During the 2008 financial crisis, board-level employee representation (BLER) was touted as an institution that could counter mismanagement with a stakeholder approach and thus improve the quality of corporate governance.

On 18 March 2026, the European Commission published a proposal for a new European company law framework entitled ‘EU Inc.’ Because this new company law is designed to be available alongside the existing national company law frameworks in each of the 27 Member States, this new proposal is framed as...

European Works Councils (EWC) face many limitations in terms of timing and quality of information and consultation. One way of addressing this is through communication with board-level employee representatives. The mere presence of a board-level employee representative is not related to better EWC...

Following the adoption of Council directive 94/45/EC (the EWC directive) more than 1,250 EWCs were established. This industrial relations institution was intended to ensure transnational information and consultation were available to worker representatives within MNCs that met the thresholds of the...

Each year, the ETUI provides training to over 1,000 employee representatives from European Works Councils, SE Works Councils or Special Negotiating Bodies. Our mission is to impart practical know-how in order to strengthen the distinctive role of EU-level employee representatives. Our educational...

This training manual deals with two serious forms of obstruction that management may use to block information flows. Firstly, management may label information as ‘confidential’, thus forbidding the EWC to share this information with others (including the employees it represents or local works...

On 31 January 2020, at 23:00, the United Kingdom (UK) officially ceased to be a member of the European Union (EU). One of the many areas that will likely be directly affected with regard to workers’ rights is the organisation and functioning of European Works Councils (EWCs). EWCs are company-level...

The idea behind the establishment of European Works Councils (EWCs) is that these are bodies which should be informed and consulted on company decisions and actions. However, this flow of information is often disrupted by confidentiality constraints imposed by management. Three central research...

This policy brief considers the lack of European Works Councils through a Belgian perspective.

The ETUI's 'Workers' Participation' Unit has finalised three infographics presenting workers rights in general and specifically in (transnational) restructuring scenarios. The three infographics present the following information: 1. 'Palette of workers' rights 2. 'Getting through a merger 3....