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A presentation was given of the work on Ethics, Values and the accompanying Action Plan by Gerard Kuster, Director of Business Ethics. Issues such as conflicts of interests, preventing abuse of dominant positions, risks of corruption were discussed.
The recent bid of SITA Netherlands/ Flanders on the Dutch company AVR (waste incinerator) posed a number of principal questions. The Bureau of the European Works Council was not informed of, let alone consulted on the implications the bid could have for the company and the future strategy. Our information made clear that the bid could have grave consequences. A meeting in December was suspended as no information was provided. The bid did not go through. Nonetheless the Bureau was not satisfied as information and consultation rights were not respected. The future strategy was not made clear. Representatives were invited to explain the situation and did not attend the meeting.
State of contracts of SUEZ in Latin America. Suez has lost a number of contracts such as in Argentina and Bolivia.
Management reported no progress was made on the proposal to create a European Company. A number of laws still are not implemented.
Shared Services Centres - The EWC and the bureau of the EWC in December were given assurances that the process to created Shared Services Centres would not be a first step to outsource or delocalise. All Human Resource Managers in the Group have been informed.
The major discussion was on Health and Safety. A joint management- EWC committee exists to follow the implementation but the EWC delegation was not satisfied. It particularly wanted to discuss the role of workers’representatives in health and safety. The following issues were thus considered:
Update on health and safety policy at work: Evaluation of health and safety indicators; fatal accidents in 2005; Global action plan (10 points, how the plan is dealt with in the different divisions of SUEZ (such as energy, energy services, energy international, environment waste, water, compliance and audits in implementation of the Charter; training regarding health and safety management
Discussion on: knowledge of health and safety of the health and safety committees and workers’ representatives; participation of workers’ representatives in analysis of accidents and prevention; role of workers’ representatives regarding health and safety; problems related to outsourcing and temporary workers.
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