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 Welcome to issue no. 1 / 2007 of EWC News. 11th April 2007
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The training and consultancy network "euro-workscouncil.net"
EWC News appears four times a year.
You can find past issues in the newsletter archives.
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1. Plant
competition as a challenge for the EWC
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The aircraft manufacturer, Airbus, the most important division of the EADS group, has not yet come to a halt. With the program "Power8", costs amounting to billions will be cut, even though the company’s books are full of orders. Administrative costs are supposed to be reduced by 30 per cent, the production tightened up and distributed around the plants more efficiently. Part of the production will go to companies outside the group and a number of sites will be sold to investors. These plans were triggered off by a delay in supplies to the wide-body aircraft A 380 (see report in EWC News 3/2006).
The European works council was informed about the program "Power8" on 28th February 2007. On the previous day the EADS coordination group of the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) in Brussels had decided on a catalogue of demands. In anticipation of the EWC meeting in Toulouse on 14th March 2007, trade unions had prepared more than 100 questions for central management. These were not all answered. The management gave the impression of holding a monologue rather than a discussion with the workers' representatives, as the French trade union, Force Ouvrière (FO), said in a press release after the meeting.
International solidarity at Airbus wasn't automatic. The trade union FO has great support amongst airbus staff (winning 47% of the votes at the works council elections in Toulouse). It published a report, according to which French locations are more efficient and more economic than all other plants in Europe, as recently as January 2007. Rüdiger Lütjen, chairman of the Airbus Germany group works council, called this study "impertinence", rejecting its contents completely. German plants are at least as productive as French ones - if not more productive from time to time.
What does the EADS Group workers' representatives’ cooperation look like in practice? There are several European division works councils for the different divisions within the holding (e.g. for Airbus). The chairperson of the EWC for EADS as a whole, Gérard Patot (photo), comes from the helicopter production of Eurocopter in the Marignane plant near Marseilles. He is a member of the trade union FO and heads the European division works council Eurocopter. Kathleen Kollewe has interviewed him about his experiences for EWC News.
Workers' representatives of Siemens and Nokia from Germany, Finland, Austria, Belgium and Spain met at the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) in Brussels on 14th February 2007. Although the merger of the network divisions took place on 1st April 2007 (see report in EWC News 2/2006), the works councils didn’t get any reliable figures or business documents from management in order to be able to form an opinion about the consequences. 10 - 15 % of the 60,000 workers of this joint venture are to be cut. In a press release the management was criticized for its lack of transparency. There isn't a European works council for Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) till now yet, at present the coordination committee of the EMF is representing workers' interests.
After the takeover of the Italian bank BNL (Banca Nazionale del Lavoro), with 17,000 workers, by BNP Paribas, the European works council of the French bank finds itself confronted with a renegotiation of its EWC agreement. More than the distribution of mandates will come under scrutiny. The more important question regards the position workers' representatives take regarding the staff cuts, resulting from the merger, which is currently taking place in Italy, Spain and Luxembourg. In an extraordinary meeting on 20th February 2007, the EWC was informed about the plans for the first time. There have been intense bilateral contacts between the trade unions CGT (France) and CGIL (Italy) in the past however they were unable to develop a Europe-wide perspective for the current negotiations of a social compensation plan.
Basic agreement for RWE Energy
The central management of the French pharmaceutical company has recently agreed to hold negotiations on employment training, the social consequences of restructuring and the integration of seriously disabled persons with the European works council. A working group consisting of members of both parties will meet for the first time on 19th April 2007 to agree on the exact procedure. The question at issue is, whether the negotiations should be conducted by the EWC steering committee or by a trade union coordination committee. The formation of such a committee, parallel to the already existing structures of the EWC, is already common practice in many companies of the metal industry (see report in EWC News 4/2006).
