This is the Constitution adopted at the Eurocadres Congress 30-31 October 2017. 

CONSTITUTION OF EUROCADRES

Revised by the Eurocadres Congress on 31 October 2017

I. CONSTITUTION AND MEMBERSHIP

Art. 1      The Council of European Professional and Managerial Staff^[1] shall be called Eurocadres.

Art. 2     Eurocadres voices the cross-sectoral interest of professionals and managers through advocacy, social dialogue, collective bargaining and joint work with member organisations and cooperation partners.
Eurocadres is a not for profit organisation.

Art. 3      The constitutional bodies of Eurocadres are the Congress, the General Assembly and the Executive Committee.

Art. 4       Eurocadres shall consist of organisations representing Professional and Managerial Staff that are:
national confederations affiliated to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) or their intersectoral P&MS organisations, and national organisations affiliated to a member organisation of the ETUC;
European Trade Union Federations affiliated to the ETUC.

Art. 5       Eurocadres pursues its tasks in cooperation with its member organisations. Eurocadres is an organisation associated with the ETUC.

Art.6        National Eurocadres Liaison Committees can be set up by the national member organisations at national level. Their objectives are in particular to:
facilitate cooperation on European affairs between member organisations at national level;
facilitate close coordination and exchange of information between the national and European levels;
deal with nominations and national representation at the Congress and in the Executive Committee.

II. CONGRESS

Art. 7       The Congress shall be held every four years.
Each member organisation may send one representative, who may have a deputy.
Observers may participate in the Congress with the right to speak but not to vote.
The status of an observer is applicable to:
national trade union organisations reporting P&MS membership and interested in Eurocadres, but not yet paying fees or not having fulfilled fee responsibilities;
national trade union organisations not reporting P&MS membership or not paying fees or not having fulfilled fee responsibilities.

Art. 8       Member organisations from the same country fulfilling their fee responsibilities share that country’s votes according to their reported P&MS membership.
Each country will have the following total number of votes according to the reported P&MS membership of its member organisations fulfilling their fee responsibilities:
with fewer than 100,000: 15 votes;
with 100,000 or more, but fewer than 250,000: 20 votes;
with 250,000 or more, but fewer than 500,000: 25 votes;
with 500,000 or more, but fewer than 750,000: 30 votes;
with 750,000 or more: 35 votes.
Organisations not fulfilling their fee responsibilities can only be observers and they are not counted in the sharing of national votes.
Votes of European Trade Union Federations shall be distributed as follows:
with fewer than 1,000,000 P&MS members: 20 votes;
with 1,000,000 P&MS members or more: 30 votes.

Art. 9     Upon election of the Executive Committee, and according to the standing orders of the Congress, the Congress shall confirm:
the Congress Board;
the Credentials Committee;
the Resolutions Committee.

Art. 10     The Congress shall determine policy guidelines to be followed within the framework of Eurocadres’ general objectives. In particular, the Congress shall have the following tasks to:
determine and modify the Constitution and the Standing Orders of the Congress;
decide on the framework and principles for the budget, fees and other financial matters;
decide on proposals by the Executive Committee or motions put forward by member organisations;
elect the members of the Executive Committee in accordance with Article 14;
elect from among the members of the Executive Committee the President and the Vice-Presidents of Eurocadres;
elect two Auditors.
The decisions of the Congress are recorded in its minutes.
Each country and European Trade Union Federation may present a single candidate for the Executive Committee, or for the seats of President or Vice-President. Applications from countries are conditional upon the commitment and continuous respect of the fee system by the respective national organisation.

Art. 11      An extraordinary Congress shall be convened by the Executive Committee at any time on a majority decision of its members or a decision of the General Assembly by the majority of votes cast.

III. GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Art. 12    The General Assembly is held every year where there is no Congress. It should receive one annual report on the activity and financial situation for approval.
The General Assembly shall endorse decisions according to Art 14, 21 and 25 by the Executive Committee. The decisions of the General Assembly are recorded in its minutes.
Each member organisation may send one representative (with one vote), who may have a deputy.
Observers may participate in the General Assembly with the right to speak but not to vote.
The status of an observer is applicable to:
national organisations reporting P&MS membership and interested in Eurocadres, but not yet paying fees or not having fulfilled fee responsibilities;
national organisations not reporting P&MS membership or not paying fees or not having fulfilled fee responsibilities.

Art. 13      The Executive Committee is responsible for deciding on the agenda of the General Assembly and putting forward proposals to be adopted.

IV. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Art. 14     Each country and each European Trade Union Federation shall be represented by one titular member (with one vote) and one substitute member, expected to be of different genders.
In order to increase transparency the Executive Committee shall set rules for observers and guests for the case of participants from working groups, committees or organisations lacking representation in the Executive Committee, or other reasons.
The Congress shall elect the titular and substitute members of the Executive Committee on the basis of a single proposal provided by each country and European Trade Union Federations. The members will serve for a four-year term.
The substitute can participate and speak in all Executive Committee meetings, but can vote only if the titular member is absent.
By agreement with the Executive Committee, a member may be replaced by the respective country or European Trade Union Federation. Such a decision shall be endorsed by the next General Assembly.
By way of an exception, the country or European Trade Union Federation of the President, once elected, has the right to propose an additional member, to facilitate the work of the President and the Executive Committee.
Membership of the European Parliament or a leadership position in a European political party is incompatible with the mandates of the present Constitution.

