ETUC adopts resolution on review of EWCs Directive

The executive committee of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) adopted a resolution in December 1999, outlining the areas it would like to see included in a review of the European Works Councils Directive.

At a meeting of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) executive committee on 2–3 December 1999, a resolution was adopted concerning the subjects ETUC wishes to see covered by the planned review of the EU Directive on European Works Councils (EWC s).

Noting that over 600 EWC agreements are now estimated to be in force, ETUC maintains that this practical experience can now be drawn upon to highlight the main areas of potential improvement to the Directive.

ETUC's first demand is for the strengthening of the right which the Directive gives to EWCs to be informed and consulted, maintaining that the Directive should make it clear that information should be comprehensive, provided in good time and on an ongoing basis. The Directive should also provide a right for EWCs to give an opinion within a reasonable time delay and to be consulted on this opinion by central management or the relevant management level.

ETUC would also like the Directive to indicate clearly that any management decisions which are reached in breach of the Directive's information and consultation procedures will be null and void, and suggests that any companies which contravene the procedures contained in the Directive should be excluded from any European financial support to which they may otherwise have been entitled.

One of ETUC's substantive demands is for a lowering of the workforce-size threshold for inclusion within the scope of the Directive, from Community-scale companies with 1,000 employees in the European Economic Area (EEA) to those with 500 employees. ETUC maintains that, since the establishment of the single market, many smaller companies now operate on a Community scale, in addition to the fact that, following an increasing number of "demergers" and outsourcing projects, smaller transnational companies are now becoming more important.

With regard to meetings, ETUC would like the Directive to give EWC members the right to hold preparatory and follow-up meetings, in addition to the right to training, time off, continuation of payment, the right to meet each other at least annually and the right to communicate with each other. In addition, the Directive should clarify the existing right for EWCs to be assisted by experts of their choice.

Other ETUC demands include:

• the recognition of the role played by its affiliated European industry federations;

• making negotiations simpler and more efficient by, amongst other changes, reducing the special negotiating body (SNB) negotiating period from three years to one and allowing the SNB to hold preparatory and follow-up meetings after each negotiating round;

• clarification of the procedure for renegotiating EWC agreements in the event of mergers and takeovers; and

• allowing worker representatives from countries outside the EEA to opportunity to participate in both the SNB and the EWC.

Article 15 of the EWCs Directive requires the European Commission to review – not later than 22 September 1999 – the operation of the Directive, in consultation with the Member States and European-level social partners, "with a view to proposing suitable amendments to the Council, where necessary" (EU9911211F). ETUC notes that the Commission's review has been subject to delays and urges it now to accelerate the process.