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UNI Europa has given this week its green light to the revised agreement which establishes a European Platform for Randstad but still with some reservations.

Randstad, the Dutch based company, one of the European market leaders in the private employment services industry, is about to finish its round of negotiations, which started more than one year ago, to revise the current agreement, signed in November 2009, establishing a platform for dialogue, information and consultation of workers representatives at European level.

UNI Europa has taken active part in the negotiations on behalf of its affiliated organisations in the sector, with the aim to bringing the agreement in line with the EWC recast directive and the UNI Europa Guidelines on EWCs.

Although the agreement will remain an article 13, UNI Europa recognises that substantial improvements have been introduced in the new draft, i.e. the definitions of information, consultation and transnational matters according to the new EWC directive, a right to training, including English training, without loss of wages and during working hours, the protection of employees and more time for meetings and preparations for the Council of Workers representatives.

However, UNI Europa regrets that no interpretation facilities are provided for Randstad employees’ representatives sitting in the European Platform. Uni Europa has warned several times the company about language barriers in terms of participation, dialogue and commitment. UNi Europa is ready to bring up this issue again, if in the future members would not be able to effectively fulfil their mandate as employees’ representatives.

The agreement will be officially endorsed and signed by workers’ representatives and UNI Europa at its second Annual meeting in Amsterdam, on 18 November 2011.