“The European Commission has today announced plans which would mainstream social dialogue in decision making at European and national level”, commented the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on 25 January.
It was reacting to the presentation on the same day by Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and the Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, of a Communication and Recommendation of the EU Council on strengthening social dialogue in the EU.
This project (see EUROPE 13106/1) aims both to strengthen and help develop social dialogue structures in the Member States, but also to encourage social dialogue at European level with calls to invest in new areas of agreement at a time when the European social partners have already sealed a number of arrangements and are currently working on an agreement on the right to disconnect.
“The proposal for a Council Recommendation could trigger improvements at national level, in particular where trade unions are seeking to improve social dialogue and collective bargaining”, the ETUC adds.
For BusinessEurope, the European employers’ organisation, contacted by EUROPE, this initiative is “welcomed” in that it calls for “more room for the social partners at national and European level” and recalls the autonomy of the social partners. The initiative is particularly important in that it will also strengthen the position of the social partners in countries where they are “not strong enough”, for example in Eastern and Central Europe.
The question of which EU funds such as ESF+ can be used for this purpose is therefore particularly important for BusinessEurope, explained its Director of Social Affairs, Maxime Cerutti.
According to SGI, the social partners of services of general interest, this step is “a welcomed boost for collective bargaining at European and national level”.
The “autonomous social dialogue contributes greatly to the improvement of working conditions and competitiveness. The Council Recommendation provides new tools for Member States to ensure better structural support for social partners”, adds SGI.
Social dialogue is “the cornerstone of our economies”, commented the European Commissioner on Wednesday 25 January, and promoting a “strong” social dialogue is all the more crucial as new forms of work are also developing, such as platform work, which is currently under-represented.
The working guidelines presented on 25 January therefore aim both to enable social dialogue to flourish at national level and to be strengthened at European level.
At national level, the Commission recommends that Member States: - ensure the consultation of social partners on the design and implementation of economic, employment and social policies according to national practices; - encourage social partners to look at new forms of work and atypical employment, and to communicate widely about the benefits of social dialogue and on any collective agreements put in place; - enable an increase in workers and employers’ organisations’ capacity, for instance ensuring they have access to relevant information and ensuring support from national governments.
At EU level, the Commission proposes to modernise the European sectoral social dialogue framework through a possible revision of the current rules and to promote agreements between social partners by providing administrative support and legal advice. It also wants to strengthen the involvement of the social partners in EU policy-making, for example by collecting the views of the European cross-industry social partners on EU policy priorities ahead of the Commission’s work programme.
Member States are also invited to use EU funds to support social dialogue. Those “that have been issued with a country-specific recommendation on social dialogue must devote at least 0.25% of their ESF+ funds to support social partner capacity building. The other Member States must allocate an appropriate amount of ESF+ resources to it”, the Commission recalls.
Link to documents: https://aeur.eu/f/52g (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)