The Establishment of European Works Councils: From Information Committee to Social Actor

Citation

(1999), "The Establishment of European Works Councils: From Information Committee to Social Actor", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 23 No. 9. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.1999.00323iae.001

The Establishment of European Works Councils: From Information Committee to Social Actor

Wolfgang Lecher, Bernhard Nagel and Hans-Wolfgang PlatzerAshgate1999294 pp.ISBN 1 84014 886 1£39.95 (hardback)

Keywords: Europe industrial relations industry, Employee relations

This book sets out to examine the operation of European works councils (EWC) in eight large undertakings in the metalworking and chemical industries, in each case looking at a parent company and a foreign subsidiary, in four European Union (EU) member states: the UK, Italy, France and Germany.

The emergence of the EWC is one of the most important developments in international industrial relations and the most significant intervention by the EU in the industrial relations field. As yet, most studies of EWCs have analysed the agreements between companies and employee representatives which have set up EWCs. Very few have been able to study the operation of EWCs, partly because of the sheer novelty of the institution and partly because of the expense of conducting in-depth empirical research. The resources available to the research project which underpins this book enabled two stages of empirical work to be undertaken, using an international research team. In the first, formal and quantitative data were obtained on EWCs via questionnaires and secondary data on the companies themselves. The second stage consisted of interviews with EWC representatives, management representatives, national trade unions’ and employers associations’ representatives and the corresponding European trade union federations. These included interviews with representatives of the European Trade Union Confederation, the European Commission and the European Parliament.

The contents of the book include an introduction detailing the scope and method of the research. This is followed by: “The context for the development of European Works Councils”, “Industrial relations in Western Europe”, “Eight case-studies on the establishment of European Works Councils” and “Conclusions and prospects”.