Ilaria Savoini Brussels, 15 December 2010

1. Ilaria Savoini Brussels, 15 December 2010 First seminar EU project: Towards a European steel council on jobs and skills? Identifying the actorsContribution of other sectors: the commerce experience

2. Funded in 1993 Represents the interest of wholesale, retail and international trade vis-à-vis the EU More than 100 members, included: Commerce federations in 31 countries Companies/groups of companies National and European organisations representing sub-sectors International organisations (USA, Canada, India, China…) EuroCommerce is the recognized social partner for SD at EU level The social dialogue Committee has been implemented in 1998, after years of informal social dialogue Short presentation of EuroCommerce

3. Since 2008-2008, social partners for commerce have put in their work programme for sectoral social dialogue a point entitled « Adaptation to change, vocational training and skill needs » They have followed the initiative of the Commission on emerging competences and the ILO Global Dialogue forum on VET and skills development for commerce workers In April 2009, they have agreed during their social dialogue meeting to develop a joint project (with the financial support of the Commission) aimed to establish a European Network for the anticipation of skill needs in the commerce sector The joint project UNI Europa/EuroCommerce:    «Establishing a European network for anticipating skill needs in the commerce sector»  

4. Multi-staheholder project: social partners + 1 skill council and 2 VET bodies Steering Committee made of representatives of the social partners and the above mentioned expert bodies; Organisation of preparatory meetings, drafting of a questionnaire sent to all the potential participants and discussion of the programme – 70 replies to the questionnaire, not all countries replied! The main event consisted in 3 regional workshops and a final conference Try to involve the biggest number of countries possible: sometimes difficult Partnership and methodology

5. Status Quo Content of Vocational Training Innovation of Vocational Training National Coordination of Vocational Training International coordination of vocational training Functioning of provisional skills management bodies Issues adressed in the questionnaire and in the workshops

6. Clear concern on VET and future skill needs in the commerce sector – mismatch is real and needs to be tackled The role of the social partners in various countries and contexts differs regarding their influence on VET Emerging skills: ICT, communication, independent decision-making, intercultural and social skills Importance of quality and accessibility of VET with all its elements: quality of training, teachers, etc. Change in requirements for employees are linked to changes in the society Skill requirement are rising, also for the less qualified Funding and accessibility of training were also regarded as important issues Some reflections on the outcome of the workshops

7. The final conference took place a last week… Main issues dealt with The presentation of the outcomes of the project and of the questionnaires How to address the skills mismatch: presentation of good – and less good… - practices, also presentation of the ongoing work in the leather sector How to improve the cooperation between the stakeholders at EU level Next steps towards the establishment of a EU skills council Main contents of the final conference

8. Good participation of the various involved stakeholders, social partners, VET bodies and some skills councils Until now, skills councils or equivalent bodies identified in the following countries: Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, The Netherlands, UK (but very difficult to get in touch with them), Portugal, Romania, Denmark… Difficult to have all the skills councils during the final conference, but the functioning of the bodies was well explained ea by social partners, VET providers The problem related to the training in SMEs was strongly underlined Some feedback on the conference/the whole project

9. The social partners will: Draft a common opinion on the continuation of their activities in this field Finalise the list of the stakeholders to be involved Discuss the outcomes of the project and the next steps during a next SD meeting Agree on the presentation of a new EU-funded project aimed to establish a body on skills anticipation and agree on a first range of activities to be implemented in this framework Next steps

10. Social partners of the commerce sector are willing to continue their cooperation in the field of anticipating skill needs and are keen to present a new project During the conclusions, it has also been underlined many times that commerce is a fast-changing sector and in order to be able to ensure a quality service for consumers, skills need to be continuously adapted Since this experience is relatively new, it is also important to have an information exchange regarding the ongoing similar initiatives in the other sectors Important to continue to cooperate with the other sectors involved in such initiatives to learn from each other As a conclusion

11. Thank you for your attention! For more information: savoini@eurocommerce.be