Estonian parliament has adopted the Employee Representative Act

Dear brothers and sisters!

Thank you very much for your strong support to Estonian trade unions in our fight against Employees' Representatives' Bill proposed by Estonina government. We have won the battle!!!!

Last Wednesday, December 6, our parliament accepted in second reading all major and principal amendments to this Bill. The final, third reading (adoption of the Bill) will take place this Wednesday but according to the procedure of the parliament no more changes are possible.
Our major achievments regarding this Bill are:

1) trade union shopstewards will not be discriminated in the law compared to employees' representatives elected on general assembly of the companys' workforce - the law will not violate C. 135 of the ILO
2) trade union shopsteward is defined as employees' representative and will have all the rishts and guarantees that has employees' representative elected on general assembly of the companys' workforce
3) trade union shopsteward will be involved in the information and consultation procedure in any case
4) the paid time for workers representation will not be cut.
Thus the government failed to achieve it's main target - to use transposition of the Information and consultation framework directive into Estonian legislation - as an excuse for pushing trade unions out of the workplaces! We are not very happy with the new law but we succeeded to protect workers' and unions' rights - and this is the most important result for us.

Thank you very much once again!

Fraternally,

Harri Taliga
President of the EAKL

PS
The new law will come into the force on February 1, 2007.