News
5.9.2003:
There are still many legal and political obstacles for employee share
ownership in Europe. You find
here the August issue of the
European Financial Services Regulation. EFSR is a monthly magazine
specialised in financial and legal cross European matters. In this
month’s issue, EFES made a contribution attempting to address the
various legal and political obstacles that promotion of employee financial
participation encounters in Europe. The article calls for a more active
involvement of the European Commission. It points the obstacle due
to the dual management of the DG Enterprise on one hand and the DG
Employment & Social Affairs on the other. This could be changed with
the installation of the new Commission in 2004.
BELGIUM WILL ENCOURAGE THE USE OF THE SPANISH MODEL OF THE"SOCIEDADES
LABORALES"
Some
ten years ago, Spain set up a new original corporate model - the Sociedades
Laborales - employee owned companies. This model allowed Spain
to start with 17.000 new companies, creating 105.000 new jobs within
the last ten years, in all regions, all sectors in industry and services.
A major success ! Most are small and medium-sized enterprises. Many
of them are resulting from transfers of businesses or rescue plans.
More recently, a lot of them are also new starters.
This model is based on the best practices in employee ownership.
A
new Belgian government was installed in July 2003.
Following an information given by EFES (we organized an international
conference at the Belgian Parliament), Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt
confirms that Belgium will encourage the use of the Spanish model.
Prime
Minister's letter is available in 4 languages (NL/EN/FR/ES) (pdf).
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE
ARE NOW DISCUSSING OF EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION (January
1, 2003)
Let's
first remember: In 1999 we launched a call to put employee share ownership
on the European political agenda. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt
promised to put the point on the table during the Lisbon Summit, and
he did.
The promotion of employee financial participation was then on the
European Social Agenda and the European Commission had to make a communication
and an action plan; the Commission published its communication on
July 5, 2002 (see here below).
The European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee
are now discussing of the Communication and preparing their own opinion.
EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE
The
EESC set up a dedicated working group and the draft opinion of the
EESC is well advanced, Mario Sepi (Italy, CISL) doing a very good
work as the EESC Rapporteur. The
preliminary draft opinion is here available in English,
French, Spanish,
and Italian (PDF).
The EESC will decide on its opinion in its Plenary Session of February
26-27, 2003, after that the Section for Employment and Social Affairs
will have discussed of the draft opinion on February 5. This is of
high interest, the EESC beeing the voice of the European social partners.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Winfried
Menrad (Germany) is the Rapporteur. He already produced some good
working documents. You can see the most recent working document here
in English and in French
(PDF), or in other languages (Spanish, Danish, German, Greek, Italian,
Nederlands, Portuguese, Finish, Swedish), clicking on page http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/committees/empl/20021209/empl20021209.htm
The Parliament will hold various working sessions on the point, going
to a conclusion in May or June 2003.
New
Employee Ownership Legislation in UK (November 2002)
A new Employee Ownership Legislation was passed in UK
Parliament on November 7th and will take place from 6th of April 2003.
It will provide tax concessions for companies who transfer shares
to an employee trust. Small and medium sized companies seeking to
become partly or full employee owned will benefit from the new legislation.
It also ensures that employee representatives can be appointed as
trustees of trusts set up to manage employee share schemes. Full details
are on the Inland Revenue web site www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/shareschemes
News
from Washington (October 2002)
We were in Washington from October 6 to 11 for the First International
Conference of the Capital Ownership Group, with some 100 participants.
The COG is the global forum of Employee Share Ownership, whose EFES is
the main European component. The objective is to promote employee share ownership as a main actor for
"Fix globalization - Make it more inclusive, democratic, accountable
and sustainable".Were present for EFES: Adrian Celaya, David Erdal, Henk Kool, Marc
Mathieu, Erik Poutsma, Vic Thorpe, Pierre Vanrijkel, David Wheatcroft.All main US employee share ownership organizations were present, as well
as people from Australia, South Africa, China, Colombia, Chili, etc.The participation of Mark Levin, of the Cooperative branch of the ILO (International
Labour Organization, an UNO Agency) was relevant, as well as those
of various people representing American trade unions and their pension
funds. Clearly, there is a place for a global EO organization, acting at world
level, and pressing the world organizations - ILO, World Bank, IMF,
etc - in favour of employee share ownership and participation. The
global level is now the field where a lot of debates take their
full place : sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate
Governance, etc.COG's team: Deborah Olson, John Logue, Dan Bell, Steve Clem and others.
News from Italy (October 2002)
We were invited to a very good conference held in Milano on Monday
October 14. It was organized by Fabi and Fiada (our friends Fabrizio Garberi, Gualtiero
Di Re, and others) and Banca Popolare di Milano, 70 people attending.
