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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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Eurofound expert(s)

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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

Un aspetto sempre più rilevante della politica UE è l’obiettivo di rendere più ecologica l’economia, alla luce dell’urgente necessità di contenere il cambiamento climatico e di adattarvisi. Rendere più ecologica l’economia significa creare prodotti e servizi usando meno energia e meno materie prime

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)

Welfare benefits are replacing wages

Since 8 September 2009, when the Latvian cabinet adopted the social safety net strategy, state financing for social security has increased every year.

New public sector union elections claim first victims

The Act on the renewal of social dialogue in the public sector (in French) [1] adopted in July 2010 (*FR1009031I* [2]) profoundly changed the rules governing industrial relations and social dialogue in the public sector. Like the reform in the private sector, brought about by the 2008 Social

Intersectoral agreement on representativeness heals rift

The conclusion of an intersectoral agreement on 28 June 2011 marks a significant development in Italian industrial relations, following a split among trade union confederations after the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Cgil [1]) had refused to sign the January 2009 Framework Agreement on

Union derecognition in the spotlight

Where UK employers recognise a trade union for collective bargaining purposes, this is usually based on a voluntary agreement between the parties. However, since 2000, there has also been a statutory procedure through which a union can apply to the independent Central Arbitration Committee (CAC [1])

First assessment of representativeness reform

A report (in French) [1] published in February 2011, and commissioned by the Ministry of Work, Employment and Health [2], examines the impact of the reform of representativeness [3] in 2008 (*FR0808039I* [4]) on industrial relations in 12 French companies. [1] http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr

Trade union membership stable despite current crisis

According to the annual report published by the Registrar of Trade Unions on 30 September 2011, trade union membership in Malta increased by 483 in absolute terms between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2011. This represents an increase of 0.6% over the previous year. Based on the figure of 148,546 for the

Two new studies on unionisation and collective agreement coverage

The Ministry of Employment and the Economy (Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö [1]) has published two studies on the unionisation and the coverage of collective agreements in Finland. Both studies were undertaken by Lasse Ahtiainen. [1] http://www.tem.fi/

Unions and students act to help young workers

Young people in Poland face growing difficulties in the labour market. The magazine /Politkya/ has published an article (in Polish) [1] showing that a typical employee who earns less than the minimum wage of PLN 1,386 (€344 as at 1 August 2011) is a young female graduate with no professional

Union launches campaign to protect workers’ rights

The Coordinating Council of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB [1]) decided at its meeting on 12 April 2011 to launch a campaign to protect workers’ rights in the framework of its project ‘Security through the law, flexibility through collective bargaining’. [1] http:/

Football players join General Workers’ Union

Maltese football players can be professional or amateur. A player who is paid for participating in any activity connected with football is registered as a professional and can be full-time or part-time players. A full–time professional player is defined as one whose only, or principal, occupation is


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 Ottobre 2023
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