Board-level employee representation rights are far from harmonised at the level of the European Union. Yet, beyond some limited cases of Europeanisation taking root in EU secondary law (i.e. the European Company Directive (Societas Europaea) and other corporate law instruments taking this framework... Find out more

Belgium is one of the few EU-15 countries with no system of involving employee representatives in the strategic management of a company. The post-second World War social pact created extensive institutions for information, consultation and collective bargaining at the company, sector and country... Find out more

This paper presents the results of a mapping of social dialogue and collective bargaining experiences in the European platform economy. Building on a descriptive analysis of the initiatives, the report provides insights into collective bargaining strategies and factors that have led platforms to... Find out more

In France, the legal obligation for private-sector companies to have, under certain conditions, one or two employee representatives on their boards goes hand in hand with the possibility for the company to decide to have its European Works Council (EWC) or SE Works Council (SE-WC) appoint the second... Find out more

Taking up a mandate in a multinational company can be a challenging experience for trade union and workers’ representatives in countries across Europe. And when it comes to board-level representation, the challenge becomes even greater. These difficulties have largely gone under the radar of... Find out more

Policy implications European Works Councils (EWC) face many limitations in terms of timing and quality of information and consultation. One way of addressing this is through communication with board-level employee representatives. The mere presence of a board-level employee representative is not... Find out more

Following the adoption of Council directive 94/45/EC (the EWC directive) more than 1,250 EWCs were established. This industrial relations institution was intended to ensure transnational information and consultation were available to worker representatives within MNCs that met the thresholds of the... Find out more

This training manual deals with two serious forms of obstruction that management may use to block information flows. Firstly, management may label information as ‘confidential’, thus forbidding the EWC to share this information with others (including the employees it represents or local works... Find out more

The idea behind the establishment of European Works Councils (EWCs) is that these are bodies which should be informed and consulted on company decisions and actions. However, this flow of information is often disrupted by confidentiality constraints imposed by management. Three central research... Find out more

This publication, that consists of unique survey data, gives an insight into the functioning of European Works councils (EWC) from the perspective of employee representatives. It presents the results of the largest survey of EWC representatives conducted to date. The survey documents the opinions on... Find out more