The right and duty of European Works Councils to report back to the workforce: broad uptake, little specificity

This policy brief examines if and how the reformulated obligation in the Recast European Works Council Directive to report back found its way into EWC agreements by looking at survey data, results of large-scale agreement analysis and by providing examples of clauses in which this obligation is reflected.

Although most EWC representatives state that they do report back to the employees, and most EWC agreements have specific rules referring to this duty, the clauses are generally vague as they do not specify who, when, and how the employee representatives should perform their duties.

This policy brief provides policy makers and researchers with an insight into how a changed regulation (EWC Recast Directive) affected the EWC agreements. Additionally, it gives tools to practitioners on the field by providing good and bad examples of agreement clauses.