UNIONS 21 seminar INFORMATION

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UNIONS 21 seminar INFORMATION CONSULTATION

• Dirk Ameel EUROCADRES
• London 20 September 2005

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European trade-union movement
European Industry Federations
European Trade Union Confederation ETUC
National Organisations

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(No Transcript)
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Information, consultation, workersparticipation

• challenge
• Why isnt real participation or new business
  culture possible now and only financial
  participation?
• By more consultation or open dialogue
• By installing works councils ?
• CSR and employee shareholding rarely means a
  real voice or increased staff involvement

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Information, consultation, workersparticipation

• real participation opportunity for
• better exchange of information and influence on
  company policies
• higher motivation and better performance, when
• applied to known items
• knowledge of issues is accessible to workers and
  development of skills competences

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participation types

• agreed or voluntary
• e.g. Mitbestimmung or initiative of management
• formal or informal
• officially recognized decision bodies or
  informal relationships
• direct or indirect
• team meeting or elected representatives

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Workers participation

• complex decisions ? e.g. delocalisation
• unrealistic too far-reaching ?
• who influences company results directly
• Connected with specific culture and when basis
  values are present
• risk-avoiding or innovative ?

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EU regulatory framework

• Collective redundancies Directive (98/59/EC).
  Requirement to consult with a view to reaching
  an agreement
• Transfer of undertakings Directive (2001/23/EC).
  Information and consultation of the workforce in
  the acquiring and the transferred company
• Directive 2001/86/EC supplementing the Statute
  for an European company with regard to the
  involvement of employees.

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EU regulatory framework

• EWC Directive (94/45/EC). Right for the EWC to be
  informed and consulted about transnational
  questions which significantly affect workers
  interests
• Review of the EWC directive ?

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EU regulatory framework

• Information and consultation Directive
  (2002/14/EC). Right to be informed and consulted
  on a range of issues, including redundancies,
  transfers of undertakings and situations where
  there is a threat to employment
• Essential part of EU social acquis this
  directive determines practical arrangements for
  employees and their representatives
• to obtain information
• to be consulted
• national transposition from March 2005

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Dominant type of indirect participation
Trade union (voluntaristic)
Trade union (with minor council)
Works council
TU dominated works council (incl. employer)
Works council (weak)
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Cross-border mergers and EWC

• Most EWC agreements provide information and
  consultation rights on transfers of production,
  mergers, closures, downsizing,
• Extraordinary meeting
• Modest and formal role
• Difficult to define a joint position, declaration
• New EWC difficulties to renegotiate
• differences in jurisdiction
• differences in composition

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Information, consultation, workersparticipation

• In 12 of the 15 EU countries there exist legal
  obligations for board-level representation (BLR)
• UK, Italy and Belgium no legal regulations
  (instances made be found of workers
  representatives sitting on the board as the
  result of a collective agreement)

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Information, consultation, workersparticipation

• Where BLR is widespread (private companies
  included)
• In Germany and Austria,BLR is regulated by law.
• in the Scandinavian states it is based on
  collective agreements (although backed up by a
  legal framework).
• embedded in a wider context of the national
  industrial relations systems.

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Information, consultation, workersparticipation

• Depending the company structure, the workers
  representatives sit on
• the board of directors (in a single-tier model
  with only a management board)
• or on the supervisory board (in a two-tier model
  with a management board and a supervisory board).

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Information, consultation, workersparticipation

• The other member states have only limited
  versions of BLR
• variations in BLR relate to
• minimum employee thresholds
• the number of board members employees are
  entitled to send
• the election or appointment procedure
• the eligibility criteria for the board members

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Information, consultation, workersparticipation

• In 2001 the EU Council of Ministers adopted the
  two interlinked legal instruments necessary for
  the creation of European Companies (SE)
• A regulation on a statute for European Companies
• Directive on employee involvement within them.
• this Directive came into force in October 2004 in
  all 25 member states of the enlarged European
  Union together with Iceland, Liechtenstein and
  Norway

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Information, consultation, workersparticipation

• Companies can opt freely for these European
  Statutes in four sets of circumstances an SE can
  be created
• by a merger
• by setting up a holding
• A joint subsidiary
• by transforming an existing company into an SE
• No SE can be set up without an arrangement on the
  way workers are to be involved.

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Information, consultation, workersparticipation

• The SE directive safeguards
• the existing participation rights of workers
  representatives
• offers the opportunity for more employees in
  Europe than even before to be covered by
  board-level participation.
• The employee representatives will have
• access to information before strategic decisions
  are taken,
• enjoying a better chance of influencing those
  decisions.

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Wider issues from a trade union / industrial
relations perspective

• TU/IR issues do not feature on the CSR agenda in
  European business schools
• Business schools are the training ground for
  future shareholder value maximizers
• Trade unions/labour issues are a nuisance here
  (scheiss Betriebsrat)
• CSR is a cheaper way to look after TU/IR issues
  if and only if it is in the self-interest of
  corporations