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 Welcome to issue no. 2 / 2007 of EWC News. 16th August 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. The restructuring
wave rolls -
what is the legislator doing?
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European Parliament demands revision of the EWC Directive
Shortly
before the debate in the European Parliament and for the day
exactly three years after the beginning of the revision
procedure the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) convened
about 200 European works council members for a meeting
in Brussels on April 20th, 2007. In the presence of Commissioner Špidla
and the European employers' confederation BusinessEurope they
stressed the demand for a revision of the EWC Directive. At this
meeting a documentation on methods of action for European works
councils in the course of restructuring was presented, covering General Motors, InBev, RWE Energy and Dim Branded
Apparel. The
ETUC congress, which met in Seville (Spain) from 21st to 24th May 2007 also asked for strengthening the European works
councils. It named the key activities in a manifesto: "fight
delocalisation, stimulate negotiations on restructuring and
provide a stronger framework of
information, consultation and involvement, including involving
independent experts on restructuring."
The
new person in charge of EWC issues at the ETUC The
education department of the European trade union institute
(ETUI-REHS) in Brussels has got personnel reinforcements on 1st July 2007. A long-standing member and chairman of the European
works council of the Dutch Fortis bank, Bruno Demaître, will
organize EWC seminars.
Survey of IG Metall trade union: The practice is further than the legislator
Concrete practice is of decisive importance against the background of a blocked legislation process. Besides the Europe-wide survey of Prof. Waddington from the year 2005 (see interview) IG Metall has also carried out two surveys in Germany. Results of the first survey were already presented in November 2005 at an EWC conference in Hanover. The key finding was that out of 85 interviewed councils 70 were confronted with cross border restructering.
European works councils don't wait for the legislator
To improve their work opportunities, European works councils negotiate often a new EWC agreement. Some of them were listed in the magazine “Arbeitsrecht im Betrieb” in January 2007.
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At
the second survey of IG Metall in 2006, 28 European works
councils were examined more exactly, which conducted a special
meeting on the occasion of restructering – either with the
complete council or with the select committee. In the opinion of
Dr Aline Hoffmann, leader of the EWC team in the head office
of IG Metall, the lived
practice overtakes the regulations laid down in EWC
agreements. As she explained to EWC News, “the initiative of
the EWC members is rather decisive”. In most of the cases a
special meeting was possible at short notice and opened new
chances to get locally active. However some weak points became
apparent. In some cases there were no internal preliminary
meetings of the workers' side, not all locations concerned
were included, or there were no interpreters available.|
2. Participation
rights after the merger
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The buying up of the British BOC Group by the conglomerate Linde did not only lead to an extensive reorganisation of products and locations but also in the composition of the employee committees. While the head office of the gasses and engineering company was transferred from Wiesbaden to Munich and the fork truck division was sold, numerous members left the European works council.
The 28 members of the new EWC will come together for the first meeting in November 2007. The UK gets seven seats, Germany six, the Netherlands and France two each and all other countries one seat each (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Poland, Czechia, Hungary and Romania). The EWC is chaired by a five-headed select committee.
Personnel support for the EWC
Jacques Bister has worked as a scientific expert for the German group works council and for the European works council since 1st April 2007. Before he was a union officer at the German Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union (IG BCE) and he has long-standing experiences in the cross border cooperation of workers' representatives. Bister is co-editor of a dictionary for the international trade union work (see report in EWC News 1/2007).
 After the world's biggest steel merger: New EWC agreement complete
The signing of the EWC agreement for ArcelorMittal took place on 9th July 2007 in Luxembourg in the presence of Lakshmi Mittal (photo). The Indian multi-millionaire will take on the chairmanship of the EWC according to French habits although particularly IG Metall trade union would have preferred the German model with a workers' representative as a chairman.
