Suez: Agreement on the establishment of the European Works Council within the Suez group

Following the takeover bid launched by the Veolia group for its competitor Suez, the Suez group’s European perimeter is now smaller, though it remains independent. The group, which now has 40,000 employees (end 2022), embarked on a negotiation in September 2022 to revise its European Works Council Agreement, concluded in 2013, with a view to “amending the obsolete provisions of the agreement, while at the same time keeping to the spirit” of the original agreement as far as possible. In the introductory section of the new agreement, which was signed on 22 November 2022, the parties point out that “social dialogue can enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of decisions taken by management, by allowing employee representatives to know and understand the reasons why these decisions were taken, and to put forward proposals to supplement or enhance them”. The agreement contains a significant clause dealing with transnational issues and in particular “matters concerning a subsidiary company located outside France that either come under a decision taken by the dominant company or are a direct consequence of one of the directions taken by the group, and which are important for European staff in terms of the extent of their potential effects or involve a transfer of activities between Member States”. EWC secretary Christine Chiffre explains: “This enables us to include within the scope of the council’s competence, projects undertaken in a single country that could be based in other countries”. The group’s 5,000 British employees will continue to be covered by the agreement. The agreement further stipulates that management “can also pass on to the EWC any information that it sees fit, regarding the group’s global strategy”, thus going beyond the confines of its European perimeter. Compared to the previous text, the new agreement reduces the workforce threshold required to qualify for a member on the European Works Council, from 250 to 100 employees. The number of working parties is cut from four to two: there will be a permanent working party on occupational health and safety and another temporary working party, whose task will be to work on a topic selected by the EWC. The EWC is currently made up of 15 full members, and it has a select committee staffed by four members, which will meet six times a year. The agreement provides for two plenary meetings per year.