The main social partner organisations in the UK responded positively to the December 2001 agreement between the European Parliament and Council of Ministers on the final text of the EU Directive on national information and consultation rules.
On 17 December 2001, a conciliation committee made up of representatives of the European Parliament (EP) and EU Council of Ministers agreed a joint text of the long-debated Directive on the information and consultation of employees. The move follows the EP's adoption in October 2001 of a series of amendments (EU0110206F) to the Council's 'common position' draft of the Directive (EU0106219F). As not all the proposed amendments were acceptable to the Council, the draft Directive entered the conciliation phase of the EU's co-decision procedure, resulting in agreement on a compromise text. Final adoption of the Directive is now subject to the formal ratification of the joint text by the EP and the Council, expected in February 2002.
The compromise involves four amendments to the Council's common position. The most significant of these reduces by one year the transitional period within which countries without 'general, permanent and statutory' systems of information and consultation and employee representation may phase in the Directive's requirements. This means that for two years following the Directive's early 2005 implementation date (ie until early 2007), the UK will be able to restrict the application of the Directive to undertakings with 150 or more employees (or establishments with at least 100 employees). For a further one-year period (not two years as envisaged by the Council's common position), application of the Directive may be restricted to undertakings at least 100 employees (or establishments with at least 50 employees). Full application of the Directive - to all undertakings with 50 or more employees (or establishments with 20 or more employees) - will therefore now be required in the UK by early 2008.
The other three amendments are relatively minor, involving the addition of two new 'recitals' in the preamble to the Directive and a clarificatory drafting change, none of which has a substantive impact on the Directive's requirements.
The CBI employers' organisation praised the UK government for negotiating 'the least damaging deal available' concerning the final text of the Directive. CBI deputy director-general John Cridland said in a statement: 'The government has done well to stop damaging European Parliament proposals which would have wrecked a finely balanced compromise. We oppose EU intervention in national rules on employee involvement as a matter of principle. But we recognise that ministers have negotiated the least damaging deal available. It is important that the Directive is now implemented in a way that helps rather than hinders genuine employee involvement.'
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) welcomed the conciliation committee's agreement on a joint text of the Directive. TUC general secretary John Monks commented: 'This measure is most welcome. (It) potentially opens the door on a whole new era in UK employment relations. There are still improvements which could be made but nothing should distract from the case for involving the workforce actively in decision-making.'
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has said that it will consult widely about the Directive's implementation in the UK once the measure is finally adopted.