The negotiations on the merger of the two European works councils of Arcelor and Mittal Steel had been concluded in Spain on 18th April 2007 (see report in EWC News 1/2007). 54 delegates belong to the new EWC out of the following countries: France and Poland (nine mandates each), Belgium and Romania (eight each), Germany, Spain and Czechia (five each), Luxembourg (three) as well as Italy (two mandates). The workers' representatives choose a three-headed secretariate and a select committee of 25 members.
The
new agreement adopts the essential features of the previous
Arcelor agreement and meets the demands of the trade unions. Besides an employee
participation in the administrative board the agreement provides
participation rights for the EWC like in the SE Directive which
goes beyond the regulations of the EWC Directive at some points.
ArcelorMittal thinks about a transformation to a European
company (SE).
Press
release of the company on the occasion of the signing of
the agreement Full
text of the EWC agreement (in French) On
4th May 2007 the European Commission had allowed the take-over of the British tour operator MyTravel by the German tourism group Thomas Cook. The new
company will have its seat in London and will be based on British
legislation. The functions of the executive board and the supervisory board are then united in a
management board which does not know any workers' directors.
The workers' directors in the previous German supervisory board of Thomas Cook lose their mandates
with that. All the more important will be the role of the European works council in future. Negotiations of its working conditions started at the beginning of August 2007. At Thomas Cook an EWC was already installed in 2003, at My Travel in 2006. Recently the recognition was renewed for the more than
1,000 employees at Thomas Cook in the United Kingdom and an Employee Consultation Forum (ECF) was founded, which is comparable with a
company-wide national works council. The following texts are only available in German:
In
the course of the merger between the two network divisions of Siemens and
Nokia 9,000 jobs shall be cut. The company Nokia Siemens Networks
(NSN) set up on 1st April 2007 does not have any EWC yet which
could be consulted over the restructuring plan (see report in
the EWC News 1/2007). After
protests of the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF)
central management explained for the first time
its workers' representatives the plans on 25th´May 2007 in
Brussels. Though it is not clear yet to which degree which countries
and locations will be affected by the reduction, but first signs
point to figures of 1,700 in Finland and 2,900 in Germany primarily in the
research and development area. A further downsizing is feared in
Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands. |
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3.
Reports from the courtroom
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On 24th April 2007 the German Federal Labour Court (BAG) in Erfurt clarified: Collective agreements negociated by unions on plant level have priority before agreements negociated by works councils. The core of the decision was dealing with the issue whether the peace clause as laid down in the Works Constitution Act (a German feature to be explained abroad only with difficulty) basically applies during restructering or whether the freedom of association including the right to strike applies. This BAG decision brings the collective labour law in Germany closer to European normality. The following texts are available only in German:
A court in Paris determined on 27th April 2007, which information the employer must disclose to the European works council in case of Europe-wide restructuring. The European Committee for Information and Dialogue (ECID) of the telecommunications supplier Alcatel-Lucent, where several thousand jobs are to be cut after the merger, had taken legal action. Central management had not justified this reduction and pointed out to "synergy effects" only generally (see report in EWC News 1/2007).
The employer argued in front of the court that the ECID is merely a committee of social dialogue and not a full European works council. As such it would not be entitled to the rights of information and consultation in accordance with the EWC Directive because the committee had been founded 1996 on a "voluntary" basis before the national EWC laws came into force. Until present such agreements enjoy the right of continuance according to article 13 of the EWC Directive. The court followed this position, the workers' representatives also cannot refer to the EU Directive on information and consultation from the year 2002.
The court nevertheless came to the opinion that the central management has not complied sufficiently with its duties of information and consultation. The judgement was immediately published by the French unions in a joint handbill (click on the picture on the right for extending). The employer must present the following:
This information must be "complete and precise enough, to explain the employment trend on an European level to the EWC and to allow for an exchange of views and dialog with the management in view of full knowledge of the facts". At the earliest 15 days after disclosure of all information mentioned above a special session of the EWC can take place to decide on a statement. According to this judgement central management of Alcatel-Lucent is not obliged, however, to present a redundancy scheme to the EWC, because firstly this is not a component of the EWC agreement and secondly, results from the participation rights of the works councils in single countries. The EWC does not enjoy any priority compared to the national works councils. In the opinion of the court participation and consultation rights in countries concerned may not be postponed on the grounds, the EWC must be informed completely first.
