IR Notes

COP26 highlights a fault line between – and even within – the various actors involved in the process: some see climate change as a remarkable opportunity to generate growth, notably by investing massively in technologies that will make civil aviation greener or capture CO2, while others emphasise the need to transform our societies, so that they cut their consumption and thus their greenhouse gas emissions. The European Commission has clearly taken up position in the first camp: its President, Ursula von der Leyen pointed out, ahead of the G20 summit and COP26, that “that you can cut emissions and prosper; you can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, you can produce in a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable way, while growing your economy.” In her view, innovation in environmentally-friendly technologies is essential to combat global warming: “innovation in clean hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels, carbon storage, carbon capture and the energy storage.” All of these technical solutions are driven by the novel partnership concluded in June this year between the Commission and the Breakthrough Energy network, founded by Bill Gates, with a view to stimulating investment in climate technology (see press release) via a fund endowed with around a billion dollars’ (820 million euros) worth of private and public financing, including those of European programmes. It is noteworthy that the European Parliament does not appear to have had anything to say about this new partnership. As far as businesses are concerned, the concept of Net Zero is fashionable: it seeks to offset the absence of implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. This article provides for mechanisms authorising each country to hold discussions on reducing emissions in order to achieve its national objective in terms of reducing emissions. If no agreement can be reached on this point, Net Zero promoters offer multinationals an alternative: “either they reduce their carbon footprint”, explains Romain Descottes, confederal adviser to the CGT (see “A question for…”, opposite), “or they offset via the creation of carbon sinks, often to countries of the South (reafforestation, carbon storage technology). Multinationals are deeply involved here, and are publishing Net Zero plans, often by undertaking to fund carbon sinks at little cost to themselves, before employee representatives have had their say”.
For their part, proponents of “degrowth”, who would like to transform society and its production models, seem more or less to be marking time, supported by those who have no immediate economic interests to defend: the young. Needless to say, those taking part in Fridays for Future, led by Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, but also the young participants in the Conference on the Future of Europe, whose ideas have been presented in a report setting out their 20 main proposals. They call on the EU to “remove all incentives to use fossil fuels, immediately”, for companies to “be sanctioned for damage to the environment” and to encourage employers to “facilitate the use of sustainable transport”. In terms of social justice, they propose establishing specific funds to “end unpaid internships”. They say they are in favour of “one fiscal system” and a federal Europe. All of these measures are intended to bring about behavioural and systemic changes, and they bear witness to the maturity of these young people.

• Pay transparency: Five MEPs from the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality are taking part, from 3 to 5 November, in a three-day mission in Reykjavik dealing with pay transparency measures and removing the gender pay gap. The MEPs point out that: “Iceland introduced in 2018 the first policy in the world that requires companies and institutions with more than 25 employees to prove that they pay men and women equally for a job of equal value” (see press release).


• Support for dismissed workers: On 28 October, the European Commission proposed that the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (see. European Globalisation Adjustment Fund) should release €5.4 million to support former workers employed by two companies in Sardinia: the airline Air Italy (611 redundancies) and the cargo shipping operations company Porto Canale (190 redundancies) (see press release).

Training outside working hours : On 28 October, the Court of Justice delivered a ruling that time spent in vocational training at the premises of a training services provider, at the employer’s request and outside the employee’s usual working hours, must be regarded as working time. The Court holds that “where a worker receives instructions from his or her employer to attend vocational training so as to be able to carry out his or her duties and, moreover, where that employer has itself signed the vocational training contract with the undertaking called upon to provide that training, it must be held that, during the periods of vocational training, that worker is at his or her employer’s disposal”. Thus the fact that the worker is “required to be physically present at the place determined by the employer and to remain available to the employer”, is “a decisive factor for finding that the elements that characterise the concept of ‘working time’ are present” (CJEU, 28 October 2021, Case C-909/19, Unitatea Administrativ Teritorială D.).

