Brussels, 08/03/2013

Brussels, 05/09/2012

Brussels, 18/05/2012

Brussels, 2011

Brussels, 07-08/12/2011 Introduction

Brussels, 25/06/2011

Brussels, 28/04/2011 ETUC Resolution for download To download the ETUC Resolution, please click on the icon below.

Brussels, 28/04/2011 ETUC Resolution for download To download the ETUC Resolution, please click on the icon below.

Brussels, 16/03/2011 The European Private Company was first proposed by the European Commission in a draft Council Regulation on a Statute in 2008 as a measure designed to make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to do business in the Single Market.

Brussels, 01/09/2010

Brussels, 04/03/2010

Brussels, 30/11/2009

Brussels, January 2009

Brussels, 27/04/2009

Brussels, 10/03/2009 The biggest fear was that the establishment of an SPE could give companies incentives to circumvent employees’ rights to participation. ‘The proposal of the Parliament aims to ensure that workers’ rights are not undermined. It is a step forward and an important improvement to the draft statute presented by the Commission’, says ETUC Deputy General Secretary Reiner Hoffmann. This solution respects workers’ rights that already exist both under Community law, notably the SE Directive, and in national legal traditions.

Brussels, 17/12/2008 The recast of the directive is aimed at tightening up the definitions of information and consultation of workers. As a first step to facilitate the establishment of European Works Councils (EWS), Members of Parliament (MEPs) abolished the threshold of 50 employees for setting up special negotiating bodies in companies. In addition, the Parliament has clarified the definition of ‘transnational’ – matters which concern the entire undertaking or group or at least two Member States are considered to be transnational.

Brussels, 16/10/2008 The ETUC Executive Committee gave broad support for the outcome of the talks conducted by the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary with BusinessEurope, and decided on this basis to ask the European Parliament to aim to complete its considerations by the end of the year. Otherwise there is a real risk that the issue could fall through lack of time.

Brussels, 02/09/2008 In order to realise the revision of the Directive in 2008 or early in 2009, the European social partners call on the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers to take their joint amendments into consideration in the adoption process. The European social partners will inform their members about the extended possibilities offered by the revised Directive

Brussels, 25/06/2008

Brussels, 10/06/2008 The major issue in the revision of the European Works Councils is to secure the right to information and consultation for workers within companies and to ensure that companies respect that right. With the EWCs representing an integral part of the European social model, the ETUC is asking for legal action to be taken to penalise any failure to acknowledge this right.

Brussels, 09/06/2008 Rede von Reiner Hoffmann, stellvertretender Generalsekretär des Europäischen Gewerkschaftsbundes (EGB) auf der EBR-Konferenz von EGB und Hans-Böckler-Stiftung am 9. Juni 2008 in Brüssel Die Europäischen Betriebsräte sind heute ein wichtiger Bestandteil des europäischen Sozialmodells. Allerdings war es ein langer Weg, bis 1994 endlich die rechtlichen Grundlagen zur Einrichtung von Europäischen Betriebsräten (EBR) gelegt wurden.

Brussels, 30/04/2008 ETUC has been calling for a long time for a revision of the EWC directive; this is the reason why it will strongly support the Commission’s plan to strengthen EWCs. ETUC reaffirms the importance of European Works Councils: indeed, they afford millions of workers across the European Union the right to information and consultation on company decisions through their EWC representatives, and that can affect a large number of workers. It's an important message to remember on the occasion of May Day.

Brussels, 11/04/2008 This is because there would be insufficient time for both negotiations and for the issue to be dealt with in the lifetime of this Commission and Parliament. Furthermore, it has not been possible to identify a realistic basis for agreement on certain key issues on which there have been, and are, fundamental differences with BusinessEurope. For these reasons, social dialogue talks in the current circumstances are impracticable.