Arbeitnehmervertretung

Previous Eurofound research developed three complementary tools to examine the dynamics of industrial relations and compare how national industrial relations systems are faring in terms of quality and change over time. These tools are a dashboard of indicators; an index to measure country performance in industrial relations as a whole, four key dimensions and subdimensions; and a typology of industrial relations systems based on performance in industrial democracy and relevant characteristics of industrial relations systems. This report builds on this previous research and has three main objectives: to revisit and update the index of each of the four key dimensions for 2018–2021 based on new data and indicators; to analyse convergence trends in the key dimension industrial democracy from 2008 to 2021 across national industrial relations systems; and to update the typology of industrial relations systems to contribute to the cross-country analysis of relevant patterns of change from 2008 to 2021, particularly in relation to collective bargaining.

This working paper investigates the practical implementation of the European Works Council (EWC) Directive at company level. It explores the challenges faced by existing EWCs and provides examples of solutions identified and remaining issues from the point of view of both workers and management. In addition, the paper looks at how EWCs meet the requirements of the EWC Directive in terms of establishing processes of information and consultation. Using case studies, it also examines the extent to which such effective collaboration has gone beyond the EWC Directive’s requirements to establish joint work on other issues of common concern.