For a real social dialogue

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In order to defend the staff, it is necessary to improve the conditions for social dialogue.

 

Social dialogue in the European Parliament (EP) is governed by a framework agreement dating from 1990 which does not favor this so-called social dialogue with trade unions and professional organizations (PSOs).

 

Instead of a structured social dialogue comprising several stages (at the level of directors, then directors-general or even with the Vice-President of the EP responsible for human resources), only the Staff Committee is consulted, its opinions not necessarily being taken into consideration.

 

Furthermore, the PSOs are grouped together in an inter-union body (the COMI) chaired by a union of the trade union majority, which does not guarantee trade union pluralism and does not reflect the voters' vote. The remit of the COMI is ill-defined and its role is very weak.

 

In this unconstructive context, we have recently initiated another paradigm of social dialogue where, following the launch of a strike call launched by our union with two other organizations to support interpreters, a genuine social dialogue was established between the Administration and these PSOs with the support of the interpreters' delegation and the participation as an observer of the Staff Committee. This social dialogue gave rise to several meetings which made it possible to arrive at a favorable situation for the interpreting staff and also for the smooth running of the institution.

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This example illustrates the effectiveness of this type of social dialogue and that is why our organization is calling for the framework agreement to be updated to arrive at a model that is more effective for the defense of staff.