Electricity partners agree joint statement on skills needs

In June 2002, the EU-level social partners in the electricity sector agreed a joint statement on future skills needs in their industry, in the context of liberalisation. The statement includes a framework of actions aimed at improving skills levels.

The social partners in the European electricity sector - Eurelectric for employers and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and European Mining, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF) for trade unions - agreed a joint statement on the industry's future skills needs on 22 June 2004.

The social partners in this sector have been active for some years in examining the issue of training. A European-level electricity sector social dialogue conference was held in September 2002, at which participants discussed a range of issues relating to dialogue and liberalisation in the industry, in both the EU and the then candidate countries (EU0211203N). Further, the social partners commissioned a study on lifelong learning and adopted a statement on the basis of this study in June 2003,

In their latest joint statement, the signatory parties look at a further study they commissioned examining future skills needs in their sector. They state that the main finding of the study is that the European electricity sector faces 'a looming skills deficit' across the whole span of jobs. The partners highlight a decline in crafts and engineering employment and state that this is reflected in the ageing profile of the industry's workforce. There is also a growing shortfall in the ability to meet demands for new skills, in areas such as sales, trading, commercial activities and customer-oriented skills. There is thus, according to the statement, a need for long-term planning of training and a commitment to the management of change.

The statement also discusses the liberalisation of the EU electricity sector (EU0101289N), pointing out that it has resulted in a fragmentation of the formerly integrated electricity enterprises into a series of business units, which are sometimes semi-autonomous and sometimes completely independent of each other. The partners state that the full impact of liberalisation on the skills needs of the industry is far from clear.

In this context, the signatory parties have agreed a framework of actions. They:

• recommend that employers and trade unions forward the abovementioned study on the future skills needs of the electricity industry to governments, national regulators and training bodies - 'a broad discussion is needed to prevent serious problems emerging in the industry due to lack of skills and qualifications.' For their part, the signatories will forward the study to the European Commission, selected members of the European Parliament, the European Group of Regulators, the European Industrial Relations Observatory and the European Monitoring Centre on Change;

• urge the Commission to reflect, with the social partners, on the most appropriate way to continue monitoring the situation;

• ask the Commission to update its employment study on the electricity sector and to include the new EU Member States in this;

• state that the number of collective agreements dealing with training is 'rather limited' and note that companies and unions might wish to consider what more needs to be done. They will consider, with the help of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP), the possibility of developing a framework for training;

• stress that the development of training plans, including life-long learning, should be supported by the social partners at all levels;

• recommend that the number of technical and non-technical apprenticeships or comparable training possibilities should be increased at all levels;

• recommend that procedures should be put into place by the social partners to monitor the implications of corporate restructuring for new jobs and skills requirements;

• state that companies should be encouraged to take steps to develop mainstreaming action plans for equality and diversity in recruitment, complemented by appropriate training at all levels; and

• recommend that the social partners consider the issue of skills needs and shortages, using the abovementioned study and the joint statement for orientation at national and/or other appropriate levels.

In 2007, the signatory parties will evaluate how the planned actions have been implemented.