Meeting of the EFFAT Executive Committee BRUSSELS, 3 and 4 May 2016 Agenda item 2: MINUTES OF THE EFFAT EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF 17-18 NOVEMBER 2015 Decision: The Executive Committee adopts the minutes of the Executive Committee of 17-18 November 2015
Chairwoman: Therese Guovelin MINUTES EFFAT Executive Committee Brussels, 17-18 November 2015 Participants: http://www.effat.org/sites/default/files/events/13751/list_of_signature_executive_committee- 17-18.11.2015.pdf Working documents: http://www.effat.org/en/node/13751 Therese Guovelin opened the meeting and one minute's silence was being held to remember the victims of Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris. EFFAT President and Secretary General expressed full support to Paris citizens and sent a solidarity letter to all EFFAT French affiliates and their members 1. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA Draft agenda The order of the agenda has slightly changed. Decision: The Executive Committee adopted the agenda. 2. ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF 6-7 MAY 2015 Minutes Executive Committee meeting of 6-7 May 2015 Decision: The Executive Committee adopted the minutes of the EFFAT Executive Committee of 6-7 May 2015 3. SOLIDARITY WITH FINLAND, UK AND LITHUANIA- UPDATE ON DEVELOPMENTS ON NATIONAL LABOUR LAWS Harald Wiedenhofer briefed the members on the recent attacks on worker and trade union rights and criticized the austerity policies of national governments. The member organisations reported on how they are affected by the recent changes in labour laws. It was agreed that affiliates always need to build a common strategy to address these challenges on European level as well. Discussion: Henri Lindholm, Markku Bjorn, Peter Schmidt, Pietro Ruffolo, Pilar Rato, Rafaël Nedzynski, Bohumir Dufek, Gerhard Riess, Therese Guovelin Decision: The Executive Committee took note of the discussion and in order to get more active it was agreed to: - develop further the EFFAT take action part on the EFFAT website - develop new forms of action and learn from other trade unions, NGO s etc... - stronger cooperate with ETUC and develop new forms of action with them. 4. EUROPE S RESPONSIBILITY FOR REFUGEES Position on the role of trade unions in integrating refugees into the workplace and society and annexes on Directives 2011/95EU and 2013/33/EU and code of conduct on transparent employment relationships ETUC motion on the refugee crisis in Europe adopted at the 13 th ETUC Congress The secretariat presented the documents on the role of trade unions in integrating refugees into the workplace and society and the participants exchanged their experiences and initiatives at national level. 1
On this basis the EFFAT Executive Committee adopted a common position, calling for assistance, unionisation and training for refugees to better protect their employment conditions Discussion: John Dunne, Malin Ackholt, Pilar Rato, Eva Guovelin, Per Holmström, Silvia Guaraldi, Arnd Spahn Decision: The Executive Committee took note and endorsed the common position. It was agreed to collect and exchange best practices and to present more reports at the next Executive Committee meetings. 5. TTIP Jean-Marc Trarieux, Head of Unit, The Americas (DG Agri), informed the members on the state of affairs of the negotiations concerning TTP and reported on the progress made after 2 years of negotiations. A list of sector specific questions was sent in advance to Mr Trarieux. The members expressed their concerns and highlighted various risks as for example the transparency of the negotiations, but also as far as the role of the social partners and the risk of deregulation of social and consumer standards are concerned. The participants also made clear that we need to ensure that European high social and consumer standards are maintained in the trade agreement. Discussion: Harald Wiedenhofer, Pietro Ruffolo, Gerhard Riess, Peter Schmidt, Margot Sastre, Fabrizio De Pascale, Arnd Spahn Decision: The Executive Committee took note of the concerns and the secretariat will closely follow up the negotiations and member organisations were asked to: - send relevant information, studies to the EFFAT secretariat which will be passed on to Mr Trarieux - continue lobbying to ensure that European high social and consumer standards are defended and maintained in the trade agreement. 6. RUSSIAN BAN Estelle Brentnall briefed the members on the state of play concerning the Russian ban and on the meeting with the Danish MEP Ole Christiansen and Jeppe Kofed. It was agreed to prepare questions to table at a plenary session of the European Parliament in order to provide support for workers who are negatively affected by the current market distortions of the Russian embargo. Decision: The Executive Committee took note of the report and the affiliates were asked to contact their respective MEPS asking their support to the initiative. 7. FAIR COMPETITION AND SOCIAL DUMPING a) Mobility package and single market project Draft briefing note on a fair and decent internal labour market: European Commission s labour mobility package ETUC discussion paper on the single market package and the review of the services directive ETUC position on national Competitiveness Boards Harald Wiedenhofer and Estelle Brentnall reported on the recent initiative of the European Commission on a proposal for a mobility package that will include a review of the Posting of Workers Directive and was asking the members for their support to fight social dumping and deregulation. Decision: The Executive Committee took note of and endorsed the documents presented. The member organisations were asked to stand together to fight social dumping and 2
