Fifteen member organisations of CECOP were represented. As a result, about 50 participants, representatives of cooperative organisations, national trade unions, ETUC, and DG Employment and social affairs and DG Enterprises and Industry from the European Commission debated on the general situation of worker cooperatives and their relations with the trade unions world.
Ms Evelyne Pichot, representative of Employment and social affairs talked about the stakes of the SCE Directive as Mr Albrecht Mulfinger, Head of Division of crafts, small business, cooperatives and mutuals at DG Employment and Industry explained the role of Staff Representatives Bodies (Instances Représentatives du Personnel / IRP) within worker cooperatives.
And last but not least, the conference lead to the signature of a common declaration addressed to CECOP and ETUC, which concerns: a monitoring on SCE composed partially or totally of worker cooperatives; the identification and the promotion of the best existing practices of supervision and in implementation of democratic participation in worker cooperatives ; the drafting of common opinion on the additional standards of workers' participation which SCE's composed partly or totally of worker cooperatives should apply; the promotion of the cooperatives practice in educational programmes; the encouragement of public policies in favour of sustainable employment (combat against delocalizations, cooperativisation of enterprises threatened by closures, labour inclusion of disadvantaged workers, etc.)
This meeting CECOP-ETUC is a kind of relaunch of the partnership between both organisations, after the publishing of a document by CECOP in 1999 called:” CECOP-ETUC: itinerary of a social dialogue” and which summarised all the common actions.
