Brussels, 22/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - Faced with the stream of multinationals announcing plant closures and with the ensuing large job-losses in Europe, several European trade unions are angry that employees should not, once again, have been either informed or consulted on the subject of a decision on the future of the company in which they work.
Speaking on the General Motors affair (which in December decided to close down its British plant in Luton), the General Secretary of the European Trade Unions Confederation, Emilio Gabaglio declared that this was the "umpteenth example of the contempt in which certain companies hold their employees", which demonstrates the need to introduce European measures regarding information and consultation in all companies working EU-wide. Gabaglio expressed his support for Mona Sahlin, Swedish Employment Minister and President-in-Office of the EU Council, who "wants to have a new directive adopted on worker information-consultation at national level before the end of the Swedish Presidency", and launched a pressing appeal on the British Government to drop its opposition to the directive. The TUC (Trade Union Congress) organised a demonstration in Luton on Saturday 20 January to stress the European nature of this trade union action.
Regarding the Danone affair (see EUROPE of 15-16 January, p.14), Harald Wiedenhofer, General Secretary of EFFAT (European Federation of Trade Unions in Food, Agriculture and Tourism Sectors) noted that "the meeting of the European Works Council for Multinationals in Geneva on 17 January, led to nothing". The Danone management had said that the information on plant closures was false, he added, stressing that no decision could be taken "as long as the consultation processes begun at national and European levels have not been completed, i.e., not before two-to-three months". (EFFAT is a new trade union federation in the food, agriculture and tourism sector, member of ETUC to have emerged on 1 January from the merger of Seta-Iuta - European trade union federations of food and hotel workers - and EFA European trade union federation of agricultural workers).