Documents Fulton, Lionel 15 results

"The European Company Statute (SE) is based on the Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Company (2157/2001/EC) and on the Directive supplementing the Statute for a European Company with regard to the involvement of employees (2001/86/EC). It is one of the most important pieces of company legislation published so far by the European Union. Adopted in 2001, it has since October 2004 made it possible for companies operating in more than one EU Member State to reorganise their cross-border business under a single European label. This enables them to work under the umbrella of a single legal framework, thereby reducing the internal costs of operating in several countries. Employee involvement, including participation rights at board level, is the focus of this research report."

"Extending European Works Councils to the Central and Eastern European countries is an important element in the strategy developed by UNI-Europa Graphical and its Multinationals' Committee. Indeed, for a long time, the richest part of Europe has favoured political decisions over and above economic and social integration. The major problem is thus the enlargement to the CEECs and, above all, to know
what form of solidarity the European Union will develop towards these countries. As far as we are concerned, one of the aims of extending EWCs to Central and Eastern Europe is to make social and economic cohesion prevail throughout Europe. Europe, like the rest of the world, needs regulation because major multinational groups are continually restructuring. It is thus essential that employees in these groups, including in the CEECs, can have their say in the management of the company, in restructuring plans and plans for setting up new units. For trade unions from Central and Eastern Europe, EWCs must be a tool for working towards such social regulation."

'Corporate governance - the way that major businesses are run - has been of in-creasing concern in recent years. Financial scandals in companies like Enron and WorldCom, as well as similar problems in Europe, have resulted in most major coun-tries introducing corporate governance codes.

However, these codes need to be seen in relation to long-established national struc-tures of corporate governance, which are often very different - in their forms, in their participants, and even in their purpose. In particular, employee representatives have a clear and important role in some, but no place at all in others.

This study looks at governance structures and corporate governance codes in four separate European states: France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. The four represent very different traditions of corporate governance - shareholder value is dominant in the UK, for example, while in the Netherlands companies are to be run in the long-term interest of all those involved. The UK is also the only country of the four where employees are not involved, at least to some degree, at board level.

Despite these differences, the study shows that the corporate governance codes that have been introduced in each state are very similar. Indeed, the committees drawing them up, faced with the need to meet the expectations of international investors, have deliberately chosen common solutions.

One clear result is that these codes largely neglect the role that employee represen-tatives play at board level. The evidence, presented in the study, is that employee representatives on company boards are overwhelmingly seen as positive. However, in the world of corporate governance codes, they remain a forgotten resource.

The study draws together information from four national reports, and, as well as pre-senting the overall picture, includes executive summaries from each state. '

"As part of the follow-up to the ETUC Congress engagements towards the promotion of women within its membership and decision-making structures, in 2017 the ETUC carried out the tenth edition of its Annual Gender Equality Survey (previously known as the 8th March survey). The aim of this survey is to monitor the proportion of women in the European trade union movement, including in decision-making positions and bodies. The objective is to assess progress in reducing the representation and decision-making gap between women and men in trade unions.

The second part of the survey looks at the views and activities of ETUC members in relation to the gender pension gap."