Brussels, 09/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (UEAPME) have finalised a joint declaration entitled: "The social dialogue as a tool to meet the economic and social challenges of small enterprises". The aim is to develop social dialogue at every level, from SMEs to the European level, and to develop social partnership within SMEs, said Jean Lapeyre, Deputy General Secretary of ETUC during a conference on "SMEs and Social Dialogue", held in Brussels with the participation of Commissioner Erkki Liikanen. The declaration will be officially signed next week in Brussels by the general secretaries of ETUC and UEAPME, Emilio Gabaglio and Hans-Werner Müller respectively, in the presence of Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou.
In this declaration, ETUC and UEAPME:
1. call upon the "public authorities and policy decision-makers at all levels to establish and maintain an administrative, fiscal, social and economic environment, which supports the creation, maintenance and growth of small enterprises and employment";
2. call for social "dialogue to be considered as a precondition for balancing the need of flexibility, which is necessary for job creation and economic growth, with the need for security in a good working environment and in organising the necessary changes";
3. stress the need to take into account the "specific characteristics of (…) craft and small enterprises (…) in order to identify appropriate ways of establishing good employment conditions (…) ensuring conditions of adaptability for both workers and business";
4. insist on the fact that "social dialogue can provide tailor-made answers for small enterprises", whose development may be promoted by further development of networks, cooperation and joint measures relating to flexibility and adaptability, as well as for professional training and health and safety organised at inter-sectoral, sectoral, branch and regional/local level, or within an enterprise;
5. stress their "shared readiness to contribute to the quality of social dialogue between UNICE/UEAPME (European employers), CEEP (public enterprise) and ETUC (European trade unions).