Dedalus and Arianna

AIR LIQUIDE EUROPEAN WORKS COUNCIL – Multinational chemical company with French parent company – 4 years experience in the Board (the Select Committee) of the EWC and its Secretary / President for the past 3 years.

Before developing any line of reasoning, I want to make a brief introduction to say that I feel somehow “privileged”, since my role in the EWC gives me the opportunity to learn about different situations even outside my own country, it allows me to try to really represent such a large number of workers and, above all, it gives me a chance to enforce their rights. The experiences in this field, which have also been positive and have certainly enriched me have led me to think about the role of EWCs today and about what they might be tomorrow.

What I see today, at least in the industrial world I know, is all the potential that still remains untapped; this is true both for the number of EWCs that would have the right to be constituted, but which for various reasons have not been, and for the little relevance many existing EWCs that are substantially non-existent seem to have.

In many cases, as a matter of fact, the European Councils are considered, at best, the “showcases” that multinational companies are required to have, but that they often do anything in their power to keep relegated to a role of empty boxes.

But worst of all, and this is due to our inability workers just as often do not even know what an EWC is, what it does, what matters it deals with and, consequently, they do not have any perception of its use.

Therefore, in my opinion, one of the important actions we should focus on is the COMMUNICATION with employees. Communication considered as a relationship, as an exchange, as involvement, as participation, as representation, as a sense of belonging.

Another action that I consider as a priority is to act on the role of EWCs which, in my opinion, should move from Information and Consultation, to include also NEGOTIATION.

Of course, unfortunately, today we are still in a situation where it is hard to claim what Directive 2009/38 expressly provides for in the field of I & C: the information is often very limited or insufficient and provided too late, and even more often consultation loses all its meaning because it comes when decisions have already been taken.

But the fact remains that inevitably, in a European scenario where restructuring and reorganization processes are commonplace, the EWCs will have to play an increasingly participatory and active role, together with TUs, in negotiating Transnational Corporate Agreements ensuring minimum standards for a social plan on European scale. This will help to fill that empty box mentioned earlier.

To conclude, I am convinced that working together with TUs to launch initiatives that may affect the EU policy choices for a SOCIAL EUROPE is a priority long overdue.