ITEM 6 – GROWTH & EMPLOYMENT : THE ROLE OF SOCIAL PARTNERS PRESENTATION BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS PILLIARD CEEMET 18th General Assembly 1

I – Background Creation of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee : January 2010 Nearly three years of experience: 1st assessment possible Actors: CEEMET & IndustriAll (formerly EMF) 2

I – Background (cont’d)  Main goal: to contribute to the improvement of the competitiveness of the metal industry.  More concrete objectives :  increase the mutual understanding (exchange of views and experiences of good national practices)  deliver opinions to the Commission on EU initiatives  coordinate the social dialogue activities in branches of the MET industries 3

I – Background (cont’d)  One plenary meeting per year  Two working groups :  Competitiveness & Employment  Education & Training 4

II – Achievements / Results WG « Competitiveness & Employment »  Joint general statement on “Competitiveness and employment in a globalised economy” – December 2010  Joint position on the Commission flagship initiative on “Industrial Policy in a globalized economy” – March 2011  Conclusions on adaptability and the drivers for flexibility needs – 2011  Discussions on flexible forms of employment – on going 5

II – Achievements / Results WG « Competitiveness & Employment »  Adaptability / Flexibility – 2011  Main drivers for adaptability /flexibility need (e.g. global competition, seasonal variations, climate change, demographic changes, external shocks etc)  Instruments to handle this need for adaptability (e.g. working time flexibility, flexible forms of employment, education & training schemes, “anti-crisis” measures etc.)  Effects of the instruments on flexibility (e.g. adapt quickly to changes; rapid cost reduction; facilitate the entry into labour market for some groups vs. job and income insecurity (flexible contracts), impact on companies’ competence supply in the long-run etc. ) 6

II – Achievements / Results WG « Competitiveness & Employment »  Flexible forms of employment – 2012 (on-going)  Various forms of flexible employment (fixed-term contracts, part-time, temporary agency work)  Benefits and drawbacks for both employers and employees  Ways to overcome the drawbacks and other forms of flexibility 7

II – Achievements / Results WG « Education & Training »  General statement on “vocational education and training “ – December 2010 Jointly presented to the EU institutions  Joint statement on “Permeability between vocational education and training and higher education” – end of 2011  Discussion on access to training – 2012 – on-going 8

II – Achievements / Results WG « Education & Training »  “Permeability between vocational education & training (VET) and higher education (HE)” – end of 2011  Importance of attractiveness of VET for our industry  Facilitate access between VET and HE  Permeability is key to improving the quality of VET  Important factor: transparency of competence profiles 9

II – Achievements / Results WG « Education & Training »  Access to vocational training – on-going  First, the obstacles: on the employers’ side (lack of information, problme of SMEs), on the employees’ side (problem of motivation), more generally, issue of funding etc.  Then, the solutions: workshop (next week) on how this has been tackled at national level 10

III - First evaluation  Professional atmosphere  Constructive and objective exchanges of views, based on national practices  First three years: positive and very encouraging (willingness to work together)  The co-chairing has proven to be efficient.  Joint statements/positions = good lobbying opportunity  Increased visibility on the European scene. 11

IV – For the future  Need to build on this first experience  Enter into more concrete issues  However, time and resources limits : step by step approach necessary 12