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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)

Strabag is a multinational building and construction company. It operates in three areas: building construction and civil engineering; road construction; and tunnelling and services, in more than 500 locations worldwide. In 2009, Strabag SE had 75,500 employees, of which more than 80% worked in

20 October 2011

Fresenius was one of the first German companies with a two-tier corporate governance structure to become a European company in July 2007. The actors involved in the negotiation process worked under the impression to accomplish pioneer work. Both the management and the employee side representatives

20 October 2011

The Hager Group is a family-run company based in the German Saarland with approximately 10,000 employees worldwide. The company offers a complete range of systems, solutions and services for energy distribution in buildings, including security solutions as well as electrical installations supplies

20 October 2011

Elcoteq is a global contract manufacturer of electronic equipment headquartered in Luxembourg. While the origins of the company are in Finland where Elcoteq was founded in 1984, the established production sites in European as well as non-European countries. Until 2008 the European centre of the

20 October 2011

This study examined best practice examples of social partner involvement in greening the economy in different Member States. It analysed the role of the trade unions and employers’ associations as well as employees, their direct representatives and company management in selected projects at national

28 June 2011

Au printemps 2009, Eurofound a mené une enquête représentative de grande envergure auprès de directeurs et de représentants des salariés. L‘enquête sur les entreprises en Europe 2009 (ECS) – Flexibilité et dialogue social (European Company Survey 2009 – Flexibility practices and social dialogue) est

30 May 2011

L’ Enquête sur les entreprises en Europe 2009 – Flexibilité et dialogue social (ci-après : «ECS 2009») est la deuxième enquête d’envergure européenne menée par Eurofound auprès des entreprises. Elle a permis de recueillir des données sur les stratégies de flexibilité des entreprises et constitue une

30 May 2011

GfK, the German-based market research company, transformed itself into an SE in 2009. Management saw the change as reflecting GfK’s international perspectives and structure, although it also had the side effect of avoiding a major change in the composition of the supervisory board. The

23 May 2011

The reinsurance group SCOR was the first French listed company to create a European Company (SE) with employee participation. Three parallel agreements secure employee involvement through a common SE works council for the SCOR SE and its two subsidiaries. This was an important progress, since with

25 April 2011

Online resources results (298)

Railway unions join forces

The rise of a pluralistic railway trade union movement is connected to the political changes that took place in eastern Europe in the early 1990s. Before 1990, there was only one railway trade union, the Trade Union of Hungarian Railway Workers (VSZ [1]). In the transitional period after 1990, two

New Labour Code takes full effect

A new Labour Code has been introduced by Hungary’s government which aims to align the regulation of collective rights with that of contractual individual law enshrined in the country’s Civil Code. The Labour Code, in principle, allows collective agreements, agreements with works councils in

Employers forge ahead in metalwork wage-bargaining

In 2011, the wage-bargaining round in Austria’s metalworking sector was marked by the first strikes for 25 years (*AT1112011I* [1]). At the time, negotiations were being conducted by the six subsectoral employer organisations of the Federal Economic Chamber (WKO [2]) in the metalworking sector, as

Research reveals changes in employee relations

New research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD [1]), entitle /Managing employee relations in difficult times/, identifies contemporary trends in people management in the UK. One of the key changes is the increased focus on the individual employment relationship, rather

Unions test business closure law

In 2006, a Norwegian paper and pulp company closed down one of its profitable manufacturing plants. The main reason for the closure, according to the company, was over-production in the pulp and paper market. Shutting down the plant was seen as a way of alleviating the pressure in the market, and

Fresh uncertainty after resolution of teachers’ strike

On 14 May 2012, the Zarasai district association of the Trade Union of Lithuanian Education Employees (LŠDPS [1]) submitted seven demands to Arnoldas Abramavicius, Mayor of the Zarasai district municipality (ZRS [2]). By doing this they initiated a collective labour dispute. [1] http://www.lsdps.lt/

Government includes social partners in labour market reform talks

The deteriorating employment situation in France has prompted France’s Minister of Labour, Michel Sapin, to bring unions and business leaders together to discuss ways of reforming the country’s labour market.

Temporary Employment Act amended

After lengthy tripartite negotiations, Austria’s Council of Ministers agreed in September 2012 to an amendment of the country’s Temporary Employment Act.

Union federation demands above-inflation wage rise

The largest Dutch Trade Union Federation (FNV [1]), has tabled a wage demand of 2.5% for 2013. This slightly exceeds the expected rate of inflation of 2% for 2013. FNV’s draft employment conditions memorandum, which forms the basis for negotiations with employers, differs little from last year’s

Unions pleased at high participation rate in social elections

In Belgium, elections held by a company’s employees to elect members of the works council and the workplace health and safety committee are traditionally referred to as ‘social elections’. All private sector companies employing more than 100 employees are legally obliged to set up a works council [1


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 novembre 2019
Data results (1)
24 octobre 2023
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