EU Social Partners Commerce Sector

Capacity-building project

Seminar 3 & 4 December in Istanbul

Minutes drafted by the experts of the project

The workshop consisted of two days of training, with a separate training programme for workers’ and employers’ representatives on the first day and a joint bipartite programme on the second day. The workshop was attended by 34 participants, 21 on trade union side and 13 on employers’ side. The tables below show the distribution of participants and experts per country, with gender disaggregated data.

PARTICIPANTS

Country / Turkey / Montenegro / Serbia / Croatia / Total
M / F / M / F / M / F / M / F
Employers / 2 / 3 / 1 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 4 / 13
Trade Unions / 12 / 0 / 0 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0 / 3 / 21
Total / 14 / 3 / 1 / 6 / 2 / 1 / 0 / 7 / 34

EXPERTS AND ORGANIZERS

Name / Organization / Duty Station / Gender
IlariaSavoini / EUROCOMMERCE / BE / F
LailaCastaldo / UNI EUROPA / BE / F
Jeanne Schmitt / ITC-ILO ACT/EMP / IT / F
EvelinToth M. / ITC-ILO ACTRAV / IT / F
Harald Past / EuroCommerce / BE / M
Heinz Werner / BGA / DE / M
CihanHuroglu / Friedrich Ebert Stiftung / TR / M
Milan Jevtic / Friedrich Ebert Stiftung / SR / M

DAY 1 - EMPLOYERS GROUP

MORNING SESSION

OPENING SESSION

The workshop was opened by IlariaSavoini from Eurocommerce who recalled the objectives and main activities of the project. Jeanne Schmitt from the ITCILO completed the introduction and welcomed also the participants. A tour de table was organised during which participants from the Turkish, Macedonian and Croatian delegations presented themselves. Harald Past from Eurocommerce also presented himself.

The floor was given to ShabahnurErdemli, secretary general of AMPD, to present the situation of the Commerce sector in Turkey.

The main points mentioned were:

  • The commerce sector is growing and has had a significant positive influence of the economic growth of the country and also helped in keeping inflation down (decreased from 10.45% in 2011 to 6.8% today)
  • Turkey is the 17th retail market in the world. Modern retail represents 42% of the total retail industry and is growing at 10% a year
  • The sector directly employs 695.000 persons in 2013 and has a positive impact on employment in other sectors such as logistics, manufacturing etc.

The main issues concerning the sector are:

  • The appreciation of the us dollar and Turkish currency which lead to rises in rental fees and cost of merchandises
  • Scarcity of skilled manpower
  • Inflexibility of labour regulations and burden of regulations in general eg regulations limiting the use of credit cards, number of instalments etc.
  • Political climate with general elections coming soon
  • New law of commerce sector in the pipeline
  • Relationships between modern and traditional retail
  • Huge share of the informal economy (around 27%) which means unfair competition to modern retail
  • Need to make the contribution of the retail sector to grow the internal market of the country better understood by public authorities

START OF THE CAPACITY- BUILDING SESSION

Presentation by Jeanne Schmitt.

Introduction of the topic of the session focussing on internal functions of EOs and identification of points to be improved.

Presentation of key elements on the evolution of employer organizations, challenges and trends. Main features in the East and Central European region.

Exercise on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats faced by organization. Exercise proposed to map the existing situation before discussing, which are the strategic priorities of each EO concerning notably lobbying and social dialogue (later sessions).

Participants were grouped in country groups and asked to identify the internal Strengths & Weaknesses of their organization. A number of factors were proposed as reference points. Participants also identified Opportunities and Threats they should take into account in their environment.

