43 Amendments of Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ related to 2023/2536(RSP)
Amendment 1 #
Citation 3
— having regard to Articles 12, 15, 16, 21, 23, 27, 28, 30, 31 and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
Amendment 3 #
Citation 7
— having regard to International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No 98 concerning the right to organise and collective bargaining, No 135 concerning protection and facilities to be afforded to workers’ representatives in the undertaking (the Workers’ Representatives Convention) and No 154 concerning the Collective Bargaining Convention,
Amendment 4 #
Citation 8 a (new)
— having regard to the European Social Partners’ framework agreement on digitalisation,
Amendment 5 #
Citation 8 b (new)
Amendment 6 #
Citation 16 a (new)
— having regard to the Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation on strengthening social dialogue in the European Union (COM(2023) 38 final),
Amendment 19 #
Recital A
A. whereas social partnershipdialogue and collective bargaining between trade unions and representatives of employers at national level and social dialogue atcompany, sectoral, national and EU level are key aspects of the European social model, whose shared legacy of 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 22 #
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas well-functioning social dialogue between autonomous social partners is crucial to find balanced solutions to the challenges of today and tomorrow, by adjusting to the changes in the world of work in a way that benefits both workers and employers, as demonstrated inter alia by the existing framework agreements between the European social partners on active ageing and on digitalisation, as well as the ongoing negotiations on telework and the right to disconnect; whereas social dialogue have also proven necessary in times of unexpected crises, such as adaptation of working conditions during the pandemic; whereas social dialogue plays an important role in providing active support to workers transitioning to new jobs in anticipating skills needs by addressing structural change as well as strengthening Member States’ resilience;
Amendment 24 #
Recital A b (new)
A b. whereas the success of social dialogue heavily depends on the social partners’ ability to negotiate freely based on a complex set of rules and practices, which are often established in national legal systems and traditions; whereas this requires the national and European legislators to rely on the social partners’ ability to work for good conditions in the labour market, while at the same time requiring the social partners to take this responsibility seriously and find compromises that address their respective interests, also benefitting society as a whole;
Amendment 30 #
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 in some Member States over the past 30 years, with anhereas the estimated drop in EU average coverage has dropped from about 66 % in 2000 to about 56 % in 201811, owing to labour market reforms in many Member States that decentralisedcollective bargaining systems, the rise of precarious forms of employment and bogus self-employmentwith contributing factors including the decline in trade union membership, regulatory changes in a number ofcollective bargaining practices and processes12a, particularly with regard to the extension of collective agreements, shifting functional hierarchies and the growing importance of company-based bargaining processes;whereas it is important to note that the situation varies greatly between Member States; whereas in most 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. 12a Rodriguez Contreras, Ricardo; Molina, Oscar, 'Moving with the times: Emerging practices and provisions in collective bargaining', Eurofound Publications, August 2022.
Amendment 43 #
Recital C
C. whereas European workers and employers are currently facing major challenges stemming from the consequences of the pandemic and, since 24 February 2022, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine; whereas these events have shown a pressing need for broader and stronger participation by social partners, especially if the green and digital transitions to a sustainable, fair and social future for the EU are to be achieved; whereas workers or their representatives have the right to be informed and consulted in good time on matters relevant to them, in particular on the transfer, restructuring and merger of undertakings and on collective redundanciesin order to harness the opportunities of a sustainable and fair green and digital transition;
Amendment 48 #
Recital D
D. whereas democracy at work plays a key role in strengthening human rights in the workplace and society, in particularfor example when workers’ representatives, including trade unions, are actively involved in businesses’ due diligence processes; whereas sustainable corporate governance can only be achieved with employee involvement; whereas workemployee involvement at the appropriate level contributes to sustainable corporate governance; whereas social partners’ voices armust be a key component of EU initiatives to ensure sustainable andility, democratic corporate governance and due diligence on human rights, includingcy and a fair transition, 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 55 #
Recital E
E. whereas Principle 8 of the European Pillar of Social Rights states that social partners should be consulted on the design and implementation of economic, employment and social policies, according to national practices; whereas social partners are also encouraged to negotiate and conclude collective agreements on matters relevant to them, while safeguarding their autonomy and the right to collective action; whereas workers or their representatives have the right to be informed and consulted in good time on matters relevant to them, in particular on the transfer, restructuring and merger of undertakings and on collective redundancies; whereas the Porto Social Commitment called on all relevant actors to promote autonomous social dialogue as a structuring component of the European social model and to strengthen it at the European, national, regional, sectoral and company levels, with particular emphasis on ensuring an enabling framework for collective bargaining within the various models that exist across the Member States;
Amendment 59 #
