Activities of Renate WEBER related to 2018/2053(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
The role of employee financial participation in creating jobs and reactivating the unemployed (short presentation)
Reports (1)
REPORT on the role of employee financial participation in creating jobs and reactivating the unemployed PDF (300 KB) DOC (65 KB)
Amendments (34)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Β
Recital Β
B. whereas the most appropriate EFP model will mostly depend on the size, activity and status of the company, especially if it is listedmust be carefully chosen by the individual company and its workers taking due account of the specific national taxation rules and sectoral context, and will mostly depend on the size, activity and status of the company, especially if it is listed; whereas it is not appropriate to develop a comprehensive ‘one size fits all’ model for EFP at EU level;
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 17
Citation 17
– having regard to the Commission green paper entitled ‘Building a Capital Markets Union’, published on 18 February 2015 (COM(2015)0063)Mid Term review of the Capital Markets Union Action Plan COM(2017) 292, published on 08.06.2017,
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas ESOPs are commonly preferred by employees, because thea form of EFP using an intermediate entity used canable to exercise voting rights or other forms of governance on behalf of employees, and could be voluntarily chosen by them;
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas EFP schemes involving workers in consultation and decision- making have proven3 benefits for both employees and the company including in terms of sustainable governance, transparency, social dialogue, mutual respect between employers and employees, and other aspects such as recruitment, retention, absenteeism, motivamotivation, job satisfaction and skills development;, as well as overall performance and profitability; __________________________________ 3 ANNUAL ECONOMIC SURVEY OF EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES 2017 - by MARC MATHIEU EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas employee participation in decision making could improve organisational performance and employees’ quality of working life and whereas it could act as a workplace innovation tool4 to promote a sense of ownership, enhance the flow of information in the company, and improve levels of trust between employers and employees; –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 4Workplace innovation in European companies. Eurofound. 2016
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas, according to the data from the 2013 European Company Survey, 62% of European establishments use some form of variable pay; whereas the most common type is pay linked to individual performance and assessed by management appraisal (43%), followed by payment by results (34%), profit sharing (30%) and pay linked to group performance (25%); whereas share- ownership schemes are used by 5%of establishments;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas EFP schemes couldan have positive impacts on the economy of Member States by supporting companies, including SMEs and the job market; whereas workers’ financial participation in their company can contribute to job satisfaction, sense of ownership, mutual respect between employers and employees, overall performance and can help employees find opportunities in their home countries;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas in the context of the development of the Capital Market Union, the EFP canould contribute to overcoming widespread reluctance among retail investors to invest their savings in shares owing to a lack of knowledge about its benefits and risksthe CMU objectives of inclusive growth and transparency in economic activity; whereas EFP, if coupled with training for participants provided by companies and Member States, could improve financial education amongst EU citizens, potentially reducing their reluctance to invest, and potentially increasing retail investment;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas EFP must go hand-in- hand with a high level of information, training and consultation with staff so that they are fully aware of the functioning of the financial participation schemes that they could join, to enable them to make a fully informed assessment of the potential benefits and risks of these schemes, such as in the case of the company’s bankruptcy;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas EFP can help, by involving employees in the decision making process, depending on the specificity of the scheme, in some cases, EFP can help companies, including SMEs with respect to restructuring and business continuity by addressing company succession problemand generational renewal problems, for example in family businesses;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas EFP, especially ESOPs or similar schemes could act as a shock absorber, allowing bonuses or other rewards to be managed in trusts by third parties, spreading the investment risk among the company’s principal shareholders and ensuring that workers have a portfolio of saved sharesbearing in mind that EFP has positive and negative elements to it;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas an ESOP is an example of an effective employee buy-out model for non-listed companies in which an intermediate entity acquires the shares for theEFP bears some financial risks, it might as well, act as a shock absorber, allowing bonuses or other rewards and also ensuring that workers have a portfolio of saved shares; whereas ESOPs in particular may be an example of an employee buy-out model for non-listed companies where the priority buy-out process could allow employees, to protecnting them from additional riskally safeguard their own jobs when there is the possibility of buyouts by other companies;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas measures are therefore needed to protect employees from facing double risks such as losing both their job and the capital invested when their employer is impacted by a crisis, whereas EFP may not be used to reduce the social and employment rights acquired by employees, must not replace normal basic pay, other forms of remuneration or contributions to pension schemes, and must not be a way to transfer risks onto the worker or not to comply with labour law;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas participation in the EFP should remain voluntary for employees, particularly in SMEs while not affecting their mobilitylabour market mobility; their social security or their rights to take collective action; whereas employees should therefore have access at all times to information regarding the economic situation of the company, with the exception of its trade secrets and commercially sensitive information, and be informed of the advantages and disadvantages of each EFP scheme available;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas the current European Social Fund could support frameworks similar to Sociedades Laborales as a supporting active labour market policy throughout Europpromotes social entrepreneurship and the social and solidarity economy and the upcoming ESF Plus should continue to do so, and whereas Employee Financial Participation can make a valuable contribution to the development of the social and solidarity economy by, for example, making investment or funding more accessible;;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas participative change in a company nourishes an environment of trust between management, employees and their representatives and whereas social dialogue can help inform employees about adaptation needs, promote employee involvement in operations, and engage the workforce in debates about the future of their company1b; __________________ 1b Innovative changes in European companies, Eurofound 2017