Group speakers presented the result of this work, which can be summarized as follows:

Croatia / Strengths
  • Tradition position of HUP
  • Once central organization with regional and sectoral branches
  • Focus of the work on SMEs
  • Tradition of being a fair social partner
Weaknesses
  • Unstable financial structure, based exclusively on membership fees
  • SME members tend to be passive
Opportunities
  • Knowing more from other EU countries at sector level
  • New funding opportunities from the EU
  • New partnerships with other EU countries
  • Focus more on services for SMEs (free ones and paying ones)
Threats
  • Unstable legal framework (changing government and periods of adaptation)
  • No good investment climate
  • Competition with chamber of commerce and with some newer organizations attracting media attention
  • Difficult work relations with local administrations. Common view: “retail is a detail”
  • Very short deadlines when consulted in the social dialogue combined with a “legal tsunami” linked to the entry in the EU
  • Changing consumers patterns and markets

Montenegro / Strengths
  • Young, skilled and enthusiastic staff
  • Wide range of services provided
  • Strong and differentiated membership (company and sector)
  • Good governance/internal structure
  • Innovative eg CSR project
  • Active in research to back the strategic framework for the next 5 years – presentation of the brochure “the 5 killers of business”
Weaknesses
  • Finance: income is difficult because of financial crisis
  • Renting costs of the building and lack of HR to respond to members’ demands. 12 permanent staff in the EO
  • Passive members when it comes to input for lobbying
Opportunities
  • Direct involvement in drafting laws through tripartite working groups; the Council on regulatory environment; Social Council which is the social dialogue forum
  • Good relations with media
  • Fair relations with trade unions and with other business associations
  • Good involvement in international projects
Threats
  • Ad hoc decisions by government, sometimes without consultations of the social partners
  • Certain ministries are very closed to private sector input
  • Poor functioning of local social dialogue councils which were introduced 5 years ago
  • Impact of the financial crisis on private sector, public finances and need to raise taxes etc.

Turkey / Strengths
  • Growth market / retail which makes a necessity to have more employees
  • Association is becoming a federation with different clusters: food retailers, fashion, shopping centres, restaurants, big boxes. This will strengthen the association’s position.
  • Members very responsive
Opportunities
  • Next 5 years look promising and the 5 after need to be prepared
  • Efficiency
  • Young generation is huge but challenge to respond to needs
  • Technology
  • Certification
Threats
  • Regulations notably on labour eg. Lack of laws on flexible working conditions
  • Tax burden and social security contributions have reached a point which worsens the competitive position of the country leading to more tax evasion and an increase of informal economy
  • Retail is not seen as a “vocation”
  • Trade unions movements tend to be very political but it is changing

The results of the prior online survey was presented to illustrate some of the points under discussion notably concerning membership/representativity (eg. employers organizations scene and possible competition) and lobbying environment (latest legislation changes).

Jeanne Schmitt made comments on the group work results and highlighted some good practice elements from the countries concerned and other ones as well.

STRENGTHENING THE COMMERCE SECTOR’S VOICE

A presentation was made by Harald Past on Eurocommerce and on the lobbying work of the organization in the field of international trade. Besides giving information on Eurocommerce activities, the presentation insisted on the advantage to build alliances for lobbying: be that with other business associations or with national federations. Mr Past explained the positions of Eurocommerce in the fields of International Trade, anti-dumping but also bilateral agreements with for example India, Japan or the US. He also explained the objectives and activities of Eurocommerce in a new filed of action: the relations between the EU and CEFTA (Central European free trade agreement).

The European Retail Action Plan and notably its social components in terms of fight against undeclared work and skills mismatch were then presented by IlariaSavoini.

REINFORCING OWNERSHIP FOR THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL DIALOGUE

IlariaSavoini presented Eurocommerce and its social affairs and social dialogue priorities to the participants. She notably described in details the Eurocommerce social affairs strategy, the main outcomes of the Commerce sector social dialogue in the past and the issues under discussion for the future European Social Partners Work Programme 2014-2015 for the Commerce sector.

The priorities of Eurocommerce for social affairs are:

  • Employment
  • Working Time Directive
  • Social dialogue and notably the “Sector skills council” (Network of research and data gathering bodies) and “More and better jobs for young people” (collection of good practices)initiatives
  • Gathering and communication of data on employment in commerce

Jeanne Schmitt continued the session and organized a discussion on how to better link the activities at EU level and the work at national level. She explained the EU social dialogue main features; differences between levels, intensity, parties involved, outcomes etc. Some time was spent on benefits from social dialogue from the different levels.

