European Works Councils Research Articles

German board-level employee representation in multinational companies: Patterns of transnational articulation

We investigate codetermination on German supervisory boards of multinational companies and pose two questions. First, under what conditions does board-level representation constitute a power resource for employee representatives? Second, how does board-level representation articulate with European Works Councils? We conclude that factors related to corporate structure – head office location, the level at which supervisory boards are established – play a decisive role in determining the power resources available to employee representatives. Articulation with European Works Councils depends on the adoption of a strategic approach whereby German employee representatives deploy the power resources derived from national codetermination rights at the transnational level, or use the mechanisms of transnational employee representation to compensate where such national power resources are lacking.

Management, European Works Councils and institutional malleability

We show that most managers responsible for European Works Councils do not comply with the information and consultation requirements stipulated in legislation, and cite stock market regulations as the principal reason for non-compliance. Compared to employee representatives, managers also downplay the importance of articulation between European Works Councils and national institutions of labour representation, using them to achieve managerial objectives. We thus illustrate the ‘malleability’ of European Works Councils and argue that further regulatory intervention is required if they are to function as information and consultation institutions as originally intended by EU policy makers.

Why Aren’t There More European Works Councils? A Belgian Perspective

This policy brief considers the lack of European Works Councils through a Belgian perspective. It discusses Belgian companies who are currently engaged in establishing one or have developed ‘functionally equivalent’ structures. The remaining companies are confronted with serious obstacles to establishing a European Works Council, principally: (i) a lack of knowledge about them, (ii) weak and time-consuming national-level information and consultation processes, and (iii) a low perceived added value of transnational information and consultation. It evaluates what needs to be done in order to increase the number of EWCs and what trade unions need to do in order to raise awareness on the importance of EWCs at European level.

The European Works Council as a management tool to divide and conquer: Corporate whipsawing in the steel sector

In large, highly internationalized companies, local sites of production have to contribute to the competitiveness of the corporation while decision-making is directed ever further away from their influence. The article examines how inter-plant competition, called management whipsawing, has changed at the transnational steel company ArcelorMittal over 12 years. The authors take an explicitly Gramscian perspective, as they study the role of coercion and consent in the staging of inter-plant competition. The analysis is based on 45 qualitative interviews with company managers and employee representatives in Spain, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, carried out in two phases, from 2004 to 2006 and 2014 to 2016. The aim is to understand how management can integrate central arenas for employee involvement into their strategies with regard to inter-plant competition. A central finding of this longitudinal case study is that the European Works Council (EWC) is essential in the construction of employee consent to labour competition.

Collective transnational bargaining: practical implementation experiences from European Works Councils in Spain

Abstract: Council Directives 94/45/EC and 2009/38/EC impose transnational collective bargaining in Community-scale undertakings so as to create procedures for informing and consulting employees in said undertakings. More than twenty years after the first Directive was passed, this article examines the agreements reached by European-scale companies with headquarters in Spain and tries to construct a typical model for European Works Councils among companies in Spain.Keywords: European Works Council; EWC; Collective transnational bargaining

European Works Councils after two decades

The European Works Council Directive was adopted over 20 years ago, and a voluminous body of research has developed on this relatively new institution. This article reviews the most cited literature in order to consider our state of understanding of this research field and to identify gaps in our knowledge. Most research has focused on a limited number of European Works Councils, mainly in manufacturing, and on labour actors. We still know little about the interplay between European Works Councils and other levels of employment relations, the role of management in their working and their effects on substantive employment relations outcomes. By taking stock of current knowledge, we aim to advance future directions and possibilities for research on this theme.

Collective interest representation of the European workforce in European Works Councils

In this article, I draw on case study evidence to assess different aspects of the representativeness of European Works Councils. First, I consider how representativeness is framed by external sources of legitimation, such as the legal framework and the founding agreements. Second, I examine the internal legitimacy that can be derived from their membership. Third, I explore the reciprocal construction of legitimacy through linkages with local employee representation structures. Finally, I discuss their role in relation to trade unions and the further Europeanization of industrial relations.

