A/HRC/34/57 institutions continued to favour labour market deregulation and a salary freeze for civil servants. 12 In the context of a request for financial assistance from Morocco, IMF emphasized the need for deregulating fixed-term contracts and reducing statutory protection in the country.13 Table 2: Labour law reforms of selected eurozone countries during the economic crisis (2008-2012)14 Countries concerned Area of reform Reforms concerning selected aspects of individual labour law Promotion of nonstandard employment Promotion of fixed-term employment and agency EL, PT work Introduction of new employment contracts with less pay and job security EL, ES Extension of probation periods EL, ES Reduction of job security Weakening of employment protection for civil servants Shortening of notice periods EL, PT EL, ES Increasing thresholds and reducing obligations for EL, ES mass layoffs Changes in the definition of fair and unfair dismissals ES, IT Reduction of severance pay ES, EL, PT Elimination or weakening of the right to be ES, IT reinstated after an unfair dismissal or after a mass layoff Reforms concerning collective labour law 12 13 14 Decentralizing collective Elimination or suspension of national collective bargaining agreements IE Suspension of the favourability principle EL, ES Approval of exceptions and divergences IT See, for example, Tunisia, “Memorandum of economic and financial policies” attached to the Letter of Intent addressed to IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, on 28 January 201, paras. 9 and 21. IMF, “Staff report on Morocco relating to a request for an arrangement under the precautionary and liquidity line and cancellation of the current arrangement”, para. 20. In Article IV reports on Morocco, the IMF has, for example, highlighted the need for further deregulating the labour market, notably by “reducing the minimum wage and hiring costs” (see IMF, “Morocco: Staff report for the 2011 Article IV consultation” (19 September 2011), para. 26. The original content of this table, which has been complemented with additional data, is taken from Christoph Hermann “Structural adjustment and neoliberal convergence in labour markets and welfare” (note 7 above), pp. 119 and 121. This is a non-exhaustive list, in the sense that there have been more labour reform areas that have negatively affected labour and human rights, such as cuts and changes to pensions, and cuts to wages, especially minimum wages and public sector wages. 7