Brussels, 04/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is calling on the European Commission to “create a strong legal framework on the anticipation of change” to guarantee workers quality training, whilst involving them in their companies' strategic decisions. This appeal by the ETUC is in response to the public consultation on corporate restructuring and the anticipation of change, which the Commission launched last January (see EUROPE 10533) and which ended on Friday 30 March. The results of this consultation will make up one of the ingredients in the next growth and employment package that Commissioner Laszlo Andor (Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) is due to present on 19 April.
Union representatives have therefore defined several points that they consider essential with regard to the economic and social effects of industrial change. The ETUC highlights the central roles played by workers and the public authorities. The former must be guaranteed continued training and education. Through information, consultation and participation mechanisms, the role of employees should be strengthened in strategic corporate management. With regard to the public authorities, industrial policy should focus on job creation, whilst creating “safety nets” if the results of company restructuring involves redundancies. Finally, the ETUC calls for a European legal framework to be set up to protect the key role played by collective bargaining, which in many member states has been decentralised to the benefit of specific company agreements (see EUROPE 10583).
According to the trade unions, the Commission has prevaricated with regard to proposing a coherent strategy for socially managing restructuring. On Monday 2 April, in a reference to the Commission report of 1998 by a group of experts chaired by Pehr Gyllenhammar, Judith Kirton-Darling ETUC Confederal Secretary stated: “We've waited 15 years for the recommendations from Gyllenhammar to be taken up. In those 15 years, millions of European workers have been subject to poorly planned and unfairly implemented restructuring processes.” In its recommendations, this report underlines the significant responsibility of companies with regard to anticipating change and subsequently attempting to prevent job losses. There has, however, been a certain development in the area of industrial policy and the 1998 report advocates that the public authorities attempt to refrain from getting involved in industrial change. Moreover, in its Green Paper, the Commission asks the following question, how can public action help facilitate change and industrial restructuring? (JK/transl.fl)