Only limited expert support
Following once more protests at the companys' general meeting in Paris on 1st June 2007, central management finally presented the information demanded by the court in the middle of June 2007. The ECID does not have any claim to an own expert, however. It can only count on experts who advise the French group works council. For this reason a sound evaluation of the presented financial data is only restrictedly possible. The ECID delivered a statement on the restructuring on 4th July 2007.
The European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) explains some judgements in EWC matters in the "newsletter on company policy".
The highest French court of justice ("Cour de cassation") condemned the Finnish electronic company Aspocomp to bear redundancy scheme costs in the amount of 11 m. € for its former factory Évreux in Normandy on 19th June 2007. The dismissals had been justified with economical reasons in 2002, however, in opinion of the court, been carried out improperly. Now the central management in Espoo must pay for costs which would have had to be borne by the meanwhile insolvent French subsidiary.
The judgement is based on EU law and was only possible because the company has its head office in the European single market. In comparable cases of insolvency, e.g. the glass plant of LG.Philips Displays in Aachen or the German locations of the mobile telephone manufacturer BenQ, central management could abscond from their responsibility in Asia. This shows the significance of EU legislation as an example for social arrangements of the globalisation.
For the first time a court in the UK adjudicated on the basis of the EU Directive on information and consultation on 24th July 2007. The Employment Appeal Tribunal in London decided on application of the union Amicus against the newspaper publishing house Macmillan, a subsidiary of the German Holtzbrinck group. British management has refused insistently to recognize an employee representation and to disclose financial data for years. Since it came neither at the completion of a company agreement nor to the compliance with the legal minimum regulations then being valid, Amicus started legal steps in June 2006. Macmillan ignored, however, the ruling of the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), an independent arbitration board which in actuality proceeds as the first instance concerning industrial law in such matters. Therefore the London court condemned the publishing house to the payment of a penalty of 55,000 £ (82,000 €), maximum penalty would have been 75,000 £. Obviously the judges wanted to set an example and to deter other companies from seeing violations against EU employee rights as peccadillos. |
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4.
Recently formed EWCs
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After
the sale: Turbine manufacturer founds EWC
An
Italian cement group renews EWC agreement|
5.
Company agreements on social standards
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Since August 2006 there have been intensive negotiations at Suez between central management and the EWC on the international human resources policy. Although the parties have not reached an agreement in all points yet, three international framework agreements were signed on 3rd July 2007: about a financial participation, about an anticipatory personnel development planning and for the promotion of equal treatment and diversity. For the first time all group employees worldwide will get a financial participation.
On 12th July 2007 the French group Schneider Electric signed an agreement on anticipatory and socially compatible design of strategic company policy with the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF). The initiative was taken by the employer in December 2006. The agreement is valid in the same countries as the EWC agreement and contains rules for competence development of the employees, for the early involvement of the European works council prior to cross-border restructurings and for the procedure in case of job cuts.
