SUEZ

(28 March 2008) The trade unions and management finalised the agreement on social guarantees in the case of the merger with GdF. The role of the trade unions is recognised including in the follow up of the agreement. One of the innovations of the agreement concerns the social clause in case of commercial contracts. Such a social clause will be integrated in the significant contracts and this will be discussed and negotiated at the level of the companies to ensure adaptation to the specific (...)

(10 March 2008) The trade union group discussed the following issues:
A proposal for the training of management and shopstewards to implement the European agreement on Forward looking management of employment and competencies. Two pilots will take place (in Lyon and Antwerpen). The training is to provide feed back on the practical implementation of the agreement and if its provisions and terminology are understandable and agreed between management and the trade unions;
Suez informed that (...)

(8 January 2008) The EWC of Suez met 7 January 2007. It gave its opinion on the merger with Gaz de France. The opinion of the EWC was negative especially because the project included the cessation of 65% of the actions and bringing them to the stock exchange. The EWC did note that the development of the markets will offer threats as well as possibilities for the new companies, and is positive that the participants in the shareholder pact can not sell their shares during three years. It (...)

(21 December 2007) The meeting was called by management to demand an opinion of the Suez EWC on the merger with GdF, and the project to bring Suez Environment to the stock exchange.
Intense negotations took place to realise two important conditions: guarantees for the employees and a strengthening of the shareholders pact for Suez Environment that should protect the company against hostile take-overs.
An draft agreement was reached which deals with garanties for the workers involved (...)

(14 November 2007) Trade union rights and resources were on the agenda of the trade union group, 13 November 2007. It considered a draft text which is to improve the position of trade union representatives in Suez and contribute to representation of high quality and professionalism in the dialogue and negotiations with the company. It is part of the discussions to develop a "Statute Suez" which started in April 2006. Three agreements have meanwhile been realised on equality and diversity, (...)

(13 November 2007) The EWC discussed the proposed merger between Suez and GdF and its consequences for Suez Environment. The new project foresees in bringing 65% of the shares of the company to the stock exchange. This raises concerns regarding protection of employment, guarantees for the agreements which have been reached and the long-term strategy of the key investors. The EWC received a presentation from Secafi-Alpha on several outstanding questions. It also held a discussion with the (...)

The merger of Suez and GdF was the main topic of discussion of European Works Council of Suez, 9-10 October 2007, Barcelona.
The workers’ representatives:
Critisised the manner of the information and consultation process with documents being too late, information being incomplete; questions being unanswered and so more time will be needed to reflect and prepare a view. This could not be seen as consultation. Management agreed that a new meeting will be arranged to ask for the opinion of (...)

Press release, 4 September 2007
The Steering Committee of the European Consultative Committee (EWC) of Suez meeting today (4/9) and after having noted the announcement of the new project to merger GdF and Suez:
• Is opposed to the principle of the dismantlement of the Group and as such to the project to disinvest 65% of the capital of branch Environment. The EWC is absolutely not reassured by the announcement of a pact of the large shareholders of which the real content and the rules (...)

The Steering Committee of the EWC of Suez met 4-5 September 2007, Paris. It discussed the new plans for the merger with Gaz de France and especially the proposals to bring the environment division to the stock exchange. It disagrees with this proposal and notes that no social guarantees have been given. It also issued a press release.
Other issues discussed concerned the social reporting of the company, the implementation and follow up of the agreements reached in July, starting with a (...)

The Bureau of the EWC of Suez, the works council of the Suez holding and the French trade unions were called for an information meeting to Paris, Sunday 2 September 2007. Management of Suez was represented by CEO Mestrallet and the CEO of Suez environment Mr. Chaussade. After months of wrangling with the French state and after two weeks of rumours Suez and GdF have agreed a new way to allow the merger to continue. The French state will still have 34% in the new group which will be based on (...)

(20 June 2007)The EWC approved in principle a number of agreements, rejected others and demanded continuation of negotiations on a range of other issues. The agreements are not signed yet, as some consultations are ongoing and a number of minor questions need to be solved. Agreement was reached on:
A profit-sharing agreement: the unions and EWC demanded that the workers would share in the results and profits of Suez. Although the demands were not fully met, a three year agreement will (...)

(19 February 2007) UPDATE: Unions and works council achieve success. Company management has withdrawn the proposal to replace the head quarter of the company.
(12 February 2007) Management of the Suez subsidiary Electrabel Netherlands decided in 2006 to move the headquarters of the company to another location. It argued this would be more prestigeous and a more central location. The workers of the company headquarters in Zwolle objected to these proposals as they would impact on jobs, (...)

