Social dialogue

What does European social dialogue mean?

Commission President Jacques Delors launched in 1985 a bipartite social dialogue, called the European social dialogue. The European social dialogue is now a component of the European social model, with a clearly defined basis in the EU Treaty. It refers to the discussions, consultations, negotiations and the joint actions undertaken by the social partner organisations representing the two sides of industry.

The European social dialogue should complement the national practices of social dialogue which exist in most Member States. It has resulted in the adoption of over 40 joint texts by the European cross-industry social partners. It is also a means by which the social partners assist in the definition of European social standards. The European-level social dialogue has received strong institutional recognition in the EU Treaty and in the conclusions to a number of key European Council meetings, notably those in Laeken and Barcelona.

There are two approaches: cross-industry social dialogue and sectoral social dialogue.

Cross-Industry Social Dialogue

From 1985 until 1991, bipartite social partner activities resulted principally in the adoption of joint opinions, resolutions and declarations: all non-binding.

An agreement signed between the social partners on 31 October 1991 was annexed to the Maastricht Treaty (1993). Agreements negotiated by the European social partners, could, if the latter so wished, be given legal effect by a Council Decision and transposed into the national legislation of Member States. The Agreement of 31 October led to the conclusion of three agreements: parental leave (1995), part-time work (1997) and fixed-term contracts (1999) by means of Council directives.

In December 2001, the European cross-industry social partners presented a "Joint Contribution" to the Laeken European Summit, characterized by an increasingly independent and autonomous European social dialogue. In November 2002, the social partners adopted their first joint multi-annual work programme for 2003-2005.

Workers are represented at European cross-industry level by the ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation). Established in 1973, the ETUC currently groups together 77 member organisations in 35 European countries, as well as 11 European industry associations of trade unions, and has a total of 60 million members. EPSU (European Public Service Union) is one of those European industry associations and has a voting right in ETUC decision making bodies.

European employers are represented by three different organizations: UNICE, UEAPME, CEEP. UNICE (Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe), established in 1958, groups together the employers' organizations of 27 European countries, and represents the interests of European industry and business to the European institutions. UEAPME (Union européenne de l'artisanat et des petites et moyennes entreprises) participates in the European social dialogue as part of the UNICE delegation, and represents small and medium-sized companies. CEEP (European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest) was created in 1961, and deals with the activities of enterprises with public participation and enterprises of general economic interest.

Sectoral Social Dialogue

In 1998, the Commission decided to introduce sectoral dialogue committees promoting the dialogue between the social partners in the sectors at European level. A document defines the provisions concerning the establishment, representativeness and operation of new sectoral committees, intended as central bodies for consultation, joint initiatives and negotiation. The social partner organisations must apply jointly to the European Commission in order to take part in a social dialogue at European level.

The sectoral social dialogue committees consist of a maximum of 50 representatives of the social partners, comprising an equal number of employers' and workers' representatives. They are chaired either by a representative of the social partners or, at their request, by the representative of the Commission, who, in all cases, provides the secretariat for the committees.

Each Committee adopts its own rule of procedure, and holds at least one plenary meeting per year, dealing with more specific questions at meetings of enlarged secretariats or restricted working parties. The task of preparing meetings, the agenda and following-up work is most frequently delegated to the respective secretariats of the social partners, together with the Commission.

Representativeness

The representativeness is the basic criterion to assess the legitimacy of a social partner organization to operate under the Articles 138-139 mechanism of the EC Treaty. Even tough is an essential pre-condition to operate in the social dialogue at the European level, the EC treaty does not provide any specific indication about the criteria an organization has to fulfill to be considered representative.

As a result, there are 3 criteria an organization has to meet in order to be eligible for consultation:

• be cross-industry, or relate to specific sectors or categories and be organized at European level;
• consist of organisations which are themselves an integral and recognized part of Member States' social partner structures and with the capacity to negotiate agreements, and which are representative of all Member States, as far as possible;
• have adequate structures to ensure the effective participation in the consultation process

The 3 criteria are the basis for periodical representativeness studies that the Commission conducts.

What is the historical background in Hope?

Early 90s, Georges Costargent, head of the French HOPE delegation at that time and Kris Schutyser, Secretary General of HOPE, first tried to convince HOPE members that to be more influential at EU level, HOPE should initiate European social dialogue in the hospital sector.

It started with a pilot project between several hospitals, financed by the European Commission in the FORCE programme. It was followed by preliminary talks with the Unions, a leaflet on social dialogue in hospitals and a conference organized with EPSU (European Public Service Union).

However, some HOPE members did not want at that time to structure social dialogue at this European level for various reasons. As a consequence, HOPE stopped its initiatives. Since then HOPE only participated as an observer during the informal discussions including the Task Force on social dialogue in hospitals and conferences dealing with this issue.

EPSU (European Public Services Union) tried continuing to structure this European social dialogue and was able to convince CEEP (European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest) to join a Task Force on social dialogue in hospitals in 2002, following a process of informal social dialogue started between the two organisations in 2000.

Several HOPE members, involved for some time in those discussions and conferences, created an organization called Hospital Employer (HOSPEEM). HOPE Board of Governors decided in Rome on 21 November 2005 to sign an agreement setting out the relations between HOSPEEM and HOPE.

Activities

Hospitals in the 27
EU Member States

Quality of care

Human resources
Professional mobility
Social dialogue
Working time
New roles, new skills

Public health

Hospital, health care
and internal market

e-Health

Cross-border
co-operation

Green hospitals

Networking