News type
Date end
News memo
On 16 April, the management of the digital services group Atos SE (120,000 employees) announced the dissolution of the Atos SE Council, which was one of the first French SE works councils, established via a 2012 agreement negotiated at the initiative of Thierry Breton, the current European Commissioner responsible for industrial policy and digital services. The European social dialogue held on this Council won an award in 2017. Management denounced the agreement in 2020 and initiated a six-month renegotiation period, at the end of which the parties had not reached agreement. Management’s stated objective was to make the Council more efficient and agile, by cutting the number of representatives and redefining the information and consultation process. For their part, workforce representatives recognised the need to review certain procedural aspects, while retaining the spirit of their agreement and safeguarding their existing prerogatives. According to members of the former select committee, management announced its intention to convene a special negotiating group as soon as possible, in order to negotiate a new agreement. In other words, for a period of between 12 and 18 months - if the negotiations proceed quickly - an information and consultation procedure will no longer be in place at European level, as the Council has been dissolved. However, before it was dissolved, the Council granted its secretary a mandate to initiate legal proceedings with the aim of disputing the employer’s decision. Legal action was therefore launched before the Pontoise ordinary court, in whose jurisdiction the group’s head-office lies, calling for the restoration of the Atos SE Council. The court is due to examine the case in urgent proceedings to be held on 11 May, and will publish a decision soon afterwards. It will rely in the first instance on the text of the agreement, which seems clear as regards the signatories’ intentions. Article 23 section 4 states that “in the event of notification of termination, both parties will immediately commence the renegotiation process”, which indeed they did. On the other hand, the article adds that “until both parties have signed a new agreement, this agreement shall prevail”. This provision calls for the Atos SE Council to remain in place until such time as the parties have agreed on a new text.
Source Info
News Ref
163
News date