Can access to company boards improve transnational employee representation? Insights from employee representation in European Companies
Rosenbohm, Sophie ; Kuebart, Jennifer
Transfer. European Review of Labour and Research
2022
28
4
November
423-440
European company ; board level employee representation ; European works council ; workers representation ; multinational enterprise
Workers participation and European works councils
https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221129505
English
Bibliogr.
"Ways of strengthening workers' voice within multinational companies, especially with regard to cross-border restructuring, have been much discussed in recent years. Research shows that European Works Councils (EWCs) are not always informed and consulted in a timely or comprehensive manner, limiting and sometimes entirely preventing employee representatives from exercising early and coordinated influence at transnational level. Against this backdrop, one might ask whether access to bodies such as supervisory and administrative boards, in which economic and strategic decisions are taken, can make a difference to transnational employee representation. Little is known, however, about how institutions for transnational information and consultation are linked to board-level employee representation. This article aims to fill this research gap by analysing the different modes of horizontal articulation between SE Works Councils and board-level employee representation within European Companies (Societas Europaea). Building on evidence from case studies, we identify a number of different modes of articulation and highlight how articulation rests mainly on and is sustained by the overlapping roles of the individuals involved and the holding of multiple mandates."
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