Ebr Basics 02 2010

Hinweis der Redaktion

• #3: Last but not least let me mention the 3rd level of European Social Dialogue: the company level : EWC
• #8: The second article of the Directive defines the thresholds for determining which companies fall within the scope of the EWC Directive and which do not. A “ Community- scale undertaking” means any undertaking with at least 1000 employees within the member states and at least 150 employees in each of at least two member states. For the purposes of this calculation, the 150 employees may be working in more than one plant or location in the country in question. The prescribed thresholds for the size of the workforce are based on the average number of employees during the previous two years. Part- time employees are included, often on a pro rata basis. UK workers were initially not included in the calculation of these thresholds because the UK had opted out of the social protocol of the Maastricht Treaty and, consequently, had not adopted the Directive. Directive 97/ 74/ EC of 15 December 1997 reversed this situation. From 15 January 2000, when the transpositions of this directive came into force, UK workforces were included in the calculation of the thresholds. The EWC Directive applies to the whole European Economic Area (EEA) which, in addition to the EU member States, includes Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.
• #10: Individual establishments and subsidiaries are regarded as belonging to an undertaking if the parent company is a “controlling undertaking”. Article 3 of the EWC Directive defines a “controlling undertaking” as an undertaking that exercises a dominant influence over another by virtue of, for example, financial participation or the rules which govern it. A dominant influence is presumed to exist in cases of direct or indirect possession of a majority of the undertaking’s capital, votes or executive positions. The “central management” is the management of the controlling undertaking. The central management is the counterpart of the employees’ representatives in talks regarding the establishment of an EWC and is required to provide the requisite conditions and resources for the negotiations designed to lead to the creation of an EWC. If the central management is located outside the EU, its representative within the EU is responsible for taking the requisite measures. Should there be no such representative, the management of the establishment with the largest number of employees in one member state is responsible for these arrangements.
• #18: The negotiations of the SNB (Article 5) are aimed at the conclusion of an agreement that should determine the procedure whereby the EWC is informed and consulted. To this end, Article 6 of the Directive requires the agreement to settle details concerning the following six matters: 1) the undertakings of the Community-scale group of undertakings or the establishments of the Community- scale undertaking which are covered by the agreement; 2) the composition of the European Works Council, the number of members, the allocation of seats and the term of office; 3) the functions and the procedure for information and consultation of the European Works Council; 4) the venue for, and the frequency and duration of, meetings of the European Works Council; 5) the financial and material resources to be allocated to the European Works Council; 6) the duration of the agreement and the procedure for its renegotiation. When the agreement is reached the work is not finished. It then has to be put into practice. Achieving as much as possible via the negotiations is extremely important, but good cooperation and information exchange among EWC representatives are equally vital. In some cases difficulties have to be overcome in establishing the composition of the EWC and obtaining the required information and consultation from management. It can also happen that, even where central management has signed the agreement on the creation of the EWC, local managements in some plants hinder the involvement of certain employee representatives in the EWC. To avoid such tensions, Article 10 provides for protection of EWC representatives, while Article 9 stipulates that EWCs must work in a spirit of cooperation, respecting reciprocal rights and obligations.
• #19: The EWC Directive encourages the social partners to set up EWCs on the basis of company agreements. In cases where negotiations break down, or if the company refuses to open negotiations, the subsidiary requirements – laid down in the annex – take effect. Article 7 of the Directive makes these subsidiary requirements applicable in three circumstances: • where the central management and the special negotiating body so decide, or • where the central management refuses to commence negotiations within six months of the written request, or • where, after three years have elapsed since the submission of the written request, no agreement has been able to be concluded on setting up an EWC. The subsidiary requirements are minimum standards for the establishment of EWCs constituting guaranteed rights in companies which are unwilling to negotiate or in which no agreement has been reached. The subsidiary requirements do not apply where company agreements are in force. In other words, once an EWC agreement has been concluded, recourse to the subsidiary requirements is no longer possible. These subsidiary requirements, however, offer the special negotiating body an advantage in its attempts to obtain additional or better tailored provisions in the agreement to establish the EWC. The essence of the subsidiary requirements can be summarised under two headings. Firstly, they lay down important rules for the organisation and structure of the EWC. Secondly, they enumerate the issues about which the company must – as a minimum requirement – inform and consult the EWC.
• #21: The subsidiary requirements in the annexe offer the following frame- work conditions for European works councils that could not be created on the basis of agreement resulting from negotiations: • A minimum EWC membership of three and a maximum of 30. A select committee of a maximum of three members may be elected, if the size so warrants. • The members of the EWC must be employees of the company or group concerned and elected or appointed by the employees’ representatives or, in the absence thereof, by the entire workforce. • The EWC has the right to be informed and consulted by central management once a year, on the issues presented on the next page. •In exceptional circumstances, such as closure, relocation or collective redundancy, the select committee, or in its absence the whole EWC, may, in addition, hold extraordinary meetings with management. In all such cases, the employees’ representatives of the workforce directly affected must be able to participate in the meeting. • The EWC and select committee are entitled to hold preparatory meetings before their meeting with central management. • Both the EWC and the select committee may be assisted by experts of their choice. The financial and material resources enabling the EWC to perform its duties, including travel expenses, meeting and translation costs, are to be provided by central management.
• #28: Betriebsrat – Gewerkschaftsvertretung Prinzipiell kann die Interessensvertretung der ArbeitnehmerInnen an einem Standort über den alleinigen Kanal der Gewerkschaftsorganisation oder mehrerer Gewerkschaftsorganisationen erfolgen. Die Wahl- oder Ernennungs-verfahren der GewerkschaftsvertreterInnen fallen in diesem Fall in den Verant-wortungsbereich der Gewerkschaftsorganisationen, die diese VertreterInnen von ihrer/seiner Basis wählen lassen oder auf andere Art und Weise ernennen können. In diesem Fall sind die Gewerkschaftsorganisationen und ihre VertreterInnen die einzigen Organe der Interessensvertretung der ArbeitnehmerInnen. Diese Vertretung kann im Rahmen eines nationalen Gesetzes vorgesehen sein, das die Anerkennung der Gewerkschaften durch die ArbeitgeberInnen im Kontext eines Rahmentarifvertrags vorschreibt oder einfach nur innerhalb des von den Gewerkschaftsorganisationen festgelegten Kräfteverhältnisses erfolgen. Die Interessen der ArbeitnehmerInnen können aber auch durch ein System der doppelten Vertretung berücksichtigt werden, wo parallel zu den Gewerkschaftsvertretungen ein Betriebsrat existiert (comité d’entreprise, Betriebsrat, Ondermeningsraad, Samarbejdsutvalg, etc.). Die VertreterInnen dieser Art von Organ werden im allgemeinen von den ArbeitnehmerInnen des Unternehmens gewählt, selbst wenn dieser Betriebsrat in einigen Fällen Gegenstand eines Über-einkommens mehrerer im Unternehmen vertretener Gewerkschaften ist. Die Kom-petenzen der Gewerkschaftsvertretung und des Betriebsrats sind darüber hinaus in den Ländern, in denen die doppelte Gewerkschaftsvertretung eine Realität ist, verschieden.