Employers hint at consultation backtrack

Date: 02/04/1998

By Simon Coss

THE head of the EU employers' federation indicated this week that his organisation may reverse its decision not to negotiate with trade unions on the rights of workers in national companies.

Outgoing UNICE secretary-general Zygmunt Tyszkiewicz told European Voice that in his view, "the last word has not been said" on the issue.

The federation faced a barrage of criticism last month when it announced that it was not prepared to sit down with the other social partners - the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the public sector employers' organisation CEEP - to draft provisional EU rules to ensure workers in national companies were adequately consulted when major restructuring was planned.

Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn decided that rules to cover workers in national companies were needed to add to provisions on multinational firms in the existing Works Council Directive, following Renault's shock decision last year to close its factory in Vilvoorde, Belgium.

Tyszkiewicz argues that if UNICE were given more time to consult its member federations, it might be possible to win them over. That is the message he will deliver when he meets Flynn tomorrow (3 April), with the heads of the ETUC and CEEP. "I will be telling him: 'Your contribution could be a slight relaxation of the pressure'," said the secretary-general .

After UNICE declared it would not negotiate, Flynn announced his intention to draw up a worker consultation proposal to be imposed on the social partners. However, his aides have indicated that they would be able to stop this process if it became clear that UNICE was about to change its mind.

"The letter they sent us said something about not being prepared to negotiate 'at the present time', so that leaves the window ajar," said Flynn's spokeswoman Barbara Nolan.

Just how much extra time the European Commission might allow the employers' federation is not clear. It had already extended the deadline by several months at UNICE's request before the organisation announced its decision.

However, Nolan said it would, in any case, take the Commission "a couple of months" to draw up a worker consultation proposal.

One possibility is that the issue could be resolved in early June when the social partners, along with Flynn and Commission President Jacques Santer, hold a mini-summit to discuss the future of the social dialogue.

Tyszkiewicz said that it would probably be a good idea to wait until then. "It will allow everyone to cool down a bit," he said. "I think these things will be re-discussed and we'll see where we go. Personally, I think something could come out of it."

However, since Tyszkiewicz himself is retiring this month, any renegotiation will have to be carried out by his successor.