Revision of sectoral social dialogue : On 21 October, the European Commission organised its first technical seminar focusing on social partners’ contribution to EU policy-making (see. European social dialogue). Two other seminars with sectoral social partners are scheduled: on the themes of social dialogue outcomes and impact (18 November) and of social dialogue structure (9 December). The social partners’ opinions were gathered in advance through a survey. These seminars should result in a review of how sectoral social dialogue operates. This exercise forms part of a broader initiative to support social dialogue at EU and national level, which will be presented in 2022 (see Commission press release).

• Magnesium crisis: On 22 October, the IndustriAll Europe trade union federation and 11 employers’ organisations and industry associations adopted a joint statement calling on the EU’s political decision-makers to take urgent action to address the current shortage of magnesium imported from China, which “threatens thousands of businesses across Europe, their entire supply chains and the millions of jobs that rely on them” (see IndustriAll press release).
  
  > In brief: A joint contribution by European social partners in the public transport sector on the occasion of COP26.

Campaign for a just transition : Just a few days before the opening of COP26, the IndustriAll Europe trade union federation launched a huge campaign for a “just transition”, calling for a “stronger social dimension to Europe’s climate policies”, with a high level of involvement on the part of its member unions (see article and press release), especially on Twitter (see press release).

• Social services: On 27 October, the European Public Service Union (EPSU) published a study drawing the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic in the long-term care sector, and in care homes for the elderly in particular. “Since the onset of the pandemic, Europe has faced a situation of workforce exodus on an unprecedented scale, especially among the residential care workforce.” According to Eurostat, 421,000 employees left the social services sector between 2019 and 2020: this exodus has aggravated labour shortages and led to a further deterioration in working conditions (see EPSU press release).

• Tense negotiations in the metalworking industry : On 28 October, following a third fruitless negotiation meeting, the executive of the trade union confederation ÖGB gave the green light for strike action in the metalworking sector, if the negotiation meeting due to be held on 2 November fails to reach agreement. The employers are offering a 2.1% increase, whereas the PRO-GE and GPA unions are demanding 4.5% for their 190,000 metalworker members (see press release).
  
  

A quota for female company directors : On 28 October, members of the Upper House of the French Parliament (the Senate) voted in favour of a bill establishing a quota for the representation of each sex among the senior executives and directors of companies employing at least 1,000 people (see text adopted by the Senate). Under Article 7 of the bill, “the proportion of senior executives and company directors of each sex shall not be lower than 30%”. This figure is then due to rise to 40%, eight years after the law comes into force. Companies that fail to meet these quotas will be liable to pay a financial penalty of up 1% of their wage bill. The bill now has to be passed by a joint committee with equal representation of members of both Chambers of Parliament.

• Returning to the Workplace : On 22 October, the government published the revised Work Safely Protocol, which reiterates the importance of taking basic measures  (ventilation, wearing masks, social distancing, etc.), while at the same time preparing for a return to physical presence in the workplace. This return “should continue to take place on a phased and cautious basis appropriate to each sector and for specific business requirement” (see press release).

A quota for women on management bodies : On 29 September, the Senate passed a new law containing two measures to promote greater diversity on companies’ management boards: 1/ a quota covering appointments to the supervisory boards of companies listed on the stock exchange, which is intended to help ensure that men and women each occupy at least one third of the seats on a company’s supervisory board. This quota will apply to all new appointments of supervisory board members. 2/ It will become compulsory for large public and private limited liability companies to set appropriate and ambitious target ratios for enhancing gender diversity on their management boards and among their senior executives. Companies will be required to report annually on their progress. The law will enter into force on 1 January 2022. Its adoption is a positive signal in terms of unlocking a proposal for a directive that has been held up at EU level for more than seven years now.

• Climate change : On 29 October, the government presented a bill that will enshrine in law mandatory requirements for Britain’s largest companies and financial institutions to report on climate-related risks and opportunities. From 6 April 2022, over 1,300 of the largest UK-registered companies and financial institutions will have to disclose climate-related financial information, in line with recommendations from the Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosures – TCFD. Once this law has been passed by Parliament, its scope will include private companies with over 500 employees and £500 million in turnover (approx. 588 million euros) (see press release).

