Therewith, it comes into force on 5 June 2009. You find the publication here.
Overview of amendments to the current EWC directive
Member states have two years, until 5 June 2011, to implement the following changes into their national law:
A new definition of ‘information’ ensures that items of information are given "at such time, in such fashion and with such content as are appropriate to enable employees' representatives to undertake an in-depth assessment of the possible impact and, where appropriate, prepare for consultations;
A better definition of consultation makes it clear that EWCs should be consulted on "proposed measures" in time for their views to be "taken into account"; A clause in the subsidiary requirements will give EWC representatives the right to have a response with an explanation to any opinions given as the outcome of consultation;
A limitation restricting EWCs to transnational issues is clarified to underline that "these include matters which, regardless of the number of Member States involved, are of importance for the European workforce in terms of the scope of their potential effects";
A recognized role for trade unions for the first time, with SNBs having a right to be assisted by trade union officers and the European social partners having entitlement to be notified of the start of negotiations;
A new ‘adaptation clause’ safeguards EWCs effected by mergers and acquisitions and give an entitlement to renegotiate agreements in the event of structural change;
Article 13 agreements (signed before 22 September 1996) are to remain outside the scope of the directive unless they are renegotiated under the new directive by common consent or as a result of the adaptation clause;
A new assertion in the preamble states that administrative and judicial procedures, as well as sanctions enforcing the directive should be "effective, dissuasive and proportionate in relation to the seriousness of the offence";
For the first time EWC members will be entitled to be provided with training without loss of wages;
EWCs members are to be given all the means they need to apply their rights in the directive and be legally recognized as representatives of the European employees in appropriate matters;
SNB members will be entitled to meet together before and after their meetings with management;
Those responsible for appointing or electing EWC members will be required to take gender balance into account in their deliberations;
Entitlements to interpretation have been added to the subsidiary requirements;
The requirement of all management boards to transmit the information required for commencing negotiations to employee representatives on request is underlined;
EU Member States will be obliged to have rules ensuring that national and European levels of consultation both take place when needed;
New agreements will be required to state the period of their duration;
EWC members will be required to communicate with other levels of representation;
Another review of the Directive is scheduled to take place after 5 years.
Revision of the EWC directive - background
The Directive on European Works Councils (EWC directive) was adopted in 1994. Article 15 opened the way to a revision of this legislation from 1999 onwards. Since 1994 Europe has been transformed by corporate re-structuring, outsourcing (de-localisation) and ever bigger mergers and aquisitions. All this against a background of a single European market in an increasingly global economy with global supply chains. "We have to make sure that workers are not undefended when it comes to the changes of modern times. Information and consultation with workers is not a luxury, it is a necessity. We want to strengthen the EWCs that work and give others the opportunity to work fully," says ETUC General Secretary John Monks.
"The Commission has hesitated over this far too long - because the employers are against a revision," says UN europa Secretary Bernadette Ségol. The President of BusinessEurope said publicly only in February 2008 that employers see "no need for a revision". The European Commission was far more positive than that - identifying weaknesses in existing legislation and the need for effective information and consultation for "anticipating and managing change". "It is necessary to ensure timely and effective transnational information and consultation of workers and to promote dialogue at corporate level," says EU Commissioner Vladimir Spidla in a letter to key players.
In February 2008, some six years overdue, the Commission finally published a Communication to launch the second phase of consultation, and asked the European social partners (ETUC/BusinessEurope, CEEP, UAPME) whether they would be ready to undertake bilateral negotiations on the revision of the directive. The ETUC welcomed this move, together with many of the points covered in the Communication, including explicit reference to information and consultation as a fundamental social right. However, it set the condition that a tight timetable was to be agreed for the rapid conclusion of talks, in order to allow for a decision to be adopted under the French Presidency in the latter part of 2008, and for the revision to be completed within the life of the then Commission and European Parliament.
On 11 April 2008, the ETUC General Secretary announced that intensive efforts to find a basis for discussion of key issues had been unsuccessful, and that BusinessEurope was not ready to commit itself to a time schedule of less than three months. In view of this, the ETUC informed the Commission that talks within the framework of the European social dialogue were “not practical”. Fundamentally, the European trade unions were of the opinion that a revision of the EWC directive would have been desirable within the framework of negotiations and could have strengthened the social dialogue.
