|
|
Added importance for
commerce EU dialogue as competition hardens and the RFID chip
arrives
In commerce, time never stops running. Competition is tough and consumer demand is constantly changing. Technological development is fast, and the roll out time for new innovations short. There is a continuing game of musical chairs, where the one who reacts too slowly is pushed out of the circle. Workers and trade unions in retail and distribution are used to a continuous process of change, and accept it as a reality. We know that trying to stop change would be to fight against windmills. And who would like to be known as the Don Quixote, or the Sancho Panza, of European retailing? The active European social dialogue between UNI-Europa Commerce and EuroCommerce reflects this reality. As the fast pace of change cannot – and should not – be halted, the social partners need to be on top of it. Both serious employers - the great majority in commerce – and unions know that without a social dimension, there cannot be a sustainable development of European retail and distribution, as a competitive and thriving industry. Balance between business and social considerations The European social dialogue for commerce is focused on promoting a balance between business and social considerations. Of course, we look at the issue from different points of view, but our culture in commerce is such that we are usually able to find a common line at the end of the day. The focus of our dialogue is on corporate social responsibility. We do agree that this must be a voluntary commitment by enterprises, who wish to apply standards above the level playing field created by legislation, collective agreements and other compulsory standards. There are of course different opinions on what this level playing field should look like. We will probably never reach a really common understanding about, let’s say, shop opening hours. We as unions are deeply convinced that regulations are needed to protect the social interests of workers and their families. The large employers, on their side, would prefer to get away with all restrictions. And small shop-owners tend to agree with us, worried about the quality of their own lives, and knowing that Sunday trading plays into the hands of shopping centres and hypermarkets. But we do openly talk about these issues, as well as other areas where opinions are strongly diverging, and this is very useful as such. Joint statement on corporate social responsibility Back to corporate social responsibility. A joint statement – actually an agreement – was negotiated and signed by the commerce social partners late 2003. The quite detailed text is focused on how European commerce companies should behave as employers, be they large or small. It sets high standards for them to comply with, be it about treating individual workers, or about interacting with their trade unions. The main thrust is that social dialogue on all levels should be the mainstream way to develop employment conditions and manage labour relations. But it goes even further than that, saying that this dialogue must be there at all levels, including in the multinationals. For the first time, a European agreement between employers and unions goes clearly out in support of social partnership between global unions, here UNI Commerce and UNI-Europa Commerce, and major multinational employers. There is indeed a close link between this agreement and the fast emerging social dialogue and partnership between UNI-Europa Commerce and Europe’s leading multinational retailers. And the agreement makes a direct reference to the role that European works councils can play, establishing the connection between these two important levels of European social dialogue. Carrefour, Metro and Tesco Carrefour, Metro and Tesco – between themselves they employ a million workers - were among the companies which actively and positively contributed towards the joint statement on corporate social responsibility. In statements at the signatory Conference in November 2003 they expressed their strong resolve to continue also their company-based social dialogue with UNI-Europa Commerce. This is confirmed in global agreements with UNI Commerce such as with Carrefour, management declarations such as in Metro, or a common understanding such as with Tesco. This active and constructive approach by our leading retailers is reflected in our European social dialogue itself. Responsible management is always actively present at the sessions in Brussels. This stands out in contrast to earlier times when the leading retailers tended to look at the social dialogue – and the European Commission as well – as having little, if anything at all, to do with issues relevant for them. The risk of walmartization Of course, the changing competition climate in Europe has much to do with this. Large and small retailers, who want to retain and develop their quality levels, and continue their social dialogue and collective agreements with trade unions, are hard pressed by social dumping oriented hard discounters. Wal-Mart, which epitomises the very concept of a bad employer, is looming in the background, although it is yet to activate its announced broad presence in Europe. Already on the scene is Aldi, as well as Lidl, the particularly brutal German hard discounter, known for its bad employer performance, based on a management by fear approach. These and other discounters are exerting a hard pressure on wages and benefits in the whole industry. What could at the surface appear to be good for the consumers - lower prices in the stores - can prove costly in the longer run. A European retail industry where prices are the only competition factor and the decisive driving force for development would inevitably see its customer services standards decline. Shopping would be less attractive, and less money would be spent. Hard pressure on producers – both farmers and industry – already hits at product quality and food safety. There is also concern about the treatment of animals, price pressure leads to poorer conditions and promotes longer transports. It is of course clear that a largely unregulated industry, which retail and distribution of course is, is dependent on market forces and competition. It would be naïve for us as trade unions to believe that, for instance, competition-related pressure on collective agreement levels could just be legislated or regulated away. And there is a real pressure on wages, working hours, health services, pensions and many other benefits, although we tend to take them for granted. This does not mean that workers and their unions