Description
a) What Member States and Social Partners can do
While
respecting the autonomy of the social partners, Member States are
invited to involve the social partners closely in the design and
implementation of relevant reforms and policies and to help them to
improve the functioning and effectiveness of social dialogue and
industrial relations at national level. Member States are also invited
to encourage good practices as regards informing and consulting workers
and their representatives.
Social partners may also collect and
exchange good practices across the Union. At national level, social
partners may support the implementation of this Principle via collective
bargaining and through their involvement in the design and
implementation of relevant policies.
Social Partners may improve
membership and representativeness of both trade unions and employers'
organisations, particularly with regard to their capacity to represent
the self-employed, workers on all types of employment relationships,
young people, migrants and women, micro and small enterprises and to
build legal and technical expertise in order to facilitate their proper
involvement in the design and implementation of employment and social
policies at both national and Union level.
The EU social partners
at cross-industry level committed to promote capacity-building and to
improve the implementation of their autonomous agreements in their
current work programme 2015-2017.
b) Recent and ongoing initiatives at EU level
At
Union level, social partners are to be consulted in accordance with
Article 154 TFEU on possible initiatives based on Article 153 TFEU, and
may sign agreements which may be implemented at Union level at their
request in accordance with Article 155 TFEU. Social partners may also
collect and exchange good practices across the Union.
The
Tripartite Social Summit for Growth and Employment and of the
Macroeconomic Dialogue remains the crucial fora to discuss with social
partner representatives at political level.
The EU social
partners at cross-industry level committed to promote capacity-building
and to improve the implementation of their autonomous agreements in
their current work programme 2015-2017.
In 2017, the Commission will
publish a REFIT Evaluation of Directive 2009/38/CE of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a European Works
Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and
Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and
consulting employees. It will also publish a guidance document
concerning the same Directive aimed at improving its implementation and
establishing greater legal certainty.
In 2017, the Commission
will report to the other Union institutions and to the social partners
on the way the good practices collected in the 2013 "EU quality framework for anticipation of change and restructuring"(74) are being applied by Member States.
The
Union will continue to promote investment by the Member States in the
capacity-building of social partners and to foster the provision of
information to employee representatives, and consultation of employee
representatives, taking account of national legislation that has
transposed the Directives on informing and consulting workers,
collective redundancies and European Works Councils.