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 employee as well as limitations on the social partners’ freedom to autonomously negotiate and find compromises through collective bargaining; whereas the latter can manifest not only through explicit restrictions to social dialogue itself but through other types of legislation that limits the social partners’ room for manoeuvre in autonomous collective bargaining; whereas in accordance with Article 9 of the ESF+ regulation, Member States must ensure meaningful participation of the social partners in the delivery of employment, education and social inclusion policies supported by the ESF+ strand under shared management; whereas all Member States must allocate an appropriate amount of ESF+ resources, and where they have received related country-specific recommendations this shall be at least 0.25%, to capacity building of the social partners, including in the form of training, networking measures, and strengthening of the social dialogue, and to activities jointly undertaken by the social partners;
Amendment 68 #
Recital G
G. whereas collective bargaining refers to all negotiations that take place according to national law and practice in each Member State between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the one hand, and one or more trade unions on the other, to determine working conditions and terms of employment; whereas a trade union is understood to be a group of workers formed to further and defend workers’ interests, under national law and/or practice; whereas an employers’ organisation is an organisation whose membership consists of individual employers, other associations of employers or both, constituted to further and defend the interests of its members, under national law and/or practice; whereas in line with the Workers’ Representatives Convention, which has been ratified by 24 Member States, workers’ representatives can be persons who are: (i) recognised as such under national law or practice, whether or not they are trade union representatives, namely, representatives designated or elected by trade unions or by members of such unions; or (ii) elected representatives, namely, representatives who are freely elected by the workers of the undertaking in accordance with relevant provisions of national laws or regulations or of collective agreements and whose functions do not include activities that are recognised as the exclusive prerogative of trade unions in the country concerned; whereas when both trade union representatives and elected representative exists in the same undertaking, elected representatives should not to be used to undermine the position of the trade unions concerned or their representatives, in particular as regards collective bargaining ,which is the prerogative of the trade union;
Amendment 70 #
Recital G a (new)
G a. whereas in line with the Workers’ Representatives Convention, which has been ratified by 24 Member States, workers’ representatives can be persons who are: (i) recognised as such under national law or practice, whether or not they are trade union representatives, namely, representatives designated or elected by trade unions or by members of such unions; or (ii) elected representatives, namely, representatives who are freely elected by the workers of the undertaking in accordance with provisions of national laws or regulations or of collective agreements and whose functions do not include activities that are recognised as the exclusive prerogative of trade unions in the country concerned; whereas when both trade union representatives and elected representative exists in the same undertaking, elected representatives should not to be used to undermine the position of the trade unions concerned or their representatives and to encourage co-operation on all relevant matters between the elected representatives and the trade unions concerned and their representatives;
Amendment 72 #
Recital H
H. whereas the enabling conditions for a well-functioning social dialogue are: (i) the existence of strong, independent trade unions and technical capacity in employers’ organisations; (ii) technical capacity, (iii) access to relevant information to participate in social dialogue; (iiiv) a commitment from all parties to engage in social dialogue; (iv) respect for the fundamental rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining; and (vi) appropriate institutional support, (vii) adaptation to the digital age and promotion of collective bargaining in the new world of work; (viii) allowing independent social partners to negotiate and conclude collective agreements autonomously without undue political intervention;
Amendment 81 #
Recital I
I. whereas strong collective bargaining, in particular at sectoral or cross-industry level, contributes to quality jobs; whereas trade unions, workers’ representation and participation and collective bargaining coverage are essential for the enforcement of workers’ rights and can contribute to the proper functioning of companies; whereas action is neededone of the aims of social dialogue is to ensure a balance of bargaining power between employers and trade unions, which can be improved by strengthening democracy at work;
Amendment 88 #
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 critical role in achieving bettera high standard of working conditions;
Amendment 95 #
Recital M a (new)
M a. whereas according to Article 153 TFEU, the Union shall ‘support and complement the activities of the Member States’ in a number of fields concerning employment and social policy; whereas Article 155 permits the social partners to conduct ‘dialogue at Union level’ which, if they desire, can ‘lead to contractual relations, including agreements;
Amendment 98 #
Recital O
O. whereas it is necessary for social partners to adapt and expand their outreach in order to connect to workers engaging in for example non- standard forms of work or in new forms of employment suffer from, where such workers often experience a lack of representation; whereas the emergence of new forms of employment marequires a change of approach and mind-set amongst social partners to ensure that they remain open to, and can attract, workers with difficult for trade unions to recruit new memberserent employment contracts and statuses across all sectors such as solo self-employed or labour migrants; whereas it is crucial that this approach ensures inclusion and diversity in social partners’ membership and leadership, recognising that today’s world of work is globalised and intercultural;
Amendment 104 #
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that social dialogue and, including collective bargaining contribute to the social market economy, one of the aims of the Treaty of Lisbon, is a crucial and beneficial tool for a well- functioning social market economy, driving economic and social resilience, competitiveness, stability and sustainable and inclusive growth and development; 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 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 dialogucontractual freedom and total legitimacy in their achievements towards progress on collective agreement coverage;
Amendment 111 #
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Highlights that social dialogue is a key aspect of democracy in the design and implementation of policies and laws affecting those they represent, namely workers and employers, which in turn is an essential part of the principle of subsidiarity;
