Information and consultation process slow to develop

Since the EU Directive (2002/14/EC) on information and consultation was implemented in Bulgaria in July 2006, the establishment of information and consultation arrangements at company level has been slow. According to data from the CITUB trade union confederation, by March 2008 employee information and consultation representatives had been elected in only 137 establishments with trade union organisations.

Background

Directive 2002/14/EC (EU0204207F) establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/...) was transposed in Bulgarian law by amendments made to the Labour Code in July 2006 (BG0604039I)

Transposition of the Directive meant the establishment for the first time in Bulgaria of a general, statutory system of employee information and consultation. Under the legislation, in undertakings with 50 or more employees, as well as in ‘organisationally and economically differentiated’ establishments with 20 or more employees, a ‘general assembly’ of employees may be called by 10% of the workforce, company-level trade union representatives or the employer. The assembly may elect employees representatives from among its members to take part in information and consultation procedures on the issues laid down in the Directive. Alternatively, it may decide to delegate the appointment of these representatives to company-level trade union organisations.

Slow implementation in practice

There is no official information on how the 2006 legislation on information and consultation has been implemented in practice. However, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) collects data on the number of representatives elected under the new procedures. According to this information, so far employee representatives have been elected for information and consultation purposes at 137 establishments where CITUB-affiliated trade unions operate. This represents only 5.7 % of the establishments with CITUB union organisations.

In 2006 – 2007, CITUB carried out training on information and consultation for all its affiliates but only nine of its 33 member federations have created their own organizations to help establish the new information and consultation arrangements. The Institute for Social and Trade Union Research (ISTUR) has carried out an investigation in these nine federations to find out if employee representatives have reached specific agreements with employers on the conditions for the operation of the information and consultation procedures, or if provisions on the matter have been included in collective agreements, as required by the Labour Code. The research found that in only four of the 137 workplaces with information and consultation arrangements have specific agreements been reached, while the matter has been dealt with by collective agreements in five cases. The research also found that 97% of the elected representatives are CITUB members.

According to ISTUR, the main reason for slow implementation of information and consultation procedures is a failure to call general assemblies to elect the employee representatives. Trade union organisations are reported to be passive in this area, as they fear losing their position as the sole representative channel for workers. Employees have generally not been informed about their right to be informed and consulted, while employers have no intention of establishing the new arrangements on their own initiative, ISTUR states.

The first known agreement between employee information and consultation representatives and an employer was concluded at Solvay Sodi, a subsidiary of the Belgian-based chemicals multinational, Solvay. The company has 630 employees and two trade union organizations - one affiliated to CITUB’s chemicals and industry federation, and one affiliated to the chemicals federation of the Confederation of Labour ‘Podkrepa’ (LC Podkrepa). The CITUB union has 434 members and the LC Podkrepa union has 84 members, and union density at Solvay Sodi is 82%. A general assembly authorised the two union organisations to appoint the information and consultation representatives, and these representatives are all officials of these unions.

The agreement between these representatives and Solvay Sodi management deals with: the conditions for the representatives to operate, in terms of paid time off, training and preparation to perform their duties; and the content, nature and rules for information disclosure.

Commentary

A recent ISTUR analysis of information and consultation systems in the new EU Member States finds that in companies without trade union representation, such systems are absent. The situation in Bulgaria does not differ from this general picture, it argues. ISTUR believes that Bulgarian workers are thus being deprived of their fundamental right to information and consultation. ISTUR states that, in order to encourage the development of the information and consultation system, it is necessary:

• to launch a national trade union campaign to inform employees about their information and consultation rights; and

• to examine the problems in implementing the legislation in the Economic and Social Council and National Tripartite Council for Cooperation and to achieve consensus between the social partners on the creation of information and consultation arrangements in companies without trade union organisations.

Tatiana Mihaylova, ISTUR