Recent agreements on trade union rights

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During 2001 and 2000, agreements on trade union rights have been signed in a number of major French companies, such as Renault, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Alstom, and Crédit Lyonnais. They lay down the operating conditions for employee representative bodies and trade unions, and the resources put at their disposal by the companies.

A number of large companies have recently signed agreements laying down new rules on industrial relations and trade union rights. These agreements, the fruit of lengthy negotiations, have been signed before the passage of the 'social modernisation' law (FR0107172F), which deals - among other issues - with improved improved employee representation arrangements and will receive its final reading in the Senate in autumn 2001. The agreements also come prior to the translation of the government's latest proposals on social dialogue - including the funding of trade unions, the representation of employees in small businesses and the role of employees in the economic decision-making process - into legislation (FR0108163F).

From the perspective of the employers, these new agreements are an expression of the acknowledgement of the role of trade unions, and even of the pluralism which characterises unions in France. In most cases, the agreements lay down or amend rules on the activity of trade union delegate s, and in some cases they grant physical and financial resources to these delegates. The aim is to ensure greater transparency and a more egalitarian character for these companies' support for union activity, while seeking to bring the employees' representatives closer to decision-making circles within the company, by improving, among other measures, the training and the information given to elected officials with seats on supranational representative bodies, in particular European Works Councils (EWCs).

Renault agreement

An agreement on 'employee representation and social concertation' was signed on 23 June 2000 by the management of the Renault motor manufacturing group and four unions - the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT), the French Christian Workers' Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC), the General Confederation of Labour-Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail-Force ouvrière, CGT-FO) and the French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff-General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Confédération française de l'encadrement - Confédération générale des cadres, CFE-CGC). The agreement, which came into force on 1 January 2001, governs dialogue between the social partners and the way in which it operates in the various Renault group employee representative bodies at national, European and worldwide levels. The General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) did not sign.

The agreement provides for a new distribution of time off set aside for representative work. It adds to the hours available to central union delegates, the secretaries of the largest establishment-level works council s, and the secretary of the group-level works council, enabling them to perform their functions as representatives on a full-time basis. At the same time, the agreement reduces and more strongly regulates the time off for grassroots delegates.

Moreover, the agreement has notably improved the resources made available to staff representatives and unions. Company intranet sites have been placed at the disposal of every union deemed representative in each workplace, and for the social and educational activities of each establishment-level works council. Funding for unions has also been provided, with an annual contribution set at EUR 45,735 (FRF 300,000) for each union deemed representative (ie which received at least 5% of the vote at the most recent establishment-level works council election), plus a contribution proportional to the percentage of votes won at these elections. Additionally, Renault pays an annual subsidy of EUR 91,470 EUR (FRF 600,000) to each national metalworking trade union federation whose local branch has received at least 5% of the vote at the Renault works council elections.

Lastly, the agreement contains provisions guaranteeing the career development prospects of staff representatives.

PSA Peugeot Citroën union rights deal

An agreement on the exercise of union rights was signed by management and all the unions in the car-manufacturing arm of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group on 26 June 2001. This agreement establishes a policy of training for elected officials and union delegates in the social and economic fields, and in the area of communications (ie running meetings, as well as new communication methods) to facilitate the carrying out of their responsibilities. This training policy is complemented by a long-term training plan to enable these elected officials to retain job-related skills and allow possible retraining to be planned for.

In terms of time off for representative work, the agreement provides for a credit of at least 100 hours per month per central union delegate, topped up at each workplace by an hours credit granted to the unions deemed representative at company level, added to the statutory minimum amount. There is also an hours credit for union work at multi-workplace (intermediate) level for unions with representative status in the company, calculated on the basis of the average of the votes won at workforce delegate elections across several workplaces.

The agreement also provides for resources in terms of documentation, as well as funding of EUR 6,000 (around FRF 40,000) for each central union delegate as a contribution to the union's operating costs, payable on receipt of paid invoices.

Alstom employee representation charter

An 'employee representation charter' was signed on 14 May 2001 by the management of the Alstom engineering group and CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC and CGT-FO, but not CGT. The charter constitutes the basic framework for company-level negotiations within the group. It provides a structure for consultation between unions and management, and is intended to improve the quality of information received by union members by facilitating attendance at union branch meetings. The charter also provides for a training policy for elected officials, to inform them of the group's activities.

