Revision of the European Works Council Directive

Key points

The EESC:

• welcomes the legislative steps taken by the European Commission to revise Directive 2009/38/EC with regard to minimum standards for setting up European Works Councils (EWCs) and ensuring their effective operation;

• recognises the aim to increase the effectiveness and implementation of EWC rights to provide legal certainty by clarifying key concepts of the EWC Directive. This especially concerns the definition of transnationality, appropriate resources available to EWCs, access to justice and increasing the Member States’ commitment to provide for effective and sufficiently dissuasive sanctions for infringements of EWC rights;

• is pleased by the Commission’s aims to revise the standard for a more efficient and meaningful information and consultation process by proposing additions to the subsidiary requirements, to increase the frequency of regular EWC meetings and to introduce a reasoned response by management to the EWC opinions. It also recognises the strengthening of trade union representatives’ role as assisting EWC experts;

• supports important amendments regarding the ability of EWCs and their members to fulfil their duties. This concerns in particular resources to be provided by management, the details of which have to be jointly determined in the relevant EWC agreement in connection to training, experts and legal representation and the intended clarifications on confidentiality;

• calls on the legislative institutions to quickly proceed with revising the EWC Directive in line with the Commission’s proposal, also taking into account the recommendations proposed in this opinion;

• highlights the need to guarantee proper transposition and implementation of the revised Directive with effective monitoring and implementation tools to be used by the Commission in this process.

Due to divergent views raised by the employers' organisations, members of the EESC Employers' Group tabled a counter-opinion. More specifically, they expressed concerns that the revision of the Directive could complicate the functioning of EWCs and risk transforming them from effective channels for company-level information and consultation into sources of disputes and legal uncertainty. The EESC Employers' Group believes this could potentially undermine the essential cooperation and trust in the workplace. The counter-opinion was rejected by the EESC (104 votes in favour/125 against/11 abstentions) but since it received more than a quarter of the votes cast, in line with the EESC Rules of Procedure, it is appended to the opinion.