What about the workers? The implications of Brexit for British and European labour

In June 2016, a small majority of voters called for Britain to leave the EU. In this article, we discuss the referendum itself and the form which Brexit may take. It has become clear that the current UK government is committed to a ‘hard’ Brexit which will rupture most existing ties with the EU. While much uncertainty remains, there are alarming indications that ‘regaining sovereignty’ – a key slogan of the Brexit campaign – will translate into abject subservience to the most erratic right-wing US administration in history. We examine the implications of Brexit for labour rights in general and for British trade union participation in European Works Councils in particular: there are many reasons for apprehension. We assess the economic and political fall-out, and end by exploring possible consequences for international trade union solidarity in Europe. In general, trade union policy-makers in Europe are committed to resisting ‘divide-and-rule’ strategies by employers, but there will undoubtedly be tensions.

Workplace trade union engagement with European Works Councils and transnational agreements: The case of Volkswagen Europe

This article examines two transnational agreements signed by the Volkswagen European and Global Works Councils, considering their interlinked implementation within subsidiaries in Britain, Italy, Spain and Germany. We demonstrate differing stances and some uncertainty towards principles of co-management, social dialogue and codetermination. These agreements have improved local industrial relations and strengthened cross-national interaction between employee representatives, despite significant differences in orientation regarding how unions should engage with management. However, the emerging international framework has not led to a clear politics of incorporation, with local trade unions being well aware of the risks of co-management and a more business-oriented relationship.

IndustriAll European trade union: Over 20 years of working with European Works Councils

industriAll Europe, and its predecessor European Trade Union Federations in the manufacturing, mining and energy sectors, has played a key role in the formation and development of European Works Councils (EWCs) since the inception of pioneer transnational information and consultation bodies in the 1990s. Some 560 EWCs now operate under its remit, accounting for half the total currently functioning. To date, only fragmentary accounts exist of its over 20 years of practical and political experience in assisting EWCs. This article thus provides a unique insight. We examine the demographics of these EWCs and discuss how industriAll Europe handles European worker representation, provide a critical assessment of the Recast EWC Directive and outline the broad range of instruments and policies developed over time to guide and support EWCs in industrial sectors.

Company Restructuring Across Borders: With or Without European Works Councils?

This policy brief takes as its starting point the fact that as soon as a company engages in European-level transnational restructuring, transnational information and consultation is needed to enable the social partners to consider the cross-border dynamic of the planned measures. This policy brief addresses the following questions: How widespread is transnational restructuring in Europe? What is the role of EWCs in restructuring processes? How extensive is the transnational information and consultation coverage in companies involved in transnational restructuring? The authors present several policy recommendations including the need to make EWCs obligatory in companies of a certain size and provide them with better material, legal resources and access to expert advice.

Has the recast made a difference? An examination of the content of European Works Council agreements

The 2009 recast of the European Works Council (EWC) directive introduced substantial revisions to provisions on training, reporting back to employees and trade union involvement, together with amendments to the definitions of information, consultation and transnational competence. We use data from almost 1100 EWC agreements to evaluate its effect. We find a combination of direct effects from the recast and a general learning effect in the negotiation and renegotiation of EWC agreements. Which is dominant, depends on the issue under examination. The impact of the law tends to accelerate the development of EWCs as an institution in process.

European Works Councils during the financial and economic crisis: Activation, stagnation or disintegration?

The article compares changes in the European Works Councils (EWCs) at Ford and General Motors Europe during the financial and economic crisis. Previously, both were highly active and effective. Although both otherwise displayed quite different characteristics before the crisis, their reactions were quite similar. At both companies, competition and mistrust among representatives increased, resulting in a decline of integration and effectiveness. We explore the importance of personal relations as preconditions for stability and effectiveness in EWCs.

