SURVEY OF EWC REPRESENTATIVES 2018 · 2019. 11. 17. · Most EWC representatives are assisted by...

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SURVEY OF EWC REPRESENTATIVES 2018

Stan De Spiegelaere

Romek Jagodziński

© etui (2019) EWC and SEWC survey 20182

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Survey process


Weights:

Country, sector, EWC SEWC

RepresentativesEWC and SEWCs

1115 EWCs and SEWCs18.000 employee

representatives

846 EWCs sampled

505 EWC with contacts5099 representatives

contacted

365 EWC with

respondents

1635 representatives

responded

The dominant profile of EWC representatives


81,5% Male 51 years old 84% union member

have been in post for an average of 5 years

57% member34% office holder

8% substitute

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Number of meetings

● How many ordinary meetings of your EWC do you have each year?

Fewer than 1 per year

1 per year

2 per year

3 or more



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Information and Consultation – topics raised


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Quality of I&C on those topics raised


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Wave 2 Useful information and consultation Wave 2 useful information, but no consultation

Wave 2 Useless information Wave 1 Useful information and consultation

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Timing of information and consultation

● In general, when does the information exchange or consultation take place?

Before the decision on the issue is finalised

After the decision is finalised, but before the implementation

During the implementation process

After implementation




Before the decision

21%Before

implementation43%

During implementation

20%

After implementation

10%

Don't know06%

„proposed measures”

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18% 41% 21% 12% 08%

21% 46% 19% 09% 05%

36% 43% 14% 04% 02%

One or fewer

annual

meetings

2 annual

meetings

Before the

final decision

Before

implementation

During

implementation

After

implementation

Don’t

know

In general, when does the information exchange or consultation take place?

3 or more

annual

meetings

Before the

final decision

Before

implementation

During

implementation

After

implementation

Don’t

know

EWC Plenary meeting effectiveness


Very effective

Effective

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Source of information Consultation Influence management

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Restructuring


Restructuring and the EWC


Restructuring is far from exceptional

91% of the representatives say their company was involved in mergers, closures, sales,

transfers of production, mass reduncancies or large HR changes in the last three years

Information and consultation not up to level

48% had complete information about the most recent circumstances

27% had support of an expert

47% had an extra meeting to discuss the issue

12% had complete information and a timely extra meeting

27% said the meeting took place before the final decision was taken

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Management

● Does your EWC have a trade union coordinator


Yes No

Trade Union coordinator

59,0%

No tarde union coordinator

20,8%

Don't know20,2%

Coordination by TU and its advantages


Trade Union Coordinator

59%

No Trade Union Coordinator

21%

Don't know20%

Most EWC representatives are assisted by trade union coordinators

… and is important for the EWC

72.7%

57.1%

Coordinator No coordinator

Representatives always try to come to a common positionMore frequent internal communication

More alignment of positions

More prep. and debriefing meetings

More training

More expert support in restructuring

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The power of the management


Management

● The managers present at the EWC meetings are the managers taking the real decisions on the topics we are discussing


Agree Disagree

Strongly agree26,5%

Agree40,8% Neutral

15,3%Disagree

10,3% Strongly disagree3,1%

Don't know4,0%

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Management

● Management makes efforts to find agreed solutions with the EWC


Agree Disagree

Strongly agree3,5%

Agree35,0%

Neutral38,0% Disagree

15,5% Strongly disagree3,8%

Don't know4,1%

Management and the EWC


67.4%

74.2%

38.4%

39.4%

The managers present at the EWC meetings are themanagers taking the real decisions on the topics we

are discussing

The managers present at the EWC meetings generallyhave the necessary information on the topics we are

discussing

Management makes efforts to find agreed solutionswith the EWC employee representatives

Management often refuses to give information on thegrounds of confidentiality

Strongly agree Agree

… are those taking the decisions

… are well informed

… but don’t always share the information

… but don’t always try to find agreed solutions

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The power of management

© etui (2019)21

65%

47%

27%

Mgmt tries tofind agreedsolutions

Neutral Mgmt doesnot try to find

agreedsolutions

% EWC representatives

that the EWC meetings are

effective for consultation

If the mgmt wants to… the

EWC is really consulted

Effective consultation

More information

Better consultation

More influence

Documents on time

Full information in restructuring

Training

● In the previous three years how much training have you received to help you in your EWC duties?

None

Less than one day

One day

Two days

Three days or more


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Training


Days of training in the last 3 years

Aligning positions

● In the EWC, employee representatives always try to come to a common position with the representatives from all countries


Agree Disagree

Strongly agree12%

Agree55% Neutral

20% Disagree07%

Strongly disagree02%

Don't know04%

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When the times get tough




16%

80.0%

69.2%

49.9%

18.6%

Reffered to the agreement for support

Reffered to legislation for support

We asked a trade union for help

Used an mediator to resolve the dispute

Taken to court

How was it handled?

Serious conflict15,7%

No serious conflict66,5%

Don't know17,8%

By referring to legal sources

AlwaysMost of the time

Yes

By asking the trade union for help

Not so much by mediation or legal recourse

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© etui (2019)

EWC and SEWC survey 2018

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Serious conflicts

Serious conflict16%

Did they go to court?

16% of the EWC representatives had a serious dispute with the management over

the EWC functioning in the last three years.

Taken to court16%

Not taken to court79%

05%

27%

19%

14%

13%

12%

10%

09%

05%

28%

Issue was not important enough

No consensus in EWC

Didn't know how to

Sanctions not enough for the resources needed

Not enough resources

Not possible in national law

Afraid of the consequences

Trade union advised against

Other

Why not?

The future, how EWC representatives see it


82.6%

78.7%

82.2%

75.6%

73.3%

70.5%

70.0%

63.3%

56.4%

41.4%

Prohibition to implement decisions before consultation

Sanctions for non-compliance

More topics and issues

Higher quality information

More resources (time, money, expertise)

More employee only meetings

More help to understand information

Better access to company sites

More EWC meetings

More select committee meetings

More sanctions


Information quality and scope

Resources and expertise

Meetings

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Tentative conclusions

1. EWCs are still mostly meetings for information, not somuch information and consultation

2. Some evolutions over time

3. Key factors of succes are:

• Number of meetings

• Trade union support (coordinator)

• Management approach


What’s next?

● Autumn: Graphical report of the survey

● Winter 2020: larger book

● Now: presentations

● 2020 – 2021 smaller publications on specific aspects


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How is the EWC helpful?


86.4%

83.4%

72.8%

… helps me in relating to other representatives

… helps me to better understand company matters

… helps me in better representing workers’ interests


Mostly for meeting each other and getting information

26.4%

8.7%

… helps me to organise union activities

… helps me in recruiting members for the trade union

54.1%

45.9%

41.4%

… better able to deal with my country management

… helps me to co-ordinate employee representation

… improves my relations with local management

Less often coordination and dealing with management

Rarely for union actions and recruiting

Thank you

Q&A

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