Sub-Regional Tripartite Conference on the Right to Information and Consultation

12.12.2003

Poland, Warsaw
International Labour Office
Sub-Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Ministry of Economy, Labour and Social Policy, Poland

The Ministry of Economy, Labour and Social Policy, Poland, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin-Ireland, and the International Labour Office, through its Sub-Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe, Budapest, will jointly organize a:

Sub-Regional Tripartite Conference on the Right to Information and Consultation in Practice in an Enlarged Europe

Warsaw, Poland, 12-13 December 2003

The conference is designed for high-level experts in the area of social dialogue from governments as well as from workers’ and employers’ organizations from the following countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey.

The organizers of the conference have assigned two objectives to it:

Firstly, to review the current practice of the exercise of the right of employees to information and consultation in EU accession countries in light of the stipulations of ILO standards and of the European Community Law;

Secondly: to review the functioning of European Works
Councils (EWCs) in present EU Member States and the role that will be played by
employees’ representatives from EU accession countries after enlargement.

The delegates from EU accession countries will have a unique opportunity to exchange views and experiences on the above-mentioned issues among themselves as well as with experts from the ILO, the European Commission, the European Foundation, OECD, France, Germany and the European Social Partners. The Conference will be conducted in English and Polish.

DRAFT PROGRAMME

Tripartite Conference: The Right to Information and Consultation in Practice in an Enlarged Europe

Warsaw, 12-13 December 2003

I. Background

The right of employees to information and consultation at company level is a basic component of the European Social Model. It is recognized and accepted today throughout Europe as a basic value, that is employees have the right to be informed and consulted on matters that affect their living in the undertaking.

The right of employees to information and consultation at the company level has been embedded in different ILO Conventions and Recommendations, in the Social Charter of the Council of Europe and in different EU Regulations. Indeed, this right is regulated by several EU Directives such as the recently adopted Directive by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community (Directive 2002/14/EC) and the Directive on European Works Council (Directive 94/45/EC). Also, it has been integrated in the EU “Acquis communautaire” which the Accession Countries have to take on in their legislation and in their practice of industrial relations as part of the conditions for accession to the European Union.

In most EU countries there exist a system enabling the workers to exercise their right to information and consultation. In most of the cases this system takes the form of elected works councils. Statutory works councils exist in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Spain among others. In most cases they enjoy rights to information and consultation on a wide range of issues.

In the Accession Countries the situation with regard to the exercise of the right to information and consultation at the enterprise level can be featured as follows: on the one hand the exercise of this right is quite weak and still instable in general; on the other hand, the practice varies a lot from one country to another. Among the 10 candidate countries of CEE, 4 countries have established works councils (WCs) as a channel for the information and consultation of workers: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. In the last two countries WCs co-exist with trade unions delegates in enterprises. In Estonia and Latvia, there exist workers’ trustees while in the rest of the countries such as Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania, the sole channel through which employees exercise their rights for information and consultation in the undertaking is through trade unions when they exist.

The implementation of the Acquis Communautaire in the field of information and consultation has and would require change in the practices of these countries.

With the current trend of globalisation of the economy the national systems of information and consultation in current EU Member States have proven insufficient to deal with the consequences of the Europeanisation of companies as the well-known case of Renault Vilvorde had shown a few years ago. In a context of globalized economy and community-scale enterprises where the employer that takes decisions is not the physical person with whom the works councils has a contact but someone who is quite often based far away in Paris or Frankfurt, there has been a gap in the dialogue between management and labour. To fill this gap, the Directive on European Works Councils (EWCs) has introduced pan European structures for the information and consultation of employees and their representatives on a range of financial and employment issues in multinational companies with a certain size operating in the territory of the EU.

According to available data 1800 multinational companies had a EWCs in 2002. While the representation of employees on EWCs is at present obligatory only in the current territory of the EU, a number of EWCs in multinational enterprises operating in the candidate countries include workers’ representatives from the candidate countries on a voluntary basis. However, existing information seems to show that the percentage of the work force in the accession countries represented in the WCs is still very low: under 8% of all EWCs.

