THE CHALLENGES OF THE ECO-SOCIAL MARKET ECONOMY

On the map you see the names of the European countries from which participants
came at the seminar in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia (19-21 of April)

The Austrian trade union federation FCG/GPA-djp and the Dutch trade union confederation CNV organized together with the European Organization of Workers EO/WOW, the Serbian Federation SS Bofos and the European Centre for Workers' Questions EZA a European seminar especially for trade unions in Central and Eastern Europe. The seminar had about 70 participants coming from 20 different European countries. It was held in the city of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, from Tuesday evening 19 until noon of Thursday 21 of April. Excellent speakers from different countries held introductions on the different aspects of the Eco-Social Market Economy.

Preparing the opening of the seminar. On the left Günther Trausznitz,
General Secretary of the FCG/GPA-djp (Austria) and President of the EO/WOW.
In front of him Bartho Pronk, President of the EZA.
Between them Mara Erdelj, President of SS Bofos (Serbia)
and member of the board of the EO/WOW.
They together spoke on the official opening of the seminar.

The definition of social market economy is: a form of market capitalism combined with a social policy which favours social insurance and solidarity. The social market economy forms the heart of our free and open national and, increasingly more, European society, which is also characterised by solidarity. It has proven itself as an economic system that allows for prosperity and full employment whilst also providing welfare and promoting a strong social fabric.

Günther welcomes the participants of the seminar on the morning of the 20th of April.

The concept of an Eco-social market economy was first developed in the 1980s by the Austrian politician Josef Riegler, who, out of concern for the environment, demanded that the social market economy should be further complemented by the component "environmental responsibility". It aims at balancing free market economics, the strive for social fairness and the sustainable use and protection of the natural resources. The eco-social market economy requires that the protection of the environment and social fairness are vital criteria for all economic activity.

Mr. Magister Johannes Mindrer-Steiner , Executive Director of the Institut for
Umwelt, Friede und Entwicklung IUFE (Austria), spoke on
"The Eco-Social market Economy: Hype or the future?"

In that sense the Eco-social market economy can be considered a very Social-Christian principle. Having a balance between the various actors of the economy does also imply that this is sustainable. The Biblical term for this is ‘custodianship’. Being responsible, in manner of acting, for current and future generations. Natural resources are not endless and should not easily be discarded. But one can easily translate this to sustainable welfare and solidarity.

Ms. Marija Parun Kolin, Senior Research Associate in the
Centre for Sociological Research, Institute of Social Sciences Belgrade (Serbia),
spoke about "Challenges for the Eco-Social Market Economy
in the new EU Member States."

So the Eco-social market economy aims at an enduring society in the respective cultural context, which is sustainable on three levels: environmental, social, and economical. This is in accordance to what is mentioned in the Treaty of Lisbon under article 3.

Mr. DI Josef Riegler, Vice-chancellor AD and Honorary President
Ökosozialen Forum (Austria), treated the "Eco-Social Market Economy:
a project for justice and peace."

But how to put the above into practice? The main issue is the compatibility of ecological and social aims with the principles of a market economy. The crucial question is: which framework conditions have to be created so that the dynamics of a market economy move within borders that are imposed by ecological and social aspects. Politics for the economy and for the society needs a clear regulatory framework. This is now more important than ever.

On the left Mara Erdelj, the chairperson on Thursday, and behind her
Mr. Dr. Petar Dukic, Professor Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy
speaking about "Are the principles  of a market economy compatible
with ecological and social aims?

"TRADE UNION PLURALISM, REALITY OR DREAM?"

All participants in the seminar on the photo.

Is Trade Union pluralism just a dream or is it reality in the trade union world? Particpants from many different countries of Europe debated on this question based on analysis of the reality in their countries during the seminar “Trade Union pluralism, reality or a dream”, held last week in Berlin, Germany (25-26 September 2013). The seminar was organized by the Danish trade union confederation KRIFA and the European Centre for Workers' Questions EZA in cooperation with the European Organization of the World Organization of Workers (EO/WOW) and financially supported by the European Commission.

Guenther Trausnitz, EO/WOW President and FCG GPA secretary general, was one of the speakers at the opening of the seminar. The others were WOW board member Adelbert Ewen and Matthias Homey of EZA.

During the workshop the participants exchanged experiences on trade union pluralism in their country. You will be surprised to hear that in a country like Germany the trade union of metalworkers, the biggest, the richest and most powerfull union IGM uses courts to harass and make life difficult to the Christian Metal Workers trade union CGM. The result is that CGM had to use a big part of its membership contributions for paying the costs of these legal proceedings. The IGM accused the CGM not being a real trade union. In Gemany this is a legal question. Without being recognized as a real trade union one cannot sign collective agreements and without collective agreements a trade union risks to lose its reason to exist.

Ms.Isabella Biletta from EUROFOND started the seminar with a bird-eye view on " 'Trade Union Pluralism on European level".

More or less the same happened in Spain, another memberstate of the European Union. For 12 years it was impossible for the Spanish CIC (Confederacion Intersindical de Cajas) to sign collective agreements because the two big Confederations UGT (General Union of Workers) and CCOO (Workers Committees) did not accept the CIC as a partner, while the CIC had enough votes of the workers for being a legal negotiating partner. I was told that the presidency of the European Trade Union Confederation ETUC nowadays is in hands of a member of CCOO (you cannot find confirmation on the ETUC website).

Ms. Anne Kiesow from the Christian Metal Trade Union CGM spoke on "Trade Union Pluralism in Germany".