intend to raise their arms and capitulate. If commerce is one of the few growth sector in European employment, it is also one of the few sectors where many leading trade unions are growing. There is a solid foundation for trade union action, intelligently adapted to the demands of the present situation, and to the needs and views of the working people. And we know that solidarity and concern for social justice is alive and well within our union movement. European social dialogue takes on more importance The changing competition scene in commerce does give increasing weight and value to the European social dialogue. We can see this in a broader and higher level participation than ever before, both by employers and trade unions. There is also a general consensus about what we should broadly try to achieve. We have formulated this objective as a commerce industry providing high quality services for the European consumers, relying on a competent and committed personnel, working under secure and favourable conditions. In the sectoral social dialogue, we are of course nowhere near formally binding European agreements. Still, much can be achieved, as also the commerce dialogue has repeatedly shown. The active and constructive dialogue itself, the good atmosphere and the partnership-based relations between the commerce social partners, and the broad spectre of results from this work has created a culture in the commerce sector in Europe, which expects a civilised labour relations behaviour from retailers and wholesalers, be they large or small. In UNI-Europa Commerce, we have indeed seen that it is not possible for a serious trader to go openly against the agreements of the European social dialogue for commerce. Of course, being serious means that most would not even want to do it. However, particularly in the large and complex multinationals, it is not always self-evident that all managers apply good corporate standards. So, as UNI-Europa Commerce, we intervene frequently on workers’ and trade union rights issues, also in individual countries. Normally, corrective action is taken. It is not uncommon for us to travel together with central management to one of the ‘problem spots’, talking sense to the local people, and promoting a better labour relations climate. For the ‘bad guys’, who are often the companies who seek competitiveness through social dumping, peer pressure and a fear for bad publicity can be an effective deterrent. Lidl's headband scandal In a recent scandal, Lidl was said to require their women workers in the Czech Republic to wear special headbands during their monthly periods, to allow them them visit the toilet during working hours. Normally, workers are not allowed to go to the toilet, except during scheduled breaks (also here Lidl sets lower standards than competitors). One can well understand that the German hard discounter took a rough beating from media and the public, and from us as unions. Things were further complicated for Lidl by the ‘Schwarz Buch’ in which Germany’s largest trade union ver.di exposed their repressive employer behaviour, not missing the good opportunity given by Lidl’s owner being Dieter Schwarz – or Black – in giving a suitable name to the devastating report, Black Book / Schwarz Book. The secretive and elusive company has now had to break its traditional media silence, and tries busily to explain that everybody is in fact doing the same. This has caused some of the main German competitors to tell Lidl CEO Klaus Gehrig off in no uncertain terms – speak for yourself, they say, we are correct employers. The link to the European social dialogue is obvious, a divide is building up between the serious players engaged in it, and the likes of Lidl who openly defy the rules and culture of good corporate behaviour. The social dialogue is both a driving force for this, and a result of it. Unions and serious retailers have joint interests We now see that there is a situation in commerce, which is conducive for developing the European social dialogue, a situation where the serious players on the business side should see that they objectively have broad joint interests with their workers and their unions – and of course the other way around as well. To give special attention to particularly weak and vulnerable groups in working life is a moral and ethical obligation for the social partners for commerce. It is also important for setting up a level playing field for European retailers and wholesalers, where social dumping is hindered, or at least made more difficult. This is necessary to protect the workers, the industry itself, and in extension, also the interests of consumers, communities and entire societies. With this in view, UNI-Europa Commerce and EuroCommerce have concluded concrete agreements on combating racism and xenophobia, supporting age diversity in commerce, and most lately, on promoting the employment of disabled workers. Gender equality and fight against poverty A social dialogue on promoting gender equality in commerce has recently been launched. We agree that we need to look both at how women workers can pursue their careers on equal terms with their male colleagues, and at how the many women workers at the bottom of the corporate hierarchies - often in low-paid jobs with insufficient hours to ensure a reasonable take-home pay - can best be helped. Of course, we do know that usually the gender-related problems are not sector-specific, but we want to take our responsibility for finding solutions. After all, commerce is one of the largest employers of women all over Europe, and a major entrance route to employment particularly for young women. We have high expectations for this dialogue and hope that it – based particularly on good practices – will help to achieve real progress. We have also raised the ethical and moral problems in a situation where the leading commerce enterprises are among the strongest and most profitable in the whole economy, whatever competition problems many of them are struggling with for the moment, while large numbers of their workers are stuck among the working poor. As unions we believe that this is an unsustainable situation for the whole industry and its future development. It is unacceptable that single mothers, immigrant worker families, and many others, cannot make ends meet, or have to rely on social assistance while working for companies reaping in huge profits, and paying their top management enormous bonuses. Therefore we want to use the European social dialogue to ‘help’ these leading companies understand and accept that they need to cooperate with our unions, through