Burggraaff(Allen & Overy)the market may not be God

A splendid addition to Boudewijn Berentsen’s farewell were five other speakers from his extensive network. Jan Louis Burggraaff, Take-over Specialist from Allen & Overy, the international law firm, came over especially from Italy. Berentsen and Burggraaff got to know each other in take-overs where workers had voiced their opinion from the outset. Berentsen thinks that is essential, because: “Having influence at the final stage is just not going to happen.” Burggraaff agrees completely.

The Take-over Specialist is just as unhappy with the current “corporate governance” as Berentsen, the trade unionist. Some quotes: “Anyone who did not know that the market does not distribute things properly must have noticed it in the last few months. Sixty to seventy thousand people in the financial sector decide for a billion others. But the market must not become God. It is a good servant, but a bad master. We all, perhaps from left to right, have let the capital factor become so influential that others can only speak out verbally.

Takeovers
Burggraaff has been able to convince several clients of his that workers must have the chance to say what they think of a take-over. The workers must then put all their points on the table, he stressed to his listeners. An undertaking is very vulnerable to becoming weaker and to leaks during take-overs, especially if these do not take place privately. Any attempts to score procedural points during such a process, even if these can be derived from the Works Councils Act, only worsen the position of the undertaking as a whole. “Choosing against one’s own management and commissioners is rarely effective in such a process. Being tough will not help you as a worker. You’re better off to follow the process to a certain extent and try to voice your views as part of it.

Forum
Burggraaff was already en route to Schipol when a forum sprung to life, made up of Works Council members and HR Managers who know EWCs inside out. Mathi Bouts recounted how the EWC members at Air France/KLM, himself included, are overcoming cultural differences step by step. “They are the ones who are building European cooperation”. But he also said that once he had come to an agreement with Van Wijk, KLM’s top man, not to show any cracks on the Dutch side, the minority, vis-à-vis the French partners. Bouts has his hopes set on the polder model. He thinks that it is an advantageous product to export.

With respect to the polder model, Luc Triangle, the Belgian trade unionist (ACV-CSC Métal, Europese Metaalbond) said that Dutch industrial relations, and more particular the Dutch Works Councils Act, provided a lot of possibilities. “Creating legal competences and working from these is what we should also be doing at European level.” But the Netherlands is an exception, culturally as well. It does not go without saying elsewhere in Europe that workers would take an oath of secrecy in order to be accepted as discussion partners behind the scenes. Boudewijn Berentsen added a warning about Dutch smugness when dealing with foreign colleagues. He did observe that the trenches are swapped for cooperation between employers and workers outside our countries as well. This however had nothing to do with the “polder model”, he thought. It had to do with enlightened self-interest.

In their contributions, Herna Verhagen, the Senior Vice-President Corporate HR in the postal company TNT, and Roger Muys, who is also Senior Vice-President Corporate HR at Philips Lighting, talked about professional cooperation as their leitmotiv. As an employer, Verhagen, who had been a Works Council member in the past, was responsible for an EWC agreement that served as an example to other undertakings, according to Boudewijn Berentsen. She said that she would not mind the European Directive being stepped up a little: “The situation of Dutch Central Works Councils and European Works Councils in Dutch undertakings differs too much now.” Muys stressed the role that HR Managers could play. “You get what you deserve. If you invest in an EWC, the pay-back is trust. That works for us. The boss and HR Managers hold regular discussions with worker representatives, on a pro-active basis. Are EWC paper tigers, as some claim? I think it depends on the agreement that you conclude. I think that the EWC’s possibilities help management, simply because you can come to an understanding more easily.”