Aside from the above-mentioned consultations of the EU-level cross-sector social partners, in recent years, a range of organisations and groups have analysed in depth the issue of restructuring and the best way to deal with this phenomenon in an anticipatory and proactive manner, sometimes with Commission funding. These include:
The Gyllenhammar Report.219 In 1997, the European Council invited a high-level expert group to analyse the implications and economic and social effects of industrial change, and to consider ways of anticipating and managing them. The Group’s report, Managing change, issued in 1998, presented a set of recommendations addressed to political decision-makers, company managers and social partners.
A 2002 report entitled Anticipating and Managing Change. This suggests a dynamic approach to the social aspects of corporate restructuring.220
The Final Report and other materials of the TRACE Project221 in 2006, which examines industrial and economic restructuring and how trade unions can defend the interests of working men and women facing this challenge.
The Final Report of the MIRE Project (2007).222 This project aimed to examine innovative restructuring processes and looked at how they could be translated into other contexts. More specifically, the aim was to benefit from exchanges between five EU Member States: Belgium; France; Germany; Sweden; and the UK.
The Final Report of the AgirE Project (2007),223 entitled Anticipation of restructuring in the European Union. This project aimed to examine new approaches integrating the knowledge acquired over 10 years on restructuring. It involved practitioners and researchers, who brought their experience and cross-analyses together to help institutional and social players to deal with the challenges of restructuring.
The 2008 Impact assessment preceding the launch of the revision of the European Works Councils Directive,224 as well as its 2007 preparatory study,225 both of which analysed the way in which EWCs intervened in restructuring processes and the impact of EU rules in this field.
A number of Restructuring Forums226 organised by the European Commission from 2005 to the present day, which have dealt with the issue of anticipation, preparation and good management of restructuring in a comprehensive way and covering different dimensions, such as sectoral issues, regional issues, SMEs, the automotive sector, and the defence sector). For details, see box 7.2.
The 2009 Checklist on Restructuring Processes,227 which is based on numerous practical examples of good practices in the context of anticipating and managing change and restructuring within different national frameworks, industrial relations systems and economic and social contexts. It is a synthesis of the main actions identified during a workshop organised by DG EMP in Brussels in February 2009 involving over 40 experts on restructuring from around Europe. More than 600 actions to anticipate and manage restructuring were identified at this workshop.
The ARENAS project (Anticipating Restructuring in Enterprises: National Seminars),228 a European Commission-funded project which organised seminars in all of the EU Member States, in order to debate issues relating to restructuring. More information on this project, which ran from 2009 to 2010, can be found in chapter 5.
Box 7.2: Restructuring Forums organised by the European Commission
The main conclusions of this Forum included recognition of the need to anticipate and accompany change, with a view to giving workers affected by restructuring the opportunity to swiftly find new jobs, and the importance of planning coherent policies in order to exploit all possible synergies between the actors.
July 2006
Sectoral actions in industry
This Forum had three main objectives: to showcase the experience and potential of sectoral social dialogue and of sectoral social partners’ organisations in anticipating change and restructuring; to familiarise them and the other Forum participants with the Commission’s Communication of 5 October 2005 on a new integrated industrial policy, which aims at developing tools to predict and anticipate change and at implementing coordinated actions to reinforce certain sectors; and to discuss the European Union’s financial mechanisms which support anticipation and management of change and restructuring.
December 2006
How dynamic regions face restructuring, the role of the European Social Fund and the other Structural funds
This Forum was dedicated to the regional dimension of restructuring and the role of the ESF. Although much of the Forum’s focus was on what has been done in the recent past, it was also strongly focused on the future, and in particular on the 2007–13 programming period of the Structural Funds.
June 2007
Anticipation of change
This Forum was devoted to anticipation of restructuring at various levels. It also served as an event at which the actors involved in the anticipation of restructuring could share experience and best practice and learn from each other.
October 2007
The challenges of the automotive industry. Towards a European partnership for the anticipation of change.
This Forum was dedicated to the restructuring challenges faced by the automotive industry, in a year when change in the automotive industry was at the top of the industry agenda, following a number of high-profile restructuring cases. One of the main objectives of the event, which was entirely fulfilled, was to promote a ‘European Partnership for the anticipation of change in the automotive industry’ describing the roles and responsibilities of each actor (European Union, governments, companies, trade unions and regions).
