Evaluation of the activity of European Works Councils
Streszczenie
European Works Councils are a form of indirect employee participation
which realize the right to information and consultation among employees in
transnational companies. They are an extremely important institution of social
dialogue at the European level. Functioning of the
common market is associated
with concentration of plants, mergers on the international scale, creation of
branches in different countries, whereas decisions
taken by central management
of these transnational companies affect workers in
all their European
subsidiaries. The EWC Directive requires the companies to build a bridge
between their decision-making centre and European workers’ representatives.
The main aim of this paper is to assess the impact
of EWCs on both
national systems of industrial relations and transnational companies’ activity.
The first part of the article includes an analysis
of the character of EWCs as an
element of the European system of industrial relati
ons and as a source of
European identity building. Moreover, the paper attempts to present the
consequences of EU enlargement for these institutions and social dialogue. The
second part evaluates the statutory rights of EWCs
and the influence of these
institutions on decision-making process in transnational companies. The main
emphasis is put on EWCs impact on
strategic business decisions leading to these
companies’ restructuring.