On May 21, the Versailles Court of Appeal disallowed Veolia Transdev’s EWC demand to suspend Transdev France’s decision to recover funds credited to SNCM, halting payments due to an absence of consultation with the EWC. At issue is an interpretation of the clause in EWC agreements that recognize these bodies as competent to be informed of these issues, which regardless of the number of countries affected are liable to impact a significant portion of the European workforce. This decision confirms that given by the district court (TGI) of Nanterre in November 2014, and throws out the request on grounds that the impact on employees was too hypothetical to warrant consultation with the EWC.
To back up its demand to suspend a decision to recover some €103 millio until the European division of Veolia Transdev’s EWC beconsulted, the EWC put forward the argument that “decisions over SNCM were in reality more to do with the global industrial strategy presented in March 2013, that affects the highest echelons in the company and which assumes the disposal of capital intensive or weak growth assets.”
However the Appeals Court relies on the principle that issues which require prior consultation with the EWC must “involve an international dimension either by their cause or by their effect,” and judged that:
- The international element necessary to oblige EWC consultation was missing because “by their cause, the decision to render the credited amounts immediately payable did not concern the whole group nor two companies or entities of the group located in two European Member States.
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