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On 4 and 5 June 2014, 35 trade union representatives and EWC delegates from the following companies: Auchan, Carrefour, H&M, Metro and Tesco met under the coordination of UNI Europa Commerce to discuss the implementation of the Action Plan on EWCs endorsed by UNI Europa last year.

Participants assessed the quality of the information and consultation in their respective EWCs and made concrete proposals to make the process functioning better. The EWC should be more pro-active and decide what information they want and not just limit themselves to the information they get.

Trade union representatives also exchanged views on how to solve common issues such as a company denying information and consultation on a matter not considered to be “transnational”, division and lack of a common position among EWCs delegates, conflict with management over the expert’s role of UNI Europa and a relocation plan that could create social dumping practices. In all cases, participants stressed the importance to ensure cohesion and support from each of the EWC delegates, to integrate and respect the point of view of all members, ensure that positions in the EWCs are backed by the respective trade unions.

Participants could also exchange experiences on existing or newly set up trade union alliances. It became clear from the discussion that, especially for those alliances that have been set up more recently, a coordination and communication with EWC is particularly important to ensure a comprehensive and coherent trade union strategy towards MNCs.

The crucial role of UNI Europa in sharing resources and providing a common platform to share information and best practices was particularly emphasized . Equally, it was stressed that UNI Europa is a family where each of their members should contribute to the fulfillment of its objectives. Only by working together and by recognizing that we could win only by uniting our strengths we will be able to increase our capacity to boost our bargaining power towards MNCs.