Within the last months a number of framework agreements were signed again on the application of social principles and core labour standards in worldwide active companies. The contracting parties on employees' side are as a rule international federations of trade unions, in some cases also the EWC. On 13th April 2007 a worldwide framework agreement was signed for the Dutch group Brunel which has particularly specialized in project management and staff recruitment for the oil and gas industry. Compliance with fundamental social standards, a claim to company based further training and timely consultation of employee representations in case of restructuring is assured to the 5,300 employees. On 4th May 2007 a further worldwide framework agreement was signed on the edge of the EWC meeting in Barcelona for the 35,000 employees of the Canadian printery group Quebecor on the compliance with international core labour standards. Only in November 2006 it almost would have come to a legal dispute because the EWC was ignored prior to several transnational restructurings. The German WAZ group is taking on a pioneer role. Within the last few years it has purchased numerous companies in Eastern Europe and on the Balkans. The framework agreement signed on 4th July 2007 in Essen is worldwide the first one in the media sector. In this agreement the company commits itself to respect fundamental social rights at work and to establish a forum where once a year representatives of all countries meet. The agreement was presented in Brussels together with EU Commisioner Viviane Reding on 9th July 2007. Rheinmetall boycotts monitoring The German car supplier and armour group Rheinmetall had concluded an international framework agreement in 2003 and obliges itself to observe worldwide core labour standards and to provide for equal opportunities and health protection. The International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) organized a meeting of European and South American workers' representatives in Neckarsulm (Germany) on 12th and 13th June 2007 to discuss the compliance with the agreement. However, this meeting was not supported by the employer, which was described by the president of IG Metall trade union Jürgen Peters as a violation of democratic rules of the game and even as a breach of the agreement. It was only after the press had reported that central management offered a delegation of the European works council to visit Brazilian factories. The EWC chairman Peter Winter wants to accept the offer, but doesn't consider it a substitute for worldwide monitoring meetings. |
Even
three
agreements in a French utility group
European
agreement on anticipation of change
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6.
Negotiated participation in the SE
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Fresenius concludes an exemplary participation agreement
SE
negotiations at BASF started|
7. Case
studies: Aluminium and household appliances industry
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Gigantic merger wave at raw material
companies
Alcoa
and Alcan were world market leaders in the aluminium industry for years
but since the merger of two Russian groups recently they are not any
longer. Therefore the U.S. company Alcoa tried in spring 2007 to take
over the Canadian competitor Alcan hostilely and to reconquer the
world's top position. When these take over plans were disclosed the EWC of
Alcan voiced against the merger at its meeting in Paris on 29th and 30th May 2007. Such mega-mergers
would not only be a danger for the staff of the
taken company but also for those of the buyer. The EWC fears that the
European aluminium industry will lose more and more competence centres and
research sites by doing so. On
1st
June 2007, workers' representatives of Alcan and Alcoa met in
Brussels on invitation of the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) to
discuss the effects of such a merger on the jobs: the German EWC chairman
of Alcoa, the French EWC secretary (spokesman of the employees' side) of
Alcan as well as two trade union officers, which assist the European works
councils on behalf
of the EMF. After the first conversation in the small circle further EWC
members of both groups from seven countries came together in Brussels on
21st
June 2007 and agreed on a common procedure. They demanded the strict
compliance with their participation rights, the involvement in the process of
EU merger control and the immediate convening of a common special meeting
with central management of both groups. "White
knight" prevents a hostile take-over A
special EWC session actually took place in Zurich on 25th July 2007, but
only for the EWC of Alcan. The CEO had arrived from Canada personally to
inform the workers' representatives in Europe about the merger with Rio
Tinto. The British Australian raw material group based in London had stood
in on 12th July 2007 as a "white knight" to prevent the hostile
take-over by Alcoa. The deal will have the same dimension as the take-over
of Arcelor by Mittal Steel in June 2006. The
central management of Rio Tinto will explain to the EWC of Alcan its plans
more exactly in the middle of September 2007. The sale of the packaging
division of Alcan, which amounts to 23 per cent of the group’s turnover is
particularly scheduled. The EWC demanded a financial expert report to
be able to assess the effects on the jobs more exactly. For French shaped
European works councils such extensive advisory services are at the
agenda - differently from British or German companies. Great anxiety
triggered the merger in Switzerland (texts available only in German): Alcan
emerged from numerous take-overs, particularly the Swiss
Alusuisse-Lonza and the French Pechiney group, and additionally disposes
of important production sites in Germany and the UK. Already since
1996 there were European works councils in these companies. After completion of the mergers a new EWC agreement was
signed according to
French law in March 2006. Rio Tinto
does not have any EWC yet since large parts of the sites are located outside
Europe. In Australia the company is confronted with heavy criticism of
trade unions and environmental groups because of violations of employee
rights and safety regulations. It remains to be seen how this anti trade
union attitude will become apparent in the European locations of Alcan. The
EWC of Alcan will probably represent the European employees of Rio Tinto in
future.
