Unions seek more power in firms via EU law revision
BRUSSELS, April 11 (Reuters) - European trade unions are seeking more say over major decisions made by firms operating in the European Union, hoping European Commission legislation will bring faster results than union negotiations with firms.
The debate focuses on a revision of a 1994 EU law on works councils which group workers' representatives from the EU countries in which a company operates. The representatives are to be informed and consulted on major changes by management.
"The core interest is that workers get the chance to be involved in major restructuring measures and can anticipate change," said Reiner Hoffmann, deputy general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
He cited the example of the world's biggest mobile phone maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE), which recently decided to close down a plant in Germany without consulting the works council beforehand.
The current law, which has been up for a review since 2004, does not specify clearly what exactly consultation means -- a flaw the trade unions would like the revised version to correct.
"We think the word consultation should mean you have to get the agreement of the workers, not just inform them," ETUC's spokeswoman Patricia Grillo said.
Changes to the 1994 law have long been opposed by employers. But faced with the possibility that further delays would bring in politicians into the talks, BusinessEurope, which represents 20 million European companies, decided to open negotiations.
The trade unions, however, said on Friday there was not enough time for the talks with Business Europe to come to a successful conclusion before the five year term of the current European Commission ends in 2009 and that the Commission should take over the initiative and propose its own legislation.
BusinessEurope said it was still ready to discuss changes and asked the European Commission to help bring the trade unions back to the table, rather than step in with own proposals.
"We ask you to make your best efforts to enable a social dialogue solution on European works councils and in the meantime ask you not to enter into your own legislative process," Business Europe said in a letter to the Commission.
Katharina von Schnurbein, spokeswoman for European Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla, said the EU executive arm would not rush into any decisions for now.
"The Commission very much regrets that the trade unions have neglected the possibility to negotiate on the European works council directive," she told a news briefing.
"The social partners are best placed to find solutions to the problems of works councils, for example when restructuring and protecting workers from changes," she said.
"We hv to look into matter and decide on the next steps. definitely social partners are best placed to find solutions... and should have negotiated on this matter." (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, editing by David Christian-Edwards)
