Activities of Elżbieta RAFALSKA related to 2023/2536(RSP)
Plenary speeches (1)
Strengthening social dialogue (debate)
Amendments (21)
Amendment 21 #
Recital A
A. whereas social partnershipdialogue and collective bargaining between trade unions and representatives of employers at national level and social dialogue at EU level are key aspects of the European social model,; whose shared legacy ofereas social dialogue, workers’ participation, collective bargaining, employee representation on boards, health and safety representation and tripartite system are the building blocks of a diverse and economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future that will contribute to better and more inclusive EU growth;
Amendment 28 #
Recital B
B. whereas collective bargaining at the sectoral and cross-industry levels came under pressure in some Member States in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis; whereas the share of workers covered by collective agreements has declined significantly over the past 30 years, with an estimated drop in EU average coverage from about 66 % in 2000 to about 56 % in 201811, owing todue to various factors such aslabour market reforms in many Member States that decentralised collective bargaining systems, the rise of precarious forms of employment and bogus self- employment; whereas in some Member States the existing regulations on collective bargaining are no longer in line with current reality;whereas those regulations were drawn up based on large workplaces with a large number of employees, whereas smaller businesses now prevail;whereas inmost Member States, collective bargaining covering rates tend to be higher for employees on permanent contracts and for those working in larger companies; _________________ 11 Visser, Jelle, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies, ‘Database on Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts’, Version 6.1, November 2019.
Amendment 50 #
Recital D
D. whereas democracy at work plays a key role in strengthening human rights in the workplace and society, in particular when workers’ representatives, including trade unions, are actively involved in business due diligence processes; whereas sustainable corporate governance can only be achieved with employee involvement; whereas worksocial partners’ voices are a keyn important component of EU initiatives to ensure sustainable and democratic corporate governance and due diligence on human rights, including with regard to labour, and on climate change and the environment, as well as EU initiatives to reduce the use of unfair practices, such as labour exploitation and unfair competition in the single market;
Amendment 62 #
Recital F
F. whereas some Member States are ensuring an enabling framework for social dialogue, while in some other Member States, social dialogue is under pressure for reasons including ineffective consultation procedures, a lack of capacity and strict representational criteria; whereas the EU regulatory landscape in the field of employment law and company law remains excessively fragmented, which could result in a lack of legal certainty on applicable rules and rights for both employers and employeesis diverse;
Amendment 83 #
Recital K
K. whereas the Council, in its conclusions of 24 October 2019 entitled ‘The Future of Work: the European Union promoting the ILO Centenary Declaration’, encouraged the Member States to continue their efforts to ratify and effectively implement the ILO conventions; whereas the Council also called on the Member States and the Commission to enhance social dialogue at all levels, including cross-border cooperation, in order to ensure the active participation of social partners in shaping the future of work and achieving social justice and shared prosperity;
Amendment 89 #
Recital L
L. whereas social dialogue and collective bargaining are key instruments for employers and trade unions to use to establish fair wages and working conditions; whereas strong collective bargaining systems increase Member States’ resilience in times of economic crisis; whereas societies with strong collective bargaining systems tend to be wealthier and more equal; whereas the right to collective bargaining is an issue that concerns all European workers and that can also have crucial implications for democracy and the rule of law, including respect for fundamental social rights; whereas collective bargaining is a European fundamental right and the EU institutions are bound to respect it by Article 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU; whereas in this context, policies that respect, promote and strengthen collective bargaining and the position of workers in wage-setting systems play a criticaln important role in achieving better working conditions;
Amendment 102 #
Recital O
O. whereas workers engaging in non- standard forms of work or in new forms of employment suffer from a lack of representationdo not enjoy the same range of representation as standard forms of work; whereas the emergence of new forms of employment makes it difficultposes challenges for trade unions to recruit new members;
Amendment 110 #
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that social dialogue and collective bargaining contribute to the social market economy, one of the aims of the Treaty of Lisbon; reiterates that, in line with the Treaties, which explicitly protect the autonomy of social partners and the self-regulatory systems in place in some Member States, social dialogue must be protected in order for social partners to regulate themselves autonomously, ensuring total legitimacy and striving for strong progress on collective agreement coverage; welcomes the Commission proposal for a Council recommendation on strengthening social dialogue in the EU; stresses that social dialogue at national and Union level needs to be further improved and that more efforts are needed to support collective bargaining coverage and prevent social partners’ membership and organisational density from decreasing; regrets, however, that the proposal does not lay out any sustainable solutions for organising and financing sectoral social dialogue committees; calls on the Commission to maintain its logistical support for sectoral social dialogue committees and to increase its financial, legal and political support; calls on the Commission to continue supporting and closely monitoring sectoral social dialogue in order to ensure alignment between committees and that social dialogue can make a significant contribution to EU policies; strongly urges the Commission to come up with new proposals that fully respect social partners’ autonomy and avoid severely devaluing European sectoral social dialogue;