deregulation in order to guarantee the principle of equal pay for work of equal value in the same workplace. b) The Austrian anti-social dumping law Gerhard Riess briefed the members on the Austrian anti-social dumping law and the campaigns PROGE is carrying out to avoid social dumping. Discussion: Kerstin Howald, Fabrizio De Pasquale, Harald Wiedenhofer Decision: The Executive Committee takes note of the presentation. 8. COP 21: UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE IN PARIS Briefing note for the Paris COP 21 climate change negotiations Additional views of the agriculture sector Harald Wiedenhofer presented a briefing document on the climate change negotiations and set out EFFAT demands and called for a prompt, ambitious and legally binding agreement on climate change including a social pillar to safeguard quality jobs in the agro-food and tourism sectors. Because of the terrorist attacks the EFFAT event on climate protection (PARIS, 4 December 2015) has been cancelled. Decision: The Executive Committee took note of and endorsed the briefing note on the climate change conference. 9. AGRO-INDUSTRIAL WORKERS UNION OF UKRAINE Igor Sopelkin, Chairman, and Nadia Burlaka, Chairwoman Women s Committee, briefed the members on the current situation in Ukraine and the difficulties they encounter to fight for better working and living conditions. Decision: The Executive Committee took note of the information and it was decided that the secretariat will continue to support and to cooperate with the Ukrainian unions. 10. NEW ROLE OF THE ETUC AFTER THE 13TH ETUC CONGRESS Esther Lynch, ETUC Confederal Secretary, reported on the different action areas of the ETUC for the next Congress period. Discussion: John Dunne, Jan Egil Pedersen, Therese Guovelin, Valentina Vasilyonova, Mehmet Yildiz, Henri Lindholm, Ermanno Bonaldo, Gabriele Guglielmi, Therese Guovelin Decision: The Executive Committee took note of the report and the ETUC priorities and it was agreed to continue to monitor ETUC activities and to work together closely. 11. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE YOUTH PLEDGE ADOPTED AT THE 4TH EFFAT CONGRESS Overview on the implementation of the youth pledges signed at the 4 th EFFAT Congress Enrico Somaglia presented a document with the results of the questionnaire concerning the implementation of the youth pledge which was signed by the member organisation during the Congress in 2014. He summarised some good examples and briefed the members that the next EFFAT Youth Committee is taking place on 29 January 2015. Charlotte Hautekeur (FGTB-Horval), member of the EFFAT Youth Committee, briefed the members on the activities and campaigns FGTB is organising to attract young people in trade unions and to allow them to actively participate in the decision making roles. She encouraged EFFAT s members to take action and give a commitment to make trade unions more attractive to young people. 3
Some member organisations have given an oral update on their recent youth initiatives. The Ukrainian Agro-industrial Workers union of Ukraine was asking to improve the cooperation on youth with Denmark (3F) again. Discussion: Therese Guovelin, Eva Guovelin, Igor Sopelkin, Pilar Rato Decision: The Executive Committee took note of the presentation and endorsed the documents presented. The secretariat agreed to continue to share good examples of trade unions in organising young people and invited the member organisations to report on their experiences concerning organising. 12. ORGANISING Kristjan Bragasson, Nordic HRCT Unions presented the results of a summer seminar which was organised by the Nordic HRCT Unions in order to exchange best practices on organising. Decision: The Executive Committee took note of the presentation and invited the member organisations to report on their experiences concerning organising. 