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EMF engages in a Partnership with European car manufacturers and suppliers’ associations for better anticipation of change in the industry
Speaking today at the Automotive Restructuring Forum organised in Brussels by the European Commission, Peter Scherrer, EMF General Secretary, welcomed the move by car manufacturers and automotive suppliers to work together with the trade unions with a view to better anticipate the changes taking place in the industry.
Addressing the 200 participants, including car industry representatives, employees’ representatives and officials from the European institutions, Peter Scherrer reminded the audience of recent painful restructuring exercises in the sector. He urged Commissioners for Employment and for Industry, Mr. Spidla and Verheugen, as well as employers of the car industry to stop considering restructuring as mere ’crisis management’.
“The restructuring exercises we have witnessed in some companies have entailed an enormous waste of accumulated know-how, skills, inventiveness and dedication to this industry” he said.
The partnership for the anticipation of change that has been launched today on the occasion of the Forum, and by which the EMF undertakes to collaborate with ACEA (the European car manufacturers’ association) and CLEPA (the European automotive supply companies’ association), lays the groundwork for solid cooperation that will contribute to the sustainability of the European automobile industry.
In the EMF view, better anticipation of change will serve the competitiveness and innovative capacity of the European car industry whilst ensuring better working conditions and career prospects for the people who make this industry thrive.
Peter Scherrer stressed that there were two requirements for better anticipation of change: 1. An effective social dialogue at company and sectoral levels and 2. Consistent policies providing for better anticipation of skills needs and the enhancement of employees’ qualifications.
“Social dialogue,” he said, “required a serious adjustment to the way companies disseminate the information they have in their possession regarding the future of a company or the sector, as well as a major review of the restrictive way we understand the concept of ’consultation’.”
In this respect, the EMF General Secretary called upon Commissioner for Employment Vladimir Spidla to rapidly initiate the long-overdue revision of the EWC directive in order to proceed with the urgent adjustments needed to make European Works Councils an efficient instrument of social dialogue and anticipation of change.
He further emphasised the pivotal role of the anticipation of skill needs and the enhancement of employees’ skills in boosting innovation. “The innovation capacity of the industry is its key comparative advantage. However, if innovation takes place inside the vehicle, it also takes place around it, through innovative approaches to working and industrial relations and business models.”
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PRESS 44/2007
The EMF is the representative body defending the interests of workers in the European metal industry. The EMF has a mandate for the external representation and coordination of the metalworkers' unions and a mandate to engage in bargaining at European level.
For further information please contact:
Editor, Peter Scherrer , General Secretary
Tony Murphy, EMF Company Policy Director + 32 2 227 1013
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PRESS 44/2007
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