Amendment 152 #
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States, along with social partners, to commit to reachingimproving the collective bargaining coverage of 90 % by 2030by promoting advantages of active participation in the workplace, with a view to improving living and working conditions in the Union, contributing to upward social convergence, fighting in- work poverty and social exclusion and reducing wage inequality;
Amendment 154 #
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Member States to repeal any national legislation that hampers collective bargaining, including any legislation that inhibits trade unions’ access to workplaces for the purpose of organisadopt legislation promoting social dialogue and collective bargaining; calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote sectoral- level collective bargaining as an important instrument to increase collective agreement coverage, making sure that derogations from collective agreements concluded at a higher level are restricted to situations in which those derogations are needed to maintain quality employment;
Amendment 165 #
Paragraph 9
9. Underlines that reforms in the Member States should not negatively affect collective bargaining and that collective bargaining needs to be promoted also at sectoral level, including by supporting the capacity- building of social partners, which could be particularly beneficial for workers performing their jobs in new forms, such as through platforms, as those forms do not provide a union- friendly environment and the workers often provide work through more than one platform; stresses that labour market reforms at national level must contribute to implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights, including Principle 8 thereof on social dialogue and the involvement of workers, as well as collective bargaining, respect for the autonomy of social partners and the rights to collective action and to be informed and consulted in good time on the transfer, restructuring and merging of undertakings and on collective redundancies; calls on the Commission to analyse any labour reforms relating to these issues in the Member States’ national recovery and resilience plans;
Amendment 166 #
Paragraph 9
9. Underlines that reforms in the Member States should not negatively affect collective bargaining and that collective bargaining needs to be promoted at sectoral level, including by supporting the capacity- building of social partners; stresses that labour market reforms at national level must contribute to implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights, including Principle 8 thereof on social dialogue and the involvement of workers, as well as collective bargaining, respect for the autonomy of social partners and the rights to collective action and to be informed and consulted in good time on the transfer, restructuring and merging of undertakings and on collective redundancies; calls on the Commission to analyse any labour reforms relating to these issues in the Member States’ national recovery and resilience plans;
Amendment 174 #
Paragraph 10
10. Is concerned about the fact that some workers taking part in new forms of work do not enjoy effective representation or participation rights in the workplace; deplores the fact that this is the case, in particular, for sectors where the majority of workers are women; reiterates its call on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the right of workers to freedom of association and participation in the workplace for all forms of employment; is concerned about the growing phenomenon of company trade unions or workers’ representatives that are established or controlled by and work in the interests of the employer rather than the workers; stresses that this is particularly serious in certain sectors where the misclassification of workers and precariousness are common; warns that such company trade unions or workers’ representatives are contrary to Article 2 of ILO Convention No 98 concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organise and to Bargain Collectively and to Directive 2002/14/EC15; calls on the Commission and the Member States to, along with social partners, ensure that workers are provided with qualitative representation, permanent forms of workers' representation are not displaced by ad hoc representations without permanent structures,elections for workers’ representatives comply with the Workers’ Representatives Convention and that workers’ representatives enjoy effective protection from any prejudicial act towards them, including dismissal, based solelyon their status or activities as a workers’ representative or on their union membership or participation in union activities; _________________ 15 Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002 establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community (OJ L 80, 23.3.2002, p. 29).
Amendment 176 #
Paragraph 10
10. Is concerned about the fact that some workers taking part in new forms of work domay not enjoy effective representation or participation rights in the workplace; deplores the fact that this isit might be the case, in particular, for sectors where the majority of workers are women; reiterates its call on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the right of workers to freedom of association and participation in the workplace for all forms of employment; is concerned about the growing phenomenon of company trade unions or workers’ representatives that are established or controlled by and work in the interests of the employer rather than the workers; stresses that this is particularly serious in certain sectors where the misclassification of workers and precariousness are common; warns that such company trade unions or workers’ representatives are contrary to Article 2 of ILO Convention No 98 concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organise and to Bargain Collectively and to Directive 2002/14/EC15; calls on the Commission and the Member States to, along with social partners, ensure that elections for workers’ representatives comply with the Workers’ Representatives Convention and that workers’ representatives enjoy effective protection from any prejudicial act towards them, including dismissal, based on their status or activities as a workers’ representative or on their union membership or participation in union activities; _________________ 15 Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002 establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community (OJ L 80, 23.3.2002, p. 29).
