F U T U R I S M E II
Future of Social Dialogue in SMEs
New Economy: Adaptability and Employability
Summary
A project of UEAPME co-financed by the
European Commission – European Social Fund
EUROPEAN UNION
European Social Fund
Article 6 Innovative Measures
The FUTURISME II project which is built on the conclusions and recommendations of the FUTURISME I project (2000-2001), is looking at the issues of the future of social dialogue in SMEs, with a focus on employability and adaptability in the new economy.
Objectives of the Project
- To help SME organisations overcome the challenges of the new economy by promoting the transnational transfer of knowledge and good practices with regard to social dialogue.
- To benefit national, regional and sectoral SME organisations by improving their capacity to deal with the broadening scope of the social dialogue, whether they are officially recognised social partners at national level or not.
- To function as a process of institution building and networking between national SME organisations through the exchange of good practices.
- To promote a more effective business environment for SMEs by addressing issues such as work organisation, training opportunities and networking in the framework of the social dialogue.
Main instruments
- Three Focus groups composed of European and national experts specialised in the fields of the project have elaborated and discussed "Think-Papers" (Discussion Papers) on policy issues which are relevant for the future debate in social dialogue. Focus Groups were set up for Employment and Wage Policy, Labour Market and Social Policy and Training.
- Tailor-made national seminars which aim to provide a transnational exchange of experiences and good practices.
- European Seminars with a special focus on SME organisations, which are not, recognised social partners.
- Final conference, on 2nd and 3rd October 2003 in Brussels, with the aim of discussing the main conclusions with other stakeholders (European Institutions and Trade Unions) and of disseminating them.
General Conclusions on Social Dialogue in SMEs
The main aim of the FUTURISME II project was to support the development of social dialogue in SMEs in order to help SMEs overcome the challenges arising from a more dynamic and global economy. For this purpose we invited social dialogue experts from national SME organisations to a broad discussion on future issues effecting the social dialogue. This debate and the seminars carried out during the project led to the following conclusions and recommendations and some good practices could be found.
The recognition of SME specificities in collective agreements
Even though there is a wide range of different systems, which all have their strengths and shortcomings, as regards the involvement of SMEs in social negotiations and tripartite concertation, it is possible to draw some general conclusions:
- The needs of SMEs regarding the content of collective agreements differ from the needs of big companies. In countries where sector agreements for all companies (including SMEs) are negotiated, the interests of big companies are dominant and SME specificities are widely ignored. This can not be accepted because 99,8% of all companies are SMEs, which employ about 67% of all workers.
Only separate negotiations for SMEs at sectorial level enable the recognition of the specific needs of SMEs within social contracts.
Separate negotiations for SMEs make SME associations stronger, increase their role as representative bodies, enhance their competencies and contribute to a better understanding of SME needs by trade unions.
- Many SMEs work on local and regional level and most of their customers (private, business and public) originate from their region. In countries with relevant regional disparities with regard to productivity, infrastructure, economic structure and cultural behaviour, industrial relations must recognise these differences in order to allow adequate economic and social developments in all regions.
If within a country relevant regional differences regarding productivity, business structure, infrastructure and cultural behaviour exist, collective bargaining must recognise these differences by regional contracts or by regional clauses.
Future developments in collective bargaining for SMEs
The Futurisme I project (Future of Social Dialogue in SMEs: working relations, enlargement and training) had already concluded that the future shortage in labour supply and new flexibility needs already demand new approaches in social dialogue and new institutional settings. During the current project we tried to deepen the analyses on different issues connected with employability and adaptability (see the following chapters).
Regarding the content of collective bargaining for SMEs, the following developments and needs have been identified:
- Flexibility of working time
Working time has to be adapted to the market necessities of the different sectors and should be compatible with family life.
Instruments for working time flexibility are: annualised labour contracts, part-time work, fixed labour contracts, temporary work contracts, withdrawal regulation and training leave.
- Wage flexibility - profit related earnings
Traditional wage agreements determine fixed wages for certain categories of workers for a fixed time period independent of the economic development and the business situation of a company.
Collective wage agreements should become a framework agreement, which gives room for profit-related elements and individual performance of workers within a defined and transparent process.
- Improve employability - continuous training
Modern work organisation, especially in SMEs, demands more internal flexibility from employees. Furthermore, employees of SMEs change their employer relatively often. Both consider investment in the employability of the workforce more and more important.
Business relevant training measures should become an integrated part of collective agreements for SMEs. Possible instruments are: training co-operations at sector or regional level, recognition of informally acquired competencies, training leave, training funds at sector or regional level.
- Increase labour market participation
The upcoming shortage of qualified labour will especially hurt SMEs. It will become more and more important to provide attractive working conditions for groups, which traditionally have a low participation rate such as women, elderly and young people as well as immigrants.
Possible solutions are: trainee-ship and apprenticeship programmes for newcomers on the labour market, family-friendly working time, special arrangements for older employees (part-time, tutor schemes, etc.), integrated programmes for immigrated workers.
Institutional aspects of Social Dialogue in SMEs
The specific needs of SMEs regarding social bargaining and collective contracts will only be recognised if there are strong, representative and competent SME employer organisations at sector and/or horizontal level.
The work on this project made visible several aspects, which are important for institutionalised social dialogue for SMEs, and can be seen as good practices:
- The way in which SME employers are organised in the different Member States depends also on the legal, political and cultural framework in the country.
- Only in countries, where independent SME employer associations exist, are the needs of SMEs widely recognised within the social dialogue and in collective contracts.
- In some countries we observed difficulties regarding the recognition of SME needs by trade unions, which mainly represent employees from big companies and the public sector.
- The FUTURISME II project allowed the European, national and sector SME employer organisations to present themselves as independent social partners towards the trade unions.
- The FUTURISME II project was very helpful for the exchange of good practices from different countries and for building up a European SME employer network.
- The FUTURISME II project was successful in also involving the sector and regional affiliates of UEAPME's Member organisations in the discussion about future developments in social dialogue. But it also demonstrates the difficulties of motivating national branch associations to be interested in an international exchange of views and to learn from other experiences.
- Changes in social dialogue for SMEs will effect more and more even SME associations, which- until now - are not fully recognised social partners in their countries. Both the national implementations of European Agreements signed by UEAPME and the widening of the content of social negotiations (training, regional development), are also on the agenda of these organisations and will influence their daily work.
- The FUTURISME II project made it possible to involve in the future the Liberal Professions, a considerable number of them are SMEs, into the European Social Dialogue.
Dissemination of the results
The final document of the Futurisme II Project with "Conclusions and Recommendations", which was drawn out of the Project are available in all four working languages of UEAPME and have been presented to the Final Conference and the General Assembly of UEAPME. All important documents of the project, including the "Conclusions and Recommendations" are available at the Futurisme Web Page:
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