Clock ticking for UNICE

Date: 10/07/1997

THE employers' federation UNICE looks set to receive short shrift from the European Commission if it persists with its demands for extra time to examine possible EU-wide rules on worker consultation in national companies.

The Commission decided at the beginning of last month to ask the 'social partners' to begin the process of drafting legislation to complement the 1994 Works Council Directive, which deals with worker consultation in European multinational companies.

On 4 June, the institution gave the social partners - the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), UNICE and CEEP, which represents public sector employers - six weeks to put forward their views on the issue.

But UNICE appears to be playing for time, saying it needs until mid-October to examine the proposals. “Apparently, they think things are more complicated. They want more time to produce studies, green papers, yellow papers,” said an ETUC representative.

The Commission has, however, indicated that it would not be in favour of extending the deadline. Officials argue that the initial debate over extending worker consultation to national companies was launched almost two years ago when the institution published a communication on worker information and consultation in November 1995.

“We may possibly give them an extra month, but no more. We have been around this situation before. They [the social partners] have already had a consultation on this,” said an aide to Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn.

If all the social partners feel that some common ground can be found, then the Commission will ask them to negotiate an accord which would form the basis of a formal legislative proposal.

But if such an agreement cannot be reached, Flynn has the option of imposing a deal on them.

The ETUC stresses that it must consult all its member organisations before finally submitting its opinion, but officials are confident that they will be able to meet the deadline. “We have obviously not come forward with our official position yet, but we would not be against negotiating if we thought it would achieve something,” said one ETUC expert.

The whole issue of worker consultation has gained an added sense of urgency amid the furore surrounding carmaker Renault's shock decision earlier this year to close its profitable factory in Vilvoorde, Belgium.

Despite new Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's promises during the French electoral campaign that he would try to prevent the closure, it has since been confirmed that the plant will cease operations this summer.

Talks aimed at preventing future Vilvoorde-style crises called by the Dutch during their EU presidency in the first half of this year are deadlocked, with employers and trade unions unable to find any common ground.

The ETUC argues that links between Renault and national level consultation, while crucial, should not be overplayed. “I think Renault is more a case of the need for revising certain provisions of the existing [Works Council] Directive, rather than of simply extending worker consultation to national level,” said one official.