Vol. 484 No. 3
80 Mr. Penrose asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the input, if any, which she will have in relation to the EU Commission's decision to consult the EU social partners on the issue of information and consultation of employees at national level; the plans, if any, she has for Irish legislation in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22037/97]
The EU Commission published its Communication on Worker Information and Consultation in November 1995 with a view to developing the information and consultation of workers in EU based companies not already covered by the EU Works Council Directive.
The Commission launched the first phase of consultations with the EU social partners, who represent trade unions, employers and publicly owned companies, under the Agreement on Social Policy in June of this year. The Commission has decided to launch the second phase of consultations with the EU social partners, formally requesting the social partners to enter negotiations on a framework agreement on worker information and consultation. The Commission launched this second phase on 6 November last and the social partners have nine months in which to respond. If the social partners commence negotiations and reach a framework agreement, the Council of Ministers is empowered to give legal effect to that agreement, if it so decides.
My approach now is to await the outcome of the developments at EU level that I have already outlined. However, worker information and consultation in individual companies can assist competitiveness and the development of more positive management and employee relations. It is important that companies and their employees are enabled to develop information and consultation arrangements which suit their needs. Therefore, I must stress that any legislation in this area, EU or otherwise, should not seek to impose particular models of information and consultation on individual companies.
I refer the Deputy to the enterprise partnership commitments included in Partnership 2000. Basically, these commitments seek to promote partnership at the level of enterprise, but do not seek to impose any one structure or model of such partnership.
