Los Comités de Empresa Europeos dos décadas despuésUna evaluación crítica

  1. Sergio González Begega 1
  2. Holm-Detlev Köhler 1
  3. Mona Aranea 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Oviedo
    info

    Universidad de Oviedo

    Oviedo, España

    ROR https://ror.org/006gksa02

Journal:
Revista del Ministerio de Empleo y Seguridad Social: Revista del Ministerio de Trabajo, Migraciones y Seguridad Social

ISSN: 2254-3295

Year of publication: 2017

Issue: 127

Pages: 255-273

Type: Article

DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Revista del Ministerio de Empleo y Seguridad Social: Revista del Ministerio de Trabajo, Migraciones y Seguridad Social

Abstract

European Works Councils (EWCs) constitute the most developed arenas of social dialogue within the European multi-level system of industrial relations. The article gives an overview over the consolidation trajectory of these bodies for employee interest representation in transnational companies with operations in the European Union. Based on the analysis of the gradual deployment of the legal framework on information and consultation rights for workers at European level and the use of the database on European Works Councils of the European Trade Union Institute (EWCDB), created in 1995, we propose a four-phase periodization which identifies different external motivations and internal drives in the establishment of European Works Councils. Our findings confirm a strong relationship between the deployment of the European legal framework on information and consultation and the progress in the establishment of European Works Councils which also explains pace changes in the long run. To conclude, we argue that the voluntaristic approach of the regulation is one of the main factors behind the current stagnation of European Works Councils in a context of growing transnationalization of companies and industries in the European Union.