The
hunter could now become the chased himself The
take-over of Alcan by Rio Tinto - Deutsche Bank served as an adviser
in the background - will fundamentally change the company landscape of
the raw material industry. In stock exchange circles is speculated, the
inferior bidder Alcoa could himself become a target of a hostile take-over,
possibly by ArcelorMittal (see report further
above). Alcoa has an
EWC according to Dutch law since 2001 and is strongly represented in
Spain, Italy and Hungary.
From 27th to
29th
June 2007 representative of trade unions,
enterprises and
science from the new and old EU countries met in Arezzo (Italy) to discuss
alternatives to current restructuring in the household appliances
industry. A survey done by the
Istituto per il Lavoro (IpL) in Bologna shows the dramatic extent of the shift
to low wage countries and the loss of jobs. The shutdown of the AEG
plant at Nuremberg had caused special
attention in Germany. Measured in terms of employee numbers this
industry still takes the second place in Italy, Spain and some Central
European countries after the car industry. Originally
the "white goods" were mainly produced in Germany, Sweden and
Italy. But already in the middle of the eighties a shift took place to
Southern Europe. While small equipment like iron, coffee machines or
vacuum cleaner is almost only produced today in Southeast Asia, the
production of the large equipment (washing machines and dishwashers, dryers,
ovens) drifted towards Middle and Eastern Europe including Russia and
Turkey where the market steadily grows and the wages are still low.
How shall trade unions and European works councils behave at such
restructurings? At
the conference different approaches were discussed using case studies and
the challenges also assessed for the new EU countries. Already some product
lines shall be shifted from Eastern Europe to China. Which role did the
European works councils of Electrolux, Whirlpool, BSH
and Indesit play in the retrograde production shifts? In all these
cases a considerable lack of a cross-border coordination was noticed. How employee representatives behaved locally?
About this also two case studies existed: the enterprises Arctic from Romania and De' Longhi from
Italy. At the end of the meeting Prof Bierbaum of INFO-Institut in
Saarbrücken (Germany) introduced a suggestion for better coordination of EWC
work in this industry. All meeting presentations and documents are
available in the Internet on a special website. Further
industry-specific reports in earlier editions of EWC News
(most in German): Motor
industry (July 2006)
Chemical
industry (October 2006) Service
sector
(April 2007, in English) Electronics
industry
(September 2005) Metal
industry (December 2006) Transport
sector (December 2006) EWC
activities at ver.di (December 2004) |
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8.
Turkey: a topic for the EWC?
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From the 20 m. employees only about 14% are members of a trade union (what corresponds to the standard of Spain), the majority in the confederation Türk-Is. The legislator has set the trade unions high hurdles: they can conduct collective bargaining only if they represent more than 50% of the employees of a company whereas every single membership must be verified notarially. The majority of the employees in Turkey therefore is not covered by collective agreements. The working week is generally 45 hours. There are no works councils, however, the set-up of a site union representation is possible by recognition agreement like in the UK. Turkey ratified the social charter of the Council of Europe in September 2006, what is regarded as an important signal in the context of EU accession negotiations. According to calculations of the European Trade Union Institute any eighth company falling under the scope of the EWC Directive had a branch office in Turkey in 2006 (in total 270 companies). If Turkey would already be member of the EU today, Turkish delegates could move in into 152 already existing European works councils. At present, five delegates and three observers from Turkey are involved on a voluntary basis in some few councils.
