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On 5th October the EFFAT affiliated trade unions with members in the Coca Cola system discussed the European trade union response to CCE's current Plant Performance Project proposals and their concern for the industrial relations dispute currently ongoing at CCE’s Edmonton plant, UK. Two common concerns emerged as the overwhelming trade union priorities for this project and we decided that they must both be resolved in order for us to have any successful social dialogue on this matter.
First, there must be serious and meaningful consultation on the project, not only with the European works council but with all national and local information and consultation bodies and with trade unions, according to national practice. All the bodies charged with consultation on this project must be given all the time and the information they need in order to analyze and respond to management's proposals. National bodies must be able to take into account the outcomes of European consultation and local bodies must be able to incorporate positions reached through national consultation. CCE management must be ready to discuss and assess alternatives and to adapt their proposals as a result of consultation, not merely to 'go through the motions' and pre-existing diary commitments of trade union officials and experts must be taken into account when all consultation meetings are scheduled.
Secondly, we cannot accept that anyone should be forced out of a job as a result of the Plant Performance Project. CCE 's employees in 'Supply Chain' have worked hard to generate CCE's impressive profits in Europe. If some of them must now loose their posts on an involuntary basis, they must at least be offered alternative employment opportunities appropriate to their current location, skills and qualifications and current terms and conditions must be protected. CCE must engage with the trade unions to manage and monitor any such redeployment.
We have passed our position on to CCE management and we hope they will see that these are reasonable demands and will give us the guarantees we require quickly, so that we can move towards constructive social dialogue. Given the European dimension of the PP project, trade unions believe that this needs to be dealt with at a European level through the facilitation of EFFAT, resulting in a European framework agreement setting out these principals and how they can be applied.
EFFAT affiliated trade unions with members in CCE have chosen the 27th October as a common day of action to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the current situation and to ask for a meaningful resolution of the issues at the negotiating table.
Harald Wiedenhofer
EFFAT General Secretary
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