37 Amendments of Margarita DE LA PISA CARRIÓN related to 2021/2005(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4
Citation 4
— having regard to Articles 12, 27, 28, 30 and 31 27 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 10
Citation 10
— having regard to the study of its Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs of May 2012 on relations between company supervisory bodies and management, which proposes amending Directive 2002/14/EC on informing and generally consulting employees to include employee representatives in company boardroomsand adopting a framework directive on ‘the right to employee involvement’,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16
Citation 16
— having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 31 August 2020 on an EU legal framework on safeguarding and strengthening workers’ information, consultation and participation,(Does not affect the English version)
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas democracy in general and democracy at work in particular are core values of the European Union and provide a very solid foundation on which to strengthen Europe’s resilience and social contract; whereas these core values are also incorporated in the Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Unions one of the core values of the European Union; whereas the application of democracy to the field of work should benefit employers, workers and society in general;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas according to Article 153(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Union has a competence to support in regard to information and consultation of workers and co-determination;
Amendment 27 #
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 boardcollegial bodies such as works councils or supervisory bodies, health and safety representation, and tripartism are the building blocks of a diverse and socially sustainable future;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas according to the European Added Value Assessment of January 2021 on the review process for Directive 2009/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009, appropriate legislative and non- legislative measures need to be assessed, European Works Councils made more representative and the introduction of cross-border initiatives facilitated in a more systematic way;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas according to the study in May 2012 by the Policy Department for Citizens Rights and Constitutional Affairs on Relations between company supervisory bodies and the management, the supervisory committee’s composition and its interaction with company management differ in line with the legal, historical and cultural characteristics of the 27 Member States;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas according to the Commission Communication of 12 December 2012 entitled ‘Action Plan: European Company Law and Corporate Governance – a modern legal framework for more engaged shareholders and sustainable companies’, involvement by employees in company affairs may be connected to forms of financial participation, specifically to the possibility for workers to become shareholders;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas according to its resolution of 14 June 2012, there is a need to ‘simplify the business environment for companies, reduce unnecessary administrative burdens and enable companies to operate effectively within the single market, while ensuring appropriate protection of the interests of creditors, shareholders, members and employees’;1 __________________________ 1 P7_TA(2012)0259
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas according to its resolution of 12 September 2013 on cross-border collective bargaining and transnational social dialogue, ‘each EU Member State has its own system of industrial relations, based on different historical developments and traditions, which has to be respected and does not require harmonisation’;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D c (new)
Recital D c (new)
Dc. whereas according to the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance of 2015, ‘[t]he degree to which employees participate in corporate governance depends on national laws and practices, and may vary from company to company as well’;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D d (new)
Recital D d (new)
Dd. whereas according to Eurofound’s Third European Company Survey, dated 14 December 2015, on direct and indirect employee participation, Austria and Germany are the countries with the highest level of employee co- determination in company decision- making, while systems for employee participation in Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland and Portugal do not include co- determination;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas trade unions and workers’ representatives, employers and government, and the institution of the family 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;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas sustainable corporate governance can only be achieved with employee involvementemployee involvement is a fundamental aspect of corporate social responsibility; whereas the economic model based on the short-term ‘shareholder value’ principle has failed todoes not necessarily encourage long-term investment andnor proper respect for human rights and, in particular, for the participation rights of trade unions and workers during past crisecrisis periods20; __________________ 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 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas according to the study of the International Labour Organization (ILO) of February 2010, entitled ‘A comparative overview of terms and notions on employee participation’, ‘there is a large variety of models dealing with workers’ participation or employee involvement’ and ‘in some national systems [...] workers have the right to elect representatives to the company’s supervisory or administrative organs’;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas sustainable companies are distinguished by the fact that they have mechanisms for expressing the voice of workers and including workers’ interviews in the procests of taking strategic decisions that have an impact on the workforce and entire communities and regions21; __________________ 21 Ibid.