Participants had a discussion on social dialogue at national level, Turkey and Montenegro not being directly involved in European social dialogue given their candidate country status. This was meant to prepare the following day of bipartite discussions.

DAY 1 – WORKERS’ GROUP

OPENING SESSION

On behalf of UNI Europa, LailaCastaldo welcomed the participants and made a general presentation on UNI Europa followed by the presentation on the currently implemented bipartite project on ‘Promoting capacity building and improving social dialogue in the commerce sector in New Member States and Candidate Countries’. She finished by presenting the agenda of the two-day workshop and by inviting the participants to introduce themselves and to state their expectations from the workshop.

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND SOCIAL DIALOGUE SESSION

EvelinToth, ACTRAV activity manager for the European Region at the ITC-ILO, made a presentation on Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue: Issues and Challenges in New Member States and Candidate Countries. The presentation was delivered in Croatian language to accommodate the participants from Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. The presentation was divided in 3 parts: I) Challenges of New Member States addressed in the ITC-ILO capacity-building projects; II) General background and industrial relations characteristics in Turkey, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia and III) Comparative presentation of replies to the on-line survey on social dialogue in commerce sector. The presentation was based on the ITC-ILO surveys, studies and manuals as well as country papers on social dialogue in commerce collected by ACTRAV ITC-ILO in 2011; Final Technical Implementation Report on the ITC-ILO training project on Strengthening Social Dialogue in Commerce (ACTRAV 2012), European industrial relations observatory on-line, industrial relations country profiles; Turkey, Serbia and Montenegro 2013 Progress Report on enlargement strategy and main challenges 2013-2014 (EC); NORMLEX, on-line information system on international labour standards, ratification information by the ILO; ETUI, The crisis and national labour law reforms: a mapping exercise (2013)and other relevant resource materials.

In the first part of the presentation, E. Toth emphasized countinuous labour law reforms in NMSCC leading to losses of rights and legal uncertainly; strong role of international financial institutions in reform processes, including labour and social sphere; limited effects of national tripartite institutions, lacking concrete results and commitment. This was followed by the analysis of trade union organizations with an emphasis on their representativeness, prioritizing organizing strategies, modernization, trade union renewal and active membership. Questions raised were whether the existing trade union structures correspond to the today’s needs and expectations of the workers, to what extent the members receive the services in a quick and efficient way and whether the members themselves are actively engaged in solving problems at the workplace together with trade union reps. Rejuvenation of trade union movement and empowerment of young trade union leaders was particularly highlighted. The emphasis was also placed on the quality of trade union work, namely information flow, knowledge-sharing, competence and pro-activeness that has to be improved in most of the organizations. As to the trade union density, among the present countries, the highest density was reported in Croatia and Serbia (35%) while in Montenegro it is about 26% and in Turkey under 10%. In an overview of the ratifications of the ILO conventions, it was particularly mentioned that Croatia did not ratify C. 144 and Turkey did not ratify C. 129, both from the cluster of governance conventions, prioritized by the ILO.

In the second part of the presentation on general background and industrial relations systems, the process of harmonization of national legislation with the acquiscommunautaire was mentioned as a current challenge, particularly in Turkey, Montenegro and Serbia, with Croatia having recent experience in the accession process. E. Toth presented the industrial relations actors on the national level in the four countries and explained the difficulties facing trade unions in fragmented trade union side, which is the case in all the four countries.

The third and the most detailed part of the presentation was dedicated to the comparative analysis of the on-line survey that collected the replies directly from trade union organizations before the workshop. The complete presentation is available on the web site of the project. The presentation was followed by a rich debate with participation of representatives from all the countries. Representatives from Turkey provided further details on the new labour Code in their country and the implications for trade union organizations in terms of unionization, recognition of trade unions and collective bargaining process and coverage.