We were able to see how far they are in Italy from considering the need
or urgency of a legislation on financial participation or employee
share ownership. Probably progress will be done in this way in the following months thanks
to Fabi and Fiada. ( Fabi is the trade union of bank employees; Fiada is the Italian Federation
of EO Associations).
BUDAPEST, February 28-March 2, 2002
SUCCESS OF THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF
THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN NETWORK FOR PROMOTING EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP
AND PARTICIPATION
The
conference held in Budapest on February 28-March 2, 2002 was the main
event and an important part of the project initiated by the European
Federation of Employee Share Ownership to develop a network of individuals
and organisations interested and active in promoting employee ownership
and participation in the ten applicant Central and Eastern European
Countries.
There were 55 participants on the conference from 18 countries, particularly
all candidate Central and East European Countries (Bulgaria, Czech
Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia ,
Slovenia – 10 countries except Latvia) and some EU Member States (Belgium,
France, Luxemburg, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom)
and even from the USA.
The conference gave the possibility to assess the situation concerning
employee ownership and participation in the applicant CEE countries,
to exchange information on the legal background and best practices
on national and company level in the Member States and in the USA.
This was the first time that representatives of almost all candidate
countries were present and actively contributing to a joint initiative.
Within the framework of a workshop participants outlined the goals
of the network for the next 3 years and for the coming year, expressing
the great need for the continuation of the joint effort. The major
aim of this joint effort is establish and maintain an active, and
sustainable network, which is capable to connect all, who are committed
to and interested in promoting employee ownership and participation.
It should contribute to the dissemination of information about policy,
research, and best practices in systematic and regular way, and as
widely as possible in the ten applicant CEECs and in the Member States.
To this end all the materials presented during the conference and
the results of the planning workshop will be available soon in the
website of the CEEO Network – www.efes-ceeo.net
THIRD EUROPEAN MEETING OF EMPLOYEE SHAREOWNERSHIP THE
HAGUE (NETHERLANDS) 25-28 APRIL 2001
ORGANIZING THE INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES
OF INFORMATION ON EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION
This main event
of our programme 2000/2001 was a success, involving more than 100
participants of 19 countries. Our p rogramme 2000/2001 is mainly dedicated
to the ORGANIZATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES OF INFORMATION
ON EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION. The European
Action Programme issued from the European Workshop of 30 April
1999 at the European Parliament, Brussels, placed the focus on this
main priority. A particular accent was put on the implication of the
social partners, trade unions as well as employers.
The European Commission
together with the European Foundation for the Improvement of the Living
and Working Conditions opened the meeting, announcing new major developments
in European PEPPER policies in 2001. Professor Erik Poutsma was the
main author of PEPPER II Report, and he is the main author of the
new report that the Foundation and the Commission will publish in
May on "Recent trends in employee financial participation in
the EU".The Commission announced a "Communication on Financial
Participation" and an action plan to be published later in 2001.
These will be prepared through a wide consultation of all interested
actors.
Members of the
European Parliament Philippe Herzog (France) and Ieke van den Burg
(Netherlands) made strong presentations supporting employee ownership
and participation.
All main organizations
implied in international exchanges of information about employee ownership
and participation were present, explaining their activities and projects:
- the European Foundation in Dublin (the European research institution
representing Member States and social partners);
- the International Labour Organization;
- the NCEO;
- the Capital Ownership Group;
- the GEO - Global Equity Organization;
- the International Associationfor Financial Participation.
Evelyne Pichot
made a clarifying presentation on the new status for the European
company: click here on PICHOT.
EFES held its
Board meeting and Second annual general meeting of members. Report
of the Board, accounts 2000 and budget 2001 were approved as well
as the action programme for coming months. Some minor changes were
decided in the Board and Executive Office.
Employee
ownership: SAM/Dow Jones launches
a new " responsible " EO
stock index
Sustainability Assets Management (SAM), the Swiss rating cabinet which
manages Sustainability Dow-Jones Index jointly with the Dow-Jones
company, has just launched the " Dow-Jones Employee Ownership
Index ", a new stock index devoted to European companies having
the best policies regarding employee share ownership. According to the official release published
by Dow-Jones, "employee share ownership presents many advantages
of which companies are increasingly conscious, in particular while
allowing, in a flexible way, to interest employees durably in the
economic health of their company (...) Employee shareholders become
more conscious of the strategic decisions and their implications."