social dialogue and collective bargaining, to open up a process for change. Technology and RFID must be negotiated Technology can be of assistance. The whole distribution chain is on the threshold of a big technological leap, making use of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip. This will give each box or pallet, later perhaps also each product, its own identity number that can be read automatically. Within a few years, the road that a product takes from the producer to the end customer would have completely changed. Increased efficiency and automation in the distribution chain will probably cost jobs, many jobs, and this is of course a cause of real concern for us. On the other hand, it can add to the profitability and competitiveness of our enterprises, and of commerce as a whole. This can enable unions to push for improvements in wages and conditions. And why should we really accept that commerce would continue to be a low wage industry forever, if our leading employers are now soundly in the driving seat? As UNI-Europa Commerce, we have already signalled informally that we are interested in taking up a serious social dialogue with those companies that are in the forefront of introducing new technology. We have told them that the transition should be transparent and controlled, that lay-offs must be avoided, as must de-qualification, and that the benefits cannot be dumped into price competition only. Perhaps for once, commerce and its workers can benefit from the high turnover of its personnel. In the European social dialogue, this difficult issue has already been discussed, in a very positive atmosphere. This will surely be a major discussion subject between Europe’s commerce trade unions in the weeks and months to come. We are pleased that some of the initial responses from management have been positive, although concrete talks have not yet been started. It should of course be in mutual interest to avoid insecurity about the social and employment effects for commercial workers, and this can only be done through social dialogue and agreements between employers and unions. We hope that our more general discussions in the European social dialogue can be a catalyser for concrete negotiations and agreements, on different levels. Zero tolerance for retail violence and abuse Commerce will, however, remain an industry where the key to success lies in the interaction with customers. Increasing violence and abuse against commercial workers - and shop keepers - by members of the public is a serious problem both for the victims, and for their employers. UNI-Europa Commerce and EuroCommerce, with solid support from the European Commission, have now taken joint action to put this on the European political agenda. A joint project to promote a safer working and shopping environment will be launched later this year, to encourage and enable both public authorities and the industry itself to take decisive measures to protect the workers concerned. This time, the European social dialogue will draw heavily on a project in a member state, the United Kingdom, where shop workers’ union Usdaw together with its social partners are conducting a highly visible and successful campaign, Freedom From Fear. Once again, a link has been created between European and national labour relations. Commerce sector unions in all EU countries Nowhere has the change in commerce been as significant and fast than in Europe’s new market economies. Today’s retail and distribution industry, where large multinational and domestic traders play the leading role, has very little in common with the inefficient and poor quality distribution mechanisms of the state socialist times. UNI-Europa Commerce has actively accompanied these changes from the beginning, investing much effort and resources to help commercial workers build efficient trade unions. This work has been successful. There is a union presence in most commerce multinationals all through the region, as well as able and social dialogue-oriented commerce trade unions. In many of these countries, social dialogue is well established in commerce, although much remains to be done to make local employers understand the need to respect fundamental workers’ and trade union rights. As UNI-Europa Commerce we have used both our European social dialogue, and our dialogue with leading multinationals, to help affiliated trade unions to organise, and to negotiate collective agreements. Together with EuroCommerce, the message about good social dialogue practices has been brought to these countries, through a series of EU-supported round tables, which we started well before any other industry. But to be new or old in the EU is not an issue in the commerce social dialogue itself, where everybody sits at the same table, working together to promote the mainly joint interests. Agreements must be followed up It is not enough, of course, to discuss and conclude agreements in Brussels if they do not touch the reality of the people working in the industry. We are well aware of the need to encourage the national social partners to follow up on the work done in our European dialogue. All statements and agreements now include clauses on the implementation, both at national levels, but also by European works councils. We are attentively monitoring this follow up - the first results of an ongoing questionnaire study are quite promising. Although there is much room for improvement, our social dialogue products have not been left to collect dust, in filing cabinets and on bookshelves. For us in UNI-Europa Commerce, our social dialogue with EuroCommerce is a major priority. We can see that there has been a constant movement forward, and good progress in the confidence building between the social partners. Without the continuous active and positive – and genuinely engaged - involvement of the responsible services of the European Commission, we would never had been able to build this up. We see the Commission representatives that participate in our dialogue as equal partners, invited to play a creative and active role in moving the issues forward. The fact that we are now more like a working party than a meeting of two groups, facing each other over the aisles of a classic EU meeting room, does help. This is also what has enabled us to move into core areas of labour relations and collective bargaining issues, and we do expect to continue delivering concrete results from this, which will lead to a real improvement of the working lives of Europe's 30 million commercial workers. Jan Furstenborg, Head of UNI-Europa Commerce |
|
e-mail
addresses:
|