Priority on the strengthening of the European Works Councils In the face of the wave of cross-border restructuring that is currently to be observed, the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) sees one of its main tasks to organize solidarity within multinational companies. After the first conference on company policy in November 2006 in Brussels (see report in EWC News 4/2006), it has now presented its position. The most important point is the strengthening of the European works councils. |
EADS
in crisis?
The workers' representatives are not just demanding the
withdrawing of the "Power8" restructuring plan but also want to conduct negotiations about the industrial future of Airbus. On 16th March 2007 protests took place for this reason, 20,000 workers protested in Hamburg
alone (see photo). In all Airbus plants Europe-wide 40,000 people participated. Another EWC meeting in Toulouse on 4th April 2007 also produced no result although thousands of workers went on strike again for four hours the evening before.
BNP Paribas informs EWC very late
The European works council and the central management of RWE Energy signed a
basic agreement concerning the handling of restructurings in Dortmund on 14th March 2007. The agreement is valid in Germany,
Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Austria and the Netherlands. It is based on the EWC agreement of 2005 (see report in EWC News 2/2005). There isn't one European works council for the entire group but separate committees in each RWE division.
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2. What EWC work after a merger?
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EWC agreement for UniCredit completed
UniCredit's EWC receives far-reaching participation rights which go beyond information and consultation and are comparable with the regulations recently agreed on for the Allianz insurance company (see report in EWC News 3/2006). The agreement provides for two regular meetings per annum and up to two extra sessions for exceptional circumstances. The steering committee of six members, who should come from four different countries in the EWC, can set up working groups on relevant subjects and reach agreements on these with central management. The subjects expressly mentioned, are in-company training, equal opportunities, antidiscrimination as well as occupational health and safety. Negotiations of new EWC agreement for Arcelor Mittal
After the takeover of Arcelor by Mittal (see report in EWC News 2/2006) the two European works councils were soon united as well. The third round of negotiations took place on the subject of a new EWC agreement in Brussels on 19th and 20th March 2007. The principles of social dialogue, developed at Arcelor will be transferred to ArcelorMittal, according to the works councils' wishes. Provided that this is guaranteed, the only remaining contentious issue remaining would be the number of delegates in the new EWC with central management. The workers' representatives want to enlarge it from its current 48 members to 72; and the steering committee from 16 to 25 members. Central management refuses. The fourth round of negotiations will take place in the Northern Spanish city of Avilés on 17th and 18th April 2007. ArcelorMittal management representatives from all over the world met with experts of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Turin to discuss the possible legal conclusions of a worldwide framework agreement on 3rd and 4th April 2007. Shortly before the buy-up by Mittal, Arcelor completed such a framework agreement with the trade unions in September 2005 (see report in EWC News 3/2005).
After the sale of the Swiss insurance company, Winterthur, by Crédit Suisse to the French insurance group AXA in December 2006, AXA's EWC decided to integrate ten workers' representatives of Winterthur into its future ranks. Nine of them belonged to the EWC of Crédit Suisse before. Neither the employer nor the AXA EWC secretary considered it to be necessary to negotiate a new EWC agreement for the time being (see report in EWC News 3/2006). This means that the European works council of AXA has grown from 51 on 61 members. It will hold its next meeting in Berlin in June 2007. Even before the sale the secretary of the EWC of Crédit Suisse had taken part in the meetings of the EWC steering committee of AXA as a permanent guest to ease integration. Since the year 2005 AXA has held basic principles concerning the social dialogue on restructuring of this type. |
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3.
European Works Councils take legal action
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Actually the decision should have already been made on 3rd April 2007 but the French court, called by the European works council, adjourned until 27th April 2007. Several hundred workers, some of them from abroad, had arrived in Paris by bus in order to witness the decision from the proximity of the courtroom. The court was to decide whether central management had sufficiently complied with regulations, concerning the passing on of information to and the hearing of the opposite party, "European Committee for Information and Dialogue" (ECID) - the official name of the EWC - on the subject of a restructuring plan.
