European Works Councils. Developments, types and networking

Book abstract:

The development of European Work Councils (EWCs) by the European Union is of important significance to the field of industrial relations. This book is the second of three volumes that examine the establishment and operation of EWCs. The book is a result of a research project conducted between November 1997 and November 1998 at the University for Applied Sciences, Fulda in co-operation with the Economic and Social Science Institute of the Hans Böckler Foundation, Düsseldorf.

The book provides five qualitative and quantitative case studies of EWCs in three industry sectors, banking, insurance and the food industry. It explains how EWCs are constituted and developed and investigates the scope for EWCs within the new European-transnational structure of enterprise based industrial relations. It also aims to make a contribution to empirical research in the unexplored field of the Europeanisation of industrial relations, which the development of EWCs is influencing. The book has five main chapters in addition to the introduction: European Works Councils in the Context of European Industrial Relations; European Works Councils: Origins, Forms and Dynamics of Development: A Typology; Networking EWCs: Initiatives-Needs-Prospects; EWCs in a European Multi-Level System of Industrial Relations; Prospects: EWCs - Between Forum, Actor and Network.

The book is aimed at researchers, academics and practitioners with its empirical material and practical experience in a developmental and theoretical framework.