The ways in which unions can access the group's internal communication networks are detailed in the charter. These are: the possibility of creating databases for publicising union positions on issues, but not for organising discussion fora; and the use by the unions of the e-mail system for the performance of officials' responsibilities, but not for sending individual or group messages to employees.

The charter ensures that an employee representative's career and level of pay can develop normally, and allows for the option of an employee suspending his or her employment contract (with the right to be taken on again at a later date) in order to become a full-time union official.

Local or company-level agreements in the group's member companies will stipulate the actual amounts of funding given to unions, although the idea is agreed on in principle.

Crédit Lyonnais accord

An agreement on 'the renovation of industrial relations' was signed on 27 June 2001 by the management of the Crédit Lyonnais bank with CFTC, CGT, CGT-FO and the National Banking and Credit Union (Syndicat national de la banque et du crédit, SNB), but not CFDT. The deal sets the rules for dialogue and the representation of employees at the company, after the number of establishment-level works councils was reorganised so that there are now nine instead of 50.

Under the agreement, the unions with representative status at Crédit Lyonnais (CFDT, CFTC, CGT, CGT-FO and SNB) each have a full-time national union delegate with a status equivalent to a central union delegate (as laid down in Article L.414-12 of the Labour Code), and four full-time national officials (making a total of 20 for all the unions together). Ten full-time national delegate posts are also divided among the five unions in proportion to the most recent results in the elections for workforce delegates and establishment-level works councils. Additionally, in the various operational divisions of Crédit Lyonnais, the five unions may each appoint a 'regional union coordinator', given half-time secondment. The union representatives on the works council are given a monthly 40-hour time off credit, while the ordinary union delegates have only the statutory amount of time off. In addition, company-approved short-term union leave will be granted to enable union organisations to run smoothly. This leave is divided up, in proportion to the workplace and national quotas, for each of the unions concerned.

In the name of equal treatment for all employees, the agreement ensures that all union delegates and elected staff representatives have the right to a career structure and levels of pay similar to those of other employees.

An annual grant is made by the company to the unions with representative status nationally. It is comprised of a fixed element of EUR 30,000 (around FRF 200,000) and a variable element depending on the results of the workplace elections, worth EUR 4,500 (approximately FRF 30,000) per 5% block of votes won.

Other company agreements

Other agreements on union rights have recently been concluded in other large companies. The Federal Express delivery company, for example, reached an agreement on union rights with CFDT, CFE-CGC and CGT on 21 February 2001, which specified, among other items, the amount of time off for union delegate work, the resources granted to unions and provisions concerning career structures for union officials.

The Air France group adopted a 'social and ethical charter' on 25 June 2001, signed by company management, all the European unions represented in the European Works Council, and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) represented by the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF). The French unions with seats on the EWC - CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT, CGT-FO and the the National Union of Airline Pilots (Syndicat National des Pilotes de Ligne, SNPL) - all signed up to the charter.

This charter states that Air France will adhere to the fundamental principles and rights expressed in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The charter adopted by Air France is applicable not only to the group's employees, but also to those of subcontractors with which Air France does business worldwide.

Commentary

The signing of a number of agreements on union rights in large French companies operating in world markets is a response to a concern to make support for dialogue between unions and employers and union funding more transparent (or more egalitarian even), by prioritising national-level and transnational bodies.

For the unions, most of which are anxious to be able to reply unequivocally to questions about their funding, these agreements have allowed the shroud of mystery to be raised, and thus the previous climate of suspicion in relation to the funds that a particular company might agree to grant them to be dispelled, at a time when the issue of union funding is being scrutinised in parliament (FR0008187F).

However, in practical terms, such agreements have encountered implementation problems in certain companies, particularly with management teams trained in a spirit of defiance of, or even confrontation with, the unions and their representatives.

Lastly, for the unions themselves, recognition of union activity and obtaining operational funding, although positive outcomes, are not risk-free, and may also lead to officials losing touch with the grassroots membership, and foster trends toward bureaucracy. (Maurice Braud, IRES)