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Shareholders of Grupa LOTOS have the right to file their recommendations and directions to the General Shareholders Meeting.
Rules for shareholders’ participation in the General Meeting and execution of their voting rights are set out in the Polish Code of Commercial Companies and Partnerships(KSH), the Articles of Associationof Grupa LOTOS, and the Rules of General Meetings of the Company. Shareholders representing at least 1/20 of the share capital may request that particular issues be placed on the agenda of the next General Meeting. Such a request should be submitted to the Company’s Management Board not later than 21 days prior to the planned date of the next meeting. They also have the right to submit draft resolutions on issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the General Meeting in writing to the Company’s office or by electronic communication media. The Company immediately publishes such motions on its website. In addition, each shareholder may, during the General Meeting, suggest draft resolutions on issues included in the agenda and lodge porposals of changes and supplementations to already submitted drafts. If several draft resolutions are submitted in relation to the same issue, the chairman of the General Meeting puts each of the drafts to a vote.
During the General Meeting, only issues included in the agenda may be discussed. Each shareholder has a right to take the floor and provide a response. Upon the request of a participant of the General Meeting, their written statement is entered in the minutes.
Responses to the questions asked by shareholders shall be provided by members of the Management Board. Pursuant to corporate governance rules, Grupa LOTOS publishes the questions asked by shareholders at the General Meeting and the responses given to such questions during or after the meeting on the Company’s website. Shareholders requesting to enter their objections to a resolution in the minutes may justify their position.
In 2009, two minority shareholders exercised their right to speak during the meeting and file an objection to one of the resolutions. In the first quarter of 2010, one of the minority shareholders announced a candidate for a member of the Supervisory Board who was put to the vote at the General Meeting.
The right of coalition and collective bargaining in the European legal system, as well as in the national legal systems of EU member states are guaranteed respectively by European primary law and internal legislation, including the constitutional law. Poland, as a signatory of the European Social Charter ratified in 1999, accepts all the provisions thereof as applicable, including the right to organise and the right to free collective bargaining. Grupa LOTOS respects and supports such standards, which provide for rights classified as human rights, in accordance with European standards.
Based on the right to establish their independent and free employee organisations, the Company’s employees established 6 trade unions, which associate around 39% of all staff. The size of corporate trade unions at Grupa LOTOS differs, ranging from 1.1% to 18% of all employees.
The employer concluded an agreement with all these employee organisations. This agreement sets out rules for providing premises required to run trade union activities and means of telecommunication, which are executed in accordance with the same standards as those applicable to management staff. Rooms used by trade unions are located at the registered office of Grupa LOTOS and access thereto is not limited in any way. Each employee is able to anonymously contact their representatives personally, without a pass.
Available data show that the existing share of employees in trade unions allows for an individual choice out of the full spectrum of organisations related to all social trends. The share of employees in trade unions is close to average and owing to programme diversification employees may choose among organisations associated with all social standards.
At Grupa LOTOS, apart from trade unions, a Council of Employees exists, composed of 7 members designated by the two biggest corporate trade unions. The employer concluded an agreement with the Council of Employees. Based on this agreement, the Council is able to perform its duties in accordance with the high standards applied by the employer. Each meeting of the Council, held in accordance with an autonomously agreed schedule, is attended by the employer’s representative, who may provide information requested by employee representatives, respond to questions and take part in discussions, if necessary.
In 2004, five corporate trade unions finalised negotiations and signed the Corporate Collective Bargaining Agreement applicable to employees of Grupa LOTOS. In the course of 6 years of its existence, the Agreement has been updated by virtue of three annexes. At present, the fourth annex, incorporating regulations aimed at the growth of employees’ personal involvement in the issues included in the strategy of the Company and its harmonious development, is being consulted.
As a result of the Company’s understanding of the idea of social dialogue, on 10 February 2009 an unprecedented agreement was concluded between the Council of Employees, all corporate trade unions and the Management Board of Grupa LOTOS on the Anti-Crisis Package for the LOTOS Capital Group. The purpose and success of that agreement was to have all trade unions accept an austerity package in response to the ongoing crisis. Thanks to the consensus, social parties agreed to suspend negotiations on pay rises and commited themselves to conduct permanent consultations in order to inform employee representatives about, for example, changes in the industry’s macroeconomic outlook and the outcome of undertaken savings measures. The agreement expired on 31 December 2009.
It is necessary to point out that all six trade unions, which signed the agreement of 10 February, agreed that it was necessary to adopt savings rules equivalent to those implemented at Grupa LOTOS, including the suspension of pay rises, among all employers coming within the Capital Group.
After one year, almost 80% of employees of Grupa LOTOS found that actions taken by the Company under the Anti-Crisis Package were necessary and efficient.
(Employee survey, February 2010)
Thanks to cyclical programmes of the Management Board’s communication with employees and organisations representing employees, most employees found information about the Company’s strategy sufficient.
(Employee survey, February 2010)
Grupa LOTOS takes an active part in all forms of participation in the process of developing and creating public policies, within the frames provided by the Polish legislature. The Company’s specialists were or are members of expert teams established by public institutions in order to develop new legislative solutions in the energy sector. This includes, for example, the team established by the Ministry of Economy to prepare the document entitled “Poland’s Energy Policy till 2030”.
Grupa LOTOS participates in work aimed at the development of policy and legal regulations on widely understood issues relating to the energy sector, including, in particular, the fuel market, also through organisations, of which it is a member. This refers, in particular, to the following organisations:
Energy security is one of the most important tasks facing the international community. This is a truly global issue which requires global solutions – said Paweł Olechnowicz, President of the Board of Grupa LOTOS (second left) at the opening of the North European Energy Safety Forum in Gdansk. The Forum was attended, among others, by (from the left): Lord David Howell, Chairman of the Windsor Energy Group (co-organizer of the debate), Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, and Janusz Lewandowski, European Commissioner for the Budget.
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