As most of these countries will join the EU as of next year and that their employees will be entitled to representation in EWCs it will be important that they are prepared to the role they will have to play in these bodies and get acquainted with the mode of operation and the functions of these bodies.

II. Objective of the conference

The objective of the conference is two-fold:

(i) To review the current practice of the exercise of the employees’ rights to information and consultation in enterprises in accession countries, to assess the problems encountered in this regard and to discuss ways and means of addressing them in light of: a) the stipulations of ILO standards and of the European Community Law; b) the experience of current EU Members States. Representatives of management, labour and of Government from the candidate countries that will take part in the conference will exchange experiences among themselves as well as with national experts from EU countries and with international/European experts from the ILO, the EFILWC and the European Commission.
(ii) To review the functioning of EWCs in practice in present EU Member States and discuss the role which will be played by workers’ representatives from accession countries in an enlarged EU.

III. Participants

Tripartite delegations from 13 Accession Countries

2 Experts from EU countries: France or Spain, Germany

Experts from ILO, EC, EF

Resource persons from ETUC, UNICE, OECD

Observers from ICFTU, WCL, IOE

Representative of Italy (EU Presidency)

IV. Working languages

English, Polish.

V. Tentative Programme

DAY ONE

8.30-9.00 Registration

9.00-9.30 OPENING SESSION

Welcoming addresses:
- Mr. Jerzy Hausner, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Labour and Social Policy
- Mr. Friedrich Buttler, Regional Director, ILO
- Representative of EFILWC
- Representative of the Government of Italy (as holder of the EU Presidency)

9.30-10.30 WORKING SESSION 1
Chairperson: Under-Secretary of State, MOEL&SP

ILO Standards and European Community Law and the right of employees to information and consultation

- Introductions by ILO and EC
- General Discussion

10.30-11.00 Coffee Break

11.00-12.30 WORKING SESSION II
Chairperson: Ms. Petra Ulshoefer, Director ILO-SRO Budapest

The exercise of the right of employees to information and consultation in the enterprise at the country level

PART 1: The situation in the EU Accession Countries

- Presentation of the results of a comparative study
- General discussion on the question of framework of employee representation at the enterprise level in the accession countries (on the basis of 5 questions proposed by the expert)

12.30-14.00 Lunch

14.00-15.30 PART II: The situation in the EU Member States

- Presentation of the results of a comparative study
- General discussion on the mechanisms of information and consultation of employees at the enterprise level (on the basis of 5 questions proposed by the expert)

15.30-16.00 Coffee Break

16.00-17.30 WORKING SESSION III
Chairperson: Representative of EC

Information and Consultation at the European Level: the role and functioning of EWCs in practice

- Presentation of the results of a survey by EFILWC
- General Discussion on the role of EWCs after EU enlargement

19.00-20.30 Reception

DAY TWO

9.00-12.00 WORKING SESSION IV
Chairperson: representative of EFILWC

Innovative experiences of information and consultation of employees in European Enterprises

- Presentation of two cases: WOLKSWAGEN-HEINNEKEN
- Worker’ perspective
- Employer’ perspective

10.30-11.00 Coffee Break

- Panel discussion: Chairperson Mr. Casale (IFP/DIALOGUE, Geneva):

"The practice of social dialogue in Multinational Enterprises operating in the Accession Countries of Central and Eastern Europe"

Panelists from:
- ILO
- EC
- OECD
- UNICE
- ETUC

(7 minutes each, MEL&SP will prepare 3-4questions for the panelists).

12.00-12.45 CLOSING

- Mr. Friedrich Buttler, Regional Director, ILO: Wrap up.
- Representative of the MEL&SP

- Press conference (about 45 minutes)
- Lunch
- Social event (afternoon or evening)