European Works Councils and Their Implications. The Potential Impact on Employer Practices and Trade Unions
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425459410066283 |
| Pages | 48-61 |
| Date | 01 June 1994 |
| Published date | 01 June 1994 |
| Author | Roger Welch |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Employee
Relations
16,4
48
European Works Councils and
Their Implications
The Potential Impact on Employer
Practices and Trade Unions
Roger Welch
Anglia Polytechnic University, Chelmsford, UK
One of the consequences of Britain’s decision to join the EEC was a heightened
interest by government, employers and trade unionists in the issue of employee
involvement in the decision-making processes of the organizations for which they
worked. During the 1970s, in line with thinking and practice in other member
states of the EEC, the focus was on collective forms of employee involvement.
Since the early 1980s, this focus in Britain, but not elsewhere in the EC, has shifted
fundamentally towards developing individual forms of employee involvement.
This tension between preferences in Britain, as against those in the remainder
of the EC, was part of the reason why the consent of the British Government to
the establishment of the European Union was conditional on Britain being
permitted to opt out of the Social Protocol to the Maastricht Treaty.
History
During the 1970s, the focal point of interest in Britain with respect to employee
involvement was in the context of industrial democracy, as indicated by the
decision of the then Labour Government to establish the Bullock Committee of
Inquiry in late 1975. As is well known, the central recommendation that the
Bullock Report made – the election of worker directors – was never implemented.
However, during this period, a number of initiatives were taken which were
regarded as a form of industrial democracy, through the establishment of
participation committees.
It is worthy of note that during the 1970s interest in some form of employee
participation in decision making stretched across the political and industrial
spectrum. The CBI and leading industrialists such as Lord Weinstock were in
favour of participation agreements which would enable employees to be informed
and consulted over management decisions. Moreover, in the words of Margaret
Thatcher:
…all employees have a right to be involved in the way that their enterprises are run, …they
have a positive contribution to make, …their full participation will not only bring greater
satisfaction to their work, but will also make for more efficient management and a healthier
economy[1, p. 223].
It should be stressed that support for some form of p articipation scheme did not
mean that there was widespread support for the TUC’s proposals for worker
Employee Relations, Vol. 16 No. 4,
1994, pp. 48-61. © MCBUniversity
Press, 0142-5455
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