The index counts 30 European securities of 10 countries (among
which SAP, British Airways, Crédit Suisse, DaimlerChrysler, Royal
Dutch Petroleum and United Utilities) and 6 French companies (Rhodia,
Dexia, Société Générale, Aventis, Bouygues, Lafarge, and Technip).
Selected companies were chosen among the 600 companies of the
DJ Stoxx 600 according to their answers to a questionnaire on employee
ownership; the criteria are: the features of the employee share ownership
program (30% of the note), its magnitude compared to the total number
of employees and the capital (20%), the commitment of management in
the program (20%), the quality of the communication around the program
(20%) and finally the transparency of information (10%).
Let us note that bank ABN AMRO in Frankfurt makes it possible
to invest in this index, calculated by Dow-Jones in a daily way.
Information: http://www.sam-group.com/e/susindex/eoindex.cfm
THIRD
EUROPEAN MEETING OF EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP
THE
HAGUE (NETHERLANDS) 25-28 APRIL 2001
ORGANIZING THE INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES
OF INFORMATION ON EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION
This is the main event of our programme
2000/2001. Just click here for the PROGRAMME
OF THE MEETING (pdf ADOBE).
Our programme 2000/2001 is mainly
dedicated to the ORGANIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES OF INFORMATION
ON EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION. The European
Action Programme issued from the European Workshop of 30 April
1999 at the European Parliament, Brussels, placed the focus on this
main priority.
The project aims to organize the
exchanges of information on employee ownership and participation,
in particular legislation and practices. A particular accent will
be put on the implication of the social partners, trade unions as
well as employers.
The
initiative is highly innovative:
- in Europe, there are scattered
information efforts, but none at such a scale, or with the same degree
of involvement from the various actors in more than 20 European countries
(EU and associated countries).
- in the United States, significant
initiatives have been taken and information exchanges are expanding
quickly, although they essentially address the needs of American firms.
The Third European Meeting of Employee
Shareownership will:
- develop a system of information
exchange adapted to European needs (methods, content, management,
dissemination and exchanges) by using existing European and American
know-how;
- a very broad consultation of
all those concerned in Europe, in particular the social partners,
and a large mobilisation, in order to develop tools that could satisfy
the needs of all interested parties;
- involve, for the first time,
more than 20 countries (all of the countries of the European Union
and the partner countries of Eastern and Central Europe) in a joint
effort to exchange information on workers’ financial participation.
The THIRD EUROPEAN MEETING was prepared
through an international seminar of experts in Paris on 8-9 December
2000 (see more details hereafter), and a follow-up meeting will take
place in Brussels in October 2001.
Furthermore, a lot of specialised net-meetings will be held during
the programme. The organization and the results of the programme will
be spread particularly through the implementation of a big European
internet portal giving access to information databases and to links
with the relevant sites in Europe and in the world. The programme
will associate all member organizations of the EUROPEAN FEDERATION
OF EMPLOYEE SHAREOWNERSHIP, as well as the social partners of the
European countries. It will be co-financed by the European Commission,
and by public and private sponsors.
23.2.2001: SOCIAL PARTNERS
Involving social partners, trade unions and employers organizations
is a priority for EFES. We registered a database of 350 social partners
of the European Union countries, being now able to send them our electronic
newsletters. To be registered as a European social partner in this
database, please call us.
EFES BOARD SEMINAR OF EXPERTS, Paris 8-9 December 2000
The Board of EFES held an international seminar of experts in Paris
on 8-9 December 2000 to prepare the next Third European Meeting of
Employee Shareownership (The Hague 26-27-28 April 2001).
The seminar allowed the Board to be informed of the main initiatives
and projects of international exchanges of information on employee
ownership and participation:
-
the projects coming from the European Commission and the European
Foundation in Dublin.
The
seminar was highly productive and it opened large perspectives of
cooperation between EFES and the other organizations. The
report of our experts seminar is available, clicking here on:
PARIS.
EFES
MAIL NEWS N°6 – 11.10.2000
The
programme 2000/2001 of the EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF EMPLOYEE SHAREOWNERSHIP
(EFES) will be dedicated to: “organizing the international exchanges
of information on employee ownership and participation” and the
Third European Meeting of Employee Shareownership in The Hague in
April 2001. This will be prepared through an international seminar
of 36 experts in Paris on 7-8-9-10 December 2000, and a lot of specialised
net-meetings (you’ll be invited to take part). A particular accent
will be put on the implication of the social partners, trade unions
as well as employers. All this, with the support of the European Commission
– Social Affairs.
