FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 1 EUROPEAN WORK COUNCILS (EWC) Dip. Ing. Panos Katsampanis OBES trainer Round table Sofia 8/12/06

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 2 AIMS EWC in the new European countries Transfer of experience of existing EWC

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 3 ACTIONS Round table in Athens 25/9/06 Round table in Sofia 8/12/06 Transnational conference Athens 2/2/07 Exchange of experience between trade unionists about EWC Web site development The main points and the conclusions will be present to Ministries, European Commission etc.

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 4 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERNCES IN THE EUROPEAN LABOUR CULTURE Are there differences in industrial and trade union culture in the EU member states? Yes, we have to learn the differences in order to cooperate effectively and to achieve our members aims Don’t forget that the multinational companies follow the same company policy and rules in all European countries.

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 5 WORK PLACE EMPLOEES REPRESENTATION BODY TRADE UNION TRADE UNION AND WORK COUNSIL COLLECTIVE BARGAINS (SALARIES) ARE FEDERATIONS (TRADE UNION) RESPONSIBILITY ΝΟΤ WORK COUNCILS

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 6 COMPOSITION OF THE REPRESENTATION BODY EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES (NORWAY, DANMARK, FINLAND, FRANCE, BELGIUM, LUXEMBURG) ONLY EMPLOEES (ALL OTHER COUNTRIES) WORK COUNCIL = BETRIEBSRAT = COMITE DE ENTERPRISE

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 7 TRADE UNION STRUCTURE IN EUROPE STATUS (SWEDEN) SECTOR (GERMANY) PROFESSION (BRITAN) POLITICS, RELIGION (FRANCE, SPAIN)

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 8 “ EUROPEAN INDUSTRIAL RELATION “MODELS” GERMANIC (GERMANY) AGLO – SAXONIC (BRITAN) SOUTHERN EUROPEAN

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 9 SO WHAT IS COMMON IN EUROPE? EUROPEAN DIRECTIVES AND REGULATIONS THAT THE MEMBER STATES TRANSPOSE TO NATIONAL LAWS AS: 94/45 EUROPEAN WORK COUNCILS 2002/14 INFORMATION AND CONSULTATION 2157/2001 AND 2001/86 EUROPEAN COMPANY ATTENTION TO THE TRANSPOSITION PROCESS (e.g. election process)

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 10 WHAT IS A EUROPEAN WORK COUNCIL (EWC)? EMPLOEES REPRESENTATION BODY IN COMPANY LEVEL WITH RESTRICTED ROLE IN: INFORMATION CONSULTATION NO COLLECTIVE BARGAINS

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 11 WHEN A EUROPEAN WORK COUNCIL IS ESTABLISHED? WHEN A UNDERTAKING OR GROUP OF UNDERTAKINGS HAS AT LEAST 1000 EMPLOEES AND 150 EMPLOEES IN TWO MEMBER STATES AND THE EMPLOEES WANT IT.

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 12 CURRENT STUATION IN EUROPE (A) How many European undertakings are covered by the 94/45 directive? 2204 undertakings with 21 millions employees How many EWC are existing? 780 undertakings with 13 million employees

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 13 CURRENT STUATION IN EUROPE (B) 400 AGREEMENTS FOR EUROPEAN WORK COUNCILS ARE ARTCLE 13 AGREEMENTS (BEFORE SEPTEMBER 1996) 380 AGREEMENTS FOR EUROPEAN WORK COUNCILS ARE ARTCLE 6 AGREEMENTS (AFTER SEPTEMBER 1996)

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 14 COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF THE MULTINATIONALUNDERTAKING GERMANY146 BRITAN97 USA94 FRANCE82 BELGIUM46 HOLLAND45 SWEDEN43 SWISERLAND31 ITALY30 FINLAND28 JAPAN21

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 15 THE ESTABLISMENT OF A EWC 1. Written request of at least 100 employees from two countries to management 2. A Special Negotiation Body is created in 6 months period (3-17 elected employees one from each country) 3. Maximum 3 years negotiations 4. In case of no written agreement as result from the negotiations, a EWC is created according to the subsidiary requirements of the 94/45 directive

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 16 SUBSIDIARY REQUIRMENTS OF DIRECTIVE 94/45 1. EWC members 3-30 elected employees representatives (at least one from each country) 2. EWC has the right to be informed and consulted by the central management once per year on transnational matters (two countries and more) 3. Selecting committee of maximum 3 persons 4. Additional meetings of the EWC and the central management in case of exceptional circumstances (closure of establishments, relocations, collective redundancies) 5. Expert and costs

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 17 CONTENT OF THE AGREEMENT 1. Covered undertakings 2. Composition of the EWC, number and allocation of seats, terms of office 3. Functions and procedure for information and consultation 4. Venue, frequency and duration of meetings 5. Financial and material resources. 6. Duration of the agreement and procedure for renegotiation.

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 18 ISSUES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE EWC WITH CENTRAL MANAGEMENT 1.Structure, economical and financial situation 2.Business, production and sales development 3.Situation and probable trends of employment 4.Substantial changes in organization, production methods, transfers of production, mergers, cut-off or closures of undertaking and collective redundancies.

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 19 WHAT IS INFORMATION AND CONCULTATION EWC DIRECTIVE ΙΝFΟΡΜΑΤΙΟΝ no definition CONSULTATION Exchange of view and establishment of dialogue between employees representatives and management. EUROPEAN COMPANY DIRECTIVE ΙΝFΟΡΜΑΤΙΟΝ Time, manner and content must permit employees representatives an in depth assessment CONSULTATION Time, manner and content must permit employees representatives to express an opinion which may be taken into account in the decision making process.

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 20 EUROPEAN COMPANY 2157/2001 AND 2001/86 FOR THE EUROPEAN COMPANY Employees of a European company could set up a representative body, similar to the EWC, with rights for Information – Consultation – Participation.

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 21 EWC AND EUROPEAN COMPANY European Work Councils and the Representative Body in the European Company are connecting with the protection of employees rights, in-company democracy and the management privilege.

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 22 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT REPORT ON EWC Α 5-282/2001 “The first weakness which has recently been the focus of public interest concerns the timing of information and consultation……….. In many recent cases such meetings have not taken place in good time.”

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 23 EWC PROBLEMS Not enough information Insufficient consultation Rare meetings (one per year) Difficulties in communication Different opinions and views. Forum for exchange of views or employees representation body?

FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNIONS 24 EWC CRUSIAL POINTS Meetings (president, agenda, employees pre-meeting, follow up -meeting, frequency, duration, communication, extra meetings, expert, training, costs) Structure (covered companies, seats, new member states, new undertakings, country allocation of seats, shared seats, observers, mergers, future?) Select committee (seats, allocation, frequency, working groups, costs) Transnationality Confidentiality and communication with trade unions