EUROPEAN WORKS COUNCILS

EUROPEAN WORKS COUNCILS

I.- TRAINING NEEDS

II.- CONTENTS AND LEVELS

III.- LEARNING PATHWAYS

IV.- COURSE MODELS

I

EUROPEAN WORKS COUNCILS TRAINING NEEDS

KNOWLEDGE (1)1. LEGAL FRAMEWORK:

1.1.- Legislation applied to EWC : Directive 94, Recast directive 2009, Articles 13/14 , National Transpositions applied.

1.2.- EWC Agreement: Good knowledge of their agreement, main elements in a good agreement, negociation, renegociation,...

1.3.- Industrial Relations Systems in the EWC countries : Differences and similarities

1.4.- Directive 2002/14 on Information and Consultation rights

1.5.- Other Directives: Directive on European Cooperative Societies, Directive on relocation of the company’s registered office,…

1.6.- 1989 Charter of Fondamental Social Rights for workers

2. COMPANY FRAMEWORK:

2.1.- Good knowledge of the structure of the company: countries, plants, subcontracting, outsourcing, offshoring, etc

2.1.- Social mapping of the company: local representation bodies, collective conventions, employment, working conditions,...

2.3.- Linking the national and European levels

2.4.- Financial and economic situation of the company

2.5.- Company and Multinational Enterprises strategies

2.6.- Health and Safety

3. TRADE UNION FRAMEWORK :

3.1.- ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation)

3.2.- ETUFs ( European Trade Union Federations)

3.3.- EWC Coordinators

3.4.- National organisations

4 . MAIN FACTORS IN EWC FONCTIONNING

4.1.- Fair use of multilingual, multicultural elements present in the EWC

4.2.- Role of this specific EWC : common aims, expectations, ...

4.3.- Good communication:

– Between members

– Members and Coordinator

– TU Members and their national organisations

– TU Members and ETUFs

– Other actors

4.4.- Effective coordination

– Role and responsabilities of ETUFs and Coordinators

– Role and responsabilities of the Selected Committee

– Role and responsabilities of EWC Members

4.5.- Effective application of the EWC Agreement

4.6.- Good response to consultation

4.7.- Tasks planning and organising

4.8.- Standard reports from all countries and plants. Continuous reporting top-down and bottom-up

4.9.- Experts support

4.10.- Good search and use of information: about all topics include in 2.1 and 2.2, company strategies, sustainability, etc.

4. 11.- Change anticipation strategies: relocations, mergers, take over, closures

4. 12.- EWC as a proposing and innovating body

KNOWLEDGE (2)

5. EWC ACTION AND TRADE UNION STRATEGIES FOR EWCs

5.1.- Monitoring of national and local information and consultation procedures and trade union rights

5.2.- EWC and sector coherence: ETUFs role, Transnational Framework Agreements,...

5.3.- National and local collective agreements

5.4.- Identification of issues that are EWC’s and/or national only

5.5.- Action Plan 

6. Topics EWCs might deal with at the European company level

 

6.1.- Financial data

6.2.- Health and Safety

6.3.- Sectoral overview and company strategies

6.4.- Vocational training

6.5.- Employees´ data protection

6.6.- Equal opportunities

6.7.- Social minimum standards ( IFA, CSR, OECD Guidelines…)

KNOWLEDGE (3)

SKILLS• Communication and interaction skills: Active listening, speaking in public, writing,

reporting, information sharing , ... • Linguistic skills: English suitable• Cross-cultural skills• Negociation skills in European contexts• Working skills: team building and working, networking, problem solving, decision

making, autonomy,..• Linking local, national and Europewide issues • Anticipating and managing the changes• Research, analytical and assessing skills, TU “eye”, (instinct, intuition)• Project elaboration and management• Strategic planning• Initiative and innovation• Integrative / participative management skills• Awareness of the different roles of the individual members at home and in the

EWC

ATTITUDES

• Acknowledgement of diversity and equity• TU values applying• Open and flexible mind• Tolerance, patience, respect, conflicts avoiding and solving (with

pairs)• Competence sharing and delegating• Finding a common systematic approach to work on a topic• Resilience • Building a common and transnational body• Unions and European Trade Union Federations strengthening

