian Trade Union Confederation, the Estonian Medical Association, the Estonian Education Personnel Union, the Estonian Seafarers' Independent Union, the Estonian Theater Union, the Estonian Nurses' Union and the Central Organization of Estonian Trade Unions.

The draft legislation prepared by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MKM) allows for agreements with employees to work up to an additional ten hours per week beyond their regular working hours. According to the draft, such agreements could be made with employees who are pursuing primary, secondary or higher education; are of retirement age or early retirees; have reduced work capacity; or whose collective agreements provide for the possibility of concluding flexible working time agreements.

If a flexible working time agreement is signed, an employee could work up to ten additional hours within a seven-day period, on top of their agreed-upon working hours. For example, a part-time contract might stipulate that an employee works 20-30 hours per week, where 20 hours are guaranteed and up to 10 hours are considered additional. However, several conditions must be met to implement such agreements.

According to Statistics Estonia, nearly 105,000 people, or approximately 15 percent of the total workforce, worked part-time last year.

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