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Review Workshop - European Industry Federations
19.-20.06.2006
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TRACE Review Workshop for the European Industry Federations (EIFs) was
held at the Elewijt Center, Elewijt, Belgium on the 19th and 20th of June
2006.
The Review Workshop had three main aims:
- To bring together the project partners to review progress in each Key
Action
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To consult project partners on the contents of the Handbook on
Restructuring, one of the key centrally-produced outputs from the
TRACE project
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To finalise plans for dissemination and mainstreaming over the final
six months of the TRACE project, and to explore future developments.
Each Key Action team presented a short report reflecting on its
achievements. The reports showed the following:
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Some Key Actions, such as those involving the European Transport
Workers Federation (ETF), UNI-Europa Graphical, and the European
Public Services Union (EPSU), that had been building up online
networks to exchange information between European and national levels
and between different countries, reported some difficulties with
participation at the start of the first phase. The initial stage of an
on-line network is always difficult especially for a group that is not
familiar with such communication tools.
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Some Key Actions, including UNI-Europa Services and UNI-Europa
Graphical, found it difficult to involve people from Central and
Eastern European countries, owing to the restrictions of European
Social Fund which did not allow meetings to be organised in these
countries.
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The European Metal Workers Federation (EMF), stressed the importance
of developing future activities that would focus on specific issues
like relocation, outsourcing, etc.
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ETF underlined the need to work more on the issue of European Works
Councils (EWC) and their role in the process of restructuring. In
particular, ETF would benefit from improved coordination between EWCs
in its different sub-sectors. The European Federation of Mines,
Chemicals and Energy Unions (EMCEF), on the other hand, suggested that
the guidelines for EWC coordination were minimalist and needed to be
broadened, but that there was a good basis for working together on
this topic.
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The European Trade Union Committee on Education (ETUCE) lamented the
limited consideration of the importance of qualifications and research
and pointed out that restructuring was often seen within a limited
perspective which often excluded changes taking place within the
education sector.
The TRACE central team had distributed details of the TRACE Handbook on
Restructuring in advance of the workshop, indicating sections where inputs
from the Federations were needed. During this session, John Stirling, who
was responsible for drafting the Handbook, clarified the following issues:
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The target group
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The need for articulation between the national and European levels
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The cross-sectoral dimension as opposed to the company dimension
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The need to include references to case studies from both public and
private sectors
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The importance of integrating the work of all of the Key Actions.
Each Key Action team reported on plans for the dissemination and
mainstreaming of outputs, which included the following:
Within
TRACE:
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Training seminars would be organised to introduce and explain how to
use the outputs (EMCEF, EMF, ETF)
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A CD-ROM with data on EWCs in the relevant sector would be made
available (EMCEF)
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The websites of the EIFs and of affiliates would publish output
materials (All)
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Discussion in political committees (All)
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Circulation of reports (All)
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Networking (UNI-E Services, ETUCE, UNI-E Graphical)
TRACE and beyond:
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The results would be used to enhance European Social Dialogue (ETF)
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A permanent working party on logistics would continue to explore
recent developments in the sector and to disseminate good trade union
practice (ETF)
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Newsletters would encourage the use of networking and would keep
affiliates constantly updated on the relevant issues (EMCEF, UNI-E
Services, ETUCE)
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The results achieved within the project would be used as key
background documents in other conferences (ETUCE, UNI-E Services)
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Reports would inform affiliates of latest legislative developments
(UNI-E Services).
The concluding statements were aimed at improving work at a cross-sector
level. Participants suggested:
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Linking their work more closely with that of national confederations
facing similar problems
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Having short focused seminars on key themes which could be of interest
to several federations and confederations
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Working towards a common definition of restructuring
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The need for political guidance from ETUC on how the results of the
project could be used to inform the debate on restructuring
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The encouragement of more involvement and participation from the CEEC
countries.
Participants also appreciated the realistic exchange of experiences in the
evaluation session at the end of the event.
Jeff Bridgford, the
Director of ETUI-REHS Education, concluded the seminar by outlining the
Final Conference to be held on the 17th and 18th of November 2006. This
conference would bring together all TRACE partners and other stakeholders,
including ETUC and several EIF General Secretaries, and would provide an
opportunity for a debate on restructuring and on the potential created by
the TRACE project for future activities of trade unions at European and
national levels.
Updated 7 October 2006
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Download the TRACE Project Report
The TRACE Project Report provides an overview of the whole project with a particular emphasis on the Key Actions led by partner organisations.
You can find more information and download the Report by following the link above. |
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