EFES MAIL NEWS N°5 - 24.10.2000
We have the great pleasure to inform you that EFES - the EUROPEAN
FEDERATION OF EMPLOYEE SHAREOWNERSHIP will collaborate in the conference
in Paris on November 17 and 18 by the EUROPEAN EMPLOYMENT LAWYERS
INSTITUTE (IES), on the subject:
" Employee shareholding
in Europe: Mode of management of modish management? Profit sharing
or power sharing? "
EFES
MAIL NEWS N°4 – 10.07.2000
EFES
PROGRAMME 2000/2001
The executive office of EFES (EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF EMPLOYED SHAREHOLDERS,
FOR EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION) had a good meeting in London,
20-21 June and we discussed a lot of decisions.
We'll have two main action programmes for year 2000/2001:
1. Under management of EFES secretariat, a programme with our
first priority: "organizing the exchanges of information about
employee ownership and participation" (website, international
database, newsletter, etc). Preparatory experts meetings in November/December
2000 (maybe in Paris), a big meeting at spring 2001 (maybe in The
Netherlands), follow-up expert meetings in autumn 2001 (+ statutory
internal meetings of EFES).
2. Under management of the Hungarian organization (with EFES
partnership), a programme with our second priority: the European networking
and the CEEC's.
Would you like to take part or to co-operate, please let us
know.
On the other hand, we have the great pleasure to inform you
that the Belgian Government gave to EFES his recognition as an international
association, by a King's Arrest of 1.2.2000. So the legal organization
of EFES is now complete, with good statutes, clarity on procedures,
elected board of directors, executive office, president and secretary
general. All what we need to make of EFES the large and open federation
we want, with employee owners, companies, trade unions, experts, etc,
all those people who are looking to promote employee ownership and
participation in Europe.
EFES/FEAS MAIL NEWS Nr 3 – 15.11.1999
BIG
SUCCESS OF THE SECOND EUROPEAN MEETING OF EMPLOYED SHAREHOLDERS,
WARSAW
12-13 NOVEMBER 1999
The success of the Second European
Meeting (12-13 November in Warsaw) was of first importance, just
as the First European Meeting in May 1998 in Brussels.
- The meeting was held in the splendid
rooms of the Polish Parliament and people had come in great numbers
from Poland, and from the other European countries and the USA.
- The meeting was opened by the President
of the Polish Parliament, a lot of members of the Polish Government
took part, as well as the Head of the Delegation of the European
Union in Poland, and the President of the main Polish trade union
(SOLIDARNOSC) was present to express the support of his organisation.
- The European Partnership day on 12
November allowed the participants to make their evaluation of the
introduction of employee ownership and participation in the CEECs
and to draw the policy framework for European partnership for EO
and participation.
- The first General Meeting of members
of EFES (EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF EMPLOYED SHAREHOLDERS, FOR EMPLOYEE
OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION) was held on Saturday 13 November, with
29 members present or represented.
- The project of statutes for EFES
as an international non-profit organisation was adopted.
- The new Board of Directors of EFES
was elected, with 21 people representing 13 countries.
- The Executive Office of EFES was
elected, with 7 people coming from the United Kingdom, Hungary,
France, Poland, Belgium, Italy and The Netherlands, and the Executive
Office named its President.
- Finally, the Secretary General of
EFES was elected unanimously.
- Robert OAKESHOTT and Ron GILBERT
were applauded as the first Honorary Members of EFES.
- Lastly, the participants held a workshop
to discuss the European Action Programme of EFES to promote PEPPER
policies troughout Europe.
