Brussels, 08/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - The conference on the "Futurisme II" project, held in Brussels on 2 and 3 October by the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME), showed that taking account of the specific nature of SMEs in collective negotiations leads to better-performing businesses.
The essential conclusions drawn from this conference are: 1) companies are better able to adapt to new challenges and react more flexibly on the labour market in countries where collective agreements recognise the nature of big business and of SMEs; 2) the content of social dialogue should be more than discussions on salary and working hours, to allow companies to face challenges caused by globalisation. UEAPME also said, in a press release, that as for the representation of SME organisations in social dialogue at national level, the conclusions reflect the fact that unions tend only to recognise the specific needs of SMEs in collective agreements in countries where an independent SME employer organisation takes part in social dialogue.