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Although the revised European Works Councils (EWCs) Directive does not take effect until June 2011, it has already started to have an effect on practice in multinational companies.
The "recast" Directive, adopted in May, seeks to strengthen the role of EWCs. It enhances their information and consultation rights and provides them with new entitlements, such as training. Trade unions are also given a clear role.
National governments have two years to implement the Directive. However, employee representatives and management in some companies are not waiting until then. An example is GDF Suez, the France-based energy and utilities giant, which was established by a merger in 2008. In May 2009, a merged EWC was agreed for the company, which unions see as a benchmark for future negotiations.
The GDF Suez agreement clearly reflects the key changes made by the recast Directive, for example in its definition of the transnational issues falling within the EWC's remit, and the EWC's information and consultation rights. The new EWC has also been allocated a notably high level of resources and facilities, such as training, paid time off, IT equipment and its own budget.
Trade unions and other employee representatives will no doubt be seeking similar advances when negotiating and renegotiating EWC agreements over the next two years.
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