Orkla is a diversified Norwegian-owned multinational with operations in food, beverages, media, chemicals and financial investments. Its media division, Orkla Media, has subsidiaries in Denmark, Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine and employs some 8,000 staff in total. Orkla Media has its own European Works Council (EWC), which dates from 2001 and initially covered employees in Norway and Denmark.
In September 2003, the media division of the Norwegian-based multinational, Orkla, extended its European Works Council to employees working in its Polish operations.
Orkla is a diversified Norwegian-owned multinational with operations in food, beverages, media, chemicals and financial investments. Its media division, Orkla Media, has subsidiaries in Denmark, Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine and employs some 8,000 staff in total. Orkla Media has its own European Works Council (EWC), which dates from 2001 and initially covered employees in Norway and Denmark.
In 2002, the Norwegian Union of Journalists (Norsk Journalistlag, NJ) organised a seminar in Warsaw for employees of the daily newspapers owned by Orkla's Polish media subsidiary, Orkla Press Polska, with the aim of expanding the EWC to cover these workers. A committee of representatives of the Polish unions at Orkla Press Polska was elected, led by a representative of the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy, NSZZ Solidarność) at the national Polish daily Rzeczpospolita. In late September 2003, the Polish representatives were admitted to the EWC.
Renate Schroeder, director of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), described this development as: 'A major step in the establishment of pan-European structures for social dialogue in media. We hope that unions and management of other companies will follow this example. European Works Councils are an important tool for workers to participate in the functioning of their company and to fight for more transparency and information rights.'
Trade unions were less happy with the unexpected sale of two of Orkla’s Polish newspapers (Slowo Polskie and Wieczor Wroclawia) to the German-based company Passauer Neue Presse (PNP), announced just prior to the meeting which extended the EWC to Polish employees. PNP is a major company operating in the Polish media sector. However, Ms Schroeder stated that EWCs are vital in helping media workers to establish dialogue with their employers on crucial issues: 'The concerns of the workforce in these two newspapers show exactly why we need information and consultation mechanisms in transnational media companies. In the media landscape of Central and Eastern Europe, which is dominated by foreign capital, European Works Councils will help journalists and media workers to establish dialogue with their employers on crucial issues such as mergers or change of ownership.'
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2003), Orkla Media extends EWC to Polish operations, article.
