ERICA, the project on Collective Agreements of the European Social Partners of the leather industry draws public attention on the values of the sector
Satisfaction was high on 28 April 2022 when COTANCE and IndustriAll-Europe reviewed their Social Dialogue project ERICA (Leather: European Repository of the Industry’s Collective Agreements) that started in February 2021.
In 14 months, the Social Partners of Europe’s tanning sector developed an interactive database of collective agreements and sector-relevant labour legislation. There, the representatives of both sides of the industry of 7 EU Member States can learn how their peers have addressed specific topics of interest in collective bargaining. Up to 26 searchable topics were identified for being of mutual interest.
The ERICA-Database is private, and access is limited to identified officers of employers and trade union representatives of the 7 founding countries, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden and Hungary. However, the partnership is happy to open its access to their colleagues from other European countries, provided there is a joint request from the Social Partners of the tanning sector and that they commit providing information on their Social Dialogue in the same quantity and quality that they will find in the database from the other countries.
ERICA has also a public section where the general public will be kept informed on developments of interest pertaining to the sector’s Social Dialogue and Social Bargaining.
COTANCE and IndustriAll-Europe reviewed also the communication material produced in the ERICA Project. The paper-based information conveyed in a foldable poster published in 8 languages was very much appreciated, as it constitutes both an informative tool and a decorative wallpaper that workers, employers and their representatives or stakeholders will be happy to keep and display.
Also, the 5 workshops organised at national level by the project partners were highly successful, as they addressed key issues of the domestic Social Dialogue ranging from education & training to health & safety at the workplace or collective bargaining.
Special attention was drawn to the online ERICA Conference and its two Panels with high level speakers on skills and sustainability held last April 5, 2022. Over 100 participants from all over Europe and beyond were in attendance! The Social Partners expressed their satisfaction for the quality of the event, the interpretation in 7 languages that allowed also non-English speakers to follow easily, the balanced participation of workers and employers and for the significant interest seen from brands in the audience, accounting for over 10% of participants.
