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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)

Headquartered in Utrecht/The Netherlands with subsidiaries in Germany, Italy and Finland, Equens is a full-service payment processing company offering services in payment and card processing and a European leader in this business segment. The transformation of Equens N.V. into an SE was concluded in

25 April 2011

MAN was the first German company to create a SE, by the conversion of its subsidiary MAN B&W Diesel into MAN Diesel SE in August 2006. This was followed in 2009 by the conversion of MAN itself into MAN SE. Both management and the employee representatives were well prepared for negotiating an

25 April 2011

Allianz SE is an integrated financial services provider with more than 150,000 employees. The company serves approximately 75 million customers in about 70 countries. Allianz SE operates and manages its activities primarily through four operating segments: property-casualty, life/health, asset

13 March 2011

The European Company Statute (SE) is based on the Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Company (2157/2001/EC) and on the Directive supplementing the Statute for a European Company with regard to the involvement of employees (2001/86/EC). It is one of the most important pieces of company

08 March 2011

This report presents some descriptive findings of Eurofound’s European Company Survey (ECS) 2009 on the structure of industrial relations and social dialogue as well as working time patterns in the commerce sector in Europe. Collective bargaining coverage and the degree of employee representation in

01 December 2010

This case study focuses on the measures used by ArcelorMittal to cut costs and avoid involuntary redundancies during the crisis in its largest Romanian subsidiary. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of the various measures applied to keep staff in employment and to ensure the company’s

26 September 2010

European Works Councils (EWCs) are highly significant in terms of European industrial relations. They represent the first genuinely European institution of worker interest representation at enterprise level. They reflect the growing recognition of the need to respond to the ‘Europeanisation’ of

12 May 2009

In September 1994, the Council of Ministers decided on a Directive on the establishment of a European Works Council for the purposes of informing and consulting employees (94/45/EC). The emergence of European Works Councils (EWCs) is a major part of the development of an industrial relations system

16 October 2008

In September 1994, the Council of Ministers decided on a Directive on the establishment of a European Works Council for the purposes of informing and consulting employees (94/45/EC). The emergence of European Works Councils (EWCs) is a major part of the development of an industrial relations system

16 October 2008

In September 1994, the Council of Ministers decided on a Directive on the establishment of a European Works Council (EWC) for the purposes of informing and consulting employees (94/45/EC). The emergence of EWCs is a major part of the development of an industrial relations system at European level

16 October 2008

Online resources results (298)

Results of the 1998 works council elections

Between 1 March and 31 May 1998, works council [1] elections took place in around 33,000 German establishments. In contrast to countries such as France (FR9809131F [2]), the results of the German elections are not published by a central authority. However, a preliminary evaluation of the results

Works councils and their right of appeal - current trends

Works councils in the Netherlands have had conspicuous success during 1998 in overturning the strategic business planning decisions of employers. Rulings have arguably, however, shown that the right of appeal of works councils does not present a fundamental attack on the policy-making freedom of the

1996 works council election results published

In autumn 1998, the French Ministry for Employment published the results of the two-yearly works council elections that took place in 1996. Turn-out among employees was slightly down on the 1994 elections, while medium-term trends in support for the candidates of the various trade unions were

National survey on attitudes to trade unions

Since 1987, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has represented its affiliated trade unions as a "social partner", negotiating four successive national agreements. These agreements have gradually incorporated an increasing range of issues. Having developed this role, ICTU has significantly

Unions present detailed proposals for renewal of Works Constitution Act

The idea of having a "works constitution" (Betriebsverfassung) at the level of the establishment, ensuring employees an institutionalised interest representation in the form of works councils [1], has a long tradition in Germany and represents a major pillar of the country's industrial relations

Euro-FIET adopts resolution on achievement of Social Europe

A resolution on Achieving a Social Europe through the social dialogue and European Works Councils [1] was adopted by the European Regional Organisation of the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees (Euro-FIET), at its eighth annual conference held in

LO concerned about measures promoting self-employment

Contractor, free agent, self-employed, freelancer - there are many names for people selling their competence, skills, services and labour without having an employment contract. Even if Sweden, together with Denmark, has the lowest figures in the EU (8% of the total occupied labour force compared

Union survey suggests that a quarter of Estonians are willing to work in Finland

In March 1998, Finland's SAK trade union confederation commissioned a survey, enquiring about the willingness of Estonians to move to Finland and their views on some labour market and industrial relations issues. According to the results - published in June - over a quarter of those interviewed

Company-level bargaining underway in the food sector

A particularly important stage in the renewal of company-level agreements in the Italian food sector started in June 1998. As usual, Galbani (part of the Danone group) has played a "pace-setting" role, followed swiftly by Nestlè, introducing important new provisions in the areas of industrial

Debate over mandating employees to conclude collective agreements

The May 1998 legislation introducing the statutory 35-hour working week in France has given a new emphasis to the "mandating" procedure in collective bargaining. This mechanism, which allows a trade union to appoint an employee to negotiate and sign agreements in companies with no union delegates


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 Samhain 2019
Data results (1)
24 Deireadh Fómhair 2023
Reference period:

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