Brussels, 10/03/2009
The biggest fear was that the establishment of an SPE could give companies incentives to circumvent employees’ rights to participation. ‘The proposal of the Parliament aims to ensure that workers’ rights are not undermined. It is a step forward and an important improvement to the draft statute presented by the Commission’, says ETUC Deputy General Secretary Reiner Hoffmann. This solution respects workers’ rights that already exist both under Community law, notably the SE Directive, and in national legal traditions.
Mr Hoffmann urges the Council to stick to the compromise of the Parliament and to ensure that the European Private Company Statute must respect workers’ participation rights. At the same time, he called on the Commission to come up with an urgent proposal for the 14th Directive on cross-border transfer of registered seats, to eliminate another possible loophole for workers’ rights.