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
P. whereas EFP could be a complementary tool to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, which supports re- skilling and EFP, is an avenue fhelps people who have lost their jobs as a result of major structural changes due to globalisation or econtinuously training workers, maintaining their employability and reducing the risks of getting laid offomic and financial crisis, with respect to re-skilling, training, supporting self-employment, business start-ups and employee takeovers;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas EU guidelines for EFP willcould help Member States develop EFP schemes throughout Europe,frameworks for EFP schemes that could potentially leading to the benefits mentioned aboveboth for employers and employees as well as increase public awareness of EFP;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission to consider appropriate measurerecommendations to encourage Member States and companies that show an interest in EFP to develop and offer EFP schem, particularly SMEs, to develop and offer EFP schemes which: - protect workers’ income safety, - do not exploit workers in a crisis situation, - do not shift entrepreneurial risk to workers, - guarantee a high level of protection to the workers investments, for the benefit and in the interest of both employees and companies;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas employee participation could be used as a workplace innovation tool in order to promote organisational change and renewal and hence improve the quality of working life and organisational performance1c; __________________ 1cWorkplace innovation in European companies. Eurofound. 2016
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Member States to provide incentivnon-mandatory incentives, including tax incentives, while not overriding national taxation rules, in line with best practice principles, when promoting employee ownership schemes among companies and employees while supporting the highest standards of social protection for the employees and safeguarding their right to collective action;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Underlines that EFP has to be embedded in a system of workers’ involvement, for example in company decision making, including through workers’ representatives and that EFP must not be a substitute for fair and decent pay nor an alternative to public pensions or to collectively agreed pension schemes;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas EFP schemes could haveCapital Markets Union reaches to empower retail investment and can support EFP schemes by contributing to overcoming widespread reluctance among retail investors to invest their savings in shares owing to a lack of knowledge about its benefits and risks, thus eventually positively impactsing on the economy of Member States by supporting SMEs and the job market;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide dedicated websites, that would include model profit- sharing agreements for SMEs and VSEs for ease of implementation; information about attached risks and other relevant material; further calls on the Commission and Member States to continue collecting data on the use and spread of financial participation schemes, as well as to examine the impact of financial participation on the functioning of the company, the quality of its work and retention of workers, with the help of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that, to avoid administrative and development costs associated with implementing EFP in corporations and SMEs, there are outsourcing options, but these need to be promoted; Calls on the Member States and the Commission to assist companies which show an interest in EFP with solutions and specific support measures to avoid excessive administrative and development costs associated with implementing EFP in companies and especially SMEs and encouraging the outsourcing operators such as banks and investment funds, to propose simple EFP schemes tailored to suit this type of company, while making sure intermediaries do not take advantage of the smallest companies, or that there are no hidden costs;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to engage with social partners, employee ownership organisations and other stakeholders to design the most appropriate EFP schemes,at the beginning of the process in order to design the most appropriate EFP frameworks, and when a EFP scheme is considered relevant, to negotiated it on a ‘plant-by-plant’ basis andwhile considering the size and type of company, its workforce and financial situation, but also the national legislation and practices;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas the European Employment Strategy and the Europe 2020 Strategy set priorities to improve the quality of jobs and ensure better working conditions and whereas increasing employee participation in company financial results and offering better rewards could help to meet these goals;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Recalls that the decision to join EFP schemes should be based ontotally voluntary, meaning no action should be taken against the employees if they decide not to join an EFP scheme and when they agree, their participation should be based on appropriate training and the informed consent of an employee, fully aware of his or her entitlements, obligations and risks, of the situation of the company and, of the advantages and disadvantages of each scheme, of the taxation effects when joining the scheme and the conditions which apply when he or she leaves the company or the scheme;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Considers that EFP benefits should always be complementary to the contractual remuneration and rightsshould not replace or diminish normal basic remuneration or any other form of contribution such as social security contributions, but should be complementary to all social and contractual rights; this being a pre- condition to implementing EFP;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to consider the rapid evolution and change of the labour market and the consequent challenges regarding skills, digitalisation, automation and, potentially, wealth inequalities, and thereforesocial security cuts; and continuously create new opportunities for the labour force to adapt in order to be financially sustainable and independentto support and protect workers as to adapt and develop professionally and personally;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas EFP, especially ESOPs or similar schemes could act as a shock absorber, allowing bonuses or other rewards to be managed in trusts by third parties, spreading the investment risk among the company’s principal shareholders and ensuring that workers have a portfolio of saved shares;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Considers that ESOPs should also allow employee to use the ESOP account for other equity than that of the current employer, as to mitigate concentration risk, particularly for SMEs;