On 24th and 25th April 2007 the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) carried out a meeting in Istanbul "Social Dialog and Corporate Social Responsibility in South-East Europe" which was thought also in response to numerous cases of hindrance of trade union activities in Turkey. According to the EMF Turkish labour law does not comply yet with internatinally valid rules, which apply everywhere in the EU. 600 participants of a Labour Day demonstration were arrested in Istanbul few days later on 1st May 2007.
The DGB Bildungswerk together with IG Metall published in 2005 a booklet worth reading on the history, the economy and the social system of Turkey as well as on the current problems of the Turkish society with regard joining to the EU. DGB-Bildungswerk/IG Metall: Länderprofil: Türkei Tradition und Wandel Düsseldorf/Frankfurt am Main 2005, 52 pages, € 3,50 The euro zone will be enlarged
In future the euro zone will thus cover 15 of the 27 EU member states with about 320 m. inhabitants. But already in 2009 Slovakia could join, in 2011 the three Baltic states and Bulgaria. In contrast, the economically most important countries in Middle and Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary and Czechia) will satisfy the criteria for the monetary union at the earliest in 2012, Romania only 2014. Previous focuses on countries in EWC News (mostly in German):
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9. EWC research
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Since January 2006 a research project about European works councils in Austria has been conducted by the Institute for Society and Social Policy at University of Linz. EWC members, trade union officers 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. They examined the role of central management and ordered it into types. We continue today to present selected results.
Provided
that restructurings are justified and explained at all, this shall
increase the understanding of the delegates and defuse the risk of
cost-intensive industrial disputes. Comments of EWC members are
desired as long as they do not contradict the management's position. Neither a critical dialogue
is developing nor compromises on
human resource issues are possible.
„Intercultural competence and robust transnational solidarity rise in times of the globalisation to strategic key resources of trade union representation.“ This core statement is from a research outline of the institute for sociology of University of Erlangen Nuremberg which draws one's attention to a delicate "internationalization deficit" of the employees' side compared to the management. Under the title "communication and solidarity in cross culture employee cooperation" surveys have started in several multinational enterprises at the beginning of 2007. The project assistants Matthias Klemm and Dr Jan Weyand are particularly interested in which concrete conditions an intercultural communication becomes successful in the EWC. Besides expert interviews - one took place under participation of Werner Altmeyer, training and consultancy network "euro-workscouncil.net", in Erlangen on 14th April 2007, - proceedings in interculturally composed works council meetings are recorded and analysed. Previously, the project team "cross cultural solidarity" had already carried out German Czech comparable studies on communication in multinational enterprises. The following texts are available only in German:
EWC research in the motor industry
As part of this research project a workshop took place in Bochum with scientists from six countries from 9th to 14th July 2007 to examine different aspects of EWC research. Particularly interesting were the country studies on European works councils which were introduced by speakers from Poland, UK, France and Spain. In his contribution Dr Werner Altmeyer from the training and consultancy network "euro-workscouncil.net" followed the question whether European works councils would need codetermination rights or preferably negotiation rights. |
A
research project on European works councils in the motor industry started at the Ruhr
University of Bochum on 1st March 2007. The
team around Prof Dr Ludger Pries would like to develop an EWC
typology, to examine structural conditions of its work and to analyse results of negotiations between EWC and management. The empirical
study will cover production sites in Germany, France, UK, Spain and
Poland of the following groups: DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen, General
Motors, Ford, Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroën.
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10.
Interesting web pages
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Employee participation in Europe
This new topic page of the European Trade Union Institute provides background information about numerous aspects of employee participation: European works councils, participation in the European company, information and consultation at a national company level, EU legislation, social dialog at European level and special features of industrial relations in each of the 27 EU member countries. Particular aspects, e.g. collective bargaining systems, health and safety or participation rights, can be compared "at the touch of a button" between the countries.
