FINAL REPORT OF THE BANKING ENLARGEMENT PROJECT A social dialogue within an enlarged Europe

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Henry Rose
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FEDERATION BANCAIRE DE L'UNION EUROPEENNE BANKING FEDERATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION BANKENVEREINIGUNG DER EUROPÄISCHEN UNION EUROPEAN SAVINGS BANKS GROUP GROUPEMENT EUROPEEN DES CAISSES D EPARGNE

02.09 Enlargement project is co-financed by DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal opportunities FINAL REPORT OF THE BANKING ENLARGEMENT PROJECT A social dialogue within an enlarged Europe Agreement

1 FEDERATION BANCAIRE DE L'UNION EUROPEENNE BANKING FEDERATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION BANKENVEREINIGUNG DER EUROPÄISCHEN UNION EUROPEAN SAVINGS BANKS GROUP GROUPEMENT EUROPEEN DES CAISSES D EPARGNE UROPÄISCHE SPARKASSENVEREINIGUNG EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF COOPERATIVE BANKS GROUPEMENT EUROPEEN DES BANQUES COOPERATIVES EUROPÄISCHE VEREINIGUNG DER GENOSSENSCHAFTSBANKEN UNI EUROPA EBF ref: D0366C Enlargement project is co-financed by DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal opportunities FINAL REPORT OF THE BANKING ENLARGEMENT PROJECT A social dialogue within an enlarged Europe Agreement ref number: VS/2007/0526 Commitment number: SI copies in English Part two: Short description of the project, results and methodology The European social partners (BCESA, ESBG, EACB and UNI Europa -Finance some new Member States organisations for different reasons are not involved in the European social dialogue in the Banking sector. However, the Social Partners are convinced that their participation would add relevance to the social dialogue in the banking industry and improve opportunities for labour relations in our sector. Project implementation: The Banking Committee for European Social Affairs (BCESA) has been the leader of the project and organised the events in close cooperation with the European Association of Cooperative Banks (EACB), the European Savings Banks Group (ESBG) and UNI Europa. The project has been a multi-lateral event in order to maximise the exchanges between the different social partners and especially in the new Member States. The focus has been given to a regional approach with the aim of enhancing exchange and synergies at regional level afterwards (logical partnership). The project had a focus to the participation of 3 countries (Hungary Czech Republic - Slovakia). These countries actively participated to the implementation of the project by first being providing the main guests speakers and secondly hosting two of the meetings respectively in Hungary in March 08 and in Czech Republic in June 08. In terms of participation, the event has been open to all our respective members from the employers and employees at national and European levels. A special focus has

2 been given evidently on the new Member States. The three events could count on an average of 40 participants from more than 12 Different EU Member States. The following subjects have been discussed during the three meetings : o Report on the state of play of social dialogue in the countries chosen (Hungary / Slovakia / Czech Republic). o Presentation of the European social dialogue, its aims, objectives and main achievements. o Presentation and exchange of views regarding the experience of old Member States towards the EU Social dialogue o Identify obstacles to participation at European o Presentation of the funding opportunities for capacity building social dialogue offered by the European Commission to the new Member States Objectives: Report on the state of play of social dialogue in the chosen countries Identify pros and cons to participation at European level, including areas of particular interest. Identify strategies to encourage the participation to the European social dialogue with regard to the new Member States. Present the funding opportunities for capacity building in the Social Dialogue offered by the European Commission to the new Member States. Results: Increased exchanges of good practices among social partners, in particular at regional level. Enrich the knowledge and understanding of the social dialogue of the social partners in the banking sector by exchanging information and experiences from the new Member States to the old ones and vice-versa. Willingness to implement strategies to encourage the European social partners for the new Member States. Strengthening of the existing EU Social Dialogue platform through the increased presence/participation and contribution of New Member States representatives in ESD meetings at European level 1 st event Budapest 9 & 10 March 2008: The social partners organised the first event in Budapest to launch the enlargement project entitled A social dialogue within an enlarged Europe. We were happy to count on 47 participants from mainly Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia but also Italy, Greece and Luxemburg. The event started by a networking dinner on Sunday, 9 March which enabled the participants to get acquainted with one another. This meeting was appreciated by participants who reported that it gave good opportunity to get to know each other before the seminar in itself. 2