SESSIONS ON ORGANIZING

The second and the third sessions were focusing on trade union strategies in multinational companies. AlkeBoessiger from UNI Global Union gave a brief overview of UNI policies targeted at building membership and trade union power after which she handed over to Neil Anderson, Head of UNI SCORE/Strategic Campaigns, Research and Education. Anderson made a presentation followed by success stories in organizing presented by Turkish trade unions. He made a strong emphasis on the UNI approach ‘organizing around issues’. The participants received an assignment presenting a real life workplace situation and they were asked to identify the issues around which they would build their organizing strategy in the concrete case.

SOCIAL DIALOGUE WORKING GROUPS

In the last session, the ACTRAV Manual for trade union education on social dialogue was introduced (available in English, Serbian, Croatian and number of Central and Eastern European languages). Participants were assigned an exercise in which they were asked to identify purely employers and purely workers’ interests in social dialogue and to agree on the overlapping issues that can be considered of common interest to both sides. The goal of the exercise was to prepare for the 2nd day of the workshop in which employers’ and trade unions’ representatives had to work together to establish the common ground for the possible improvement of social dialogue in commerce sector on the national level. Croatian and Montenegrin participants identified many areas of joint interest, some of which have already been taken on board. Serbian participants emphasized a strong interest of trade union in advancing social dialogue but stressed the difficulty linked to the absence of Serbian employers from the bipartite workshop. Turkish trade unions identified major difficulties in finding a common ground with the employers, especially in the most difficult topics such as freedom of association, right to collective bargaining and occupational safety a health (Turkey has a poor record in respecting OSH standards). It was recognized that the situation in Turkey is substantially different from the situation in the other three countries and that Turkish trade unions should take advantage of the European integration process to advance the relationship between the social partners in Turkey. Participants received the copies of the Manual as well as the newly published ILO guide for improved governance on National Tripartite Social Dialogue.

DAY 2 – JOINT WORKSHOP

MORNING SESSION

Welcome by Ilaria and Laila

Tour de table

PANEL DISCUSSION – INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND SOCILA DIALOGUE IN NEW EU AND IN CANDIDATE COUNTRIES

A series of presentations were made during that session.

  1. Presentation from Turkish delegates

Mr SerdarKasikci took the floor on behalf of the Turkish Commerce Employers.The main points mentioned were:

  • The commerce sector is growing and has had a significant positive influence of the economic growth of the country
  • Turkey is the 17th retail market in the world. Modern retail represents 42% of the total retail industry and is growing at ca. 10% a year
  • The sector directly employs 695.000 persons in 2013 and has a positive impact on employment in other sectors such as logistics, manufacturing etc.

On behalf of the trade unions from Turkey, Mr OnurBakirgave an overview of the situation in Turkey in the Commerce sector. The main points of his presentation were:

  • Growth of commerce sector and employees. Between 1998 and 2012, radical growth workers in the sector. Today 2 million. 13% of the overall employment. Second largest sector after industry
  • Problems: undeclared work, Long working hours, Low wages (50% work at minimum wage in TR), Bad working conditions, Insufficient job security (because better when more than 30 employees in company, which is not the case in most commerce companies) and differentiation between different types of employees; high workforce turnover; gender inequality (segregation; lack of promotion opportunities); health and safety; lack of sectoral bargaining; burden of escalating competition
  • Unionization: 5.7% in Turkey (2013 went back to 4.5%); in Commerce Sector around 2%. Union rights are systematically violated.
  • 3 types of enterprises exist in Turkey:
  • Big enterprises covered by Coll. Agreement (Migros, Carrefour etc.)
  • Big enterprises where workers are not unionized, but complying to labour laws
  • SMEs where workers are not unionized and not compliant
  • Social dialogue: Laws in force until 2012 stipulated that collective bargaining could only take place at company level. Since 2012, new laws sayssectoral framework agreement possible at sector level. But: no right to strike to force it on employers; working conditions and wages are not negotiable at that level; exclusively covers union members.

During the questions and answers session, a few additional comments were made: