Dedalus and Arianna

I participated in the EWC for Renault, which took place in Paris from June 26th to July 3rd, 2015. The most significant experience was meeting the company’s European and non-European EWC delegates and directly perceiving the situations in different places in all professional spheres, production, commercial, and financial.

I was able to directly compare the various types of negotiation and the differences in trade union membership. We were informed about the developments, strategies, and goals of the company. I saw that despite the EWC’s coordination, there are still difficulties in exchanging communication between different countries, even if the potential is still huge.

There is restructuring everywhere, with reductions in staff, more stress and higher work loads, and there are wage claims due to new contracts that have been revised downwards, especially concerning aspects of the welfare state (Sunday openings).

One of the strengths of the EWC should be solidarity, understanding the differences in the culture and habits of different countries, to provide moments to exchange experiences and information, to improve the quality of life and workers’ rights everywhere.