Web offset and rotogravure printing industry

Web offset and rotogravure printing industry

In the framework of this opinion a hearing (Towards an EU policy to rationalise the heavy printing industry in Europe) was organized in Berlin, Germany on 8 March 2010.
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Gist of the opinion

The European printing industry is having to tackle challenges due to the rise of the Internet, the drop in the number of readers, and fierce global competition.

The current economic crisis has made it more difficult to access credit. In these difficult circumstances there is concern that some printing companies are facing large-scale restructuring and mass redundancies.

The EESC supports the action plan for the printing industry but considers that the problems in the sector – which have been greatly exacerbated by the crisis – require new initiatives.

The EESC has been informed about a new project involving trade unions and employers in the sector. The aim is to draw up guidelines for restructuring businesses in a socially responsible way. The focus is on drawing up an action plan to reduce overcapacity in the sector.

This plan could be part of a longer-term industrial policy which would include examining new models for the printing industry. This work should be followed up by a high-level group made up of representatives from the industry, trade unions and experts, which would be formed under the auspices of the European Commission. The group would be responsible for looking at how the industry might evolve in the future and identifying tools which could be employed to deal with these changes, using a transparent system for gathering information.

Currently, formal social dialogue between employers and trade unions only exists at company level and at national level. The EESC calls on the Commission to set up a European social dialogue committee for the sector as a whole.

The EESC calls on the Commission to work towards implementing a European-level observatory or sector council for skills and jobs which would ensure that the training on offer is in line with demand.

As an immediate step, the EESC suggests that the relevant European associations hold a conference for all stakeholders to establish the current state of affairs in order to work out short-term action and to draw up an independent study on the medium- and long-term future of the sector.

The EESC calls on the EU and national governments to facilitate access to public funding for the sector in order to promote training and re-skilling and to give workers in the printing industry the support they need to embark on a career change. The Committee calls on businesses to examine the ways in which the European Investment Bank (EIB) could help to fund the process of acquiring new technologies for new activities.