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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)

Previous Eurofound research developed three complementary tools to examine the dynamics of industrial relations and compare how national industrial relations systems are faring in terms of quality and change over time.

05 December 2023

This working paper investigates the practical implementation of the European Works Council (EWC) Directive at company level. It explores the challenges faced by existing EWCs and provides examples of solutions identified and remaining issues from the point of view of both workers and management. In

25 October 2022

In het kader van zijn mandaat om de dialoog tussen de sociale partners te stimuleren, monitort en analyseert Eurofound al meer dan veertig jaar ontwikkelingen in stelsels van arbeidsverhoudingen op EU-niveau en in de lidstaten van de EU. Dit vlaggenschiprapport is gebaseerd op het werk dat in dit

11 December 2020

Megatrends, such as digitalisation, globalisation, demographic change and climate change, are transforming the world of work, with knock-on effects for working conditions and job quality. Against this background, this report examines working conditions and job quality from a sectoral perspective

05 November 2020

The aim of this report is to add to the discussion on how Eurofound can contribute to supporting capacity building of social partners for effective social dialogue. The report includes a review by Eurofound aimed at identifying the capacity-building needs and initiatives of social partners in

10 September 2020

This study examines the interaction between social dialogue practices and human resources management (HRM) policies in European multinational companies (MNCs). It looks at the changing role of HRM and its interaction with European Works Councils (EWCs), which can act as a link between different

16 June 2020

In light of the limited action in many Member States to introduce or review gender pay transparency instruments as recommended, in November 2017 the European Commission announced the possible need for further targeted measures at EU level. This report reviews experiences in four Member States –

07 February 2018

This topical update looks at the issue of employee involvement and participation at work, specifically reviewing recent pieces of research at EU and national level, EU directives, changes in the legal framework, social partner initiatives and debates identified in EurWORK quarterly reports during

25 October 2016

This report maps, analyses and discusses key dimensions and indicators for a comparative framework of industrial relations. It then identifies and assesses existing data sources that can be used to measure the different dimensions of the comparative framework.

30 September 2016

Well-functioning social dialogue is a key component for the successful design and implementation of reforms needed to increase the competitiveness of Europe’s economies and create more jobs. It balances workers’ and employers’ interests and contributes to both economic competitiveness and social

06 September 2016

Online resources results (298)

Trade union reorganisation in Austria: negotiating the obstacles

The debate over the reorganisation of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) received a new impetus in spring 1998. On the one hand, individual trade unions began to negotiate and to forge alliances, and on the other hand anticipated resistance erupted more

Works councils oppose electronic surveillance

Two laws in Austria regulate electronic surveillance at work. The first is the Labour Constitution Act 1974 (Arbeitsverfassungsgesetz, or ArbVG), especially sections 91 and 96. Amongst many amendments to this law, only the one enacted in 1986 is important in relation to this topic, as it introduced

Report assesses co-determination and recommends modernisation

On 19 May 1998, the so-called "Commission on co-determination" (Kommission Mitbestimmung) presented its final report, entitled /Co-determination and new company cultures - balance and perspectives/ ("Mitbestimmung und neue Unternehmenskulturen - Bilanz und Perspektiven", Bericht der Kommission

All to play for with sectoral agreement in football

Some 780 professional football players are members of the Football Section (Fachgruppe Fußball, FG Fußball) of the Arts, Media and Free Professions Trade Union (Gewerkschaft Kunst, Medien, freie Berufe, KMfB). This is about 95% of all professional players in the country, according to FG Fußball. On

Employee representation in the public administration simplified by reform

Negotiations over the renewal of Italy's public administration national collective agreements are underway in mid-1998. The talks are the first occasion on which new regulations on trade union representativeness in the sector have been applied. The rules have helped considerably in simplifying the

Government unveils proposals for a fairer workplace

On 21 May 1998, the Government published a white paper entitled Fairness at work [1] setting out its legislative agenda in the area of industrial relations. As well as giving details of the Government's proposed statutory trade union recognition procedure, the white paper outlines a range of other

The effects of the July 1993 tripartite agreement on company-level bargaining in 1995-6

April 1998 saw the release of the first figures for company-level collective bargaining in 1995-6, compiled by the Observatory on Company-level Bargaining in Italy (Osco). The results are of particular interest, as they refer to the period immediately following the reform of the Italian bargaining

New legislation promotes participation of ethnic minorities

The Dutch Government is seeking to promote the participation of people from ethnic minorities on the labour market by means of a new law, adopted in April 1998. Previous legislation was generally considered to be inadequate. Many provisions of the new law have been borrowed from a 1996 agreement

Difficult negotiations in construction industry

The collective agreement on wages in the Austrian construction industry proper covers 130,000 workers out of a total of about 200,000 in the construction industry in a broader sense. There are three parties to the negotiations: the Union of Construction and Wood Workers (Gewerkschaft Bau-Holz, GBH)

Post-merger agreement on co-determination at Thyssen Krupp

Corporate Germany is changing. Pressures of low-cost competition from abroad and high costs in Germany, boosted by the European Single Market and the preparations for EU Economic and Monetary Union, are forcing companies to restructure. Mergers and acquisitions are one means of corporate change. The


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 november 2019
Data results (1)
24 oktober 2023
Reference period:

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