WRITTEN QUESTION E-0042/03

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(21 January 2003)

Subject: Relocation and restructuring measures and the safeguarding of jobs

The Portuguese media reported recently (Expresso on 19 October 2002) that the Japanese group Yazaki Saltano is seriously considering closing down its cable factories in Gaia and Ovar, which between them employ nearly 6 000 workers, most of them young people.

According to the trade union representing electricity workers in northern Portugal, the management of the Portuguese firms denied the report, but confirmed that staff numbers were being reduced, without specifying an exact figure.

Unemployment in Portugal is rising every day and needs to be curbed.

Can the Commission say:

1. whether financial support has been given to the Japanese group Yazaki Saltano in Portugal or any other European Union country;

2. what steps the Commission intends to take to safeguard employment, in view of the countless relocation and restructuring measures on the part of multinationals and the job losses they are causing in countries such as Portugal?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(7 March 2003)

The Commission would like to inform the Honourable Member that Yasaki Saltano SA has received the following support from the European Social Fund in Portugal:

- Old Funds

DAFSE (Departamento para os Assuntos do Fundo Social Europeu): in 1988 the company received PTE 108 907 495 under dossiers 881079 P1 and 881086 P1, and in 1989 it received PTE 171 483 668 under dossiers 890617 P1 and 890694 P1;

- Community Support Framework I

In 1990 the company received support from the Insituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional (IEFP): project No 2/90 PTE 1097064. In 1993 it received support from the Programa Especifico para o Desenvolvimento Industrial Português (PEDIP): project No 6431/90 PTE 7616008;

- Community Support Framework IIThe company has received the following ESF assistance via the Aveiro Employment Centre (IEFP):

- in 1994, EUR 24 409 under the vocational training and employment OP (Pessoa) for employment and vocational training programmes as part of the job start and initial qualifications measure,

- in 1999, EUR 5 504 under the health and social integration OP's sub-programme for economic and social integration for disadvantaged groups (Integrar) for rehabilitation projects as part of the socio-economic integration of people with disabilities measure.

The Commission has contacted the other Member States to ask whether Yasaki Saltano SA has also received Community aid there. It will forward any information received to the Honourable Member.

As regards the Honourable Member's second question, it should be pointed out that Council Directive 98/59/EC(1) concerning collective redundancies provides for information and consultation with the workers' representatives in cases where the employer is contemplating such redundancies. These consultations should be carried out in good time with a view to reaching agreement and cover, at least, ways and means of avoiding collective redundancies or reducing the number of workers affected as well as of mitigating the consequences by recourse to accompanying social measures. These measures aim inter alia at aid for redeploying or retraining workers made redundant.

As regards relocation of enterprises, the Commission advocates the idea that, when taking decisions, enterprises should always take into account the effects that those decisions could have on their employees as well as on the social and regional context. This has recently been underlined in the Commission Communication concerning corporate social responsibility: A business contribution to sustainable development(2).

Furthermore, the Commission has invited the European social partners to engage in a dialogue on anticipating and managing change with a view to apply a dynamic approach to the social aspects

(1) Directive 98/59/EC of 20 July 1998 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies OJ L 225, 12.8.1998.

(2) COM(2002) 347 final.