20 Amendments of Sylvie BRUNET related to 2021/2005(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
— having regard to the Commission proposal of 14 March 2012 for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges and related measures (Women on Boards Directive);
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 32 a (new)
Citation 32 a (new)
— having regard to the fourth Eurofound European Company Survey of 13 October 2020 on Workplace practices unlocking employee potential;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the voice of workers is a key element of the European Social Model, whose shared legacy of social dialogue, workers’ participation, collective bargaining, employee representation on boards, promotion of occupational health and safety representation, and tripartism are the building blocks of a diverse, economically and socially sustainable future;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas democracy at work plays a key role in strengthening human rights in the workplace and society, not least when trade unions and workers’ representatives are actively involved in business due diligence processes; whereas more democracy at work as well as increased transparency in big corporations would be an effective way of addressing the inequalities at work and in society;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas workers’ participation, collective bargaining coverage and unionisation are declining across the EU; whereas Eurofound reported that fewer than one-third (31%) of companies in the EU facilitated the regular direct participation of employees in organisational decision-making in 2019;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas trade unions and workers’ representatives have played a key role in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the workplace, from the introduction of measures to protect the health and safety of workers, notably essential workers in highly exposed workplaces, to the implementation of job retention schemes such as short-time work and new forms of work organisation like working from home; whereas the COVID- 19 pandemic has aggravated pre-existing gender inequalities on the labour market and widened the gender gap in labour force participation;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas technological developments, the transition to a low carbon economy and the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic provide an opportunity to transition workplaces to high-involvement forms of work organisation at all levels;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas sustainable corporate governance can only be achieved with employee involvement; whereas the economic model baseda mere focus on the short-term ‘shareholder value’ principle has failed to encouragemight hamper long-term investment in human capital and proper respect for human rights and, in particular, for the participation rights of trade unions and workers during past crises20 ; the environment. __________________ 20Rapp, M. S., Wolff, M., Udoieva, I., Hennig, J. C., ‘Mitbestimmung im Aufsichtsrat und ihre Wirkung auf die Unternehmensführung’, Hans-Böckler- Stiftung, No 424, June 2019; Ernst and Young, Study on directors’ duties and sustainable corporate governance, July 2020.
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas studies have shown that worker participation enhances productivity, innovation, work organisation, gender equality,work engagement, innovation, gender equality, and improves good work organisation and decision-making and provides alternatives to crisis-induced employment reduction22 ; __________________ 22 FitzRoy, F., Kraft, K., ‘Co- determination, Efficiency and Productivity’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 43, Issue 2, June 2005, pp. 233-247; Kraft K., Stank J., Dewenter R., ‘Co-determination and innovation’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Vol 35, Issue 1, 2011, pp. 145-172.
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the active inclusion of workers in companies’ decision-making processes will be essential to ensure the fast, substantial and sustainable policy and strategy changes required by the twin digital and green transitions, which will herald tremendous changes in the world of work; it will also lead to a better inclusion of the most vulnerable workers in the transition process towards a green and digital economy;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Commission to develop initiatives to improve familiarity with rules governing employee representation in corporate bodies in the various EU Member States and foster exchanges of best practices, assessing the different forms of worker participations and the socioeconomic effects thereof;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission to respect the agreements between European social partners at both cross-industry and sectoral level and to refrain from unilaterally deciding, in spite ofexamine the possibility to transpose, upon the joint request of those social partners, not to transpose such agreements through a generallysuch agreements in a binding Council decision;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes that through loopholes, the EU Statute for a European Company (Societas Europeae – SE) iscan inadvertently enablinge companies to circumvent national regulations, particularly on board-level employee representation; regrets the fact that the 2019 Company Law Package24 is serving to perpetuate these shortcomings rather thandoes not resolve them; notes that cross- border mergers are alsomight be used to avoid representation rights; stresses that companies use complex corporate structures and supply or subcontracting chains to circumvent social standards; __________________ 24Directive (EU) 2019/2121 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 as regards cross-border conversions, mergers and divisions (OJ L 321 12.12.2019, p. 1).
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Commission to make the necessary improvements to the frameworks regulating SEs and European Cooperative Societies and to the Company Law Package, and to amend Council Directive 2001/86/EC to introduce minimum EU rules governing employee representation, including on gender equality, on supervisory boards;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to establish the necessary conditions and requirements to ensure that at least 80 % of corporations in the EU are covered by sustainable corporate governance agreements by 203025 ; calls, to this end, for the establishment of strategies agreed with workers to positively influence environmental, social and economic development through governance practices and market presence, to strengthen the role of directors in pursuing the long-term interests of their company, to improve directors’ accountability towards integrating sustainability into corporate decision-making, and to promote corporate governance practices that contribute to company sustainability, including corporate reporting, board remuneration, a maximumincreased transparency on board remuneration, and more balanced rules on CEO-to-worker pay ratio, gender-balanced board compositions and stakeholder involvement26 ; __________________ 25Commission staff working document of 4 March 2021 accompanying its European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan (SWD(2021)0046). 26 Ibid.
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission to deliver on its commitment to put forward without further delay a directive on binding human rights and environmental due diligence and responsible business conduct, including workers’ rights such as the right to organise and collectively bargain, health and safety, social protection and working conditions; stresses that this directive should establish mandatory rules on due diligence covering companies’ activities and their business relationships, including those of supply and subcontracting chains, and should ensure the full involvement of trade unions and workers’ representatives throughout the whole due diligence process;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Is convinced that introducing and monitoring new digital technologies in the workplace successfully and in a trustworthy manner will require timely and meaningful information for and consultation with trade unions and workers’ representatives to ensure full respect for their health, safety, data protection, equal treatment and well-being at work and prevent undue exploitation and surveillance of workers, in particular via management by algorithms; emphasises that new digital technologies and artificial intelligence should not replicate existing discrimination and societal biases but should help the social inclusion and participation of diverse groups; underlines the fact that trade unions and workers’ representatives should have the necessary access and means to assess and evaluate digital technology;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Calls on the Commission to take account of the existence of good practices as well as the results of studies and assessments of the socioeconomic effects and consequences of employee representation in corporate bodies while amending existing directives affecting this issue and which can help improve corporate governance;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. States that much remains to be done to ensure gender equality in all aspects of worker participation across the EU; reiterates that gender equality and diversity in the boardrooms is a key democratic principle with positive economic side effects;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission to guarantee information and consultation rights to ensure that the European Works Council can deliver its opinion before consultation is completed at the respective level; calls on the Commission, moreover, to ensure access to justice, to put an end to exemptions for old, so-called ‘voluntary’ pre-directive agreements after more than 20 years, to introduce sanctionstrengthen reinforcement mechanisms, to consolidate the concept of the ‘transnational character of a matter’ and incorporate it into the European Works Council Directive, to prevent the abuse of confidentiality rules, and to ensure the efficient coordination of information, consultation and participation at local, national and EU levels;