The United Kingdom has a new trade union since May 1st, 2007: Unite with two million members has resulted from the merger of two multi-sector unions – Amicus which is strongly represented in numerous sectors among others in the metal industry (see Amicus sectors), and the transport workers’ union T&G which is already grown beyond this sector (see T&G sectors). Unite wants to concentrate on the recruitment of younger employees (10% of the complete budget is provided for this) and the international cooperation.
Eurocadres, the Council of European professional and managerial staff has published a manual for deployment abroad on the Internet. It is aimed at all employees who work in another member country of the EU or want to return from there. For every EU country information can be retrieved about the residence and contract of employment right, the recognition of professional qualifications and diplomata, the national insurance system, the taxation, trade unions and working conditions up to tips for the search of a flat and looking for work. Italian EWC portal
We have compiled numerous further interesting links in a link collection.
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British
mega-trade union merger
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11. New
publications
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This English-speaking anthology, which deals with the question about the collective identity of European works councils has been published in May 2007. Authors from several EU countries examine different aspects of the current EWC research. How do employee representatives perform their work as an EWC member with a different cultural background?
Michael Whittall/Herman Knudsen/Fred Huijgen (eds.) Towards a European Labour Identity The case of the European Work Council London/New York 2007, 233 pages, ISBN 978-0-415-40396-2, € 77,99 → Further information → Online order
This exercise book deals with the political system of the EU (bodies, competences), the economic integration (single market, euro zone, Europeanization of the economic policy) and its social consequences (pay, social systems, taxes, migration, company relocations). A special attention is put on the problems of the Eastern enlargement and the prospects of the European social model. The book is suitable as a reference book as well as for adult education. It emerged in the context of the project "work and prosperity in an enlarged Europe". The training and consultancy network "euro-workscouncil.net" added some texts on European works councils. The book is available only in German.
Alexandra
Baum-Ceisig/Klaus Busch/Claudia Nospickel Baden-Baden 2007, 371 pages, ISBN 978-3-8329-2138-5, € 14,90 → Table of contents → Online order
A book for the German French cooperation has been released in May 2007, which provides valuable suggestions including for European works councils. The authors do not only give practical tips how meetings or project teams can be facilitated with French, Luxembourg, Swiss and German participants - but moreover, deliver also scientifically sound instructions to the intercultural understanding. Using many case studies they show dangers, which can lead to misunderstandings, disturbances and possibly even to failure of intercultural projects. The intercultural guide is a kind of "toolbox" and was composed by experts of the intercultural cooperation from the German French Euro-Institut in Kehl. The book is available only in German.
Euro-Institut, Institut für grenzüberschreitende Zusammenarbeit (ed.) Interkultureller Leitfaden zur Moderation grenzüberschreitender Sitzungen Baden-Baden 2007, 108 pages, ISBN 978-3-8329-2477-5, € 19,- → Further information → Online order
The new edition of this manual does not only represent comprehensively material labour law and labour court procedures in Germany from the employee view but contains one section each of the international labour law and of the European community law. Here basic knowledge can be refered to (hierarchy of norms, transposition of Directives etc.), however information about all important Directives concerning labour law is also part of it. A chapter deals separately with the collective European labour law and among other things with the European works council and the SE works council. The book is available only in German.
Michael Kittner/Bertram Zwanziger (editors) Arbeitsrecht Handbuch für die Praxis mit CD-ROM Frankfurt am Main 2007, 4. edition, 2.993 pages, ISBN 978-3-7673-3773-3, € 189,- → Online order
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12.
Training and Consultancy Network "euro-workscouncil.net":
further examples of our work |
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New faces in EWC advice and research
The growing demand for the offers of the training and consultancy network "euro-workscouncil.net" required reinforcements of our team. Two new members have joined in spring 2007, both very familiar since years with international trade union activities and industrial relations.
