(2004/C 65 E/258)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2897/03

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(25 September 2003)

Subject:   Job crisis at Alcatel Italia S.p.A.

In June 2003 the management of Alcatel presented its financial programme entailing, inter alia, job cuts for 1 300 employees, mainly in two factories in Italy, at Cittaducale in the province of Rieti and at Battipaglia in the province of Salerno.

Alcatel operates in 130 countries and is one of the world's largest producers of public telecommunications equipment, as well as the main supplier of satellite technology in Europe.

These cuts would be made by means of temporary lay-offs in accordance with the procedures set out in Italian Law No 223/91 or, what is even more serious, by closing down the factories, as envisaged in Article 47 of Law No 428/90.

All this would have grave repercussions on employment, not least for all the SMEs dependent on the sector, which in turn would create social problems.

However, the employees have so far not been sufficiently involved, although the Italian Government has implemented Directive 94/45/EC (1) by means of Legislative Decree No 74/02.

In view of all this, can the Commission say:

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(23 October 2003)

The Union has throughout the years developed a comprehensive policy for dealing adequately with the social consequences of corporate restructuring. As a result of that ongoing policy every restructuring operation must be preceded by effective information and consultation of employees' representatives with the aim of avoiding or attenuating its social impact, in accordance with Community Directives on ‘Collective Redundancies’ (5), ‘Transfers of Undertakings’ (6), ‘European Works Councils’ (7) and, from March 2005 onwards, ‘Information and Consultation’ (8).

The Commission has, nevertheless, not received specific information on the way in which the Alcatel Group intends to deal with the social consequences of the on-going restructuring of the company.

However, the Directives mentioned by the Honourable Member are duly transposed into the relevant national laws. Therefore, it is up to national authorities, at this stage, in particular judicial ones, to ensure that the rights therein can be fully exercised. In addition, it would like to recall the fact that the Community Charter of Fundamental Social Rights of Workers of 1989 and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union are not legally binding. Finally, Directive 2002/14/EC establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees must be transposed into national law by 25 March 2005 at the latest.

More generally, the Commission advocates the idea that, when restructuring, enterprises should always take into account the effects that those decisions could have on their employees as well as on the social and regional context. This has recently been underlined in the Commission Communication concerning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) A business contribution to Sustainable Development (9).

Furthermore, the Commission invited the European social partners to engage in a dialogue on anticipating and managing change with a view to apply a dynamic approach to the social aspects of corporate restructuring. The social partners are in the course of concluding an agreement on this. The Commission very much hopes that their joint work in this field will result in a Community framework which disseminates throughout Europe good practices of corporate restructuring, thus helping companies and their workers to adequately address its social dimension.

(1)  OJ L 254, 30.9.1994, p. 64.

(2)  OJ L 225, 12.8.1998, p. 16.

(3)  OJ L 10, 16.1.1998, p. 22.

(4)  OJ L 80, 23.3.2002, p. 29.

(5)  Council Directive 98/59/EC of 20 July 1998 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies. (This Directive consolidates Council Directives 75/129/EEC of 17 February 1975, OJ L 48, 22.2.1975 and 92/56/EEC of 24 June 1992, OJ L 245, 26.8.1992).

(6)  Council Directive 2001/23/EC of 12 March 2001 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of undertakings or businesses, OJ L 82, 22.3.2001.

(7)  Council Directive 94/45/EC of 22 September 1994 on the establishment of a European Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees.

(8)  Directive 2002/14/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002 establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community.

(9)  COM(2002) 347 final.