The event was held against the background of a recently published proposal of the European Commission to revise and strengthen the EU’s EWC directive 2009/38/EC, the EU’s main legislation on information and consultation rights on transnational matters in multinational companies.

It featured a series of experts on EWCs, including MEP Dennis Radtke (Rapporteur on the recent European Parliament report on a revised EWC Directive), MEP Gabriele Bischoff (Rapporteur on the recent European Parliament report on ‘Democracy at Work’), Adam Pokorny (Head of Unit ‘Labour Law’ at the European Commission), Gianluca Ceriani (Regional Secretary at the Italian Confsal trade union and member of the EWC of BNP Paribas) and Samuel Goldberg (Affiliate of the Dutch CNV-Connectief trade union and former member of the EWC of PostNL). It was moderated by CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger.

Exploring the proposal’s strengths and shortcomings, the negotiation timeline ahead, the priorities of the European Parliament on the matter, and merits and demerits from the perspective of affected trade unions and worker representatives, Klaus Heeger made clear that, overall, the initiative  reflects a long-standing demand of trade unions to render EWCs more meaningful bodies of worker involvement in corporate decisions that affect employment and working conditions in transnational companies.

During the event, it emerged that the proposal, as tabled by the European Commission, could substantially help EWCs to become more effective and meaningful, in particular by:

• defining ‘transnational matters’ subject to consultation procedures in a way that companies can no longer duly circumvent EWCs.
• rephrasing ‘confidentiality restrictions’ so that companies can no longer use these as a pretext to circumvent an otherwise required consultation of EWCs.
• achieving a better enforcement of the directive on the ground by setting out an obligation for Member States “to provide for effective, dissuasive, and proportionate sanctions” in cases of non-compliance with provisions of the directive, coupled with a requirement to “take into consideration the gravity, duration, consequences, and the intentional or negligent nature of the offence”.
  
• providing criteria for sufficient financial and material resources for EWCs to enable them to perform their duties in an appropriate manner.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger concluded: “CESI has voiced its support for strengthened EWCs in two social partner consultations. We broadly support the European Commission’s proposal and hope that the European Parliament and Council will move as far as possible in legislative negotiations before the EU elections in summer.”

For more information:

• CESI position on a revision of the European Works Councils (EWCs) Directive – 2023 (EN)
• CESI response to a second-phase social partner consultation on a revision of the European Works Councils (EWCs) Directive – 2023 (EN)
• CESI response to a first-phase social partner consultation on a revision of the European Work Councils (EWCs) Directive – 2023 (EN)