We call all people, employee owners
and all persons, companies or institutions, unions, managers and
others : please,
become a member of EFES (see membership form joined), in
order to promote employee ownership and participation and to form
as representative a federation as possible in all the countries
of Europe.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF EFES :
1. ASSOCIATION
OF EMPLOYEE SHAREHOLDERS OF BBL, represented by Pierre VANRIJKEL,
Director, BELGIUM
2. Evgenie KOSTOURKOV, member of OWNERSHIP
FOUNDATION, BULGARY
3. Erik MAALOE, professor at the AARHUS
SCHOOL, DENMARK
4. Gorm WINTHER, professor at the GREENLAND
UNIVERSITY, DENMARK
5. ALEXANDER CORPORATE FINANCE OY,
represented by Erkki HELANIEMI, FINLAND
6. Serge CIMMATI, member of the FRENCH
FEDERATION OF ASSOCIATION OF EMPLOYED SHAREHOLDERS, FRANCE
7. Patrick GUIOL, of the CNRS – UNIVERSITY
OF RENNES 1, FRANCE
8. Raymond GUILLAUME, former employee
shareholder of ELF/TOTALFINA, FRANCE
9. MRP - HUNGARIAN FEDERATION OF EMPLOYEE
OWNERSHIP, represented by Janos LUKACS, Executive Director, HUNGARY
10. CGIL – CONFEDERAZIONE GENERALE
ITALIANA DEL LAVORO, represented by Walter CERFEDA, National Secretary,
ITALY
11. Mauro BOSSOLA, member of the FIADA
– ITALIAN FEDERATION OF ASSOCIATIONS OF EMPLOYED SHAREHOLDERS, ITALY
12. NETHERLANDS PARTICIPATION INSTITUTE,
represented by Henk KOOL, Executive Director, NETHERLANDS
13. UNIA WLASNOSCI – POLISH FEDERATION
OF EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP, represented by Kris LUDWINIAK, Director,
POLAND
14. UNIA WLASNOSCI – POLISH FEDERATION
OF EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP, represented by Jacek LIPINSKI, President,
POLAND
15. SINERGIA – SINDICATO DA ENERGIA,
represented by Armenio SIMOES MATIAS, PORTUGAL
16. DEZAP – SLOVENIAN FEDERATION OF
EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP, represented by Bozidar LEDNIK, Executive Director,
SLOVENIA
17. DRUSTVO DELNICAR – INSTITUTE FOR
EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP, represented by Gojko STANIC, Vice President,
SLOVENIA
18. JOB OWNERSHIP Ltd, represented
by David ERDAL, Executive Director, UNITED KINGDOM
19. David WHEATCROFT, member of the
CENTRE FOR EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION, UNITED KINGDOM
20. Deborah Groban OLSON, member of
the NCEO – NATIONAL CENTER OF EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP, President, USA
21. CECOP – EUROPEAN CONFEDERATION
OF PRODUCERS’ CO-OPERATIVES, represented by Rainer SCHLUTER, Secretary
General, EUROPEAN UNION
EXECUTIVE
OFFICE OF EFES
Janos LUKACS,
HUNGARY
David ERDAL, UNITED KINGDOM
Kris LUDWINIAK, POLAND
Henk KOOL, NETHERLANDS
Pierre VANRIJKEL, BELGIUM
Mauro BOSSOLA, ITALY
Patrick GUIOL or Serge CIMMATI (to
be confirmed), France
The Executive Office called Pierre
VANRIJKEL to be its President.
EFES
MAIL NEWS 2 - 11.11.1999
EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT STRENGTHENS PROVISIONS ON EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP IN 2000
BUDGET
As reported previously, EFES has established constructive relations with
members of the European Parliament of varied political and national
backgrounds, who have joined our efforts to strengthen the cause
of employee ownership and participation in the European Union and
applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Up to 1999, the EU budget contained a short and very general phrase in
budget line B3-4000 on ‘Industrial
relations and social dialogue’ on financial support to ‘pilot projects to promote workers’ financial
participation ‘. After suggestions by EFES, the European Parliament
has now specified, in its first reading of the 2000 budget, that
it will
‘… also cover expenditure to
promote good examples and networks, as well as studies and further
training measures to implement the proposals in the Commission report
on PEPPER II’
It is expected that this amendment will be reconfirmed in the second reading
of the budgetary process in December. For the first time, the Commission’s
PEPPER report (Promotion of Employee Participation in Profits and
Enterprise Results) is mentioned in the budget. This will then be
a firm basis to stimulate the European Commission to intensify and
broaden its own activities and those of organisations like FEAS,
researchers and other important actors in the promotion of ESOP.
This amendment reflects the conclusions of the First European Workshop
on Employee Ownership and Participation of April 99, where the participants
drafted a European action plan calling for the development of models
of good practice, exchange of information, training and research
at the European level.
FIRST
STEPS…
We
launched our first call to set up a European Federation in 1997.
On
7 & 8 May 1998, we held the FIRST EUROPEAN MEETING OF EMPLOYED
SHAREHOLDERS, under the Presidency of Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc
Dehaene and Deputy Prime-Minister
Janusz Tomaszewski of Poland. 248 people were present, coming
from 28 countries, and they took the decision to create the European
Federation.
After
that, a first board of around 30 people was held, to organize the federation and discuss the project of its statutes.
On
30 April 1999, we had our FIRST EUROPEAN WORSHOP FOR EMPLOYEE
OWNERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION at the European Parliament, Brussels,
with an EUROPEAN ACTION PROGRAMME
as a conclusion.
Finally,
the statutes of EFES were adopted by the first general meeting
of members, during the SECOND EUROPEAN MEETING OF EMPLOYED SHAREHOLDERS,
in Warsaw on 12-13 November 1999.
The
Belgian Government gave his recognition to EFES as an international
not-for-profit organization by a King’s Arrest of 1.1.2000.