|
|
 |
 |
|
| |
|
| |
The Confederation of the Nordic Bank, Finance and Insurance Unions (NFU) has received a project grant of EUR 193 000 from the EU to promote employee influence in the European Company Nordea SE.
"There is a great need for training all around the Baltic Sea on what a European Company is and what rights the employees have. With this project we aim to support this process and ensure that employee influence is not lost," says the project co-ordinator, Per Karlberg of the NFU (picture).
The fact that Nordea's plans to form a European Company make it one of the pioneers in the field has probably been a factor in NFU's grant application being awarded.
"The European Commission feels that it is important that a good system for employee influence is established," says Per Karlberg.
The project has a total turnover of EUR 244 000. Some 20 per cent of the funding will come from the NFU and the four affiliated national unions themselves.
The project will run up to May 2005 and consists of three phases. In the preparatory phase, representatives of the Nordea Union Board have travelled around and met Nordea employees in the non-Nordic countries. Phase two will be in the form of a training seminar in Kobæk Strand in Denmark on 29 November – 1 December 2004. The final phase of the project will comprise an in-depth seminar with a check on the status of the negotiations. This seminar will be held in Helsinki on 4-6 April 2005.
In addition, the NFU will regularly publish a web-based newsletter containing information on the project.
Autumn tour 2004
During the autumn, a delegation from the Nordea Union Board (NUB) travelled to the seven countries outside the Nordic region where Nordea has operations in order to inform the personnel. These countries are Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Luxemburg and the UK.
The NUB delegation consisted of Majbritt Garbul Tobberup from Denmark, Hans Christian Riise and Jolanta Szumska from Norway and Rauni Söderlund from Finland, who is also the NUB's "minister for foreign affairs".
"We did the tour because our colleagues outside the Nordic region don't know about the forms of co-operation that we have and what the plans to form a European company entail," says Rauni Söderlund.
They are also poorly organised. Only one of the seven countries – Poland – has a trade union for the employees of Nordea.
"Of course we want our colleagues in all countries to organise in trade unions. Now we have provided information to all the personnel in the respective countries, and it's up to them whether they want to form a trade union or not," says Rauni Söderlund.
Even though there may not be trade unions, the employees will still elect representatives to the negotiating committee that will negotiate an agreement on employee influence, and the employees must be able to exert influence even if they have no trade union behind them.
In the seven countries mentioned above, there is no equivalent to the Nordic model for exerting influence. For the personnel in the Baltic region, for example, Nordea's plans to form a European Company may therefore give them a level of influence that would not otherwise have been possible.
"Yes, this is a way for them to get more power and the possibility to work together with the employer," says Rauni Söderlund.
According to Rauni, there was a lot of interest on the part of the colleagues that the delegation met on its tour. The meetings were open to all employees. She says that the biggest success was in Tallinn, where 180 of the 250 Nordea employees throughout Estonia attended the meeting.
Local management representatives attended the meetings too, and their attitude was also positive on the whole.
Meeting in Vilnius
The meeting in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius was also attended by Giedré Lelyté, who has been appointed by the NFU's Baltic Region project to encourage trade union organisation in the finance sector, and Regina Vaiciulionyte, President of LKKDPS, a trade union for employees in the service sector.
Giedré Lelyté says that this was also a well-attended meeting. Many people were curious about the Nordic system and asked questions about the work of the trade unions.
"This was also a good way for us to make contact with the management. We had the opportunity to speak to Nordea's Deputy Manager and HR Manager. They really understood the necessity of having a trade union, but they also stressed that as representatives of the employer they cannot take the initiative and begin organising the employees.
The discussion was still very encouraging. This was probably the most positive bank management that I have met here," says Giedré Lelyté.
The employees have now appointed two representatives to attend the seminar in Kobæk Strand. After the seminar, the NFU's woman in Vilnius will contact them once again.
Bengt Rolfer
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Printable version
