EUROPEAN COMMISSION Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities DG. European Commerce Sectoral Social Dialogue

Transcription

1 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities DG Social Dialogue, Social Rights, Working Conditions, Adaptation to Change Social Dialogue, Industrial Relations 1. Introduction European Commerce Sectoral Social Dialogue Working group meeting of 13 June 2007 Minutes Version of Heinrich Wollny (DG EMPL, European Commission) opened the meeting and welcomed the participants. The agenda and the minutes of the meeting of 27 April 2007 were approved. 2. Presentation and exchange of views on the promotion of gender equality in the commerce sector Daniel Watershoot (EG EMPL European Commission) presented the EU policy approach on gender equality. Please find the presentation at the web address in the footer of these minutes. Please find further information on the following web site: In particular, he encouraged the social partners to develop measures of mainstreaming gender equality in the commerce sector. He drew the attention to the Framework of Actions for Gender Equality adopted by the cross-industry European social partners Businesseurope, UEAPME and ETUC in March 2005, with the following priorities: Addressing gender roles; Promoting women in decision-making; Supporting work-life balance; Tackling the gender pay gap. Examples of actions to be undertaken in this context are training managers on the benefits of diversity management, making flexible working arrangements available, national/sectoral collective agreements and framework agreements. By way of example he explained how the Belgian commerce trade union and the supermarket chain Delhaize jointly reviewed all job descriptions in the light of gender equality which led to several changes in job descriptions and promotion criteria. Jan Furstenborg explained that the trade union side sees gender equality linked to the issue of social inclusion as women often work at the lowest level of the work hierarchy in the sector. The Spanish trade union delegate explained that the Spanish legislation on gender equality obliges companies with more than 50 employees to draw up a gender Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium

2 equality action plan. The first important step for this to function is to acknowledge the existence of discrimination. 3. Presentation and exchange of views on the integration of migrants in the commerce labour market Heinrich Wollny presented the EU policy approach to migration. While migration has traditionally been a national matter and views on the right approach differ a consensus has developed that all EU Member States face similar problems: Skills shortage, ageing societies and the simple fact of migrants arriving in the EU. Therefore, the debate should not be about whether to be for or against migration, but about how to manage it. The European Commission has proposed a holistic approach to migration which consists of programmes and legislative proposals for the (i) opening of paths for legal migration, (ii) combating of illegal immigration, (iii) integration of migrants, and (iv) cooperation with countries of origin. While the integration of migrants remains a responsibility at the regional, national and labour market level, the Commission supports these efforts. It has published a Handbook on Integration including examples of social partner actions ( ntegration_en.htm), provides financial support through the European Social Fund and published a communication on integration and employment that also calls on the social partners for action. They could become active in the areas of validation of skills, language training, combating racist behaviour, diversity management and the implementation of the EU anti-discrimination directives. Javier Moreno Sanchez (MEP, ES) reminded the participants that migration is a reality, an economic necessity (a good part of economic growth in ES is due to migration), and that nobody migrates for fun. Therefore, societies in the Europe should adopt a constructive attitude to migration. He explained the Spanish naturalisation project of one million workers and said that good results have been achieved. The project relied on a pact with social partners and NGOs, a selective approach based on employment contracts, a global plan of integration (including social security, housing and education), the fight against illegal immigration and the cooperation with the countries of origin. Jan Furstenborg reminded of the special responsibility of the commerce sector that is a good entry point in the labour market and presented some proposals for further follow-up of this issue: an investigation into the follow-up given to the joint statement on racism and xenophobia of May 2000, the financing by multinational retailers of the application of the European Commerce Qualification material, the setting up of a working group in view to prepare a framework agreement, as well as links to be established between the question of migrants and the ones related to youth employment, violence and gender equality. Main points discussed: Ensure a correct implementation of legislation; Fight against illegal immigration and undeclared work; The economic importance of migration; The importance of migrants as employers; 2