Bibliographic References

  • Ahedo Santisteban, M.: «Regulación blanda, negociación y aprendizaje en los comités de empresa europeos en las empresas multinacionales químicas alemanas en España», Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales, nº 30 (1), p. 163-184, 2012.
  • Arrowsmith, J. y Pulignano, V.: «Introduction», en J. Arrowsmith y V. Pulignano (eds.), The Transformation of Employment Relations in Europe. Institutions and Outcomes in the Age of Globalization, London and New York (Routledge), 2013.
  • Blokland, A.: Accounting for the missing European Works Councils, Utrecht (University of Utrecht), 2002.
  • Boni, G.: «Introduction», en I. Schomann, R. Jagodzinski, G. Boni, S. Clauwaert, V. Glassner y T. Jaspers (eds.), Transnational Collective Bargaining at Company Level, Brussels (European Trade Union Institute), 2012.
  • Buschak, W.: «The practical and legal problems of European Works Councils. Reviewing the Directive», en I. Fitzgerald y J. Stirling (eds.), European Works Councils. Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will?, London (Routledge), 2004.
  • Carley, M. y Marginson, P.: Negotiating European Works Councils: A Comparative Study of Article 6 and Article 13 Agreements, Luxembourg (Publications Office of the European Union), 2000.
  • Cavallini, M.; Gold, M.; Royle, T. y Senatori, I.: «Home country advantage? The influence of Italian, German and Austrian employee representatives in the UniCredit European Works Council», European Journal of Industrial Relations, nº 21 (4), 2015, p. 1-16.
  • Da Costa, I.; Pulignano, V.; Rehfeldt, U. y Telljohann, V.: «Transnational negotiations and the europeanization of industrial relations. Potential and obstacles», European Journal of Industrial Relations, nº 18 (2), p. 123-137, 2012.
  • De Spiegelaere, S. y Jagodzinski, R.: European Works Councils and SE Works Councils in 2015. Facts and Figures, Brussels (European Trade Union Institute), 2015.
  • European Trade Union Institute: Benchmarking Working Europe 2013, Brussels (European Trade Union Institute), 2014.
  • Fetzer, T.: «From nationalism to European patriotism? Trade Unions and the European Works Council at General Motors», European Journal of European Public Policy, nº 19 (3), p. 342-357, 2015.
  • Fitzgerald, I.: «Introduction: employment participation in Europe», en I. Fitzgerald y J. Stirling (eds.), European Works Councils. Pesimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will?, London and New York (Routledge), 2004.
  • González Begega, S.: Empresa Transnacional y Nuevas Relaciones Laborales. La Experiencia de los Comités de Empresa Europeos, Madrid (La Catarata), 2011.
  • González Begega, S. y Köhler, H.D.: «Génesis política y nuevas coberturas de la Directiva revisada sobre comités de empresa europeos», Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales, nº 29 (2), p. 445-469, 2011.
  • González Begega, S. : «La Sociedad Europea (SE). ¿Una oportunidad perdida para la democracia industrial en Europa?», Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales, 33 (1), p. 65-91, 2015.
  • Gordo, L.: «La negociación colectiva transnacional. Experiencias practices en la implementación de los comités de empresa europeos», SASE Conference, London, 04/06/2015, 2015.
  • Huzzard, T. y Docherty, P.: «Between global and local. Eight European Works Councils in retrospect and prospect», Economic and Industrial Democracy, nº 26 (4), p. 541-568, 2005.
  • Jagodzinski, R.: «Review, revision or recast. The quest for an amended European Works Council Directive», en C. Degryse (ed.), Social Developments in the European Union 2008, Brussels (European Trade Union Institute), 2009.
  • Jagodzinski, R.: «Implementation of enforcement provisions of the European Works Councils Recast Directive: are sanctions really effective, proporcionate and dissuasive?», European Trade Union Institute Policy Brief, nº 7/2014, 2014.
  • Kerckhofs, P.: European Works Councils. Facts and Figures, Brussels (European Trade Union Institute), 2006.
  • Kerckhofs, P.: European Works Councils Developments Before, During and After the Crisis, Dublin (Eurofound) 2015.
  • Köhler, H.D. y González Begega, S.: «¿Hacia un sistema de relaciones laborales europeo? La respuesta de los comités de empresa europeos», Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales, nº 22 (1), p. 7-36, 2004.
  • Köhler, H.D. y González Begega, S.: «The European Works Council as a multi-dimensional contested terrain», Employee Relations, nº 32 (6), p. 590-605, 2010.
  • Kotthoff , H.: Lehrjahre des Europäischen Betriebsrats. Zenh Jahre Transnationale Arbeitnehmervertretung, Frankfurt (Sigma), 2006.
  • Lecher, W.; Nagel, B. y Platzer, H.W.: The Establishment of European Works Councils. From Information Committee to Social Actor, Aldershot (Ashgate), 1999.
  • Lecher, W.; Nagel, B.; Platzer, H.W. y Weiner, K., European Works Councils. Negotiated Europeanization. Between Statutory Framework and Social Dynamic, Aldershot (Ashgate), 2002.
  • Marginson, P., Gilman, M., Jacobi, O., y Krieger, H.: Negotiating European Works Councils. An Analysis of Agreements under Article 13, Luxembourg (Publications Office of the European Union), 1998.
  • Müller, T. y Platzer, H.W.: «European Works Councils. A new mode of European Union regulation and the emergence of a European multi-level structure of workplace industrial relations», en B. Keller y H.W. Platzer (eds), Industrial Relations and European Integration. Trans- and Supra-National Developments and Prospects, Aldershot (Ashgate), 2003.
  • Platzer, H.W.: «Approaching and theorizing European Works Councils», en M. Hertwig, L. Pries y L. Rampeltshammer (eds.), European Works Councils in Complementary Perspectives, Brussels (European Trade Union Institute), 2009.
  • Platzer, H.W.; Rüb, S. y Weiner, K.P.: «European Works Councils. Article 6 agreements. Quantitative and qualitative developments», Transfer. European Review of Labour and Research, nº 7 (1), p. 90-113, 2001.
  • Rivest, C.: «Voluntary European Works Councils», European Journal of Industrial Relations, nº 2 (2), p. 235-253, 1996.
  • Stollt, M. y Kluge, N.: «The potencial of employee involvement in the SE to foster the Europeanization of labour relations», Transfer. European Review of Labour and Research, nº 17 (2), p. 181-191, 2011.
  • Streeck, W.: «Neither European nor works councils: a reply to Paul Knutsen», Economic and Industrial Democracy, nº 18 (2), p. 325-337, 1995.
  • Waddington, J.: European Works Councils. A Transnational Industrial Relations Institutions in the Making, Abingdon (Routledge), 2011.
  • Whittal, M.; Lücking, S. y Trinczek, K.: «The frontiers within. Why employee representatives fail to set European Works Councils», Industrial Relations Journal, nº 40 (6), p. 546-562, 2009.
Data source: Dialnet