In June 2005, the Slovenian Ministry of the Economy announced that it wants to make membership of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS) - one of the main organisations representing employers' interests - voluntary, rather than compulsory as at present. Draft legislation to this effect is being prepared. GZS opposes the proposals, arguing that a chamber with voluntary membership would not be interested in providing services that are useful for the economy as a whole.
On 7 June 2005, the Ministry of the Economy (Ministrstvo za gospodarstvo, MG) made public its guidelines for a new draft Law on the Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), to be drawn up in the near future, which would make membership of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije, GZS) voluntary among companies, rather than compulsory as at present (SI0211102F). Andrej Vizjak, the Minister of the Economy, said that companies must join together on the basis of interests and not by a forced association (reported by the IUS SOFTWARE legal and business information service).
The Ministry has decided to tackle first the issues related to GZS, with a general regulation of the whole chamber system to follow. Mr Vizjak is convinced that the abolition of the compulsory membership fee, which is similar to a tax, would contribute to the greater competitiveness of companies and relieve them of a financial burden. The Ministry will also conduct an independent survey over the proposals in the draft LCCI, using a representative sample of companies, because it wants the proposed legislation to have the support of companies. Mr Vizjak said that the new LCCI should be adopted by parliament before the end of 2005.
'Continental model'
Because of its compulsory membership, GZS belongs to the so-called 'continental' or 'public law' model of such chambers (according to a master's degree dissertation by Slavi Pirš of the Association of Employers of Slovenia [Združenje delodajalcev Slovenije, ZDS], entitled 'Interest organisation of employers in Slovenia and Europe', Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, 2002). This model has its roots in the French Chambre de Commerce and was adopted by many of the EU Member States, including some of the most important trading partners of Slovenia (such as Germany, Italy, France, Austria and the Netherlands). According to this model, a chamber has three basic fields of work:
- representation of business interests in relation to the state, concerning issues concerning the economic system and economic policy;
- providing a number of economic infrastructural services that are of common interest for the economy; and
- executing public authorisations on the basis of state authorisation.
In addition to these tasks, however, GZS represents employers’ interests in the process of collective bargaining, which is regarded as being contrary to International Labour Organisation (ILO) and EU labour standards.
GZS wants to retain compulsory membership
After a meeting between representatives of the Ministry of the Economy with the management board of GZS, Jozko Cuk, the president of GZS said that the members of the management board did not agree with the Minister's proposals. GZS is of the opinion that the Ministry and the government should take into account the arguments and recommendations of the Ministry’s own expert working group, which prepared a report on 'analysis of the chamber system with proposals for improvements'. The analysis of this 'working group for the reorganisation of the chamber system' outlines different organisational models, including the introduction of voluntary membership. However, it rejects the voluntary membership model and opts for modernisation of the 'public law' compulsory membership model and a lower membership fee. Therefore, GZS sees it as surprising that the Ministry persistently supports the private law chamber and voluntary membership model despite a lack of analysis of the possible consequences of its introduction.
However, GZS also strongly criticises the abovementioned report of the Ministry of the Economy working group. GZS says that it does not contain any assessment of the transition to an 'Anglo-Saxon' chamber system and does not say who would perform the present tasks of GZS. The report does not include a comparative analysis of the regulation of chambers in countries that also have compulsory membership but only an analysis of their financing. It also does not tackle election system etc.
GZS believes that a chamber with voluntary membership is not interested in providing services that cannot be marketed but are useful for the economy as a whole. These include cooperation with the government concerning the economic system and economic policy, opening of new markets, education and training, promotion of electronic business, and research and development. Voluntary members would not be prepared to pay for these services. The functioning of a chamber in the public interest demands the financial cooperation of all those that benefit from such a role.
Commentary
A new draft Law on Collective Agreements (LCA) is in the final stage of preparation (SI0212101F). Among other changes it will finally introduce a system of free collective bargaining where only employers’ organisations with voluntary membership can represent employers’ interests in the process of collective bargaining.
At present employers’ interests are represented by four organisations in Slovenia: two chambers with compulsory membership and two employers’ organisations (SI0411303F). The two employers’ organisations were founded in order gradually to become the only organisations representing the employers’ interests. Chambers with compulsory membership would retain only the function of promoting the development of trade and business. Such a model exists in the continental part of the EU and many EU Member States.
The Slovenian Employers' Association (Zdruzenje delodajalcev Slovenije, ZDS) is the larger of the two employers’ organisations. It was founded on 22 February 1994, after GZS came to the conclusion, on the advice of the ILO and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), that a separate organisation for employers with voluntary membership was the best solution. ZDS members are individual companies that join ZDS by their free choice.
The smaller voluntary-membership employer’s organisation is the Slovenian Employers' Association of Crafts (Zdruzenje delodajalcev obrtnih dejavnosti Slovenije, ZDODS). Following the example of GZS's establishment of ZDS, ZDODS was established - then under the name Employers' Association OGISTTA - on 23 June 1994, functioning alongside the Chamber of Crafts of Slovenia (Obrtna zbornica Slovenije, OZS), of which membership is obligatory.
However, if the Anglo-Saxon model of voluntary membership of GZS (and maybe also of other chambers), favoured by the present centre-right government, is adopted, there will be four organisations with voluntary membership. Will ZDS then once again merge with GZS and ZDODS with OZS? (Stefan Skledar, Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development)