3 The link with the issue of avoiding protectionism; The need of teaching basic skills and of opening up opportunities Rouben Halajian (Metro, DE) presented Metro's initiatives regarding migration which are very important to Metro, not least as an issue of competitiveness. The basic problem is mostly a low level of educational achievement. Education is therefore the most important key to integration. Moreover, migration has also consequences on the customers and on their shopping habits. Therefore, diversity in the composition of the staff and of the customers is regarded by the group as a strong point and integration is a key factor in using the competences of employees. A new initiative on integration of migrants will be launched by the company during the summer Xavier Durieu added that employing migrants in shops with a large share of customers with a migration background benefits the shop and the customers. Fernando Medina (TU, ES) exposed the Spanish trade unions' work on immigration. Migrant workers can be found in big numbers in the following sectors: agriculture, hospitality, construction, and commerce. The number of self-employed migrant workers in the sectors of hospitality and commerce is currently increasing. The fight against undeclared work is one of the priorities. The integration of the migrant population in the commerce sector is very rapid ( persons in Spain). However, these jobs are too often of a low quality and sometimes with irregularities in the employment contracts. The unionisation rate among migrants employed in the commerce sector is increasing. The Spanish Trade Union supports policies of international solidarity aimed to fight inequalities, including the promotion of core labour standards. It also supports the fight against discriminations and sees diversity management also as a task of trade unions. Last but not least, education and training as well as access to services of general interest are important. 4. Promotion of a safer working and shopping environment: presentation and discussion of the draft agreement Jan Furstenborg presented a draft going in the direction of a framework agreement. The employers' delegation needed more time to give a response. Regarding the implementation of a joint project on this issue, Jan Furstenborg agreed to take into consideration the draft proposal prepared by the EuroCommerce secretariat for the previous meeting, indicating that, in principle, it only requires slight amendments. 5. AOB: European commerce qualifications Beat Späth (EO, DE) made an online demonstration of the interactive learning CD-ROM that resulted from the BeQuaWe project which is now called the European Commerce Qualifications project. The CD-ROM exists now in DE and EN and the roll-out can start. The presentation was welcome with a high degree of approval from the participants. It can be ordered from the Eurocommerce secretariat. Jan Furstenborg confirmed that there is a project committee (see point 5, paragraph 2 of minutes of 27 April 2007) and that UNI Europa Commerce is still committed to accompany the translation and dissemination of this vocational training tool as expressed in the letter of intent signed during the plenary of the social dialogue committee in November He insisted that this does not replace a framework agreement and guidelines agreed in a social dialogue between the European social partners. 3

4 Xavier Durieu re-confirmed the commitment of Eurocommerce to the translation and dissemination and the intention to seek EU co-financing for this. 5. AOB: working group meeting A working group meeting was scheduled for 28 June 2007 in Brussels in order to discuss projects on a safer shopping environment and on the European Commerce Qualification tool. Next meeting: 5 October, Zagreb 4

5 Participants: Employers (EuroCommerce) Xavier R. Durieu, EuroCommerce Francesco Berruti Metro Cash and Carry SPA, IT Jean-Luc Delenne, Carrefour, FR Miguel Devesa, CEC, ES Max Lindholm, Federation of Finnish Commerce, FI Simone Mancini, Carrefour, FR/BE Lothar Markowitsch, WKÖ, AU Mario Müller, EuroCommerce Fotini Mylona, ACCI, EL Jozef Orgonas, Slovak Association of commerce and tourism, SK Silvia Orrù, Confocommercio International, IT Nina Reiser, BGA, DE Ilaria Savoini, EuroCommerce Jorgen Schultz, Swedish Trade Federation, SE Beat Spaeth, HDE, DE Stelios Stavridis, ACCI, EL Ann Vervondel, EuroCommerce Workers (UNI-Europa Commerce) Mr FURSTENBORG, Jan, UNI- Europa Commerce Ms HALADOVA Martina, GAHR/OZPOCR, Slovakia Ms KULANDOVA Katarina, GAHR/OZPOCR, Slovakia Mr LYKKE Per, HK/Handel, Denmark Mr OJALA Juha, PAM, Finland Mr MEDINA Fernando, FECOHT-CC.00, Spain Ms NYBERG Maria, Handels, Sweden Mr POSOCHOVAS Aleksandras, LPSDPS, Lithuania Ms RONDINELLI Daniela, FISASCAT- CISL, Italy European institutions Mr Wollny (DG EMPL/F.1), Chairperson Daniel Watershoot (DG EMPL D1) Javier Moreno Sanchez (MEP, ES) 5