Amendment 113 #
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1 c. Stresses in particular the need to support national social partners to build capacity including through supportive measures such as training and provision of expertise and to adapt their activities to the digital age and explore new activities and measures to respond to the green and digital transitions as well as demographic change and new labour market conditions;
Amendment 114 #
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1 d. Recalls the importance of promoting gender equality and equal opportunities for all, including persons with disabilities and labour migrants in relation to representation as well as horizontally across all policy areas;
Amendment 116 #
Paragraph 2
2. Urges the Commission to support and monitor the implementation of itsthe recommendation at national and Union level, jointly with the Member States and relevant social partners; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that thissuch monitoring allows social partners to, among other things, identify situations from which they have been excluded or in which they were inadequately involved in national-level consultations on Union and national policy, including access to justice and the right to redress; stresses that any type of monitoring must also safeguard the social partners’ freedom and ability to negotiate in a constructive manner that benefits both sides, where negotiations are conducted in a bipartite format;
Amendment 121 #
Paragraph 3
3. Believes that freedom of assembly and association and workers’ rights to organise, to collective union representation and to collectively call for reforms within their workplaces are fundamental aspects of the European project and core principles of the European social model, which have been affirmed and legally upheld by the EU institutionsCommission, the Member States and social partners respectively;
Amendment 125 #
Paragraph 4
4. Is concerned that the density of employers’ organisations and trade unions is declining across allmany Member States; warns that the decrease in collective bargaining coverage is not onpartly due to the decline in trade union density, but also toto some extent the lack of representation within employers’ organisation and employers’ lack of involvement and willingness to participate in collective bargainings; suggests that in order to turn this negative trend around and promote collective bargaining, a shift in approach is needed that adapts to the new realities in the world of work and continues to promote a culture of compromise and collaboration but also inclusion and diversity; believes that one way for social partners to remain attractive to new members and thus increase organisational density, is to make sure their outreach is inclusive, socially sustainable and open-minded, including towards groups outside the traditional membership such as the solo self-employed or labour migrants including from third countries;
Amendment 136 #
Paragraph 5
5. Urges the Member States to take note of the fact that both mutual recognition of social partners and the statutory recognition of trade unions and employers’ organisations by the authorities of each Member State are key to a successful collective bargaining framework, provided employers and workers are able to choose freely which organisation(s) will represent them; stresses that such statutory recognition is open and transparent on the basis of objective representativeness criteria established in consultation with employers’ organisations and trade unions;
Amendment 141 #
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to meaningfully involve and consult withe social partners oin economic,a timely manner in the design and implementation of social and employment policies, and decision-making in open processwhere relevant, economic policies, including the European Semester process;
Amendment 144 #
Paragraph 7
7. CRecalls on the Commission and the Member States, along withat Member States’ collective bargaining coverage rates vary significantly owing to a number of factors, including national tradition and practice as well as historical contexts which must be taken into account while striving for progress towards higher collective bargaining coverage; encourages the social partners, to commit to reaching collective bargaining coverage of 90 % by 2030develop innovative approaches to increase collective bargaining coverage rates, including by extending memberships to all types of workers, including those with different employment contracts and statuses such as the solo self-employed; calls on the Commission and the Member States, to support the efforts of social partners in this regard through removing institutional and legal barriers to well- functioning collective bargaining, 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 157 #
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Member States to review and repeal any national legislation that hampers collective bargaining, including any legislation that inhibiarbitrarily restricts trade unions’ access to workplaces for the purpose of organising; 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 collec including by supporting the capacity-building of social partners, making sure employment related initiatives agreements concluded at a higher level are restricted to situations in which those derogations are needed to maintain quality employmentllow for independent and equal national social partners to adapt, complement or deviate from legislation by way of collective agreements as long as the aims of adopted legislative acts is still fulfilled;
Amendment 163 #
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Calls on the Commission to review the impact of employment and social policies and legislation at Union level on promotion and support of social dialogue and collective bargaining, in particular as regards their implementation in the Member States and the involvement of the social partners, as well as the added value of EU initiatives in this regard compared with existing national law or practices;
Amendment 170 #
Paragraph 9
Amendment 171 #
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Stresses the need for the Commission and the Member States to improve the scope and relevance of data collection at Union and national level on social dialogue in particular collective bargaining; calls for comprehensive and comparable data, disaggregated by sector, to include inter alia the rate of solo self- employed covered by collective agreements, the number of collective agreements concerning measures to address the green and digital transitions, skills and labour market shortages and the profile of the workers covered by such agreements;
Amendment 173 #
Paragraph 10
