The European Works Council, which comprises 37 representatives of the employees of the parent company and of the French, German, British, Italian, Belgian and Polish subsidiaries, met twice. In 2020, discussions focused on recurring issues: Group current events described by EDF’s Chairman and CEO, health, safety, review of the Group’s consolidated financial statements and employment report. The Council also considered the Group’s gas strategy, renewable energies and hydrogen technology, issues raised by European policies, the Green Deal, taxonomy and Brexit. Reorganisation projects and their impact on employees discussed included the disposal of Edison’s exploration and production activities, the acquisition of a Rolls Royce subsidiary by Framatome and the disposal of Reetec, a German subsidiary of EDF Renewables.
The functioning of the Council was impacted by the health crisis, which forced the June plenary meeting to be postponed until September. All discussions, whether in working groups, at the secretariat level or at plenary meetings, were conducted remotely. An extraordinary EWC secretariat meeting was held in June to share information on the decisions adopted by the Group on protecting employees’ health and safety, the significant expansion of telework and the social dialogue associated with this period within the various Group subsidiaries. Work was also undertaken with EWC representatives in connection with the “Working Differently Managing Differently” (TAMA) project launched following the first lockdown period in France.
Through the five working groups set up, the EWC employee representatives carry outwork at the European level in connection with Group policies (e.g. health and safety, equal opportunity and diversity). In late 2020, the working group on the closure of industrial sites, which was set up in 2019, produced a set of recommendations and proposed issues to be studied if an industrial site is closed.
In accordance with the collective agreement on the establishment and operation of the Council, the members reappointed the Council’s Secretary by a majority of the votes cast in an election held electronically on 5 November 2020.
In France, highlights in 2020 included setting up the Social and Economic Committees (SCEs), following the trade union representative elections held on14 November 2019, and the implementation of the agreements negotiated in 2019on the operation of the Central SCE, establishment SECs and trade union rights. This implementation is a component of the “Social Dialogue 2020” project on the renewed social dialogue within EDF, which aims to simplify and improve the performance of social dialogue.
In the context of the health crisis, EDF has set up an enhanced social dialogue with employee and trade union representatives at all levels of the Company (establishments, department, company and group). This ongoing dialogue, which focuses on transparency, is a forum for exchanging views on the management of the crisis and the implementation within the Company of the measures adopted by the public authorities. The manner in which the social dialogue is conducted has been temporarily modified, firstly, pursuant to consultation with the Central Trade Union Representatives (recommendations of 27 March 2020) and, thereafter, under the collective agreement on employee protection and social measures in connection with the relaunch of EDF’s activity.
The oversight process for implementing collective agreements provided for in the 2018 Group HRD(1) organisational decision was initiated in order to assess the impacts of the agreements negotiated and to consolidate the agenda of the collective agreement monitoring committees (including the worldwide framework agreement on the EDF’s group Corporate Social Responsibility).
To take into account the context of the health crisis, the Social Dialogue Director and the Central Trade Union Representatives met three times (on 20 April, 5 November and 3 December) in order to adjust the social agenda, thereby preserving the Company’s collective bargaining momentum. Most of the negotiations included in the 2020 social agenda have been completed or initiated, with two exceptions that have been postponed to 2021 (workplace gender equality and profit-sharing). In 2020, nine agreements and supplemental agreements were signed. Collective bargaining was particularly intense for EDF SA during the first lockdown and post-lockdown period.
Two agreements and one amendment were concluded unanimously:
In addition, six other agreements and amendments were concluded within EDF SA on:
The ICCE is a forum for social dialogue, exchange and/or consultation with EDF SA’s representative trade union organisations, led by the Group Social Dialogue Director. Its role is to discuss societal and development issues that do not fall within the remit of employee representative bodies or emerging issues, decisions or policy orientations. In 2020, five meetings were held (only one with members in physical attendance).
The year was also marked by the aim to prepare more frequent progress reports on projects that been presented a first time to the ICCE, whether concerning external issues (government pension reform project) or internal issues (interim progress report, milestone report on the reference project, Let’s Talk Energy approach, etc.).
In 2020, the new employee representative bodies created by the collective agreements signed in the summer of 2019 were established within EDF SA. The structure of the Employee Representative Bodies has been reformed and now includes 47 site-level Social and Economic Committees, one Central Social and Economic Committee and one France Group Committee.
The Central SEC, which was established in December 2019, comprises 25 employee representatives and 4 trade union representatives, and has a high turnover rate among these representatives. In 2020, highlights included the implementation of anew method of operations, the management of the health crisis, the protection of employee health and safety, and business continuity issues. Five meetings were held remotely and five with the members in physical attendance.
The France Group Committee is a forum for dialogue at the Group level in France, comprising 28 employee representatives of the Group’s subsidiaries (EDF, Dalkia, EDF Renewables, Framatome, Enedis, Cham, RTE, etc.). France Group Committee met twice in 2020 (out of the three meetings pursuant to the agreement) to discuss the Group’s financial and economic position, its policies, and the Group’s employment and training reviews.
The Employment, Training, Work Placement and Mobility (EFAM) working group and the Regional Social Dialogue Committees on Employment, Mobility and Work Placement (IDREM), which are provided for in the CGF agreement, were set up in 2020. The last meeting of the year, which was scheduled for December, was postponed to January 2021 and will examine the Group’s strategic choices and review the operating methods and work of the IDREMs.
(1) “Overseeing collective bargaining at EDF SA”.
