News

"The creation and maintenance of effective information, consultation and participation structures in the finance sector"









The debates started with a presentation of the new EWC directive. The concrete aspects provided by Romuald Jagodzinski, ETUI Research, helped the audience understand the important issues at stake with the new directive, which will enter into force in 2011.



It was followed by a presentation of the new AXA agreement. Daniel Vaulot, Chair of the AXA EWC Secretary declared that the new agreement is a good one, "allowing a good and fair dialogue with the management as well as a feeling of trust within the EWC". "The new directive should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat", he said.



The debate focused then on the future perspectives for trans-national company agreements via a presentation prepared by Auriane Lamine and Filip Dorssemont from the Université Catholique de Louvain. It raised issues that were then discussed during a panel debate which brought together EWC representatives from four different companies.



The day after, another panel debate was organised. Coordinators, facilitators and experts had to discuss on what UNI Europa Finance EWC work should be in the future. The role of UNI Europa Finance was debated, as well as its priorities and challenges concerning EWCs.



Claudia Saller, UNI Europa EWC coordinator, emphasized the new EWC strategy of UNI Europa for the future. Two key-words during her presentation: coordination and cooperation.



Finally, Sebastian Sick (Hans Boeckler Institute) introduced the potential challenges to workers' rights regarding the SE Directive and the cross-border mergers Directive.



All the presentations were followed by open discussions, which gave the floor to UNI Europa Finance affiliates to express their views, expectations and hopes in terms of UNI Europa Finance work regarding EWCs.



The remarks formulated were fruitful and UNI Europa Finance would like to thank all the affiliates and experts for such valuable and strong participation during the debates. Such dialogue will enhance and strengthen UNI Europa Finance work on EWCs in the future.