Draka: fewer EWC seats, more contact with sites

Draka has had an EWC since 2000, which meets twice yearly. In 2007 Draka’s HR Manager announced a re-negotiation. Arrangements were made in November 2008 about the EWC’s new composition. National organisations with 50 workers or less no longer have their own seat. They are represented via the Select Committee. The amount of workers and the amount of sites as well is also decisive beyond that threshold:

51-450 workers: 1 seat
>450 workers, 1 site: 1 seat
>450-900 workers, 2 or more sites: 2 seats
>900 workers, 2 or more sites: 3 seats

“This part of the agreement makes it possible for the large national organisations with two or three sites to have their own representative in the delegation that represents their country”, says Gary Slater, the Secretary of the Select Committee

The maximum amount of seats has been set at 22, and this can be re-negotiated in the event of company growth. According to the rules, the EWC currently has 19 seats. The workers from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, the Czech Republic and Sweden have one representative, the French and the British have two and the Dutch, French and Germans have three. Four national organisations (Austria, Belgium, Italy and Slovakia) are too small to get their own representative. Their workers will be represented by the Select Committee.

Communication

Moreover, an agreement was reached about arrangements between EWC members and sites within their national organisation that do not have a representative, both in the run-up to ordinary meetings as well as in the event of extraordinary meetings. With this Draka ran ahead of the recast EU Directive, which stipulates that in EWC agreements the link between the EWC and local worker participation bodies has to be regulated.

All Draka EWC members are entitled to information, communication possibilities, training, expert assistance and other facilities, per national organisation. The Secretary of the Select Committee will get secretarial support.

The Draka agreement also lays down that EWC are to receive written information about anything affecting more than one national organisation before each meeting, at any rate when there is a succession of named subjects. That list is extensive, but not restrictive. The meetings themselves take place in English for the sake of cost and efficiency. All EWC members are entitled to English classes during working hours.

The employer promises, “insofar as reasonably possible”, to wait until the EWC has been consulted before implementing plans. A reason will be provided for not abiding to this arrangement, or to the EWC opinion.

Even before the arrangements became a reality they were tested in two cases of collective redundancies in Wales and Spain. “Not very pleasant”, said Gary Slater. “But under the circumstances I was happy about the way the EWC was informed and got the opportunity to communicate with these sites.”