Amendment 184 #
Paragraph 11
11. Calls for the EU industrial strategy to ensure that the jobs of tomorrow are not only green, but above all decent, well paid and based on good working conditions, including as regards health and safety at work, robust social protection and gender equality; calls on the Member States, in the context of the European Green Deal and the RePowerEU plan, to adopt and implement, in close cooperation with social partners, comprehensive and coherent policy packages to benefit all societal groups and to make optimal use of public and private funding, including social conditionalities for the creation of quality jobs with fair working conditions and good pay, the promotion of collective bargaining and respect for collective agreements; considers furthermore that all EU financial support to undertakings, including the Green Deal industrial plan programmes, should be made conditional on the undertakings’ compliance with the applicable working and employment conditions and/or employer obligations, including any applicable collective agreements; urges the Commission and the Member States to enforce the requirements that companies receiving public support must avoid redundancies and the worsening of working conditions and that, under the EU industrial plan,underlines furthermore that undertakings must respect collective bargaining and information and consultation processes with unions on investments, restructuring and any reformrelevant matters affecting working conditions;
Amendment 195 #
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Commission to strongly enforce the social clause in the existing EU Public Procurement Directive16and to revise the directive in order to further strengthen social clauses in public contracts to requireensure that economic operators and subcontractors tofully respect workers’ right to collective bargaining and to set conditions for the full implementation of the applicable sectoral collective agreements and to exclude from tenders companies that have been condemned for engaging in criminal activities or union-busting or that have refused to participate in collective bargaining;calls for this revision to exempt all social and welfare services from procurement obligations and to establish a European exclusion mechanism to exclude primary contractors and subcontractors who have repeatedly engaged in unfair competition and tax fraud; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure compliance with and monitoring and enforcement of the Public Procurement Directive; _________________ 16 Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC (OJ L 94, 28.3.2014, p. 65).; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure compliance with and monitoring and enforcement of the Public Procurement Directive;
Amendment 204 #
Paragraph 14
Amendment 214 #
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to establish the necessary conditions and requirements to have at least 80 % ofsupport corporations coveraged by sustainable corporate governance agreements by 2030, including by establishing strategies agreed on with workers in order to positively influence environmental, social and economic development through governance practices and market presence, improve directors’ accountability as regards integrating sustainability into corporate decision- making and promote corporate governance practices that contribute to company sustainability, such as those related to, inter alia, corporate reporting, board remuneration, the maximum wage ratio, board composition and stakeholder involvement;
Amendment 220 #
Paragraph 17
Amendment 226 #
Paragraph 18
18. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the proper functioning of individual and collective labour dispute settlement systems, as recommended by various ILO conventions and recommendations, including conciliation, mediation and arbitration services, which should have simplified procedures and enough resources available to assist both workers and employers and which should be free of charge and expeditious; calls on the Member States with decentralised labour mediation services to ensure that regional authorities cannot dismantle those services to guarantee a similarto align the level of protection for all workers and employers within the national territory;
Amendment 235 #
Paragraph 20
20. Highlights that recital 35 of Directive (EU) 2019/212117states that ‘[i]n certain circumstances, the right of companies to carry out a cross-border operation could be used for abusive or fraudulent purposes, such as for the circumvention of the rights of employees, social security payments or tax obligations, or for criminal purposes’; considers it essential, in this regard, to adequately define ambitious EU minimum standards for information, consultation, board-level representation and the participation of workers when companies restructure across borders; calls on the Commission, in the context of its forthcoming evaluation of Directive (EU) 2019/2121, to take account of existing good practices and the results of studies on and assessments of the positive socioeconomic effects and consequences of employee representation in corporate bodies, while also amending existing directives on this issue, which could help improve corporate governance;calls on the Commission to develop initiatives to raise awareness and improve knowledge of national and EU rules governing employee representation in corporate bodies in the various Member States and to foster the exchange of best practices, including assessing the different forms of worker participation and their socioeconomic effects;reiterates that several EU legal acts concerning workers’ board-level representation rights do not establish minimum requirements for board-level representation in EU companies in their various forms or for companies that use EU company legal instruments to enable cross-border company mobility and legal reorganisation, including cross-border mergers, conversions and divisions; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take urgent and decisive action to ensure that EU companies respect workers’ information, consultation and participation rights and that, accordingly, they comply with existing EU and national legal obligations; _________________ 17 Directive (EU) 2019/2121 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 as regards cross-border conversions, mergers and divisions (OJ L 321, 12.12.2019, p. 1).