The French group Alcatel (58,000 workers) and the U.S. company Lucent Technologies, a former section of ATT, (30,000 workers) had merged on 1st December 2006. With its headquarters in Paris, the new transatlantic group has become a worldwide leading manufacturer of telephone and internet technology. Due to this merger 12,500 jobs are now on the list of cuts. In Germany in particular, the plants in Stuttgart and Nuremberg are threatened.
Following numerous local protests in the countries concerned (France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium), the European works council called for a protest day. About 4,000 people from several countries took part in the demonstration in Paris on 15th March 2007. During the period, leading up to this protest day, central management had threatened to switch off the intranet pages of EWC to withdraw the electronic platform for such protests.
Spy found in interpreter's cubicle
Employer's legal position
Prior to the merger the workers' representatives of both enterprises had tried to negotiate a new EWC agreement (see report in EWC News 3/2006). They were however unsuccessful due to resistance on the management side. This means that the former Alcatel agreement remains valid in the merged company.
In the current legal proceedings, the group's central management's position is that the ECID is merely a committee for social dialogue and not a fully fledged European works council. They are not entitled to the information and consultation rights of an EWC, according to EWC Directive, because the committee was established in 1996 on a "voluntary" basis before the national EWC laws came into effect. Such agreements actually still benefit from special protection according to article 13 of the EWC Directive.
Possible consequences of the verdict
In this context the forthcoming decision of the French court is of considerable significance to all enterprises that completed a "voluntary" EWC agreement before the deadline in September 1996. According to the calculations of the European Trade Union Institute, this applies to about 430 companies, including almost all well-known big companies (many of them on the German stock market, DAX). Should the court in Paris favour the trade union position, undreamt-of possibilities for the improvement of the EWC's weak participation rights would arise in these enterprises, without even a revision of the EWC Directive.
Declaration of the EWC agreement as invalid
A court of appeal declared the former agreement invalid on 12th October 2006. The complaint had been launched by the trade union, CGT, because it felt itself to be disadvantaged in the naming of delegates for the EWC. The judges decided that the agreement on the formation of a "European Committee for Social Dialogue" had been reached correctly, according to article 13 of the EWC Directive, but not correctly extended later on. The CGT, one of the signatories of the agreement, hadn't agreed to the extension. This court decision in actuality means that every trade union in Europe can prevent the continuation of the validity of an article 13 agreement, provided that it was originally one of the signatories.
A comparable agreement is currently being negotiated at an industrial tribunal in Stuttgart, Germany. The prosecutor is the works council of Stilke station bookshops in Hamburg in this case. Stilke is a subsidiary of the Swiss Valora group (see report in EWC News 1/2006).
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Important court decision for Alcatel-Lucent expected
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4.
Employers consider legal proceedings to be a risk
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Thomson EWC threatens legal proceedings
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5.
Minimum social standards agreed
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After the European works council of the Italian insurance group, Generali, had organized a Europe-wide day of action against restructuring plans on 17th October 2006 (see report in EWC News 4/2006), central management presented a European social charter, in written form, to the steering committee at the meeting in Venice on 28th November 2006. It is to become a component of the EWC agreement. Besides the ban on child labour and discrimination, it also includes the obligation of the enterprise to the promotion of competence development and in-company training in the case of restructuring. In future workers' representatives are to be involved in consultation procedures in good time in any country where Generali is represented with branch offices.
