For a Trade Union version of the New Skills for New Jobs initiative

Introduction to the Roundtable “The industry federations faced with the proposal of the sectoral

employment and skills councils”ETUC Conference, 2-3 september 2010, Brussels

With the support of the European Commission

What interaction of social dialogue and public policies to make individual and collective development of skills a

“public good” ? (1)

The proposal by EC of Sector Councils for Employment and Skills at EU level

The pragmatic view of the ECORYS feasibility report (march 2010, presented at Restructuring Forum, december 2009): > Realistic objectives and expectations> Voluntary participation of the stakeholders> Temporary and conditional support by EC

(agreement on targets, monitoring of the process, evaluation of the outputs)

> Initial focus on information exchange between social partners

> Networking of national bodies (22 of the 27 Member States have at least one type of Council)

1 Source: “ Sector Councils on Employment and Skills at EU level. A study into their feasibility and potential impact ”, ECORYS, march 2010

What interaction of social dialogue and public policies to make individual and collective development

of skills a “public good” ? (2)

1 Source: “Commission Staff Working Document on the functioning and potential of European sectoral social dialogue ”, European Commission, SEC(2010) 964 final, 22 July 2010

The pragmatic way proposed by the report ECORYS has been validated by the Commission

In a working paper (22 july 2010), which summarizes the results and the outlooks of the sectoral social dialogue, the Commission speaks in favour of the revival of this dialogue and its efficiency 1

The Commission considers skills and competencies as an essential field of the sectoral social dialogue, in order to contribute to the definition of the public policies…

… and considers also the Councils for employment and skills as a complementary tool : “Taking part in sectoral skills councils can help social partners to get involved in joint actions with other partners as a complement to their autonomous dialogue”

The opinions of Trade Unions Federations about Sector Councils for Employment and

Skills 1 (1)

A common interest, with significant nuances> New Skills for New Jobs, an opportune flagship initiative > Councils = structure and resources interesting for

consistent forward-looking studies supplying social partners with operational information

networking of national councils and observatories

> Different degrees of commitment to the process of implementing Sectoral Councils Work in progress: Textile-Clothing-Leather, Commerce, Car Industry,… Embryonic stage in other sectors

1 Federations surveyed: EFBWW, EFFAT, EMCEF, EMF, EPSU (Public Utilities), EPSU (Health and Social Services), ETF, UNI-Europa (Commerce), Uni-Europa (ICTS), ETUF-TCL

The opinions of Trade Unions Federations about Sector Councils for Employment and

Skills 1 (2)Debates and questions:> The right sectoral perimeter ?

A large one to foster transferability of skills and employability of individuals (ex: the fashion industry) ?

A limited one to fit with professional realities (ex: many sub-sectors in the metallurgy) ?

> The right link with sectoral Social Dialogue Committees (SSDC) ? Consensus: the leadership of social partners What practical relationship of Councils with SSDC,

in order to avoid redundancy : subordination or autonomy ?

Determination of work program and validation of the outputs by SSDC ?

> The right participation of social and civic actors ? Some consensus for the participation of vocational training structures

supplying expertise and action…. …but cautiousness concerning the participation of other players

(what representativeness ?)1 Federations surveyed: EFBWW, EFFAT, EMCEF, EMF, EPSU (Public Utilities), EPSU (Health and Social Services), ETF, UNI-Europa (Commerce), Uni-Europa (ICTS), ETUF-TCL

If sectoral Councils begin with exchange of information and experiences: some issues raised

by trade-unionists The trade-unionists can supply a bottom-up matter for the work of

Councils Ex: the interaction between skills and localisation of economic activities> The tension between the world standardisation of skills

and the individual creativity as factor of competence and innovation

> The standardisation and segmentation of skills foster outsourcing / offshoring, while systemic competencies need local clusters.

> The wages and work conditions, the quality of jobs as means to attract qualified manpower into sectors creating new jobs

What kind of forward-looking studies drived by sectoral Councils ?> The Trade-Unionists use the EC sectoral studies, but they appreciate them frequently

as too “futurist and abstract”, not operational enough to be used easily in social dialogue

> Sectoral Councils could be a stable place to develop analysis of concrete changes in critical professions, impacted by economic, technological, ecological evolutions, with a right balance between direct observation, statistical description, forward-looking analysis

> By developing such “bottom-up” studies, Councils would contribute to improve European frameworks by taking the concrete dynamics of professions into account