13. ACTIVITY REPORTS AND EFFAT WORK AREAS 2015 A) Food, drinks and tobacco Activity report Food, Drink Tobacco sector Estelle Brentnall gave some additional information to the written activity report and briefed the members on the results of the General Assembly which took place the day before (16 November 2016) Decision: The Executive Committee took note of and endorsed the document presented. B) Agriculture Activity report agriculture sector Arnd Spahn gave some additional information to the written activity report. Decision: The Executive Committee took note of and endorsed the document presented. C) Tourism Activity report tourism sector Kerstin Howald gave some additional information to the written activity report and presented a position of the EFFAT tourism sector on sharing economy calling on policymakers to prevent the sharing economy giving rise to unfair competition and social dumping, and to gather more reliable data about its scope and impact on the hospitality and tourism sectors. Discussion: Holger Bartels, Pilar Rato, Enrico Somaglia, Arnd Spahn, Therese Guovelin Decision: The Executive Committee took note of and endorsed the document presented. D) Transnational Companies / European Works Councils (TNC/EWC) Activity report EWC/TNC Enrico Somaglia commented on the written activity report and briefed the members on the various restructurings, ongoing EWC activities and negotiations. He called upon the EWC coordinators and member organisations for a stronger cooperation and demanded to inform the secretariat on a regular basis of EWC/TNC activities and restructurings. Discussion: Pietro Ruffolo, Simo Oreskovic 4
Decision: the Executive Committee took note of and endorsed the document presented and the member organisations were asked to brief the secretariat on national restructurings, EWC/TNC activities more regularly. E) Gender Equality Minutes EFFAT Women s Committee 8 May 2015 EFFAT Recommendations on equal pay for women and men Kerstin Howald referred to the minutes of the EFFAT Women s Committee on 8 May 2015 and the recommendations to ensure equal pay for women and men which were adopted at the last EFFAT Congress. The implementation of the recommendations will be monitored. Decision: The Executive Committee took note of and endorsed the document presented F) Domestic Workers Kerstin Howald informed the members that the European Parliament is currently working on an opinion on Women domestic and care workers in Europe which will be discussed at the plenary next year. EFFAT has given input to this report. Decision: The Executive Committee took note of the oral report. G) List of Meetings 2015-2016 An updated list of meetings is available at the EFFAT Website: http://www.effat.org/en/events/upcoming-events Decision: the Executive Committee took note of the list of meetings. H) Website / Newsletter Maddalena informed the members on some new features of the EFFAT website and asked the members who did not yet respond to the questionnaire concerning the website to do this as soon as possible. She also informed that the monthly newsletter will from now on also be available in Spanish, Italian, Croatian. Members were asked to send the secretariat also national news relevant to our sectors for the bi-weekly Snapshot. Decision: The Executive Committee took note of the update on the website and Newsletter developments. 14. OTHER EU ISSUES Our Turkish member organisation TEKGIDA IS asked for our support concerning their struggle against the attack on labour rights in IFF company (International Flavour and Fragrances). Harald Wiedenhofer briefed the members on initiatives taken promoting trade-union cooperation in South-East Europe by setting up a South Eastern European Trade Union Council and collaborating to a project with IndustriAll to promote capacity building, industrial policies and the development of sectoral social dialogue. Decision: The Executive Committee decided to support TEKGIDA IS. 15. MEMBERSHIP AND AFFILIATION FEES ISSUES A) Development of membership and affiliation fees 2015 Overview payments 2015 List of affiliates in arrears 5
Harald Wiedenhofer presented the overview of 2015 payments. Decision: The Executive Committee took note of the overview presented. B) New affiliations Decision: The Executive Committee decided to confirm the affiliation of ZZPR in 2016 in Poland since the internal problems were solved and new leadership was elected. C) Exemptions / disaffiliations Decision: The Executive Committee decided to disaffiliate EDOSZ as they have not paid affiliation fees since 3 years and never responded to our letters. POYEETE(Greece) has been exempted for 2014-2015 and Agrokompleksi(Kosovo) has been exempted for 2015 16. BUDGET 2016 Harald presented the 2016 budget which is a balanced budget with a small surplus. Decision: The Executive Committee adopted the budget 2016. 17. EFFAT CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE Decision: The Executive Committee confirmed the mandate and the composition of the EFFAT Constitution Committee: Bart Vannetelbosh (CCAS-ACV, Belgium), Annika Rönni Sällinen (PAM, Finland) and Scott Walker (UNITE, UK) 18. EUROPEAN CITIZENS INITIATIVE OF ETF (EUROPEAN TRANSPORT FEDERATION): FAIR TRANSPORT EUROPE Koen Reynaerts from ETF presented the initiative to collect one million signatures from EU citizens to improve working conditions for European transport workers, so that we can call on the European Commission to make the necessary legislative proposals for more fair transport. Decision: The Executive Committee took note of the initiative and encouraged the members to publish the initiative on their website and to sign on https://fairtransporteurope.eu/. 19. ANY OTHER BUSINESS 6