Starting in the EWC

Starting in the EWC

You have been newly elected to the European Works Council. The EWC was established to give employees of multinational companies the opportunity to have a say at the level at which (international) decisions are made. The recent far-reaching internationalization of companies and decision-making has greatly increased the importance of the EWC. But how can you ensure that the EWC’s potential is fully exploited and that it actually plays a meaningful role in your company?

In this course from SBI Formaat, we will discuss the background, the underlying legislation and regulations, the rights and powers and the functioning of European Works Councils in practice. We will also discuss factors that hinder the proper functioning of the EWC and address the tension between local, national, and European employee participation.

Training programme

• 09:00 - 09:30 Arrival

  Reception with coffee and tea.

• 09:30 - 10:00 Start of the training and introduction

  Welcome, programme and practical matters. The participants introduce themselves, explain their backgrounds (seat in a Works Council/EWC) and what their expectations are.

• 10:00 - 10:30 The history of EWC’s

  We shortly look at the origin of Employee Representation in the EU and how the EWC Directive was created. This will give you the background info on why certain things are arranged the way they are.

• 10:30 - 12:30 Law and legislation: the EWC Directive and National transpositions

  What is the basis of the EWC, how to start one, what fallback option is there in case the negotiations fail and what is the importance of National Laws for you?

• 12:30 - 13:30 Lunch break

• 13:30 - 14:30 The EWC agreement; practises and examples

  We will look at examples of EWC Agreements and share best and worst practices that we encountered. At the end of this part, you will be able to scan through an Agreement, judge whether a/your Agreement is a good (or bad) one, and you will know what minimum requirements you should set in case you start negotiating with management.

• 14:30 - 15:00 The workings of the EWC

  In this part, we look at what you practically can expect from the EWC meetings. How is the EWC internally organised, how does the Select Committee work, what does an average Information & Consultation procedure look like, and the importance of Internal Rules & Procedures.

• 15:00 - 16:00 Practicing: Information & Consultation

  A practical case study, in which you can practice with either your own Agreement or an example. In groups, you will discuss the best way to tackle certain situation. We discuss that not everything is black-and-white, there is a lot of room for negotiation, and how you work on the relationship with management.

• 16:00 - 16:30 Evaluation and end of training