Brussels, 17/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - Following recent announcements of job losses in the Marks & Spencer, Danone and Corus groups, the European Parliament Employment and Social Affairs Committee is organising on 25 April in Brussels a public hearing on the "European works council" Directive. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the present European legislation, which requires that companies inform and consult their workers when they are based in more than one Member State of the EU"? Are the companies aware of the fact that an early involvement of workers in decisions that concern them can reduce the dangers of conflicts and increase the chances for employees to accept decisions taken by the management? How and when will this Directive be revised? These are the questions that the parliamentarians will attempt to answer. Notably taking part in the hearing is Emilio Gabaglio, Secretary General of the European Trade Union Confederation (who will be accompanied by trade union representatives from the works councils of Alstom, Corus and Daimler), Jorge Ronnest, representative of the Danish Employers' Federation and the European employers UNICE. The hearing should allow to develop the report by Winfried Menrad (CDU) on this issue, which should be debated by the EP during the July plenary.
Let us recall that the European Commission had foreseen to submit its proposal for the revision of the Directive on the European works councils only in 2002, while the parliamentary committee calls for this to happen much earlier.
Harlem Desire calls for revision of Directive on European works councils
The MEP Harlem Desire (French, Socialist) proposed, as also requested for a long-time by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), a deep revision of the 1994 Directive on European works councils, which fills the present weaknesses of the text in order to strengthen the rights of employees in the face of the social ravages of purely financial logic. As Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou, Harlem Desire explains, in a statement, that it is time to understand that workers have just as much a right to respect as shareholders. According to him, it is necessary to guarantee a information procedure prior to any decision, in order to be able to hold true negotiations and examine all the alternatives to job losses and site closures. Also adding that the European works councils must be able to formulate opinions and challenge the plan to remove jobs or the insufficiency of the measure to find new jobs.
A report for the opinion of Harlem Desire on this issue will be debated in EP Committee at the end of April before being passed on to the EP Social Affairs Committee responsible for the matter (Menrad report: see above).