Since its launch in 2007, the worker-participation.eu website has evolved in line with ETUI research, developments in the world of work and EU regulation, and their implications for worker participation and democracy. A major overhaul in 2023 aimed to better reflect the evolution of ETUI research approaches and findings on workers participation, and to better showcase the unique resources provided by this website. A major improvement was the addition of an automatic translation feature, which makes the worker-participation resource even more accessible to our target audiences by machine-translating the entire contents of the portal into all EU languages.
The worker-participation.eu website draws on the work of the ETUI’s ‘Europeanisation of Industrial Relations’ Unit 1, external experts and ETUI expert networks.
Where relevant, the website also provides information on and links to external sources and ETUI collaborators.
The worker-participation.eu website is designed to provide users with access to what is happening at the national and EU level in the field of employees’ rights to information, consultation, and board-level representation, as well as insights into relevant developments on workplace instruments for workers within national industrial relations systems. In each main section, you will find succinct information or further reading about:
- definitions and descriptions of relevant forms of worker participation (e.g. European Works Councils, Board-level Employee Representation);
- relevant EU regulation and national law and their revision;
- special or specific topics about workplace participation instruments;
- key networks;
- publications (e.g. reports, legal cases, analyses, commentaries);
- resources, including our databases;
- key graphics about EU workplace participation instruments; and
- historical overviews.
The worker-participation.eu website also provides concise and up-to-date information on workers participation and industrial relations law and practice in each of the EU-27 Member States. A key resource is our Country comparison tool which enables a tailor-made, country-by-country comparison of industrial relations and workers participation themes.
The worker-participation.eu portal provides its users with detailed, comparative, and up do date information on all these topics and more. Some highlights include:
- The comparative tool about national industrial relations lets users conduct their own tailor made country-by country comparison across specific countries and themes.
- The page legislation and regulation provides links to the key EU legislation about workers information, consultation and participation, including links to the national transposition legislation. National legislation is also linked here.
- The page databases and other main resources will give you access to the ETUI’s unique set of databases on EWC agreements, cross-border company mobility and more. You will find specific pages about workers participation, corporate governance and industrial relations, social and ecological sustainability
Democracy at work is woven into the fabric of the EU and the European Social Model. EU legislation has been pivotal in enshrining a European consensus that workers must be involved in company decision-making; Workers’ participation is laid down not just in the treaties and employment law, but also in EU company law and occupational health and safety for example.
Next to strengthening workers’ participation rights at the local and national levels, the EU legislators have also sought to address the fact that as companies become more integrated and transnational in their internal processes and outlook, workers representation structures and approaches must follow suit and function across borders as well. Democracy at work does not end at the factory gate or the office door, and it does not end at national borders within the EU either.
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