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The Anglo-Australian mining and raw materials group, Rio Tinto, have had a EWC in place under French jurisdiction since 2008. The EWC body was transferred to them from the aluminium manufacturer, Alcan in the course of its acquisition. After a lot of divestures and restructuring, Rio Tinto employs today only 2,200 workers in Europe, including 1,000 in France. In advance of the dissolution of the French group works council, it was decided on 13 March 2017 to merge both councils.
The "Extended Rio Tinto European Group Works Council" under the abbreviation C3E, has eight members, including five from France. A further six French representatives have been added as a replacement for the dissolved group works council. They meet twice annually under the chairmanship of the European HR manager and elect an executive committee of five employee representatives. These also meet twice annually with central management. The C3E appoints an accountant and may hire additional experts for on-going consultation procedures. Each representative may participate in external seminars for up to three days per year.
Deadlines for consultation procedures
Extraordinary meetings are held if more than 30% of the European workforce is affected by measures. The executive committee holds an extraordinary meeting should only 10% be affected in two countries or 20% in one. All documents are communicated in English and French ten days prior to meetings. Video conferences are possible, but only after approval of both parties. The EWC is under a considerable time pressure, since it must render its opinion at the latest 15 days before the end of the legal consultation deadlines for local or national works councils. In the worst case the procedure is limited to two weeks.
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