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Following the cancellation of face-to-face meetings and international travel (Axa, Generali), and plenary meetings scheduled to take place in March (Coca-Cola European Partners, Korian, Merck), as well as negotiation (Worldline) or renegotiation (Generali) meetings, EWCs have been looking for ways to maintain their own continuity. Recourse to videoconferencing and conference calls is becoming increasingly widespread, not only for holding steering committee or executive committee meetings (Axa), but also for working parties dedicated to health and safety (LafargeHolcim) or even for EWC plenary meetings (Airbus SE, Merck). Some meetings are being held using an interpreting service (Airbus SE, Axa, LafargeHolcim, Merck,), while others are going ahead without an interpreter (Generali, Veolia). At Veolia, the new EWC secretary Michaela Sofer-Ayadi, is going to organise an informal meeting of the steering committee, via Google Hangouts, at which management will not be present, in order to hold discussions directly and report back to other members. “I’ll be using our internal resources”, explains Michaela Sofer-Ayadi: “I speak fluent English and French, so I’ll provide a translation for the French-speaking member. The British, Dutch and Polish delegates speak English, the Dutch delegate will translate for the German member and the lady who is our Polish delegate will translate for the Czech representative”. These meetings are held at varying intervals: at Generali , the EWC executive committee (comprised of the secretary and deputy secretary) and management meet twice a week, while at Airbus the EWC and the group’s management meet at least once a week, and in addition there are daily exchanges between executive committee members (BNP Paribas) or between the secretary and management (Solvay). Council members also use social media. Members of the Generali steering committee set up a WhatsApp group in January. At Lhoist, EWC members used a private Facebook group for an initial discussion.
o Circulation of information during the Covid-19 crisis. The primary objective of these bodies is to enable information to circulate among workforce representatives and to monitor the situation in the various countries. “I’m trying to set up monitoring of the measures taken in each country”, says Hélène Debegnac, EWC secretary at LafargeHolcim. Patricia Nunez, deputy secretary of the Axa EWC, explains: “Videoconferencing with the European entities’ local delegates means we can satisfy ourselves that the measures being applied by the group will provide employees with sufficient protection, and at the same time make sure that a professional activity that is desirable for the long-term future of the company and of employment, keeps going.” For its part, the executive committee of the Generali EWC has compiled an Excel spreadsheet and circulated it to the steering committee, so that certain actions put in place within Business Units can be identified. Once the file has been completed, it will be sent to all EWC members, so that data from all of the countries concerned can be included. Its full contents will then be analysed and submitted to HR at central level, together with comments regarding coordination improvements to be made. Similarly, the executive committee of Safran’s EWC has compiled a questionnaire, which has been sent to all EWC members. The aim is to find out, at regular intervals, what’s happening with them. The EWC can also feed back the concerns of European employees to management. On 16 March, the EWC secretary of the construction group Eiffage sent a letter to management, asking it “about its intention to put in place more appropriate protection and support measures for its workforce in all countries”.
o Restructuring operations suspended: It should be emphasised that the concrete measures put in place include the agreement reached, on 19 March, between the Unilever EWC and the group’s CEO, Alan Jope, whereby the planned restructuring, which might have led to factory closures, will be suspended for the duration of the crisis linked to Covid-19. “This is good news for now and it gives us an opportunity to revaluate the situation later on”, says EWC secretary Hermann Soggeberg with satisfaction. Likewise, the Verizon group’s EWC has secured an agreement to suspend all reorganisations currently in progress, until 1 June at the earliest.
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