Worldwide framework agreements concerning minimum social standards
On 15th December 2006 an international framework agreement was signed in Sydney for the 40,000 workers of National Australia Group (NAG) in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The agreement provides for a meeting between workers' representatives and the management of the bank once a year to verify compliance with the agreement. France Télécom also wants to present itself as a socially responsible company. In the agreement on minimum social standards with validity worldwide, signed with the trade unions in Paris on 21st December 2006, the management obliges itself to include the workers' representatives concerned in talks about restructuring measure in good time. The written proposal to negotiate the establishment of a world works council then followed this agreement on 15th February 2007. On 22nd January 2007 the worldwide trade union organization, Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), signed a framework agreement with worldwide validity. It also is supported by the European works council of the Dutch building contractor, VolkerWessels, in Rotterdam. A monitoring group, made up of trade unions and the group's central management, is to verify compliance with the agreement once a year. Outside the Netherlands VolkerWessels is strongly represented in Belgium, Germany, the UK, USA and Canada. Textile industry: Talks with suppliers in Portugal and Turkey Representatives of the management and the workers of the Spanish textile retailer, Inditex Group, have held talks with local textile companies in Porto and Istanbul. |
Europe-wide social charter at Generali|
6.
Newly founded SEs
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Negotiations under way in Fresenius
BASF also wants to become an SE
The employers' side would obviously like to achieve a reduction of the supervisory board from 20 to 12 members. This question played a role also during the negotiations in the insurance group Allianz (see report in EWC News 3/2006) as well as in Fresenius. The European works council, which has been in existence since 1995 (official name: BASF Euro Dialogue), is soon to be replaced by a Europe-wide SE works council which fulfils the unions' wish for much more extensive trade union rights. The BASF dialogue forum was a pioneer of the early phase of European works councils but is in many ways no longer up-to-date: It can for example only meet once a year. Conrad Electronic registers as SE As only recently publicised the German retailer, Conrad Electronic, has been signed up as a European public limited company (SE) since 18th August 2006. The 2,300 workers aren't represented on the supervisory board, though their interests are looked after by the economics committee of the German group's works council. Elcoteq intends to transfer its headquarters to Luxembourg The electronics company Elcoteq, based in Finland, was one of the first enterprises Europe-wide to adopt the legal form of an SE on 1st October 2005 (see report in EWC News 1/2006). The central management of the group has now announced the transfer of its corporate centre to Luxembourg on 1st January 2008 in order to improve its globalisation strategy and to be able to make progress better and more competitively. This will most likely not have any effects on the participation agreement. |
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7. European Works Councils in the service sector
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The service sector is the most important economic sector in the European single market, after the metal industry, with regard to the number of companies which fall under the EWC Directive. While the production sectors of metal and chemistry have already managed to found more than 40% of all European works councils Europe-wide, the service sector takes the last place, of all sectors (according to the calculations of the European Trade Union Institute, see also report in EWC News 2/2006) with 24%. In June 2005 the EWC Directive applied to 595 service companies. There were 148 European works councils in 143 enterprises. This number should be a little higher by now. About half of all EWC bodies have already been in existence since the mid nineties.
While the remaining enterprises in the metal and chemistry industry without an EWC prove to have a small number of staff, there still a considerable number of larger companies without an EWC is in the service sector. British and Swedish service companies have been faster at founding EWCs than those from Germany or France. Another unusual feature: European works councils in the service sector are confronted with mergers more frequently than in any other economic sector.
New coordinator of EWC work
At present UNI is supporting 172 existing and emerging European works councils:
UNI's web page: Banks complete first EWC agreements in Cyprus South Cyprus has been part of the EU and therefore fallen within the scope of the EWC Directive since 1st May 2004. However only 65 of the 2,204 enterprises, which fall within the scope of the EWC Directive, are represented with a branch office in the Mediterranean island. 33 of these had already founded an EWC by June 2005. The first two EWC agreements, signed in Cypriot enterprises were with
Marfin Popular Bank and Bank of Cyprus in February 2007. Both agreements go beyond the minimum standards of the EWC Directive and also include branch offices in Greece and the UK as well as in Cyprus. The negotiations were above all conducted by the Cypriot bank workers trade union (ETYK).
