Our People
Employee Relations
Respecting freedom of association
We respect the right of our employees to freedom of association – to join or not to join unions and to engage in collective bargaining. We protect these rights so that they can be exercised without the fear of retaliation or discrimination.
Relationships with Trade Unions
Relationships with trade unions are particularly important at CCE given the nature of our business. During 2006, 39% of CCE employees were covered by collective bargaining agreements and were members of some of the leading UK trade unions, including Unite, GMB, Amicus and TGWU.
We have a strong track record of working collaboratively with trade union representatives to address issues when they have arisen. As a result, where differences have emerged they have usually been quickly resolved.
We review and negotiate pay and other terms and conditions at our sites where we have collective agreements with unions every year or two years, dependent on the length of the previous agreement, which means we conduct reviews at three or four of our sites each year. During summer 2007, Union members at two of our manufacturing sites took industrial action over several weeks. We are glad that the negotiations were satisfactorily concluded to mutual satisfaction and we continue to take our responsibility towards industrial/employee relations very seriously.
No CCGB employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements since unions are much less active in the fields of sales and marketing.
Change Management
Dealing with major changes in our business presents a challenge for employee relations. This is a particularly significant problem for CCE given the scale of its operations and regional nature.
To address this challenge, CCE established a global change management methodology. This methodology was used during our recent restructuring programme. All managers involved in the restructuring were trained in the methodology in 2006.
One of the key principles within this methodology is that no change can be recommended or implemented without analysis and preparation to ensure employee commitment and sustainability of the reorganisation.