Art. 15      The Executive Committee shall be responsible for taking the necessary decisions for implementing the Constitution.
The Executive Committee shall have overall responsibility for all Eurocadres activities and policies between Congresses, in accordance with the Constitution and Congress decisions.

Art.16      The Executive Committee decides and evaluates the three fee levels along concrete GDP-percentages, the concrete amount of fee per level, member and year, on the basis of the fee system principles in Art. 26.
The Executive Committee decides, on a proposal by the Presidium, on requests for temporary modification of annual fees.

Art. 17      The Executive Committee may mandate some of its members or other persons acting for Eurocadres to monitor particular issues. Such persons shall be assisted, within its means, by the Secretariat and shall report on their activities.
The Executive Committee may establish sub-committees or working groups. It shall specify the composition, the tasks and the modes of operation of such committees.

Art. 18     The annual financial report, with the Auditors’ report, shall be submitted to the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee shall adopt the annual financial report and an annual budget and make decisions concerning membership fees or other financial arrangements.

V. PRESIDIUM

Art. 19     The Presidium of the Executive Committee shall be responsible for organising meetings of Eurocadres, sending invitations for guests and taking decisions between meetings of that body, and shall report to it for endorsement. It shall be responsible for preparing the agenda for the Executive Committee meetings and convening the said meetings.

Art. 20    After the Congress, the elected President and Vice-Presidents shall submit to the Executive Committee proposals for appointing a Treasurer from among its members, and an Executive Officer.

Art 21.    The Presidium shall comprise the President, the Vice-Presidents, the Executive Officer and the Treasurer; other officers may take part in the Presidium meetings. In order to cover various areas of responsibility there shall be a minimum of four and an indicative maximum of six Vice-Presidents.
In the event of resignation, a member of the Presidium may be replaced by decision of the Executive Committee with a 2/3 majority of votes cast. The person replacing a member of the Presidium will be in the said position until the Congress.

Art. 22    The President is the chief political representative of Eurocadres and represents Eurocadres in cooperation with the Vice-Presidents and the Executive Officer
Once elected by the Congress, the President and Vice-Presidents may be re-elected once to the said positions in term in the respective positions for two mandates.
If a President or a Vice-President is elected as replacement by decision of the Executive Committee in-between congresses, in accordance with art. 21, for longer than half a mandate this term counts as the first mandate.
They shall be employed or elected officers of their union at the time of their appointment, and if this ceases to be the case, they may continue until the end of their term of mandate with the agreement of their union respective organisation and of the Executive Committee.

Art. 23     The Treasurer is responsible for supervising the management of Eurocadres’ finances on behalf of the Executive Committee.

VI. SECRETARIAT

Art. 24   The Executive Officer shall be responsible for coordinating the activities of Eurocadres, including its officers and staff, to ensure that the decisions of the Congress, Executive Committee and Presidium are implemented. The Executive Officer shall be elected by the Executive Committee, on a proposal of the Presidium.
The Executive Officer shall be the secretary of the Presidium and of the Executive Committee.

VII. GENDER BALANCE

Art. 25     Eurocadres aims at a full gender balance within its Congress, General Assembly, Executive Committee, Presidium and working groups. Where the candidacies for the Executive Committee do not reach the minimum level of one gender representing a third of the members, the body at that moment in charge shall request the member organisations to reopen their lists of proposed members and substitutes, suggesting procedures and a timescale for reaching the goal. Should this additional procedure not deliver an appropriate gender balance, the Executive Committee shall appoint additional members after the Congress. Such appointments shall be endorsed by the next General Assembly.

VIII. FEE SYSTEM

Art. 26   Each national member organisation shall pay its membership fee within the first quarter of the year. The P&MS membership figures reported by each organisation are the basis of the annual membership fee.
A national organisation which does not fulfil its fee responsibilities shall move to the status of an observer, with the right to speak but not to vote, as from the following year. Full payment ex post shall reinstate the membership rights.
The amount of the membership fee per P&MS member and year is decided by the Executive Committee and should be evaluated regularly.
The fees must meet the following principles:
There are minimum fees per organisation and per country.
For structural reasons (the degree of budgetary and decision-making autonomy) and historical reasons (in particular, GDP), there are three fee rate levels.
The three fee levels are oriented along the respective EU average GDP per capita in purchasing power standards.
The Executive Committee shall decide the applicable fee rate levels after an update of the number of affiliates and consultation with the national member organisations.
Organisations may ask the Presidium to modify their fees in the event of temporary and extraordinary problems. The Presidium, together with the organisation concerned, shall set up a plan for managing the problems. The Executive Committee shall decide on the fee modification proposed by the Presidium.
All organisations concerned are expected to set up plans to upgrade fee rate levels.

IX. VOTING

Art. 27    The Congress, General Assembly and Executive Committee shall endeavour to achieve the widest possible measure of agreement. When a vote is necessary, a decision is made with a simple majority except from decisions to determine and modify the Constitution, which shall require a majority of two thirds of the votes cast.

X. ENTRY INTO FORCE

Art. 28   The Constitution as stated shall enter into force immediately after the closing of the Congress where it is adopted, unless the Congress by a separate decision with 2/3 of the votes cast decides to apply a specific part of the constitution immediately after its adoption. Any such decision shall include clearly which amended part of the constitution is to be immediately applied.

APPENDIX – REPRESENTATION

• The Eurocadres 2017 Congress confirms the following provision: By way of an exception to Article 14, UNI Europa and industriAll Europe shall have two titular seats and two substitute seats for the Congress period following the 2017 Congress.

[1] Professional and Managerial Staff abbreviated to P&MS in this text