 |
EU Policy seminar for full time union officers 8-11 June 2008 Haus Hofgatstein, Bad Hofgastein (Austria) 852.59
|
|
|
This event had the support of the EUROPEAN UNION |
 |
 |
 |
 | What experience is there of applying the so-called VOWA rule? (= the rule stipulating how qualitative elements such as shortening of working time, time off for studies or training, etc, are calculated in order to assess the total value of the negotiated package). |
| Should negative wage drift be taken into consideration in the VOWA calculation? |
| Since the coordination rule stipulates that the maximum of paid overtime hours should not exceed 100 hours a year, is there a system in place to assess how this rule is being followed? |
| What is the state of play for temporary agency workers and how is that issue being dealt with at European level? |
| How can the implementation of the coordination rule be assessed in countries where collective agreements are negotiated at company or workplace level and where there are no sectoral national agreements? |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The following national collective bargaining systems were presented:
 | Czech Republic, presented by Zdenek Dobiáš, OS KOVO |
| Germany, presented by Thomas Müller, IG Metall |
| Finland, presented by Aki Ojankangas, Finnish Metal Workers' Union |
| United Kingdom, presented by Matthew Ball, Community |
| Austria, presented by Reinhard Altenhof, GMTN |
The participants discussed the obstacles and opportunities for implementing the EMF collective bargaining policy in their national bargaining rounds.
Chantal Caron presented the role and the functions of the EMF Company Policy Committee, the state of play of the revision of the EWC directive and the role of the EWC coordinators. She also explained the outcome of negotiating some agreements on workers' involvement in SEs (companies under the European Company Statute) and introduced the EMF Handbook about dealing with cross-border restructuring at European level. In recent years, several MNCs had shown an interest in negotiating agreements covering the workforce in several countries. EMF had developed a specific policy setting transparent rules on how mandates can be given for this type of negotiations (presentation available in the “documents” section on this website).
In transnational groups the participants discussed how to handle various cases of cross-border restructuring from different perspectives, trying to define how an effective coordination between trade unions, local representation bodies, EWCs and the EMF could be organised.
There is a huge amount of information available on the Web that can be useful for trade union officers. Gustav Zöhrer, GMTN, a member of the EMF Company Policy Committee and the Industrial Policy Committee, showed how affiliates could follow the legislative process at EU level with a view to influencing it where necessary.
This site was last updated 06/12/08
