Dedalus and Arianna

In 2014, during a meeting between European works councils, the Unilever EWC was awarded a prize. It was a prize acknowledging its innovative skill, because it had launched a new tool to increase the effectiveness of the consultation mechanisms: the so-called Barcelona agenda.

“We were feeling the need to tackle important matters in a more continuous way, so as to really influence business decisions. In fact, Unilever was not listening to us. Even though we were adequately informed about what was happening in the numerous branches of the multinational corporation, we were not able to influence its decisions”, said Carlo Carelli, member of the plenary and of the coordination committee.

The Agenda, effective since 2010, is made up of various workgroups, whose task it is to carefully analyse specific issues to then be discuss them with the company, with the aim of reaching a common vision.

During the next plenary meeting, planned for March, the EWC wants to add four points to the Agenda: health of the employees, respect of gender diversity, youth unemployment and work organization. “We do not want to focus only on fighting some intentions, such as the wish to review wages, as announced by the company. We want Unilever to become a more and more stable company, and it can do so by paying more attention to changes and to the needs of its employees. It is important, not only in view its European dimension, which we are discussing right now, but also in view of the local dimension, to which we all belong.”

Carelli is used to combine these two aspects. He is proud that some suggestions in the Barcelona Agenda are already the subject of local negotiation. A pilot project was launched right here in Italy with the aim of increasing gender equality in the Group branches, as a consequence of the discussions started in view of the plenary.

Carelli goes even further. According to him, the EWC can contribute to the development of a European trade union movement. “We have connections, we know the production processes, we have access to information. But also the trade unions of other countries, which are part of our works council, should open up more towards the international dimension. I think of my situation, in CGIL. We need to be able to better understand the practical link that ties Italy to Europe, and even, I would say, to the world. For this reason, I feel that the meetings between different members of the EWC, organized by CGIL Lombardia, have been extremely positive. We need to broaden the trail of past good practices to turn it into a main road”.