II

EUROPEAN WORKS COUNCILS TRAINING CONTENTS AND LEVELS

LEARNING CONTENTS EWC 1 EWC 2EWC 3, 4, 5…

KNOWLEDGE

1. LEGAL FRAMEWORK

1.1 Legislation applied to EWC + +

1.2 EWC Agreement + +

1.3 Employee representation systems + +

1.4 Directive 2002 on inform and consultation + +

1.5 Autres Directives: ES, site relocation... +

1.6 1989 Charter of Fondamental Social Rights +

2. COMPANY FRAMEWORK

2.1 Structure of the company + +

2.2 Social mapping of the company + +

2.3 Linking national and European issues + + +

2.4 Financial and economic situation + +

3. TRADE UNION FRAMEWORK

3.1 ETUC +

3.2 ETUFs : Role and responsabilities +

3.3 Coordinators: Role and responsabilities +

3.4 National organisations +

LEARNING CONTENTS EWC 1 EWC 2EWC 3, 4, 5…

4. EWC FUNCTIONNING

4.1 Multilinguism, multiculturalism, .... +

4.2 Good communication +

4.3 Effective coordination +

4.4 Effective application of EWC agreement + +

4.5 Good search and use of information + + +

4.6 Good response to consultation + +

4.7 Tasks planning and organising + + +

4.8 Reporting + + +

4.9 Experts support + + +

4. 10 Creating European strategies for common issues + + +

4.11 Right articulation EWC rights/national rights + + +

4. 12 Change anticipation strategies +

4. 13 EWC : proposing and innovating body +

5. EWC AND TRADE UNIONS

5.1 Monitoring national and local consultation procedures and trade union rights + +

+

5.2 EWC and sector coherence + + +

5.3 National and local collective agreements + + +

5.4 Identification of EWC and/or national issues + + +

5.5 Action plan + + +

LEARNING CONTENTS EWC 1 EWC 2EWC

3, 4, 5…

6.-OTHER EWC WORKING TOPICS

6.1.- Financial data + + +

6.2.- Health and Safety + +

6.3.- Sectoral overview and company strategies + +

6.4.- Vocational training +

6.5.- Employees´ data protection + +

6.6.- Equal opportunities + +

6.7.- Social minimum standards ( IFA, CSR, OECD Guidelines…) + + +

LEARNING CONTENTS EWC1 EWC 2EWC 3, 4, 5…

SKILLS

1. Communication and interaction skills + + +

2. Linguistic skills + + +

3. Negociation skills + + +

4. Working skills + + +

5. Striking the balance of national and European + + +

6. Research, analytical and assessing skills + + +

7. Strategic planning + + +

8. Anticipating and managing the changes + +

9. Project elaborating and managing +

10. Initiative and Innovation +

LEARNING CONTENTS EWC 1 EWC 2EWC 3, 4, 5…

ATTITUDES

1. Acknowledge of diversity and equity + + +

2. Trade union values applying + + +

3. Open and flexible mind + + +

4. Tolerance, respect, conflicts avoiding-solving + + +

5. Competence sharing and delegating + + +

6. Resilience + + +

7. Building a common transnational body + + +

8. TUs and ETUFs strengthening + + +

III

EUROPEAN WORKS COUNCILS LEARNING PATHWAYS

EUROPEAN WORKS COUNCILS LEARNING PATHWAYS

IMPROVING LANGUAGES SKILLS: ON LINE AND FACE TO FACE ENGLISH AND FRENCH COURSES

EnvironmentalIssues

Sustainability

ON LINE COURSE : EUROPEAN AND WORLDWIDE TRADE UNIONISM AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SYSTEMS

IV

COURSE MODELS

Course 1: “THE GAME RULES”

Course 2: IMPROVING THE EWC PERFORMANCE

* list of topics mentionned in the appendix to the 2009 Directive

Course 3: STRENGTHENING EWC ACTION. Creating transnational strategies for common issues

Course 4: ENLARGING EWC ACTION. CHANGE ANTICIPATION

Course 5a: INITIATIVE AND INNOVATION

Course 5b: HOW TO DO A FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF THE COMPANY