Recast - a first step forward
The dossier went back to the European Commission which then presented a proposed ‘recast’ directive to the European Parliament as part of a larger social package on 2 July. On 11 July, the French Presidency urged the European social partners to deliver a joint advice on key points of the Commission proposal in order to lift opposition of some national governments and reach political agreement. The request was made at an informal meeting of the Employment and Social Affairs Council at Chantilly, France. Joint texts were sent to Xavier Bertrand, the then French Minister of Employment, in August 2008. The social partners agreed to take the Commission proposed recast text as the basis for the revision and gave their joint advice to improved some key aspects of the Commission proposal. They also called on the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers to take their joint amendments into consideration in the adoption process.
On 17 December, the European Parliament confirmed with a huge majority the political agreement reached with the Council at the trialogue meeting on 4 December. The Council finalised the recast EWC directive the same day. The political agreement is based on the joint advice given by the social partners.
The recast of the directive is aimed at tightening up the definitions of information and consultation of workers. As a first step to facilitate the establishment of EWC, Members of Parliament (MEPs) abolished the threshold of 50 employees for setting up special negotiating bodies in companies. In addition, the Parliament has clarified the definition of ‘transnational’ – matters which concern the entire undertaking or group or at least two Member States are considered to be transnational. In line with the general principles of Community law, Member States must ensure that in the event of a failure to comply with the EWC directive sanctions are ‘adequate, proportionate and dissuasive’.
| Unions' claim for a full EWC directive revision: 1 Better information and consultation rights To ensure consultation gives time for workers to have a genuine input into company desicions. Achieved by standardising on the best current definition of information and consultation - in the SE (European company) directive. 2 Improved definition of transnationality Following the court judgments in the Vilvoorde, British Airways and Marks and Spencer cases, a situation must be "transnational" where a decision of closure or restructuring is taken in one Member State but affects the workers in another. 3 Improved working arrangements for EWCs Better training for EWC members, more frequent EWC meetings, support for more preparatory and follow up work. Also ensuring the right and resources to communicate with the workers who European Works Councillors represent. 4 Access to European rights for "smaller" companies The existing and revised EWC directive applies to companies with more that 1.000 workers - including at least 150 in two or more EU member states. Unions would like that treshold to come down to 500 to give more workers the right to EWCs. | Time to bring Europe back into balance The European Union is the only regional organisation in the world that has build in a social dimension from the very start. But its recent record on worker friendly laws has not been good and a strong revision of the EWC directive offers the EU an opportunity to prove its credentials, said ETUC Deputy General Secretary Reiner Hoffmann in 2008. "We have to prove that Europe is able to deliver on the social side and that Europe is able to strengthen worker rights. Europe is not just about markets, competition and companies. We have to bring Europe back into balance - and we have lost this balance." One of the key factors behind the trade unions decision not to go down the route of negotiations with a reluctant BusinessEurope is that both the Commission and the European Parliament are up for change in 2009. Fruitless negotiations with BusinessEurope could have pushed the whole agenda into the next Commission and Parliament - with no guarantee it would still be a priority. In 2008, the entire European trade union movement was mobilised to get the most out of the recast of the EWC directive. Today, it is simply the same. The struggle continues until European employees have been granted full information and consultation rights which give them the chance to influence management decisions in order to anticipate and manage structural change in socially acceptable direction. |
On the offensive for stronger EWCs
Unions from accross Europe - including UNI europa - launched a major campaign to support the revision of the EWC directive. The campaign to win significant improvements in the EWC directive was launched by the ETUC and the European union federations on 1 May and was running through the year 2008. The targets were the European Parliament, the European Commission and the national governments who voted in the Council of Ministers. The union aim was a first reading in the European Parliament and backing from the Council of Ministers (national governments) by the end of 2008.
Unions with an EWC mission
A higly successful two-day conference with 300 union and EWC representatives was organised in the opening shots of this campaign on 9 and 10 June 2008 in Brussels. Read here about the conference here:
Unions with an EWC mission
or German: Gewerkschaften mit EBR-Mission
An overview of the history of the revision can be found here:
English: http://www.euro-workscouncil.net/en/113.php
German: http://www.euro-betriebsrat.de/ebr/113.php or here: http://www.euro-br.eu/service/ebr-richtlinie.html
French: http://www.euro-ce.org/fr/113.php
Revision of Directive
