In the run-up to the official Evaluation Report by the European Commission expected in Autumn 2016 the debate on this topic is in full swing. In the last Expert Meeting organised by the European Commission on 23/06/2016 gathering representatives of national authorities (ministries) responsible for the implementation of the EWC Recast Directive as well as representatives of trade unions (political: ETUC, ETUFs and national unions; research: ETUI) and employers (BusinessEurope) final outcomes of a study completed by consultancy ICFI for the European Commission were presented.
The ETUI has been contributing to the debate with several publications providing robust facts and figures from various angles. We gather them for you in this 'EWC Recast Evaluation Infopack'.
European Works Councils since their begining have been in the focus of ETUI's research. It was intensified in the past 3 years in the anticipation of the current debate. The ETUI's contributions comprise:
1) 'European Works Councils and SE Works Councils 2016. Facts and figures' (soon available also in German, French, Italian and Polish) - provides most recent statistics on EWCs and the content of their agreements. A must-read update for everyone on where we are after 20 years of EWC legislation.
2) 'Variations on a theme? The implementation of the EWC Recast Directive' - an edited volume presenting a review and European comparisons of national implementation laws, provision by provision and mapping out loopholes, problems and challenges to allow an independent evaluation of how did the Member States do and what should be done about it to fully 'translate' the Directive into laws applicable to workers.
3) 'Managers, BusinessEurope and the development of European Works Councils' - a working paper presenting the results of a survey on EWCs among managers: what do they think about the relevance and usefulness of EWCs? An essential tool to critically evaluate the official employers' position on the matter.
4) 'Too little, too late. Evaluating the European Works Councils Directive' - an ETUI report assessing the question whether the key goals of the EWC Recast Directive (more and better EWCs) were actually achieved. Critical report based on ETUI's 5 year long analysis of EWC agreements.
5) 'The right and duty of European Works Councils to report back to the workforce: broad uptake, little specificity' - a short insight into one of the Recast Directives key modifications in the area of articulation (linking) between the European and national levels of information and consultation
6) Enforcement of EWC rights and sanctions:
The last older (2010) but still very relevant read: 'European Works Councils: a trade union guide to directive 2009/38/EC'.
For the most up to date statistics and EWC agreements' analysis visit the renewed EWC database portal at www.ewcdb.eu