3 On Monday 10 March, the seminar was divided in two parts. The first part consisted of the presentations from all the national social partners on the state of play of their national social dialogue and covered issues like collective bargaining, consultation and information of the workers, vocational training and the representativeness. The second part focused on the national social partners involvements, challenges and expectations of the EU Social Dialogue. Ms Pia Desmet, Vice President of UNI Europa officially launched the event and presented an historical background and state of play of the EU social dialogue. Mr Giancarlo Ferrara on behalf of Mr Giancarlo Durante, Banking Committee of European Social Affairs (BCESA) closed the session expressing the quality of the meeting and of the exchanges of views. The level of improvement at national level in the new Member States Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia was positively acknowledged. It was clearly stated that as next step, these activities have now to be taken at EU level. The question raised was how to make the EU Social Dialogue interesting for the new Member States that were considered as major actors to improve and to enrich the EU Social Dialogue. The first part of the day was moderated by Mrs Laurie Dufays, Deputy Director from ESBG and the second part by Mr Magnus Lundberg, Policy officer from UNI Europa- Finance. The list of the speakers during the day was as followed: Mr Rezső Nyers Secretary General Hungarian Banking Association Mr Karel Schneider Secretary General Czech Banks & Insurance Association Mr Rudolf Kubasek Chairman Czech Association of Trade Union for banks & Insurance Mr Cambor Martin Head of Employers Affairs Committee Slovak Banking Association Mr Michalek Svetozar Head of Office Slovak banking and insurance Trade Union Mr Janos Müller Chief adviser Hungarian Banking Association Mr Sándor Toth Vice President BBDSZ 2 nd event Prague 25 & 26 June 2008: The second enlargement project event took place in Prague on June participants attended the meeting. Like at the previous event, the social partners gathered for a networking pre-conference dinner on Wednesday, 25 June. On Thursday, 26 June the event was officially launched by Mr Giancarlo Durante, Chairman of the BCESA. Mr Durante welcomed the respective delegations and the Commission which is co-funding this project. He also presented the two main objectives of this second event: - Firstly, to make the social partners of the new Member States more familiar with the practice of industrial relations in the old Member States. - Secondly, to integrate more easily the social partners of the new Member States in the European social dialogue structures. It was noted that the great number of acceding countries and the diversity of industrial relations systems will not leave untouched the existing industrial relations system of the 15 Member States. Consequently one cannot speak about enlargement where the newcomers 3

4 will purely adapt, but the right terminology should be integration, where both new and old Member States have to adjust their approach fully respecting the existing framework and fundamental values. Anything else than integration will undermine the success of 2004 enlargement. The workshop was moderated by Ms Astrid Hagenah, Head of Legal Department of the ESBG. We have to note that due to the absence of Germany dealing with important national negotiations, we had two national presentations from Italy and Sweden. The Italian delegation presented issues like flexicurity, CSR and Life Long Learning. The Swedish delegation presented a national project on equal opportunities. These two national presentations where followed by a presentation by Ms Dorota Dlouchy from the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities on the meaning of a well functioning social dialogue and the sources of financing of the capacity building activities. The closing remarks were made by Mr Magnus Lundberg, Policy officer from UNI Europa - Finance. The list of the speakers during the day was as followed: Mr Giancarlo Durante Chairman of the BCESA Mr Mario Ongaro FISAC/CGIL Mr Giancarlo Ferrara Social Affairs Adviser Associazione Bancaria Italiana (ABI) Mr Per Karlberg Head of Policy Department Forbundssekreterare Ms Camilla Amner Legal Adviser Association of the Swedish Banking Institutions (BAO) Ms Dorota Dlouchy, European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Following the second enlargement project event we can state that according to our objectives presented to the Commission in our Grant Agreement we reached the following objectives: - To report on the state of play of social dialogue in the chosen countries. - To encourage the new Member States to participate to the EU social dialogue - To present the funding opportunities for capacity building offered by the European Commission to the new Member States The dialogue during these two events has been lively and constructive. The Commission s presentation has been considered by the participants as a real added value with a comprehensive and useful approach. We certainly can conclude that we are quite confident to have reached our main goals during these two events. Indeed, we noted an increased exchange of good practices among social partners, in particular at regional level, and an enrichment of our knowledge and understanding of the social dialogue in the banking sector between the new and old Member States. 3 rd event closing event Brussels 3 & 4 November 2008 After presentation of the countries participating to the project (Czech Republic Hungary Slovakia) on the lessons learned from such project, the Commission took the opportunity to express the importance of the European Social Dialogue. Indeed, the question of outcome, 4

