Rehfeldt, Udo

The reinsurance group SCOR was the first French listed company to create a European Company (SE) with employee participation. Three parallel agreements secure employee involvement through a common SE works council for the SCOR SE and its two subsidiaries. This was an important progress, since with only 800 employees in Europe, the former SCOR group did not fall under the scope of the EWC Directive. With regard to participation, an employee representative who is elected by the employees worldwide was maintained on the group’s board of directors. In addition, a second employee director without voting rights was introduced who is appointed by the SE works council. This was an acceptable compromise for both sides of industry which was reached in the course of the negotiations.

MAN was the first German company to create a SE, by the conversion of its subsidiary MAN B&W Diesel into MAN Diesel SE in August 2006. This was followed in 2009 by the conversion of MAN itself into MAN SE. Both management and the employee representatives were well prepared for negotiating an agreement on employee involvement. Management’s overall assessment is that the agreement is an acceptable compromise and will contribute to the internationalisation of the company. The employee representatives are also satisfied because codetermination rights have been secured and important rights have been obtained for the SE works council.

The European Company Statute (SE) is based on the Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Company (2157/2001/EC) and on the Directive supplementing the Statute for a European Company with regard to the involvement of employees (2001/86/EC). It is one of the most important pieces of company legislation published so far by the European Union. Adopted in 2001, it has since October 2004 made it possible for companies operating in more than one EU Member State to reorganise their cross-border business under a single European label. This enables them to work under the umbrella of a single legal framework, thereby reducing the internal costs of operating in several countries. Employee involvement, including participation rights at board level, is the focus of this research report.

In France, the principle of Sunday being a rest day is guaranteed by a law going back to 1906. However, there are many exemptions for sectors of economic activity that have to function seven days a week, such as transport, healthcare and some parts of the retail trade, notably small food shops; the latter are allowed to stay open until Sunday midday.

Transnational Framework Agreements are a new industrial relations instrument that encourages the recognition of social partnership across national borders and could lead to new forms of social regulation at global level. The rationale for taking the initiative to negotiate such agreements can be traced back to the effects of the globalisation of production structures and human resource strategies. This report explores the recent phenomenon of transnational agreements, including both international agreements which have a global scope of application, and European agreements which have a more regional scope. An executive summary is available.

On 3 December 2008, private sector employees and employers elected the bipartite industrial tribunal [1] (/Conseil de prud’hommes/) members. Employees’ abstention rate increased once again compared with the last elections (74.5% compared with 67.3% in 2002), whereas it declined again on the employers’ side (68.7% compared with 73.6%). In spite of improvements for certain lists of candidates, the balance of forces between the various organisations did not change fundamentally. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/industrial-tribunal

On 24 July 2008, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Renault [1], Carlos Ghosn, announced that the company intends to cut at least 5,000 jobs in Europe due to the deteriorating macroeconomic climate (see European Restructuring Monitor (ERM [2]) factsheet [3]). The geographical distribution of the planned job losses was only specified after the summer. On 9 September, management presented a programme of voluntary redundancies, which envisages the loss of 4,000 jobs in France, about 3,000 of which will concern ‘structural staff’ such as engineers, technicians and commercial executives (see details in ERM factsheet [4]). In the Sandouville factory in the Normandy region in northern France, 1,000 production jobs will be cut out of a total 3,800 jobs. [1] http://www.renault.com/renault_com/en/main/index.aspx [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/emcc/erm/index [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/emcc/erm/factsheets/renault-3 [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/emcc/erm/factsheets/renault-4

The tripartite conferences launched in October and November 2007 by the French government, at the instigation of President Nicolas Sarkozy, have been one element of numerous discussions held towards the end of 2007 on issues regarding social policies.

The 2007 Law on modernising social dialogue (in French) [1] provides for compulsory consultations, before the government can propose any reforms on: [1] http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/texteconsolide/SPECE.htm

After several months of negotiations, an agreement on working time [1] reorganisation was signed on 13 February 2006 between the employer organisation, the Union of Metallurgy and Mining Industries (Union des industries métallurgiques et minières, UIMM [2]), and three trade union federations: 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 [3]), the French Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC [4]), and the General Confederation of Labour – /Force ouvrière/ (Confédération générale du travail – Force ouvrière, CGT-FO [5]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/working-time [2] http://www.uimm.fr [3] http://www.cgc.fr/ [4] http://www.cftc.fr [5] http://www.force-ouvriere.fr/