Articulation within (and across) transnational workplaces and the role of European Works Councils

Trade unions often make concessions on wages and working conditions when confronted with threats of job losses by management within multinational companies. However, articulating European Works Councils (EWCs) activities with industrial relations institutions and actors at different levels can help maintain job stability while guaranteeing good working conditions. This article draws on a comparative analysis of eight multinational subsidiaries in Britain, Belgium, Germany and Italy to illustrate how this can be achieved. In particular, through strengthening EWCs and negotiating European Framework Agreements, unions can constrain management benchmarking strategies and spread across countries the positive gains of local negotiations where unions are strong to other subsidiaries where they struggle to negotiate on employment protection.

EUROPEAN SOCIAL DIALOGUE, A HIDDEN PHENOMENA OF THE INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE IN EUROPE

Talking about intercultural dialogue in Europe we think about the dialogue between the actors within the European Union and/or between its people. The intercultural side of the European social dialogue as it is established in the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) does not automatically come in our minds. If we consider however that the actors of the social dialogue are coming from different industrial relations schemes, that the national social dialogue within the EU member states have its own specific character a look on the cross-border social dialogue is worthwhile. Not only on a national level but on the European stage social dialogue plays an important role in forming a European labour law within the European Common Market. This particular niche of intercultural dialogue in Europe the article is dedicated to. Within the cross-boarder social dialogue, different systems collide which is a challenge as such. As far as the bipartite and tripartite social dialogue is concerned it is already difficult enough to bring together the different approaches of the national cultures. And it is evident that it is a huge challenge on the corporate level, where workers of different companies of different countries meet each other, obliged to come to common results concerning the information and consultation rights given to the European Works Councils (EWC) by law. This phenomena is to be found in all transnational European companies, namely in those with EWC but also in companies with a specific European legal form such as in the Societas Europaea (SE) where we find works councils and supervisory boards with members from all countries concerned.

Training programmes for European works councillors in Germany, in Ireland and at EU level: Transnational trade union action through education?

In this article, we compare trade union training for European Works Council members in Ireland, in Germany and at EU level. The programmes have only limited success in fostering transnational union action. We conclude that the limited transformative impact of unions’ training programmes is not for the most part due to lack of resources. Rather, their narrow pedagogical focus on technical knowledge and skills crowds out the development of knowledge about social mobilization and the construction of attitudes of solidarity between unions.

Widening the lens: a structuration theory perspective on European works councils and transnational labour relations

AbstractThis article outlines a concept for analysing practices of European works councils. Much previous research has focused its attention merely on a single institution or actor, for instance the European works council, transnational agreements or trade union federations. However, previous research in the field suggests that transnational labour relations often involve many actors on different levels inside and outside an MNC who interact, refer to different cultural patterns and draw power to act from various sources. To cover those processes, a structuration theory framework is developed that models different ‘action fields’, which actors refer to in their social practices of cross‐border employee representation. The framework is illustrated with case studies of Toyota and General Motors. The benefits and limitations of the new perspective are discussed with reference to previous accounts.

Book Review: Closed Frontiers. Why German multinationals don’t utilise the European Works Council Directive

Book Review: Closed Frontiers. Why German multinationals don’t utilise the European Works Council Directive

When do European Works Councils become useful to employees? Lessons learned from the Alstom / Switzerland case

Based on four case studies, this article analyses the significance of Swiss participation in European Works Councils (EWCs) in foreign companies, coming to the conclusion that it is generally low. However, in one case, that of the French-based engineering company Alstom, two sequences of events show that, against a background of the general effectiveness of the Alstom EWC and the relative importance of its Swiss plants, Swiss employees clearly benefit from EWC participation, enjoying the same guarantees and subject to the same procedures as employees in other European countries. The perception of such benefit among employee stakeholders is however dependent on local constellations.

Swiss multinational companies and their European Works Councils: European voluntarism meets Swiss voluntarism

This article analyses how multinational companies based in Switzerland deal with the European Works Council directive. As a consequence of voluntaristic regulations, at both European and Swiss levels, the quality of the practices of information and consultation varies highly, largely depending on company-specific constellations. Our case studies show that Swiss employees play significant roles in European Works Councils, but few benefit clearly and directly from this new institution. Only in rare cases where both managers and key employee representatives have developed a sense of ownership has a truly transnational social dialogue at company level led to tangible results.