Employee Representatives in an Enlarged Europe
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Employee representatives in an enlarged Europe Volume 1 European Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Unit F.2 Manuscript completed in April 2008 1 This report was financed by and prepared for the use of the European Commission, Directorate- General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. It does not necessarily represent the Commission's official position. Authors of this report: Javier Calvo, Lionel Fulton, Christophe Vigneau, Nataša Belopavlovič, Ricardo Rodríguez Contreras Coordination and project leader: Ricardo Rodríguez Contreras © Getty, Belga/AFP-Pierre Verdy,MAXPPP-Harry Ray Jordan Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00 800 numbers or these calls may be billed. A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu). © European Communities, 2008 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2008 ISBN 978-92-79-08928-2 Printed in Belgium PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study has been carried out with the information collected by national experts, following the common guidelines issued by the coordination team, expanding on and correcting information as required. We would like to thank the following experts for the work they have carried out and for the several consultations they have answered: AUSTRIA Ulrich Runggaldier, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration Linda Kreil, Vienna University BELGIUM Patrick Humblet, Vakgroep Sociaal Recht, Department of Social Law, Ghent University. BULGARIA Irina Terzyiska, European Labour Institute. CROATIA Miljenko Cimesa, SAPIENTIA. CZECH REPUBLIC Marketa Nekolova, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs. DENMARK Carsten Jørgensen, Forskningscenter for Arbejdsmarkeds- og Organisationsstudier, Sociologisk Institut, Københavns Universitet- FAOS, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhaguen. ESTONIA Epp Kallaste, PRAXIS Center for Policy Studies FINLAND Markku Kiikeri, Helsinki University FRANCE Christophe Vigneau, Institut des Sciences Sociales du Travail, Université de Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne GERMANY Eva Kocher, Hamburg University, Universität für Wirtschaft und Politik, Fachgebiet Rechtswissenschaft GREECE Athanassios Papaioannou, Police Academy of Athens HUNGARY Makó Csaba, Institute of Sociology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Béla Benyó, Semmeweis University ICELAND Elín Blönda, Research Centre for Labour Law and Equality at the University of Bifrost Maj Britt Hjördís Briem, University of Bifröst IRELAND Josephine Browne, Trinity College Dublin ITALY Edoardo Ales, University of Cassino Giorgio Verrecchia, University of Cassino LATVIA Daiga Ermsone, Advisor International Relations LIECHTENSTEIN Bettina Drawitsch, Legal and Economic Affairs Unit, Arbeitsrecht, Vaduz LITHUANIA Tomas Davulis, Faculty of Law, Vilnius University LUXEMBOURG Marc Feyereisen, Court administrative MALTA Saviour Rizzo, Centre for Labour Studies, University of Malta NORWAY Inger Marie Hagen and Kristine Nergård, FAFO- Institute for Applied Social Science, Oslo POLAND Piotr Korzuch, University of Warsaw Agata Drabek, University of Lodz PORTUGAL Catarina de Oliveira Carvalho, Portuguese Catholic University ROMANIA Luminia Dima, University of Bucharest SLOVAKIA Monika Čambáliková, Institute of Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences SLOVENIA Nataša Belopavlovič, Institute of Industrial Relations Research. SPAIN Javier Calvo, University of Sevilla José María Miranda, University of Santiago de Compostela SWEDEN Annika Berg, Arbetslivsinstitutet (National Institute of Working Life) THE Robbert van het Kaar, University of Amsterdam NETHERLANDS TURKEY Nurhan Süral, Middle East Technical University of Ankara UNITED KINGDOM Lionel Fulton, Labour Research Department, London Additionally, representatives from employers’ and trade union organisations, as well as other international institutions have also collaborated actively, providing direction, guidelines and specific texts. In particular, we would like to thank the following persons and institutions for their generous cooperation: BUSINESSEUROPE (The Confederation of Peter Kettlewell. Communications Department European Business) ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation) Patrizia Grillo. Press and Communications. EUROCOMMERCE Christel Delberghe and Ann Vervondel ILO (International Labour Organization) Eddy Laurijssen. ILO Office in Brussels Special acknowledgements are due to Malena Donato for her work in document management and to José María Miranda Boto and Andrea Oates for their work in revising and homogenising the information. Volume 1 of the publication Employee Representatives in an Enlarged Europe provides a general overview of the basic characteristics of national systems of employee representation and participation in European undertakings within the framework of prevailing industrial relations in each country. It covers the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland and Italy. Please consult Volume 2 (ISBN: 972-92-79-08929-9) for the remaining countries as well as the European Social Partners, and the European and International Institutions. EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATIVES IN AN ENLARGED EUROPE TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................11 PART ONE. NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES: AN OVERVIEW……………………………………………………………..…………15 I - ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTEXT..........................................................................................19 II - INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ............................................................................................................26 III - EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATION IN THE COMPANY...........................................................45 IV- EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, SUPERVISORY BOARD OR OTHER CORPORATE BODIES.....................................................................................63 V- EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT IN EXTERNAL DECISIONS THAT AFFECT THE UNDERTAKING......................................................................................................................................63 V.1 RECOVERY AND BANKRUPTCY PROCEDURES...............................................................68 V.2 OPERATIONS AFFECTING SHAREHOLDERS ....................................................................71 V.3 STATE AID................................................................................................................................72 PART TWO. NATIONAL SITUATIONS…………………………………………………..…………75 AUSTRIA..................................................................................................................................................77 I. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTEXT ........................................................................................................77 II. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS......................................................................................................................78 III. EMPLOYEES' REPRESENTATION SYSTEM IN THE UNDERTAKING .........................................................82 IV. EMPLOYEES' PARTICIPATION IN CORPORATE BODIES..........................................................................86 V. EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT IN EXTERNAL DECISIONS THAT AFFECT THE UNDERTAKING.......................87 BELGIUM.................................................................................................................................................89 I. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTEXT........................................................................................................89 II. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS......................................................................................................................90 III. EMPLOYEES' REPRESENTATION SYSTEM IN THE UNDERTAKING .........................................................94 IV. EMPLOYEES' REPRESENTATION IN THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, SUPERVISORY BOARDS OR OTHER CORPORATE BODIES.................................................................................................................................99 V. EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT IN EXTERNAL DECISIONS THAT AFFECT THE UNDERTAKING ....................100 BULGARIA ............................................................................................................................................102 I. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTEXT ......................................................................................................102 II. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS....................................................................................................................104 III. EMPLOYEES' REPRESENTATION SYSTEM IN THE UNDERTAKING ........................................................109 IV. EMPLOYEES' REPRESENTATION IN CORPORATE BODIES ....................................................................115 V. EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT IN EXTERNAL DECISIONS THAT AFFECT THE UNDERTAKING .....................116