This ETUI Policy Brief on social policy in Europe looks into the social dimension of the recently ratified Lisbon Treaty. Although it was widely expected that the Treaty will strengthen social Europe, the author demonstrates that it only partly lives up to these expectations and is very much lacking in ambition in this respect. Find out more

This report, based on research done by ETUI’s SEEurope network, investigates the introduction of more simplified national company legislation and the instigation of more competition between Member States. Besides that, the European Commission, with the Better Regulation agenda, is promoting more competitiveness and attractiveness within and between the Member States. The authors argue that EU legislation should not encourage regime-shopping but… Find out more

This Policy Brief attempts to overcome the knowledge gap about how European social partners or workers’ representatives have tried to contribute to facing the challenges and mitigating the (negative) implications of the crisis. Find out more

The present brochure which has been published for the ETUC Congress in Athens contains pre-selected data from the forthcoming ETUI publication ‘Mapping European Works Councils’. It aims at delivering basic figures (from the ETUI database of EWCs) concerning the operation of EWCs and the workers they represent on the eve of the EWC recast directive’s transposition deadline. The provided information will allow evaluation of the new legislation’s… Find out more

In December 2008, the European Commission commissioned Ernst and Young to conduct a study on the operation and impacts of the Statute for a European Company (SE). This paper written by Jan Cremers, Norbert Kluge and Michael Stollt, brings together an analysis of the consultation procedure on the results of this study and the Commission’s consultation summary, and the ETUI’s reply to the consultation which was compiled with support of the members… Find out more

In October 2001, the EU formally adopted the legislation on the European Company, also known by its Latin name Societas Europaea (SE). This handbook aims to ensure that the new opportunities for employee representation at European level which these new SE rules provide, are seized. It has been designed first and foremost to help practitioners to prepare and conduct negotiations on agreements on employee involvement in SEs. The handbook… Find out more

17 European Member States and Norway have enacted legal provisions allowing for employee representation, with voting rights, on the supervisory board and/or board of directors of companies headquartered on their national territory. Additional provisions regulating Board-level employee representation [BLER] are to be found in several pieces of European company law. Even so, BLER remains a hotly debated topic at both national and European levels… Find out more

This first ETUI Policy Brief of 2012 deals with the first ISO international social standard ‘ISO 26000 – Guidance for Social Responsibility’ (GSR). The author argues, that unlike other standards, it is political rather than technical, taking on the role of organisations within society even though it is not intended for certification purposes. In addition, ISO 26000 brings about deep-seated changes aimed at altering the entire landscape of… Find out more

Since 2001, the ETUC and ETUI have produced Benchmarking Working Europe for the European Social Summit to draw attention to the state of working Europe. This publication aims to provide a genuine benchmarking exercise applied to the world of labour and social affairs grounded in effective labour and social rights. It establishes what progress – or lack of it – has taken place in selected areas of significance for social Europe and of importance… Find out more

Transnational collective bargaining (TCB) has become a ‘hot’ topic of European industrial relations. As well as collective bargaining between workers and employers conducted at the sectoral or national level, negotiations on employee rights and working conditions now also take place at the supranational level, within multinational companies. It is a development that poses major challenges for trade unions, as well as for employers and lawmakers… Find out more

Should companies primarily serve the interests of shareholders, or are they responsible to a broader set of stakeholders, including their own workers? The financial crisis has exposed the deficits of the current regulatory framework for companies, as it prioritizes short-term shareholder value at the expense of the long-term interests of stakeholders.In this book, members of the GOODCORP network of researchers and trade unionists present their… Find out more

This publication of the SEEurope Network provides a comprehensive overview of the legislation on the European company (SE – Societas Europaea) and its history and development. It assesses the overall significance and impact of the SE on the business sector and on worker involvement in Europe and provides an outlook for the future of the SE. The publication also makes specific recommendations for policymakers regarding the future revision of the… Find out more

Widening economic and social gaps among EU member states, as well as among different groups and categories of citizens within society, are not only placing in jeopardy the future of Social Europe but threatening to undermine also the whole project of European integration. The post-2008 recession and debt crisis, helped along by EU leaders’ obstinate clinging to the failing remedies of fiscal austerity, have accelerated the disenchantment of… Find out more

As a rule, the competences of European Works Councils (EWCs) are limited to information and consultation. Nonetheless, the number of European company-level framework agreements negotiated by EWCs and/or trade unions has increased steadily since the early 2000s. By the end of 2011, 119 such agreements had been concluded.Based on telephone interviews with EWC members from 82 companies in the metalworking industry, this study investigates the… Find out more

The report Benchmarking Working Europe 2014 reviews the crisis and EU austerity policies in the last five years from the point of view of Europe's social agenda. The publication, written by the research team of the ETUI, offers an overview of the most important statistics on the EU’s macroeconomic situation, labour market developments, inequality and poverty, deregulation of labour law, wages and collective bargaining, health and safety at work… Find out more

This new working paper is intended to map reforms of employment protection law in the member states with the aim of addressing these legal changes in the context of the crisis, but also in the context of the deregulation agenda of the European Commission.The report critically addresses the large-scale deregulation of employment protection law in the EU member states, which basically started under the umbrella of flexicurity, in particular the EU… Find out more

This guide builds on the ETUI's Worker Participation 2030 project which looked at the future of worker participation under four different scenarios.It is a manual for people who want to know more about scenario-building and are considering setting up their own scenario project. It has been designed as a compact and easily accessible overview of the method of scenario building and the different steps entailed in the process. Find out more

This policy brief shows the importance of proper implementation of sanctions for the overall efficiency and implementation of the goals of the EWC Recast Directive. It formulates some concrete policy recommendations for the Commission’s future implementation report on this Directive. Find out more

Flexibility within multinational companies (MNCs) has become increasingly transnational in character. Strategies of inter-firm benchmarking, outsourcing and cross-national or internal ‘coercive comparison’ are increasingly used by MNCs to enhance local performance by placing plants in competition with each other, forcing subsidiaries to gradually raise their level of flexibility, and eroding employees’ working conditions.This Policy Brief argues… Find out more

Published every year, the report analyses the state of working Europe explaining with the aid of statistics and graphs the main trends in terms of Europe’s macro-economic situation, its labour market development, the situation of wages and collective bargaining, and worker participation. The focus of this year’s Benchmarking report is on the lessons learned – or not learned – from eight years of economic crisis and austerity policy. The… Find out more