Most workers get their news about the labor movement from the business-controlled media. What they hear and read about unions and their leaders emphasize their shortcomings: declining strength, corrupt officers, exorbitant salaries, a lack of democracy, lost strikes and legislative failures. Since labor leaders rarely respond to these charges, workers are led to believe they…
The SE directive (2001/86/EC) makes specific reference to the right to training for members of the “representative body” – the EWC equivalent for SE companies – stating that “In so far as this is necessary for the fulfilment of their tasks, the members of the representative body shall be entitled to time off for training…
This section is made up of three separate sections covering: the national transposition of training rights in the recast EWC directive; the national transposition of training rights in the SE directive; and an overview of rights to time off and training for employee representatives at national level. In the case of both the EWC and…
In 2008 the Workers’ Participation Unit of the ETUI started researching and collecting EWC-related court cases and included this collection into the existing database of European Works Councils (www.ewcdb.eu/court-cases). The jurisprudence database grown since and currently contains a collection of more than 70 various court cases and numerous articles. All of them are linked to…
On 12 February, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) in London delivered its judgment in a dispute between the Oracle European Works Council and the group’s management. While the case featured, sadly, a fairly ordinary dispute over restructuring and lack of appropriate EWC involvement, some parts of the judgement of the Central Arbitration Committee leave many experts concerned.…
In a statement issued on 8 February, the European Federation of Food Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT) said it will take legal action against Lactalis. Along with nine affiliated unions in France, Spain, Italy and Belgium, EFFAT is demanding that the French diary giant set up a European works council. In the statement, the…
Works councils have a particularly high amount of protection. The employer should therefore, at all costs, refrain from obstructing, disadvantaging or promoting the work of the works council. If an employer violates this principle, such violations are penalised by fines or imprisonment. If the employer violates other rights of the works council, the works council…
If the employer is planning on restructuring in Germany, in the case of operational changes, the employer is obligated to negotiate a reconciliation of interests before implementing the operational changes. Operational changes include, for example, a closure, relocation of operations, or fundamental changes to the company organisation. The reconciliation of interests regulates the individual personnel…
The employer is obligated to inform the works council before hiring or transferring an employee and submit the necessary documents to the works council. If the works council refuses to give its consent to the aforementioned personnel measures in accordance with the statutory requirements, the employer is obligated to obtain such consent to the personnel…
With regards to the rights of the works council, a differentiation is made between information, consultation, and codetermination rights. With regards to social matters, the works council has a comprehensive codetermination right. Comprehensive means that the employer is not authorised to implement measures in the following areas if a mutual agreement in this regard has…