6th EWC meeting in Suez Environment-anticipating skills, qualifications and competences in the waste and water sector

(12 February 2016) European Works Council’s Representatives from Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Spain met again time on 10/11 February to further discuss the details of the text of the transposition of the Gdf-Suez European Group Agreement on Strategic Workforce Planning into the new company SUEZ Environment. EPSU was represented by Christine Jakob.

SUEZ considers Strategic Workforce Planning (GPEC) as a key component both in supporting the Group's strategic objectives and in the coordination of human resources policies aimed at diversifying careers and enhancing the employability of group employees. SUEZ Environment employs more than 80.000 employees worldwide, mainly in the waste and water sector.

The Group's business activities have been undergoing profound transformation for several years now. The principles of strategic workforce planning should not only be applied to difficult economic situations, but should also be incorporated into human resources policies. On this basis, and in the case of unusual events and decisions that would significantly affect organisations (major operations such as relocations, disposals, mergers, closures of companies or establishments, mass redundancies, voluntary redundancy plans etc.), any information on the implementation of collective human resources defensive initiatives shall be consulted in advance with local workers representative bodies.

Other themes discussed were the cross-mobility between subsidiaries and within countries in anticipating redundancies and the respect for local collective agreement that provide for training needs and adaptation of skills due to technological developments and digitalisation. Trade unions and European Federations play a crucial role in identifying the skill needs and dysfunctioning training requirements for all workers in Suez Environment.

Therefore the added value of this agreement will be the creation of an European Observatory of Skills and Employment, which role, objectives and composition will be further discussed in the next meeting on 10th and 11th of March.