Auditioning rival bidders for a company : Since 30 September 2021, the secretariat of the Engie group’s EWC “has been closely involved in the process of selling” Equans (76,000 employees). This technical services subsidiary of the French energy group is valued at between 5 and 6 billion euros. Over the course of two days, on 7 and 8 October, the secretariat was, in its own words, “in an exceptional methodological context”, able to “meet and audition” the representatives of the four candidates in contention to take over the subsidiary in question. Alongside the US investment fund Bain Capital, the three other candidates – Bouygues, Eiffage and Spie –  are French industrial companies. Each bidder has thus offered their own competing guarantees to the employees who will be transferred, over and above the undertaking imposed by Engie at the time the company was put up for sale, i.e. that there would be no redundancies for a two-year period. In June this year, Engie’s management told the European Works Council about unilateral social commitments that would be binding on the future buyer”. In response, EWC members drew up “a document aimed at the bidders planning to take over the company (…), which lays down the basic requirements for a socially responsible investment” (see press release and guarantees requested). This document includes “a set of demands for social commitments aimed at reducing the risks for the future of employees, and having the future buyer adopt said demands. The goal is to reach a three-party agreement between the social partners, Equans and the future buyer, before the sale process is concluded”. After listening to what the various would-be buyers had to say, the secretariat was tasked, with support from EWC experts, with drawing up a document summarising the bids submitted. According to a press release issued by the secretariat on 28 October, “this summary document […] will be comprised of two separate documents”: one offering a ‘comparative assessment’ of the bidders’ responses to the guarantees requested, the other examining “the bidders’ plans totally objectively” and in greater detail. The secretariat has decided not to release these documents until 2 November, when the submission process for buyers’ bids will come to an end. In the summary it produced, the secretariat announced its intention “to remain objective in its analyses and to refrain from making any recommendations regarding any particular bid or bidder”.

Restructuring : On 29 October, the Schneider Electric group’s EWC sent a letter to central management, calling on it to abide by the terms of the European agreement signed in 2019, which lays down a number of minimum principles in terms of anticipating change. The secretary and the two Spanish and Italian members of the EWC’s executive committee were informed of restructuring plans affecting the company’s Medium Voltage business in Spain and Italy. However, “during the last European works council meeting”, the secretary explains in his letter, “the management refused to tell us anything about the number of employees, the timeframe and the consequences on the different sites concerned”. A board member also stated that transfers of production were envisaged between a French site and a Spanish site, to offset the loss of production moving to Hungary. Despite the transnational nature of this restructuring, which follows on from one that affected the same activities in France in 2020, management did not schedule an information and consultation exercise with the EWC, which is what the executive committee is calling for. They want management to present its medium-term (3 to 5 years) industrial strategy, so that this can be analysed in conjunction with the EWC’s economic expert.

• A new European Works Council : The Siemens Energy EWC held its constitutive meeting on 22 and 23 September, in Munich. The EWC, which has 22 members in 13 countries, elected the secretary and members of its select committee, without the participation of delegates from the United Kingdom, France, Croatia and Poland, as the appointment process had not yet been completed in these countries (see IG Metall Siemens press release).
  
  

  > Reading: the latest edition of the journal Cadres de la CFDT, which is entirely devoted to social Europe, contains an article [written in French] by Marie-Christine Lebert, national secretary of CFDT Cadres and a paid director of Worldline, emphasising how “EWCs can build an international vision of social issues”.

• Global social dialogue : At a meeting of the global union network of TK Elevator (50,000 employees), which is the former elevator division of the German group ThyssenKrupp, management stated that it was in favour of a global social dialogue, one year after signing a global framework agreement (see IndustriAll Global Union press release).

Migration : The 2021 edition of International Migration Outlook analyses recent developments in migration movements and the labour market inclusion of immigrants in OECD countries. In the 25 OECD countries with available data, on average during the 2006-18 period, the report emphasises that “immigrants contributed more in taxes and contributions than governments spend on their social protection, health and education”. The report adds that “better integration of immigrants also appears to deliver significant budgetary benefits”.