10. Is concerned about the fact that some workers taking part in new forms of work do not enjoyAcknowledges that new and non- standard forms of work will require new types of effective representation orand participation rights in the workplace; deplores the fact that this is the case, in particular, for sectors where the majority of workers are women, innovative approaches and inclusive outreach; 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 arewarns that union-busting is 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 181 #
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Recalls the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) Action Plan targets that at least 60% of all adults should participate in training annually and that at least 80% of those aged 16-74 should have basic digital skills; stresses the crucial role social partners can play in reaching these targets and addressing skills and labour shortages, particularly in regions most affected by the green and digital transitions; recalls that social partners should be consulted in tripartite discussions on reskilling, upskilling, VET and lifelong learning policies; encourages the social partners to address re- and up- skilling as well as digital skills and literacy through social dialogue on training policies;
Amendment 183 #
Paragraph 11
11. Calls for the EU industrial strategy to ensure that the jobs of tomorrow are nbot onlyh green, but above all decent, well paid and based on and decent, ensuring adequate remuneration and 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 applicablefor the creation of quality jobs, the promotion of collective bargaining and respect for collective agreements; urges the Commission and the Member States to enforce the requirementssure that companies receiving public support must avoid redundancies and the worsening of working conditions and that, under the EU industrial plan, undertakings must respect collective bargaining and information and consultation processes with unions on investments, restructuring and any reforms;
Amendment 198 #
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 inwhich requires Member States to ensure that in the performance ofpublic contracts to requireeconomic operators and subcontractors to fullyrespect workers’right to collective bargaining and to set condicomply with applicable obligations forin the full implementation of the applicable sectoralcollective 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 ields of environmental, social and labour law established by Union law, national law, collective agreements or by applicable international environmental, social and labour law provisions includingrespect for theright to organise andcollective bargaining; and calls for this revision to exempt all social and welfare services from procurement obligations and to establish a European exclusion mechanism to excludeon social partners to enhance their efforts in making sure that economic operators are bound bycollective agreements; calls on the Member States to make sure their judicial systems have sufficient capacity to exercise their authority and addressprimary 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).
Amendment 206 #
Paragraph 14
14. Reiterates its call on the Commission to propose a new directive on a general framework for workers’ information, consultation and participation for European companies, including subcontracting chains and franchises, and for companies that use European company mobility instruments, in order to establish minimum standards, including on anticipation of change and restructuring, in particular at company level; reiterates its call for a revision offor a revision of the European Works Council Directive with a view to clarifying its objectives, definitions and procedures, strengthening the right of employee representatives to information and consultation, particularly during restructuring processes; stresses the need to ensure the Eupropean Works Council Directive to ensure, inter alia, proper enforcement, access to justice and effective sanctions for violations of the rules and to improve the functioning of the special negotiating body, including by creatr functioning of undertakings and the capacity of their management to make decisions in an efficient and timely manner; underlines the importance of enhancing a transnational information and consultation process, which should be properly conducted and completed before any decisions are takenparency and workers’ rights to information and consultation in all types of companies, in a way the benefits both the employees and the employer; stresses that this is precisely the purpose of proper functioning social dialogue;
Amendment 216 #
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes the fact that the Commission communication on social dialogue states that the Commission will appoint a social dialogue coordinator in each Commission service to get a better understanding of social dialogue across the institution; is concerned that, wi, as was previously proposed by the social partners themselves; stresses, however, that the social partners have the best understanding of social dialogue and should therefore be preferred as candidates for this coordinator role, for example throut a cleargh secondments from national social partners in the Member States, which can help clarify the mandate on what their roles, rights and responsibilities entail, these coordinators will have an insufficientin order to have the desired impact; suggests that the Commission involve these social dialogue coordinators in all employment-related aspects and effects of EU regulations and policymaking, beyond the scope of Article 153 TFEU;
Amendment 224 #
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the Member States to ratify and implement all ILO core conventions, including particular No 155 concerning Occupational Safety and Health and the Working Environment and No 187 concerning the promotional framework for occupational safety and health, which have both been recently designated as ILO core conventions and which have not yet been ratified by all Member States; calls on the Commission to encourage the Member States to ratify and implement all the ILO core conventions;
Amendment 227 #
Draft motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
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 in accordance with national law and/or practice, including conciliation, mediation and arbitration services with the agreement of both parties, 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 dismantlemaintain those services to guarantee a similar level of protection for all workers and employers within the national territory;
Amendment 236 #
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;cCalls 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 actionto 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).