"This paper assesses the likely contribution of the European Company Statute (ECS) and accompanying Directive on employee involvement to the development of participatory workplaces in the European Union. The argument advanced is that the Directive has economic aspirations that outweigh its social objectives and that the prospects for employee participation are cosmetic rather than real. An improved mutual understanding between commercial actors and labour relations actors is required in order to appreciate more fully the interaction between corporate structures and employment rights. More effective dialogue between participants in the two fields is necessary, without which employee representatives have little choice but to pursue a stronger adversarial approach to industrial relations."

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