Arbeit und Leben
Developing union training
activities
Arbeit und Leben
The German Team
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DGB NRW (German Trade Union Confederation),
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IG BAU Westphalia (Industrial Union of Construction,
Agriculture and Environment Workers),
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umbrella organisation of the German trade union movement. DGB North
Rhine-Westphalia, represents 1.5 mln members
represents 40.000 employees from the building industry, building
materials industry, gardening and landscaping, agriculture and forestry
and the janitors working in industrial facilities and buildings
Arbeit und Leben NRW
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an institution for further adult education supported by DGB and the
German Association of Adult Education. Seminar programmes and
projects with 25.000 participants and 1000 tutors per year, mostly in
cooperation with unions
Arbeit und Leben
to exercise their legal rights
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Works Council Constitution Act
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§ 80 General Tasks
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The Works Council has the following general tasks:
9. To foster measures of health and safety and environmental protection
in companies.
§ 89 Protection of Work and Environment at Company Level
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(1) The Works Council has to advocate, that regulations about health and
safety, prevention of accidents and environmental protection in
companies are put into practice.
(2) The employer has to ...consult the Works Council.
(3) Environmental protection in terms of this law is defined as ...
Arbeit und Leben
Awareness Raising and Training
For worker representatives and councillors it is important to
be trained in environmental and energy questions
„Traditional“ issues are
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working conditions
salaries and wages
labour law and collective bargaining law
social security
health and safety
equal opportunities, gender and family
training and education
company employment policy, temporary work
participation and/or co-management
unions, industrial policy, international development,
economic crisis, company policy, company restructuring, ...
At the workplace ecology and energy have to be connected
to these issues
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Activities in Germany
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Information
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Campaigns
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Participation IG Metall in "Wir für EMAS"
Exchange of experience
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IG Metall guideline: ressource efficiency and employment
IG BCE guideline: energy efficiency and workers‘ participation
DGB Bund: Oeko-works project
DGB NRW: conferences „good work and ecological change“
Workshops, trainings
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DGB Bildungswerk Bund:
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Company agreements
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Kompetenzzentrum Umweltschutz, betriebliche Umweltpolitik und Nachhaltige
Entwicklung
KoReBB – Kooperationsprojekt Ressourceneffizienz für Beschäftigte und
Betriebsräte
E:G: Evonik
............
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What we need
Pre-condition: The union‘s point of view to combine „green
economy“ and „good work“ and a fair transition
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Exchange: to pool and learn from all the examples and
best practice from different European countries and
unions
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Campaign: works councils are interested but have little
demand - colleagues need a reason and a strong
added value to become active
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e.g. by protecting workplaces, discussing resource
efficiency, not about reductions in staff
Training: Capacity building, a framework for selfdetermined work on this issue and facilitators to fill the
gaps and find the links
 between theory and practice
 between economy and ecology
 between reaction and action
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Where is the focus?
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In line with the
provisions of the IEE
budget line the focus
will be on employee
behavioral change,
awareness raising and
attitudes
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People are not stupid,
they want to work
reasonably.
Arbeit und Leben
Andreas Blechner, Chairman of Works
Council VW Salzgitter:
It is not that we are moving away from the core business. It is
rather the reverse risk that the core business is moving away
from us. I expect that electric motors will prevail sooner than
is expected by many. For us, as an automotive business that
would cause serious consequences. Therefore we have to
think intensively about alternative products that are
economical and simultaneously support employment.