When do European Works Councils become useful to employees? Lessons learned from the Alstom / Switzerland case

Abstract

Based on four case studies, this article analyses the significance of Swiss participation in European Works Councils (EWCs) in foreign companies, coming to the conclusion that it is generally low. However, in one case, that of the French-based engineering company Alstom, two sequences of events show that, against a background of the general effectiveness of the Alstom EWC and the relative importance of its Swiss plants, Swiss employees clearly benefit from EWC participation, enjoying the same guarantees and subject to the same procedures as employees in other European countries. The perception of such benefit among employee stakeholders is however dependent on local constellations.

When are European Works Councils informed and consulted, and how do they gain influence? A quantitative analysis

“…In the literature, all are generally observed as being influential for EWC effectiveness. As such, ample reference has been made to different trade union approaches depending on sector of activity (e.g., Waddington, 2011); the influence of the country where the company has its headquarters (e.g., Hall et al, 2003; Köhler & Begega, 2007); or the country of origin of EWC representatives (e.g., Bicknell & Knudsen, 2006; Ziltener & Gabathuler, 2016).…”

Collective interest representation of the European workforce in European Works Councils

“…Most EWCs however have between 10 and 30 members (De Spiegelaere and Jagodzinski, 2016: 21). Some EWCs have extended their representativeness by including representatives from workforces of other European countries on a voluntary basis, as the Unilever and Alstom EWCs did, for example, for their Swiss workforce (Ziltener and Gabathuler, 2016). Analysis of experience of EWC members from new EU member states (Mis, 2015; Voss, 2006) indicates that EU enlargement posed an additional challenge for representativeness.…”