Further sector-specific reports in past issues of EWC
News (only in German):
Car industry
(July 2006)
Chemical industry
(October 2006) Electronics industry
(September 2005) Metal industry
(December 2006) Transport industry
(December 2006) EWC work in ver.di
(December 2004) |
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8. Czech Republic: New
Labour Code and EWC work
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Trade union density is about 30%; a similar number of workers are covered by wage agreements. This means that the grey area of unregulated workplaces is substantially larger than in many Western European countries. The Czech trade union federation ČMKOS organizes about 600,000 members in 33 trade unions. There are also smaller trade unions but they are relatively insignificant in comparison with ČMKOS. New labour laws, which came into effect in Czechia on 1st January 2007, have brought about some changes. We have compiled some documents here which can help to understand Czech labour laws:
The Czech model of workers' representation Czech Republic has only known trade union workers' representation, founded by just three people, since its transition to the market economy. To make a representation of interests for workers, in accordance with EU standards, possible for enterprises without trade union, a regulation concerning the founding of "works councils" was included in the labour laws of 2001. Accordingly a works council may be founded on request of a third of the staff, on the condition that there isn't any company trade union representation already. It is to be dissolved automatically if trade union representation is founded later on. This solution, now described as the "Czech Model", didn't exist in any other European country before. According to the law, works councils have fewer rights than trade union company representation. If an active works council operation develops in a company without a trade union, it can serve as an incentive for the transformation of the works council into company trade union representation. European Works Councils in Czechia As the other countries joining the EU, the EWC Directive came into effect on the day of Czechia's admission to EU, that is on 1st May 2004. Of 2,204 enterprises Europe-wide which could potentially set up a European works council, 636 are represented by a branch office in Czechia (according to the calculations of the European Trade Union Institute in June 2005). This number is more or less comparable with Denmark or Ireland. Amongst the new EU member countries, Czechia ranks third place after Poland and Hungary. However only eight of these 636 enterprises have their headquarters on Czech soil. So the national economy is in the hands of foreign groups which frequently use the country as an "extended workbench" of the European single market. As many as 231 of the 636 enterprises are German. Almost the half of all enterprises with locations in Czechia had already founded an EWC in June 2005. These 333 committees are now to be enlarged to include delegates from Czechia. A study (2003) shows that at that time over 50 delegates from Czechia were already involved in various EWC bodies, half of them in the metal industry.
An EWC agreement was signed by the electricity company, ČEZ, in Prague on 3rd April 2007. It is the first European works council in a Czech enterprise and the first case for an EWC agreement that exclusively covers into new EU countries. The EWC represents 25,000 workers in Czechia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. It consists of 23 members. Seven of them are in the steering committee. The information and consultation rights of the new EWC are considerably more extensive than the minimum regulations of the EWC Directive. Guide to EWC foundation in eastern European languages In the context of a project sponsored by the EU, the Slovenian trade union federation ZSSS prepared a guide for the foundation of European works councils for workers' representatives from the new EU member states in June 2006. It is available in Polish, Slovenian, French and Czech.
Previous country specials in EWC News (only in German):
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Czech Republic has been an EU member since 1st May 2004. With 10 m. inhabitants, the country is larger than Austria. Czechia has a long industrial tradition however many enterprises have been sold to foreign investors over the last few years. Today the subsidiaries of foreign groups are responsible for half of all industrial production, about a third of employment in industry and about 70% of exports.
The first foundation of an EWC in a Czech enterprise
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9. EWC research
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Since January 2006 a research project about European works councils in Austria (see report in EWC News 4/2006) has been conducted by Institute for Society and Social Policy at University of Linz. EWC members, trade union secretaries and representatives of the management have been questioned in twelve groups. The Linz researchers have identified several models similar to those of the German study of Prof. Kotthoff (see report in EWC News 3/2006). They examined the role of central management and ordered it into types. We present a selection of the results below:
"Market Efficiency and Workers' Participation Rights" is the title of a research project launched at the Institute for Economic Sociology at University of Vienna - in cooperation with the Viennese Research and Advice Centre of the Working World (FORBA) and the Warwick Business School (UK) in September 2006. Researchers want to find out whether multinational enterprises, with their headquarters in Western Europe, transfer their social policies to their subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe. Or do they perhaps choose locations in Central and East European countries because trade unions have fewer rights and works councils are hardly known there? The following documents are only available in German: |
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10.