This Forum highlighted the specific challenges that restructuring can pose for SMEs and created a platform for the exchange and discussion of best practices on how to adapt to change. The Forum also addressed questions that are rarely raised from the point of view of entrepreneurs as well as that of the employees.
November 2008
Anticipating change and restructuring in transnational agreements
The aim of this Forum was to analyse the emerging mechanisms for partnership and anticipation of change that are contained in transnational agreements, the approaches adopted by the groups using these instruments, the views of the actors on the added value and the results achieved, the difficulties encountered in the implementation process, and the role that these mechanisms have among all the measures taken at different levels when restructuring processes are planned and assistance is provided to employees.
November 2008
Innovative actions of Article 6 of the European Social Fund
The objectives of this Forum were to show the innovative dimension of a range of ESF-funded projects and their transferability potential, but also of diffusing the experiences of successes of these projects and of helping the actors involved in the management of the restructuring within the framework of the new programming of the ESF 2007-2013.
December 2008
Anticipating change in the defence industry
This Forum brought together the European institutions, governments, social partners, academic experts, regional and local authorities, as well as market development experts, in order to discuss the anticipation of change in the defence industry. The Forum was also an opportunity for the launch of a ‘European Partnership for the Anticipation of Change in the Defence Industry’ aimed at maintaining and strengthening the competitive position of EU defence industries, creating high levels of high-quality jobs and reinforcing the employability of the workers of the sector, a pre-condition for sustainable growth and social cohesion.
June 2009
The impact of climate change on employment
The purpose of this Forum was to spread awareness of the changes that can be expected as a result of climate change, and the new skills that will be required in the medium term to meet the needs of adjusting to a low-carbon economy. It also provided a platform for employers and trade unions to learn from other organisations that have internalised this challenge and taken positive measures to anticipate change, in addition to disseminating information on practices that have been used to embrace change and come up with innovative solutions, notably using new technology.
November 2009
Restructuring and the crisis — Building Partnerships for anticipating and managing restructuring in a socially responsible way
The main objectives of this Forum were to promote mutual learning on how to manage restructuring in the context of the crisis, on the basis of the experiences developed so far, and to debate what the EU can further do in order to help the actors to cope with the effects of restructuring in a socially responsible way.
December 2009
Sectors’ New Skills for New Jobs
The objective of this Forum was to present, promote and discuss the 18 sector-based studies published by the European Commission that look at emerging and future skill needs up to 2020. The Forum also launched a discussion on how to reinforce and promote stronger collaboration at European level in the field of skills anticipation, focusing on the sectoral approach. The Forum served as a platform for the exchange and discussion of good practice and instruments for dealing with skills identification at sector level.
The purpose of this Forum was to spread awareness of the challenges that the increasing importance of these unconventional financial actors poses, and to engage a wide audience throughout the European Union (social partners, representatives of public authorities at different levels and experts) to take stock of their prevalent expectations and concerns about unconventional financial actors.
October 2010
Anticipating and managing restructuring in a socially responsible way — New partnerships to preserve employment
The main objective of this Forum was to debate with the social partners, the Member States and the EU institutions the way in which the EU, Member States, social partners, companies and workers should face the challenge of corporate restructuring in the context of an economy in deep and quick transformation and with a view to ensure that restructuring takes place in a socially responsible way and benefits to employment. It also presented the main findings of each of the 27 national seminars organised by the Commission in 2009-2010, which analysed and debated the measures and instruments used for anticipating and managing restructuring in the 27 EU Member States (for further details, see chapter 5).
The purpose of the Forum was to hear and discuss the latest research findings on the health impact of restructuring, on stress at work, and on the reality of risk assessments at Europe’s workplaces. The Forum also presented new information on the implementation of the European social partners’ framework agreement on work-related stress, and heard high-level presentations on the political framework in Member States.
Based on these studies and analyses, policy makers have a great deal of evidence on which to base any future actions in the area of anticipating and managing restructuring. The main issues to emerge from these studies are discussed below.
