IWS Documented News INTERNATIONAL

IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Dublin Foundation)

EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT IN COMPANIES UNDER THE EUROPEAN COMPANY STATUTE [9 March 2011]

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef1078.htm

or

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/pubdocs/2010/78/en/1/EF1078EN.pdf

[full-text, 105 pages]

Executive Summary

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef10781.htm

or

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/pubdocs/2010/781/en/1/EF10781EN.pdf

Author:

Rehfeldt, Udo; Voss, Eckhard; Pulignano, Valeria; Kelemen, Melinda; Telljohann, Volker; Fulton, Lionel; Neumann, László; Mester, Dániel; Schütze, Kim; Wilke, Peter

Summary:

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 legislation published so far by the European Union. Adopted in 2001, it has since October 2004 made it possible for companies operating in more than one EU Member State to reorganise their cross-border business under a single European label. This enables them to work under the umbrella of a single legal framework, thereby reducing the internal costs of operating in several countries. Employee involvement, including participation rights at board level, is the focus of this research report. An executive summary is available.

Contents

Foreword v

Executive summary 1

Introduction 5

1 – Review of literature and policy debate 9

The European Company and industrial relations research 9

The directive on employee participation in the light of EU-level debates 18

Conclusions 23

2 – Inventory of SE agreements 25

Overview of existing SEs 25

Basic characteristics of ‘normal’ SEs 28

‘Shelf’ SEs 32

Conclusions 33

3 – Results of case studies 35

Company profiles and contexts of SE creation 35

Does SE creation weaken codetermination? 36

Employee involvement in establishing SEs 43

Employee involvement through SE works councils 47

Composition of SE works council and voting rules 47

Chair and select committee 49

Frequency of meetings 49

Working facilities and training 49

Presence of experts and union officials 50

General information and consultation rights 51

Consultation under ‘exceptional circumstances’ 52

Towards negotiation rights? 54

Comparison with previous EWCs 54

Employee representation at board level 57

Conclusions 65

Bibliography 69

Annex: Inventory of SEs (at 1 June 2010) 78

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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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