Interesting web pages
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European labour law from a British perspective
EWC with a web page of its own
The European works council of the tourism group, Club Med, has put an exemplary home page onto the Internet. It presents its work in five languages (amongst these English and French, unfortunately not in German). under its official name "European committee of social dialogue". You can read discussions with central management in EWC meetings: e.g. questions and answers on the group's strategy plan; employment agreements from various countries and press releases can be downloaded.. More interesting web pages of European works councils: Statistical evaluation of EWC agreements
General Motors workers' blog
We have collected numerous other interesting links.
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The legal group, Thompsons Solicitors founded in London in 1921, plays an important role in the legal representation of workers organized in trade unions and trade union officials in United Kingdom. Its 800 workers in 22 branch offices are not just concerned with labour laws related to individuals but also with collective labour law. It has published a magazine of its own since 1996. This is freely accessible in the Internet under: Thompsons Labour and European
Law Review.
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11. New publications
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Dictionaries for the works council
Christiane
Horstenkamp → Further details → Order online
Jacques Bister/Marcel Mansfeld/Christine Parkin Wortschatz für die Gewerkschaftsarbeit Deutsch - Französisch, Französisch - Deutsch Saarbrücken 2006, 100 pages, € 5,- → Download dictionary → Order dictionary
We have collected further translation aids for works councils here.
There can't be two other countries in Europe where the workers` participation rights differ so greatly as between Germany and Britain. This thesis attempts a legal comparison of the similarities and differences and how EU norms on staff participation in the face of mass redundancies have been put into practice in each particular country. Remember that Major's conservative government suffered a sensitive defeat in Luxembourg in front of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 1994 because it hadn't integrated the relevant EU standards into the British legal system comprehensively. Information about the current legal position was published in the country special about UK in EWC News, September 2005.
Melanie Buhlinger Mitbestimmung bei Massenentlassungen auf Grund von Rationalisierungsmaßnahmen in Deutschland und England Eine Untersuchung zur Notwendigkeit und zu Möglichkeiten einer Modernisierung der betrieblichen Mitbestimmung, Baden-Baden 2007, 246 pages, ISBN 978-3-8329-2534-5, € 48,- → Further details → Order online
This thesis examines the implementation of the EWC Directive under German, Austrian and Swedish labour law. The author deals in particular with the question of how a European works council can gain its participation rights, using provisional legal protection and intervention, according to each respective national labour law. The current training in the field of high court law, in conformity with the Directive, is also described clearly in this work. As the revision of the EWC Directive in Brussels is not progressing at present, it is particularly important for the EWC to exploit all legal possibilities already in existence.
Lars
Hinrichs Frankfurt am Main 2007, 335 pages, ISBN 978-3-631-56148-5, € 56,50 → Further details → Order online
Commentaries on the antidiscrimination law (AGG)
In the mean time the four antidiscrimination Directives have been implemented in most EU countries - in Germany since August 2006. As a subject introduced at European level, it offers European works councils the chance to be active on the subject of equal opportunities and antidiscrimination (see the Areva case in EWC News 4/2006). Two commentaries have recently been published.
Dagmar Schiek (ed.) Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (AGG) Ein Kommentar aus europäischer Perspektive München 2007, 552 pages, ISBN 978-3-935808-70-5, € 89,- → Further details → Order online
Wolfgang Däubler/Martin Bertzbach (ed.) Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz Handkommentar Baden-Baden 2007, 785 pages, ISBN 3-8329-1384-7, € 79,- → Further details → Order online
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12. Training and consultancy network "euro-workscouncil.net":
Examples of our work |
Drägerwerk AG founds EWC