Voest-Alpine has a similar past like Volkswagen: founded at the Nazi time the state-owned enterprise was after the war noted as a focus of trade union movement and for outstanding company benefits. Today Voest-Alpine with its parent plant in Linz at the Danube (photo) is a highly profitable, quoted manufacturing company with an own steel base – and an exemplary EWC agreement. The workers' representatives from the four areas steel, railway systems, automotive, and profiled forms carry out cross-border division meetings with the respective division management. Such regulations exist only in few enterprises e.g. in the aviation and aerospace group EADS and in the Swedish packaging group SCA.
The training and consultancy network "euro-workscouncil.net" organized a workshop for the European works council in Linz on 16th April 2007. In working groups it was for example acquired how one can better anchor the EWC in the workforce, use the secretariat as an information turntable or develop the EWC further to a transnational negotiating party. The following texts are available only in German:
IG Metall pushes EWC formations at the lower Rhine region
Some 25 workplace representatives and full-time trade union officers of the transport sector from six countries met from 5th to 8th May 2007 in the Romanian seaport Constanţa to inform themselves about means and limits of European works councils. The workshop took place in the context of a project sponsored by EU funds with the support of the European Transportworkers' Federation (ETF). Speakers of the event were besides Werner Altmeyer of the training and consultancy network "euro-workscouncil.net", Philippe Alfonso of the ETF in Brussels and Erika Young, a deputy chairwoman of the International Transportworkers' Federation (ITF) in London. The port of Constanţa is regarded as "Rotterdam of the East" because of its strategic situation at the Rhine-Main-Danube route and the considerable volume handling.
Restructurings in the chemical industry
Our publication activities
In April 2007 Bernhard Stelzl dealt with the topic "taking on responsibility - Corporate Social Responsibility in Germany" in an article for the Personalmagazin. In May 2007 Werner Altmeyer and Lionel Fulton presented in the magazine der betriebsrat the current situation of workplace representation in Britain. And Reingard Zimmer examined Europe-wide antidiscrimination agreements in the magazine Arbeitsrecht im Betrieb in July 2007.
With technical support of the training and
consultancy network "euro-workscouncil.net" the paper Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung published a report on current trends of EWC
activities particularly at restructurings on
21st July 2007. You find additional publications at our publications page.
On 4th June 2007 the third issue of the EWC newsletter, jointly published by the unions ver.di in Germany and GPA in Austria, was released. The contents are co-designed by the training and consultancy network "euro-workscouncil.net". Topics of the issue 1/2007 were the new EWC agreement at UniCredit with an interview of the chairman of the German group works council of HypoVereinsbank, Peter König, a report on the establishment of European works councils in the finance sector, European works councils in tourism (particularly the situation at Thomas Cook after the merger with MyTravel), the Europe-wide EWC-networking in media companies, accents in the energy sector and a report of the meeting of the services sector trade unions (UNI) in Athens. The newsletter is available only in German.
Courier, parcel and express services: Study on EWC formation
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The report is available only in German.
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Details of seminars planned
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Registration for the following seminars and workshops that we have co-designed can now be made:
Europe for trade union officers of IG Metall Institutions, political fields, European works councils 08 -- 10-10-2007 in Bad Orb
Works council activities in Europe, the European works council (EWC) Legal basis, foundation, intercultural communication 04 -- 09-11-2007 in Hamburg → Further details about this seminar (in German)
Formation of European works councils in the port sector 18 -- 24-11-2007 in Livorno (Italy) → Further details about this workshop
In-house events Please find a survey of the subjects for in-house events here: → Subjects of In-house seminars → Subjects for in-house lectures
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Imprint
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EWC News is published by:
Training and consultancy network "euro-betriebsrat.de" GbR Von-der-Tann-Straße
4, D-20259 Hamburg www.euro-workscouncil.net (English) www.euro-ce.org (French)
Authors collaborating on this issue: Werner Altmeyer, Carmen Bauer, Kathleen Kollewe, Bernhard Stelzl, Reingard Zimmer
We are always pleased to receive comments and suggestions in relation to this newsletter as well as reports on your EWC activities. Please write us at: info@euro-workscouncil.net
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