The group met to consider the state of play. Discussions are ongoing on a charter on equality, on employment policy, a wage norm and a profit-sharing scheme. The final results will contain orientations for the social partners. Not much progress has yet been achieved although most issues are slowly moving forward. The meeting also received a presentation of management concerning SHERPA, the organisational re-think of SUEZ. Its aims is to achieve synergies, discover potential and realise (...)

Suez awarded a bonus to its central staff arguing it was a reward as they worked hard to ensure Suez ensured high profits in 2006. The EWC Bureau expressed its concern as all workers had contributed to the positive results. It did not see a reason to discriminate and give more to workers who generally have already more then other workers, for example those in the waste and other service sectors. The Bureau demands a discussion on this and measures to reward all for their work. Please read (...)

The union group had prepared its position on the Group’s employment policy and discussed the proposals with representatives of management, including a HR director from SES (Suez Energy Services - GTI, Axima, Fabricom, Elyo, Inneo...) Management gave a first reaction and will come back with written comments.
Management also gave a reaction to the proposals made on profit-sharing and the company’s wage policy. On profit-sharing, management has concerns that the longer-term proposal, needs (...)

Members of the EWC received the texts of the final proposals on the merger with Gas de France. These included:
Merger Proposal, detailing the strategic framework of the merger, the characteristics of the new group (including the financial objectives and synergies), merger terms concerning employees and the effects of privatization (of Gas de France) These merger terms refer to the application of the statute of the workers in electricity and gas, application of collective agreements, (...)

Three issues were discussed:
Profit Sharing. The union group suggested that Suez develop a system that allows all workers to participate in the profits made by the Group. It would be a system at the level of the group and in addition to profit sharing schemes existing in some of the individual companies in Suez. The results should be distributed taking into account the differences between countries so all in a country will benefit independent of the company in which they work. A base (...)

The European Works Council of Suez met 23-26 October. It held a preparatory and a debriefing meeting. It met in plenary with Suez CEO Mr. Mestrallet. The main issue of the discussion concerned the proposed merger with French company Gas de France.
The preparatory meeting was fully devoted to the merger. Representatives received a briefing from experts of Secafi, the French consultancy close to the unions 23 and 24 October. The EWC also discussed the consequences of the merger with trade (...)

Discussions continued to consider what a decent wage is. This should also be linked to decent wage development, which should include compensation for inflation to protect purchasing power and sharing in productivity increases. Management explained that the wage policy of the group is indeed orientated towards protecting of purchasing power. This is subject to exceptions related to the economic situation of the individual companies. Other elements are that the company strives to have (...)

The delegation came together 6 September 2006, Paris. New developments regarding the merger were reported. The Secretary will have the possibility to read a censored version of the document the European Commission has sent to both companies (Suez and Gas de France) and which has also been sent to so-called interested third parties. It will be confidential. The expert will discuss the report with Suez and inform the EWC what can be expected. What does the Commission expect and what will (...)

(24 August 2006) The Bureau of the European Works Council of Suez and the French Trade unions have started negotiations with management to define a social policy for the company which will also ensure more guaranties for workers and should improve information and consultation rights. A series of meeting has been agreed with management.
The first meeting (21/8) started with a discussion on a document presented by management regarding employment policy and taking account of future (...)

A delegation of the EWC visited DG Competition Director-General Lowe, 30 June, Brussels. The delegation representing 128.000 workers in Europe out of 157.000 workers worldwide, discussed the announced merger between Gas de France and Suez and the role of the European Commission.
Issues raised included:
The weakness of the information and consultation rights in the European Works Council Directive and the need to revise and improve the Directive;
The importance of the social dimension of (...)

AGREEMENT RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EUROPEAN CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE WITHIN THE SUEZ GROUP
Agreement of 31 May 1995, as modified by the Amendments of 19 November 1999, 21 June 2001 and 27 September 2004

The Suez EWC discussed the merger with Gas de France. It concluded that before expressing itself for or against the merger guarantees were needed with regard to employment, information and consultation rights, the future of Suez Environment in a possible new company and the investment programme for all parts of the company including waste, water and energy services. The EWC supported the approach of the Bureau of the EWC that negotiations should be started to ensure that the Suez’ workers (...)

Recently a number of fatal accidents took place involving sub-contractors which work for Suez Electrabel in Belgium, Italy and Chile. In one case the health and safety procedures were violated. A comprehensive health and safety plan was missing, coordination of activities on the construction site were poor and dangerous working methods and conditions were applied that do not meet Electrabel’s standards. Management of Electrabel underlines to its managers that the outsourcing of activities (...)

