While yesterday’s meeting was interesting – its always good hear about the plans for the company directly from the man at the top – it was just as illuminating to pick up things from colleagues outside the meeting. I am not directly involved in the European Works Council so a lot of it was new to me, but one thing that came across very strongly was the difference between the status of unions in France and in the UK.
The French unions seem to still have all the rights and powers that were taken away from the unions in the UK during the 80s, and then several others that the British unions could never have dreamed of having. On top of that they seem to enjoy a great deal of respect from the employers and protection by the law. They even have full-time union reps who can devote all their time to representing members without having to work around their normal job and these reps have their salaries and costs met by the company.
It seems to work though. Back when our unions were having a lot of their powers taken away we were told that it would make our companies more competitive and that strong unions were holding back the British economy. What has happened since then is that French unions continued to be strong and now half the companies in Britain have been taken over by the French. Imagine what would have happened if we had not been competitive!
The final irony is that some of those companies are now seeing union membership and participation growing because it is being encouraged by the French head office. Maybe all that stuff about the unions holding us back should join the list of other scares put forward by the CBI along with the idea that a minimum wage would cripple business, safety at work would be too expensive and parental leave would be the end of the world.
My company was taken over by a French competitor last year. They have imposed such terrors as a proper representative committee and the company is actually majority owned by a holding company which is wholly owned by employees. And they like unions a lot more than the old company did.
As you say, a clear vindication of how competitive the Tory anti-union policies made us…
“What has happened since then is that French unions continued to be strong and now half the companies in Britain have been taken over by the French. ”
Half the companies in Britain? I’d like to see something to back that up.
Maybe not half but…
Accor (Luncheon Vouchers, various hotels)? AXA (Sun Life, GRE)? Alstom (GEC engineering)? Capgemini (Hosyns, Ernst & Young)? EDF (Seeboard, SWEB, London Energy)? France Télécom (Orange)? L’Oreal (Body Shop)? LVMH (Glenmorangie)? Pernod-Ricard (Several whisky and spirit brands)? VINCI (Norwest Holst)? Vivendi (various record labels)
That’s just from skimming the CAC40.
Of course, German and Dutch companies own quite a bit too…
Still not half, but anyone ever heard of the Go-Ahead transport group, Southern Railways, Gatwick Express, Metrobus?
And also Thales who now own a lot of the old Racal companies. Elf have a fairly large presence locally too.
I was, of course, not using “half” in its precise meaning of exactly 50% (either by number of companies or number of employees or by turnover) but in the loose, conversational sense of ‘a lot’.
Not just the Germans and Dutch (did you know that HBG who built all the new schools in Crawley are Dutch-owned?) but even the Spanish – don’t they own BAA and Abbey National?