Skoči na glavni sadržaj
employee_representation.jpg

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.

Topic

Recent updates

Eurofound expert(s)

ricardo-rodriguez-contreras-2023.png

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

In spring 2009, Eurofound launched a large-scale representative survey addressed to managers and employee representatives. The European Company Survey 2009 – Flexibility practices and social dialogue (ECS) is the second European-wide establishment survey launched by Eurofound. The European Company

30 May 2011

The European Company Survey 2009 on flexibility practices and social dialogue is the second European-wide establishment survey to be undertaken by Eurofound. The survey documents flexibility strategies in firms and is a unique source of comparative information on social dialogue at the workplace

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)

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)
image_blog_unions_20112019.png

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 studenog 2019
Data results (1)
24 listopada 2023
Reference period:

Disclaimer

When freely submitting your request, you are consenting Eurofound in handling your personal data to reply to you. Your request will be handled in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data. More information, please read the Data Protection Notice.