Resolution
1329 (2003)1
The
status of collaborating partners in family businesses
1. In spite of the European Social Charter
and women’s changing role in our society, collaborating partners in family
businesses still have no clearly defined status: nearly all collaborating
partners are women.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly regrets this
absence of status, which means that the work they do is not recognised.
3. Very often, collaborating partners do not
have a work contract and do not receive wages, nor do they necessarily benefit
from the firm’s profits. Moreover, many collaborating partners depend on the
self-employed owner of the business for social security, and have only derived
social rights. Pension rights in their own name are also not guaranteed for
collaborating partners.
4. In these circumstances, collaborating
partners who become pregnant or fall ill cannot take time off without harming
the business, and so many continue to work. When they reach retirement age,
they often receive only a very small pension, if they receive one at all.
5. Collaborating partners should have access
to the training they require. This would make for easier reintegration on the
employment market, if necessary, and might make family businesses more
profitable.
6. The Assembly points out that
Recommendations No. R(91)2
of the Committee of Ministers and 1321
(1997) of the Parliamentary Assembly contain many proposals on the subjects of
social security for workers without professional status, and on improving the
situation of women in rural society.
7. The Assembly congratulates member states
which have passed laws on collaborating partners, but considers that the
problem of their status has not been solved.
8. It accordingly calls on the governments of
the member states to:
i. ensure that collaborating partners in
family businesses are offered either work contracts and wages, or a share in
the profits of the family business, thus giving them financial independence;
ii. encourage collaborating partners to
join social protection schemes in their own name (possibly as self-employed
persons), inform them of the benefits of such action, and introduce tax
incentives;
iii. ensure that collaborating partners
have the opportunity or the obligation to earn pension rights in their own
name;
iv. improve, develop and expand training
for collaborating partners, tackling the problems of the cost of training
and the time needed to follow it;
v. reserve part of the estate of deceased
self-employed workers for collaborating partners, and provide for
compensatory payments in cases of divorce or separation;
vi. increase the number of collaborating
partners in decision-making bodies (for example, trade associations,
chambers of commerce and industry and other professional organisations), and
make it easier for collaborating partners to be elected to representative
positions;
vii. establish observatories to survey
collaborating partners and inform them of their rights;
viii. consider the status of other family
members working in family businesses.
1.
Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the
Assembly, on 27 May 2003 (see Doc. 9800,
report of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, rapporteur:
Mrs Err).
