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Employee representation

Employee representation may be defined as the right of employees to seek a union or individual to represent them for the purpose of negotiating with management on such issues as wages, hours, benefits and working conditions. In the workplace, workers may be represented by trade union and through works councils – or similar structures elected by all employees. EU law has established rights and obligations for employees and their representatives to be informed and consulted via a set of directives that provide for the information and consultation of the workers, at both national and international level.

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Ricardo Rodriguez Contreras is a research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound and focuses on comparative industrial relations, social dialogue and collective bargaining...

Research manager,
Working life research unit
Publications results (74)

Social dialogue still matters in Europe. Recent EU-level policy debates have highlighted that, particularly since the 2008 crisis, the emergence of new debates on social justice, democracy, the quality of work and new models for labour relations have been challenging traditional industrial relations

12 July 2016

This report studies practices in EU establishments for direct and indirect employee participation in decision-making. Indirect employee participation is the involvement of employee representatives in decision-making processes, while direct employee participation describes direct interaction between

14 December 2015

This report examines the differences in alignment, timing and content of workplace information and consultation processes at national and European level. It compares the legal situation at national and European level in six EU Member States: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the

07 July 2015

European Works Councils (EWCs) provide an important vehicle for transnational information and consultation in multinational companies. This report explores the efforts of 10 EWCs to make these bodies optimally fit for purpose for European company level social dialogue. Looking at the developments in

10 June 2015

The aims of this project are to explore recent experiences in the practice of information and consultation (I&C) at national level, building on the findings of the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) 2011 report entitled Information and consultation practice across Europe five years

30 May 2013

This report analyses data from Eurofound’s European Company Survey of 2009 to examine the incidence of performance-related pay (PRP) in European establishments and what determines it, with a specific focus on the role of employment relations. Larger establishments, those in foreign ownership, in the

16 October 2012

The financial global crisis, the deepest the world has experienced since the 1930s, originated in the US mortgage market and led to a liquidity shortfall in the US banking system, the full effect of which started to be felt in August 2007. One of the first victims was the UK bank Northern Rock

16 February 2012

Μια πτυχή της πολιτικής της ΕΕ που αποκτά διαρκώς μεγαλύτερη σημασία είναι η ανάπτυξη περισσότερο πράσινης οικονομίας προκειμένου να αντιμετωπιστεί η επείγουσα ανάγκη μετριασμού της αλλαγής του κλίματος και προσαρμογής σε αυτήν. Περισσότερο πράσινη οικονομία σημαίνει ουσιαστικά παραγωγή προϊόντων

16 February 2012

This study shows the main characteristics and specifics of the ARC sector in four European countries. The overall picture shows that the activities of contractors go beyond the agricultural and forestry sectors, into construction services or services to public authorities. The project also shows

15 January 2012

Across Europe, diverse forms of employee representation structures have developed, providing workers with differing opportunities to voice their interests and to be consulted by their employers directly, at their workplaces, on matters such as economic and human resources developments, working

20 November 2011

Online resources results (298)

Germany: Revival of German trade unions

German trade unions have been fighting decreasing rates in density for years. Now the latest research by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research shows that net union density rose by 2.6 percentage points between 2006 and 2012 and 20.6% of employees were union members in 2012. Most of the new

Bulgaria: New union for homeworkers

A new trade union aims to improve the pay, employment rights and access to social security benefits of homeworkers, most of whom are women. The driving force behind its creation is the Association of Homeworkers in Bulgaria, a non-governmental organisation that strives to address the problems and

Germany: Continued decline in collective bargaining and works council coverage

An ongoing decline in coverage for both collective bargaining and works councils in Germany is driven by medium-sized establishments: coverage rates for large and small companies have remained relatively constant. In 2013, only 28% of private-sector workers in western Germany (15% in eastern Germany

Netherlands: Pensions advice to clear up confusion

Conflicting laws have led to confusion in the Netherlands over how much influence works councils can have on company pension arrangements. The Social and Economic Council (SER) suggested ways of clarifying this in June, after being asked for its advice by the Deputy Minister of Social Affairs and

UK: New research highlights limited impact of ICE regulations

A report commissioned by Acas examines the incidence, composition and operation of joint consultative committees in UK workplaces. Findings show an aggregate stability in workplace level joint consultative committees between 2004 and 2011, a decline in higher-level consultative committees, and an

Netherlands: New legislation on management pay

The entry into force of the Clawback Act at the start of 2014 in the Netherlands makes possible the reduction of executive bonuses and severance payments, and the reclaiming of payments ('clawback') after they have been awarded, if they are deemed unfair. It applies to all public limited companies

Cleaners urged to join fight against low wages

A cross-union network, the Critical Trade Network (KRAY [1]), has been highly critical of traditional Finnish trade unions for being too ‘consensus-orientated’ and lacking real interest in tackling the problems of low pay. [1] http://www.kriittinen.fi/

Trade unions’ initiative promotes social dialogue

In November 2010, the National Trade Union Confederation Meridian (CSN Meridian [1]), and the Farmers’ Federation (FAF [2]) started a joint project to promote social dialogue in rural areas of Romania. The three-year project, Together for the development of social dialogue in Romania, was co


Blogs results (1)
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Trade unions in many EU Member States face the issue of declining membership. This is a fundamental challenge for organised labour, but it is premature to speak about the redundancy unions: when it comes to important decisions affecting the workplace, restructuring being one, trade unions remain a

20 Νοέμβριος 2019
Data results (1)
24 Οκτώβριος 2023
Reference period:

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