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas studies have shown that worker participation enhances productivity, innovation, work organisation, gender equality between men and women at work, decision-making and 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 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas according to the Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 20 March 2013 on employee involvement and participation as a pillar of sound business management and balanced approaches to overcoming the crisis, ‘due to the diversity of the situations and the different arrangements that exist at national level, it would be inadvisable and counterproductive to impose a single European model of employee participation’;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H b (new)
Recital H b (new)
Hc. whereas according to the Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 17 October 2018 on the package on European company law, the role of European Works Councils should be enhanced in the event of large company transformations according to Directive 2009/38/EC;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the active inclusion of workers in companies’ decision-making processes will be essential to ensurecan contribute to making 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;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas the Conference on the Future of Europe offers an opportunity to move beyond crisis mode and involve the EU’s citizens in shaping its future, strengthening democracy at all levels while respecting both the different corporate management models possible and the competences of the Member States;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes the rich and interlocking network of workers’ participation at workplaces across the entire Union, from workers and trade union representatives elected by and from the workforce at the local level, to cross-site works councils in more complex companies, to dedicated health and safety representation, and employee representation onthrough staff representatives, works councils and companies’ supervisory or administrative boards;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Acknowledges the different legal frameworks for board-level worker participation in supervisory bodies in 18 EU Member States and Norway; highlights that the scope and intensity of worker participation in company boardrooms varies greatly;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Is convinced that the workers’ voice must be a key component of EU initiatives to ensure sustainable corporate governance and due diligence on human rightsmatters that affect them;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes that through loopholes, the EU Statute for a European Company (Societas Europeae – SE) is inadvertently enabling companies to circumvent national regulations, particularly on SE board-level employee representation; regrets the fact that the 2019 Company Law Package24 is servingbeing used at times to perpetuate these shortcomings rather than resolve them; notes that cross- border mergers are also used at times to avoid representation rights; stresses that some 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 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Regrets the factProposes that the 2019 Company Law Package failed to adequately define a high EU standard for information, consultation and workers’ board-level representationbe analysed in order to ascertain whether it is attaining an effective EU standard for information, consultation and workers’ representation through staff representatives, works councils, boards of directors or supervisory boards in cases where companies restructure across borders;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Reiterates that several EU legal acts concerning workers’ board-level representation rights through staff representatives, works councils or supervisory boards do not establish minimum requirements for board- level representation in the various kinds of European company or for companies that use EU company law instruments to enable cross-border company mobility and legal reorganisation such asin cases of cross-border mergers, conversions and divisions;
Amendment 125 #
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 on supervisory boards, where the latter exist;
Amendment 132 #
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 maximum CEO-to-worker pay information on senior management remuneration, boardthe composition and stakeholderof supervisory bodies and where applicable employee involvement therein26; __________________ 25Commission staff working document of 4 March 2021 accompanying its European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan (SWD(2021)0046). 26 Ibid.
Amendment 143 #
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 due diligence and responsible business conducturge Member States to share good practices on corporate social responsibility due diligence, 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 due diligence should covering companies’ activities and their business relationships, including supply and subcontracting chains, and should ensure the fullpromoting the involvement of trade unions and workers’ representatives throughout the whole due diligence process;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Stresses the importance of ensuring timely and meaningful information and consultation across the EUin the various Member States concerned before any decisions are made about policies or measures with cross- border implications; emphasises that workers’ representatives must have access to the requisite expertise to assess the implications of these cross- border policies and processes for the workforce;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls for the EU to ensureRecommends that employees are also represented on supervisory boards in European-scale companies, above all when those companies make use of EU legislation for the purposes of cross-border company restructuring and mobility and provided that the respective national laws applicable in the matter provide for such representation;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. StatUrges that much remains to be done to ensure gender equality in all aspecte EU and the Member States to continue working towards equality between men and women for the purposes of worker participation across the EUin companies;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Commission to introduce a new framework directive on workers’ information, consultation and participation for the various kinds of European companies, including subcontracting chains and franchises, and for companies that use EU company mobility instruments, in order to establish minimum standards on issues such as anticipating change and restructuring, in particular at company leveldraw up a comparative guide on the different models for workers’ information, consultation and participation existing in the Member States at present;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses that many shortcomings in EU law would be overcome by introducing thresholds for a minimum EU standard of board-level representation under this new framework directive; considers, to this end, that workers’ representatives should have the following number/proportion of seats on boards: 2 or 3 seats in small companies with 50 to 250 employees, one third of all seats in companies with 250 to 1 000 employees, and half of all seats in big companies with more than 1 000 employees (within the company and its direct or indirect subsidiaries)initiative in the field of workers’ participation in management has to take the freedom of the business into account and not constitute an obstacle for small and medium-sized enterprises throughout the European Union, on whom the success of the single market depends;