On 29 April 2019, Korian, a leading French multinational provider of medical and non-medical care and support services for the elderly and people with short or longer-term health issues across a European network of 6 countries and more than 52,000 workers, signed an agreement with the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) body to establish a European Works Council (EWC), making this the first EWC to have been established in the sector that cares for the elderly and people with disabilities. The agreement is now a benchmark reference, firstly because it is the first in a sector that is set to grow, and secondly because the EWC is being given a broad range of competences and the agreement outlines how EWC information communication between the different representation levels is to occur.
The new body is being put forward as ‘a key structural element in the company’s social responsibility policy that will have competency to deal with transnational issues.’ According to the agreement the transnational aspect takes account of ‘potential extensive effects of the body itself as well as of those of management and relevant employee representation.’ For this agreement, ‘transnational’ is defined as meaning issues affecting the whole Group or at least two companies within the Group located in two separate EU Member States and encompass:
- Issues independent of the number of EU Member States concerned that are important for the Group’s European workers in terms of the size of their potential impact or that imply a transfer of business between EU Member States
- Decisions taken by central management, which independent of the number of EU Member States concerned, can be expected to impact European workers; and,
- Decisions taken by one EU Member State, which after feedback from its implementation, could be replicated in other EU Member states within the Group.
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