5 implementation and added value of the European Social Dialogue is important. The Commission representative, Mr Jean Paul Tricart pointed out that this does not mean the necessity of binding agreements or measures and stressed that however, the impact of the European Social Dialogue has to be shown in order to keep its credibility. The list of the speakers during the day was as followed: Mr Giancarlo Durante Chairman of the BCESA Ms Pia Desmet Vice president UNI Europa Finance Mr Cambor Martin, Director Human Ressources Slovak Banking Association Ms Katrine Sondergard, Policy Officer UNI Finance Mr Rezső Nyers Secretary General Hungarian Banking Association Mr Michalek Svetozar Head of Office Slovak banking and insurance Trade Union Mr Sándor Toth Vice President BBDSZ Mr Jean Paul Tricart, European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities How did the operation meet the objectives of the budget headings? The objective of this project consisted in promoting the European Social Dialogue to the new Member States (Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic). The project aimed at exchanging views and information between old and new Member States regarding their experiences in the Social Dialogue, and in encouraging them to participate to the Social Dialogue at EU level. The aim of the project has therefore been consistent with the EC agreement. Description of the transnational dimension of the operation The transnational dimension is granted by the fact that three countries have been involved during the implementation of the project, with the participants from over 12 different EU countries (please see enclosed participants lists). What contribution have the partners of the project made? The preparation of the project and its implementation has initiated regular contacts and meetings between the EU Social Partners. The implementation of the project has been a team work in term of choice of the different agendas but also regarding the dissemination of the information to each participating member. What added value has the project contributed? The project allowed the different parties to understand the different platforms of negotiation. The regularity of the exchanges between social partners has been appreciated and has even facilitated the exchange of experiences between the unions and the employers at company level. The importance of the project as a source of information and experiences has been pointed out by the participants. Informal exchanges initiated during the events created open windows of discussion and were judged as useful and important. 5

6 How have the operations been publicised and the results been disseminated? The social partners disseminated the invitations to the events to their respective members via s. It has been decided that the outcome of the project will be published in a newsletter to launch in June 2009 and translated in the different languages used during the meetings (French Italian Czech Hungarian). All the social partners involved decided to publish the conclusions of the project on their websites in order to disseminate the findings efficiently to other potentially interested banking social partners in other new member states. What lessons have been learned from this experience? At the final conference of the project which took place in Brussels on 4 th November 2008, the participants reported that the project has stimulated and contributed to the development of social dialogue in their countries. There have been a lot of exchange of information on good practices, but some practical difficulties also became apparent like the speed towards reforms, language skills and discrepancy between the qualifications and the skills needed. Therefore, some lessons on training and education to improve the quality of social dialogue can also be drawn from the exchange of views. It also as been acknowledged that despite the fact that Unions and employers have different kinds of partnerships and ways of working, the European Social Dialogue is a win-win situation for both parties involved. Are there any plans to follow-up this project, and if so, what kind? As it was stressed by the Commission representative, Mr Jean Paul Tricart at the closing event, the capacity building is very important for the new Member States. The Commission encourages such enlargement projects, as the European Social Dialogue represents a consensus oriented working method worth developing. The Social partners which are currently reassessing the Social Dialogue represents welcome such an initiative and would like to follow-up with more actors and stakeholders from new Member States like Poland, Hungary and the Baltic States. 6

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