mr president there is a saying that compromises will never win beauty contests
at first sight this could be said with regard to the outcome of all the negotiations on the recasting of the european works council directive
based on the menrad report adopted in this house six years ago on the jurisprudence and on the experiences of management and labour in the last twelve years the pse group has always asked for an ambitious revision of the directive
too many workers representatives are still deprived of the basic information and consultation rights as their employer refuses to grant them these rights
in our view however these rights are an integral part of the modelling of all industrial relations
the position of the worker as the stable stakeholder who stays in the company compared to the job-hopping of management and the uncommitted attitude of the new type of financial investor has to be reflected in the corporate governance of our companies
with the advice of the social partners incorporated in the directive and the additional modifications reached during our negotiations the pse hopes to deliver some building blocks for a new dynamic
the formal political procedure is almost finalised
it is now up to management and labour to act
compliance with the directive currently some forty is still much too low
the pse is of the opinion that this is not the end of the story it is a new beginning
the european social partners have the enormous challenge of convincing those companies that still refuse to comply with the directive
we urge the european commission to contribute to this task
a new campaign is needed
recent research has demonstrated that companies with adequate information consultation and participation of workers function better especially in hard times
the economic crisis and the restructurings that we have to face in the near future make workers involvement in the decision-making process of our companies more topical than ever
i would like to thank my opponent mr bushill-matthews for the professional chairing of the negotiations my colleagues from the other groups for their political assistance and the french presidency for their sophisticated approach
let us go to work
