Strengthening Democracy at Work and Managing the Impact of Financialisation in EFFAT Sectors

Oct 30, 2024 | Company work, Featured, Publications

For workers in agriculture, food processing and hospitality, the decision to put profits before people continues to have disastrous consequences. Farm workers struggle to put food on their tables. Food processing workers operate in fast-paced factories with high injury rates. Hospitality workers cover multiple jobs to make ends meet while smiling for the outside world.

This is why the fight against short termism is at the top of EFFAT political agenda.

Today, we are taking the work that has been done so far a step further by presenting to you the results of a two-year project.

The project aims were the following:

Better assess the risks of short-termism and maximizing shareholder value for working people.
Training our EFFAT TNC-EWC coordinators, trade union officers dealing with transnational companies and members of national and European works councils on the main financial indicators and business strategies for maximizing shareholder value. Understanding the impact of these strategies on working conditions and collective bargaining.
Developing an EFFAT Strategy to tackle the consequences of financialisation and power concentration in our sectors.

After this two-year project, the final deliverables consist of:

EFFAT Final Report: Strengthening Democracy at Work and Managing the Impact of Financialisation in the EFFAT Sectors – Dynamics of Financialisation in the Hospitality, Agriculture, and Food & Drink Sectors (July 2024 – FR – DE – ES), which includes:
- Three sectoral notes on the general trends linked to financialization in agriculture, food processing and hospitality.
- A working tool for trade union representatives, works council members and shop stewards to fight back against the impact of financialisation at the workplace. The working tool includes a glossary, key indicators to assess the level of financialization and a checklist of questions to be asked to Management to assess the company’s strategy. (July 2024 – FR – DE – ES)
- Expert recommendations with 7 demands to the EU and national governments on how to promote long-term shareholder engagement. These recommendations will be further assessed by the EFFAT TNC Committee, potentially revised and incorporated in an EFFAT Resolution to be adopted by the ExCom next year.