MIDDLE managers are one of the main stumbling blocks to a "partnership" approach to industrial relations, several worker directors have told a seminar on Worker Participation in Dublin.
The chief executive of the ESB, Mr Joe Moran, said that getting managers to give information to employees and their union representatives was like "drawing teeth".
After 12 years on the board of the ESB, worker director Mr Joe LaCumbre said that at middle management level there were as many obstacles as ever to worker participation". He also said that the commitment of trade unions to supporting new forms of consultation and participation could be "every bit as superficial as that of politicians or managements".
The general secretary of the ESB Officials Association, Mr Willie Cremins, also criticised the attitude of middle management and said the relationships between trade unions and worker directors need to be reviewed. Structures in organisations were hierarchical and control of information was often seen as a matter of status.
Responding to questions about problems of confidentiality in giving worker directors sensitive information, Mr Moran said. "I can't think of a time when commercially sensitive information was ever leaked. People's primary interest as employees is in protecting the company.
However, he said that for many managers it meant changing long ingrained habits and getting them to be more forthcoming was "like drawing teeth".
Mr Moran said companies have to go beyond participation and treat employees as full partners in their enterprises. Citing the example of the Cost and Competitiveness Review at the ESB, he said that the most difficult phase in many ways was during the first year, when both sides in the company had to team that to be true partners they could have no secrets from each other.
The general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Peter Cassells, told the conference that in future "the energy of unions and management should be dictated by managing change, not managing crises.
"In the context of any talks on a new programme [national agreement], it would have to involve a framework for managing change which would include provision for greater participation, disclosure of information and consultation." Mr Cassells added that to establish a new relationship between management and workers, "a major programme for profit sharing would be required.
"Profit sharing is necessary to ensure that the benefits that result from innovation, change and increased flexibility are shared fairly with the workers involved."
The European Commissioner for Social Affairs, Mr Padraig Flynn, told the seminar that experience showed worker involvement did not lead to a 1955 of competitiveness for companies.
He warned that unless employers and unions overcame understandable resistance to change, important proposals such as those for a Worker Consultation and Information directive covering smaller EU enterprises and for a European Company Statute might never see the light of day.
The Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Ms Eithne Fitzgerald, told the seminar that the main problem with the European Company Statute was the British opt out threat. She said the adoption of the statute without Britain could pose a serious risk of "social dumping" and pressure on other states to lower standards.
The statute, which would allow EU translational companies to register in one member state and automatically fulfill its obligations under company law in all the others, is seen as an essential step towards creating the Single Market.
