ISSUE BRIEF: SOCIAL DIALOGUE
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Social dialogue consists of an organized and structured dialogue between employers and employees’ representatives on all matters related to the social impacts of the companies’ activities. It is also a means of involving employees in important decisions for the company, especially when those can impact the workforce.
The EU sugar sector benefits from the experience of more than 40 years of dynamic and vibrant social dialogue at European level, replicated and nourished by the experiences of national and company-level social dialogues. The compulsory Code of Conduct on Corporate Social Responsibility, agreed in 2003 and implemented ever since, is one of the most visible and stronger symbols of the social partners’ commitment to promote good working conditions, in particular when the need to improve companies’ performance is at stake.
Hence, social dialogue has been key to ensure a socially adequate transition in difficult times such as the 2006-2009 EU sugar market reform and will continue to do so as the sector prepares itself to face the challenges of further reform in 2017.
