Korian strengthens social dialogue at European level with the signature of an agreement to establish a new European Company Works Council
In keeping with Korian SA’s conversion to the status of a European company, as approved by the General Meeting of Shareholders on 22 June 2022, the company has announced the signature of an agreement to establish a new European Works Council. As soon as its members are appointed at the end of 2022, it will replace the European Works Council set up in June 2020. In order to assist them in the negotiations, the members of the special negotiating group representing the Korian Group’s employees were supported by the European Federation of Public Services Trade Unions (EPSU), which represents national and European trade union federations in this business sector, and which will continue to assist the members of the Council for the duration of the agreement.
Currently, Korian is the only company in its sector to have set up a European Company Works Council. The Council will be made up of 20 employee representatives appointed by the trade unions.
The agreement is the result of the discussions that took place in six negotiating sessions between December 2021 and June 2022, and, among other things, strengthens the role of its select committee by proposing four meetings of that committee per year (rather than two), thus facilitating consultation on subjects not requiring the involvement of the full Council. It also introduces consultation thresholds depending on the importance and impact of the subjects submitted, and clarifies the list of subjects open to information and consultation. Finally, the agreement confirms the presence of “observers” such as cooperatives, in Italy (where they were already represented under the previous agreement) and in the United Kingdom.
The new agreement also improves the training of delegates, with a minimum of two days of training per year, in line with the previous agreement, which has offered them training on European works councils (in 2020), gender equality (in 2021), and environmental issues (in 2022).
The Council’s plenary meetings (two per year) will enable quality dialogue to continue between the delegates and members of General Management concerning the Group’s development strategy and environmental, social and governance (ESG) policy.
Korian’s European Works Council will also continue the work started by the previous Council, which, in particular, led to the adoption in November 2021 of a first European agreement on health & safety at work, including 25 measures to reduce workplace accidents.
“Korian continues to regard the quality of social dialogue as a priority for the company, in all countries and at various complementary levels: at the level of every establishment as well as at national and European level. This agreement provides additional impetus compared to its original version, by making use of the new advances in social dialogue at European level based on best practice in each of our countries, and by strengthening the culture of social dialogue at all levels,” says Rémi Boyer, Korian’s Group Chief Human Resources & CSR Officer.
According to Jan Willem Goudriaan, General Secretary of the European Federation of Public Services Trade Unions (EPSU): “It should be noted that the Korian Group’s agreement represents a first for a company in the sector and continues the work that has been done to represent workers’ interests including within the Board of Directors of the company. Our challenges are many to deliver quality working conditions and quality of care.
