Triggering employee voice under the European Information and Consultation Directive: A non-union case study

Niall Cullinane, Eugene Hickland, Tony Dundon, Tony Dobbins and Jimmy Donaghey
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Niall Cullinane: Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Eugene Hickland: National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
Tony Dundon: National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
Tony Dobbins: Bangor University, UK
Jimmy Donaghey: University of Warwick, UK

Economic and Industrial Democracy, 2017, vol. 38, issue 4, 629-655

Abstract: The transposition of the 2002/14/EC Directive, establishing a general framework for information and consultation (I&C), has proven contentious in largely voluntarist systems of employment regulation. Receiving particular criticism is the employee ‘opt-in’ mechanism as a means to access I&C rights. For non-union employees in particular, the ability and potential to negotiate rights for I&C is widely seen to be problematic. This article uniquely examines the opt-in mechanism in the context of non-unionism, considering how non-union employers respond to non-union employees invoking their legislative rights to I&C. Drawing upon a case study conducted over four years in a large non-union multinational, the evidence shows how the opt-in and negotiation process function to the advantage of the employer rather than the intended regulatory impact to advance employee rights.

Keywords: Case study; employee voice; Information and Consultation Directive; non-unionism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:38:y:2017:i:4:p:629-655

DOI: 10.1177/0143831X15584085

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