Even worse is the situation in Denmark. Some time ago about 200 workers of the dominant Confederation LO went on strike in a Carlsberg brewery as a collective protest against one of their collegues because he had chosen to be a member of the Danish Christian trade union confederation KRIFA. Carlsberg fired the worker because it did not want to have problems with LO. In trade union history this is called “deprivation of livelihood”. To make it impossible for trade unions to become active in their company, employers fired workers who were members of a trade union. So today there are unions who use the same weapon against workers who belong to an other union just because they are afraid losing their dominance instead of looking for ways to work together for the benefit of all employees in the company. This is not the only case. It's happened many times before. I wonder what these Carlsberg workers would do if in Denmark only one brand of beer – not Carlsberg – could be sold?

Mr. Wolfgang Pischinger, President of FCG GPA and WOW Board member, spoke about "Pluralism in the Austrian Trade Union work.

However, the worst cases we got from Ukraina from our friends of VOST. In Ukraina the transition to democracy and an open market economy has been slowed down by post-communist forces with the result that Government and employers - many times so-called oligarchs – cooperate together with the aim to create confusion. Employers create their own company unions (so called yellow unions) with our without the help of people from outside the company. The Government recognizes trade unions that exists only on paper. Workers have to become member of the union if they want to keep their job. This is the dark side of pluralism that should be attacked by all democratic forces in Ukraina.

Ms.Dragana Petkovic-Gajic, PhD Political Sciences and Project Manager Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia -CATUS, spoke about "What consequences does Trade Union Pluralism have? Positive and negative aspects of pluralism in South-Eastern Europe.

Another case is Serbia where Western European Banks are buying local banks but do not respect the trade union rights. President Marja Erdelj of the Serbian Union BOFOS informed that for example the French Bank Credit Agricole forced its employees to sign a letter in which they promise not to become a member of a trade union. She hopes to reestablish the rights of the employees during a meeting to which she has been invited by the Management.

Mr. Piet Hazenbosch, Adviser to the board of the Dutch confederation CNV, spoke about "The Dutch case of trade union pluralism".

Fortunately, there are also countries where trade union pluralism has been accepted by all trade unions and where it works reasonably well as for example in Austria, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Malta and post-communist Lithuania. Netherlands has an already long history of trade union pluralism consisting of a social-democratic, christian and liberal-conservative confederation and some national branch unions. Until World War II there was also a Catholic oriented confederation which merged with the social-democratic confederation in the seventies of the past century. All confederations participate in the national social dialogue and all unions are involved in collective agreements.

Mr.Mattheus Homey of EZA spoke on "The importance of Trade Union pluralism from the perspective of EZA".

In Austria, after World War II the Allied Forces together with the forces of Russia forced the trade unions to become one unified confederation called the Austrian Trade Union Confederation ÖGB. Within the ÖGB there are different fractions. The 2 most important fractions are the Socialist fraction FSG ÖGB and the Christian Fraction FCG ÖGB. This system of fractions exists also in the seven branche unions of the ÖGB. In most of these branche unions the Socialist fraction has the majority. In the Branch Trade Union for Private Employed and Print, Journalists and Paper GPA the Christian fraction is a significant minority. In the public services union GÖD, the Christian fraction has the majority.

Mr. Soren Fibiger Olesen, President of KRIFA Denmark, presented his topic " I have a dream that one day all unions can work together to promote the interest of the workers!" 

The seminar topic was introduced by Md. Isabella Biletta, Research Manager of EUROFOND, a tri-partite European Union Agency, that provides knowledge to assist in the development of social and work-related policies. One of the tasks of EUROFOND was to establish criteria for the selection of representative trade unions that could participate in the branch social dialogue commissions of the European Union. She presented also the results of a long term research project that shows that trade union membership continues declining with exceptions in some countries like for example Belgium. It seems that the trade unions don't have yet the right answers to this loss of members. Can it be that the trade unions have become more of an institution than of a social movement? 

The presentation of the results of the working groups. From left to right: Adalbert Ewen (President CMG Germany) as the president of the day, Jolien Dekker from CNV Dienstenbond, Henning Röders from DVV Germany and Jelena Soms from LWU Lithuania.

The participants agreed with the proposal to send a letter to the European Social Economic Committee EESC in which the right of trade union pluralism will be formulated as a fundamental workers right. Workers should have a choice between trade unions free of any discrimination to them as well the trade union to which they belong. In the letter also the cases of the violation of this right on trade union pluralism will be mentioned. The letter will therefore include the cases of violations of trade union pluralism as cited above.

PROTESTS EMPLOYEES RAZVOJNA BANKA VOJVODINA

On the head of the demonstration goes the leadership of the trade union of Razvojna banka Vojvodina and of BOFOS. 

On December 20, 2012 in Novi Sad (Serbia) the Trade Union Organization of Razvojna Bank of Vojvodina and the federation SS Bofos organized demonstrations with the slogan “Let our voice be heard” to express their protest against the decision of the Provincial Government of Vojvodina and the government of Serbia to close down Razvojna Bank of Vojvodina because of the Bank’s large indebtedness. This means that employees of the Bank will literally be thrown out in the street. The protesters got together in front of the Central Bank and then proceeded to the seat of the government of Vojvodina. The protest was supported by a considerable number of other unions both by their participation in the protests and/or by telegrams and letters of support. 

At the meeting with the Provincial Minister of Finance both unions have presented their demands related to employees’ protection that is, implementation of social plan providing guaranties of a decent severance pay as well as protection for the most vulnerable employees. The Minister said the aims presented by the Union were basically normal and it was the interest of Vojvodina to solve the issue of employees’ position in an adequate way.

As a result of the protest and the meeting with the Minister the Provincial government agrees that the Bank prepares a social plan for the employees. The Union will follow the implementation of the agreement and undertake necessary activities in order to have all demands realized.