The members of Bureau received an extended overview of the possible consequences of the merger Suez and Gas de France from the experts of Secafi. The two companies have notified the European Commission of the project and Suez formally informed the Bureau. The Commission will now explore if the merger will lead to market dominance and possible abuse of a dominant position. The IED decided to explore the possibility to intervene vis-à-vis- the European Commission to bring its concerns (...)

(7 April 2006) EWC meets in extra-ordinary meeting on merger-project Gas de France
The European Works Council of Suez, called Instance Europeenne de Dialogue, met in extra-ordinary session following a demand of the Bureau of the EWC, 7 April 2006, Paris. They met together with the Comite Groupe Francaise.
The representatives discussed the merger project in a pre-meeting with the (financial-economic) experts of Secafi. They presented the pros and contras and consequences for the workers (...)

 Suez/GDF merger under scrutiny of Suez European Works Council , 14 March 2006 Paris

The bureau was informed on the merger between Gas de France and Suez, 28 February 2006. The CEO of Suez explained the merger and presented it as an industrial project. If Suez/Gas de France would fulfil all the necessary conditions set by European Commission and national competition and regulatory authorities it could take effect in December 2006. The Bureau did not express an opinion as much information is not available such as guarantees for employment and the representation of workers in (...)

A presentation was given of the work on Ethics, Values and the accompanying Action Plan by Gerard Kuster, Director of Business Ethics. Issues such as conflicts of interests, preventing abuse of dominant positions, risks of corruption were discussed.
The recent bid of SITA Netherlands/ Flanders on the Dutch company AVR (waste incinerator) posed a number of principal questions. The Bureau of the European Works Council was not informed of, let alone consulted on the implications the bid (...)

The Bureau discussed developments of SITA in the Netherlands and Belgium. It is bidding with another company (Delta) for a waste incinerator (AVR). Realising that it is just a bid, nonetheless the Bureau took the position that representatives of the appropriate management should have informed on the strategic importance of the bid for Suez, and of the possible longer-term consequences for the workers. Only in that case would it have been possible for management to take its opinion into (...)

Suez management made an unprecedented commitment to the European Works Council of Suez: no jobs will be delocalised. This was in response to questions of members of the EWC and EPSU Deputy General (coordinator for the EWC) regarding proposals to created share-service centres. These centres will bring together so-called back-office services such as IT management, HR administration, call-centres etc. Depending on the activities of Suez in a country and the size of the country, there can be (...)

Suez announced the take-over of Belgian electricity company Electrabel in August. The implications of this merger were at the focus of discussion and especially the prospect of the creation of a European Company for Suez. This will be discussed further at the plenary meeting of the EWC (19 October). Other issues considered:
Equality and Diversity;
Training;
Suez Energy Services (companies such as Fabricom, GTI, were job losses are foreseen);
Health and Safety - the number of (...)

The EWC discussed the financial and economic report of its expert. He detailed the strategic thinking behind the recent proposals of management to bring all Suez energy services together (Elyo, Axima, Endel, Ineo, Fabricom and GTI..). While this will create Europe’s largest energy services group, it could lead to significant loss of jobs and be based on wrong choices to service its clients. Just the day before the EWC meeting GTI Netherlands announced to axe 1000 jobs. During the meeting (...)

The Bureau of the EWC of Suez met to consider several issues. Reports were given on the work done in the different committees (energy, water, waste) and the health and safety committee.
Discussion concentrated on recent efforts of an investment fund to argue for a break up of the company to free so-called share holder value. Suez has reacted that there are no reasons for this. The Bureau discussed these recent developments with the financial expert of the unions who also concluded there is (...)

The latest negotiating session on the amended EWC agreement for Suez took place on 27 September in Paris. The negotiations were finalised and the parties would consult on the result. While there are no earth shocking improvements a number of steps have been taken to improve the agreement:
While the text does not use the word consultation, improvements have been reached as to the wording including “concertation”, timely and written information at a point in time when our position still can (...)

The EWC held its preparatory meeting in Paris. Its agenda included reporting back from the energy, water and waste activities as well as the work of the Steering Committee of the EWC. The EWC mandated the representatives in the Steering Committee of the Health and Safety working group (with management) to issue an ultimatum in case reporting on and implementation of the health an safety charter would not improve considerably.
A report was given by the trade union “expert comptable” of the (...)

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