Promotion of participation by employed persons in profits and enterprise results, PEPPER II

In adopting the report by Mrs Marie-Thérèse HERMANGE (UPE, F) on the promotion of participation by employed persons in profits and enterprise results (PEPPER), the European Parliament observed that the Member States had not made much use of such systems. It therefore made a number of recommendations for their promotion and use. It recommended: 1) that the Commission: - conduct a study into the impact of financial participation schemes on employment, productivity and wage flexibility (including in small and medium-sized enterprises); - implement a programme to promote the exchange of best practice, together with training for both sides of industry in financial participation schemes; - set up a working party to promote the introduction of PEPPER schemes in equivalent conditions throughout the Community (it would include representatives of the European Parliament and of both sides of industry); - study the need for a Community initiative concerning various aspects of policy on capital; - facilitate the development of pilot projects in this field; 2) that Member States: - develop framework legislation on the subject (comprising tax incentives or bonuses); - instruct their national bodies to draw up schemes for promoting and encouraging financial participation schemes; - extend eligibility for financial participation schemes to all categories of employees, including part-time employees; - when setting up such schemes, consider ways of protecting employees against excessive losses in value; - develop alternative forms of investment where it is impossible for employees to participate in equity (particularly by means of systems making it possible to create jobs); 3) that both sides of industry: - organize information campaigns to raise public awareness of the schemes; - encourage PEPPER options as a feature of collective bargaining.