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The Danone European works council is often upheld as an example. Pierre Laurent, the CFDT (France) coordinator on this council, tells the story.

Brussels, September 10 1998 (ICFTU OnLine): "Danone has 90,000 employees, 52,000 of whom are in Europe. It is the world’s sixth largest group in the food industry. The Danone works council dates back to 1985. The will to cooperate on both sides quickly became apparent. On the trade union side we wanted to gain recognition from the multinationals. Attempts at Unilever and many others failed. At Danone, on the other hand, there was much better contact, and we had already had frank discussions with management in the past. On their side, they were in the process of going international, and they were quick to realise that to perform well they needed a good knowledge of what was happening at the local level. They were faced with very different mentalities, and wanted to avoid making mistakes. The IUF, the international union of foodworkers, proved to be an ideal negotiating partner, given that it has affiliated organisations in almost all Danone plants. We owe our success therefore to the convergence of apparently contradictory interests: the management’s expansionist ambitions and our wish to stand up to the onslaught of the multinationals.

One of our distinctive features is that we are composed exclusively of trade union representatives. We also have sectoral meetings and a smaller liaison committee. We wanted to extend our mandate to cover negotiations as soon as possible. It took some time to draw up common strategies, as we had to take into account our cultural differences and at the same time encourage the central management to work with the local management structures. We began with the least controversial issues, such as equal opportunities for women and men, then skills training to meet the needs of modernisation, trade union rights, employment, etc. We use questionnaires for each negotiation. Management do the same. Both sides begin with a summary, then the steering group meet and the two positions are compared. Together we agree on a new draft which is sent back to the membership, before being debated in plenary session. This can take a year, sometimes more, before we have something we can put into practice.

The works council is working fairly well, although we must remain vigilant. Relations are still tense, but the will exists on both sides to reach negotiated solutions. After ten years, we have learnt how to read between the lines of the official information, to understand what management does not want to say, or to put into writing. There will always be conflict. The most important thing is not to try to act as super-delegate, trying to solve everything. In France, when the Marie-Surgelés (frozen foods) subsidiary started to sell off its factories, we opposed the move. We wanted to apply an existing agreement which foresees the right to appoint experts, to make a proposal to save jobs and to receive a response to that proposal. The local management refused. We took the employer to court and finally they had to back track. In Italy, the management gave us 18 months warning of major restructuring. We have discussed terms for training and retraining, and it looks as though in the end there will be no need for job losses.

Of course, there are more serious problems in other continents. We have a few representatives outside Europe, and in view of the group’s international growth, we will have to move up a gear and create coordinating committees. But we must keep our feet on the ground. The priorities are not the same. That is why we regret we were not able to reach an agreement with central management on child labour. We wanted Danone to promise it would not use sub-contractors who use child labour, and we failed. But we intend to try again."