When do European Works Councils become useful to employees? Lessons learned from the Alstom / Switzerland case

Patrick Ziltener and Heinz Gabathuler
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Patrick Ziltener: University of Zurich, Institute of Sociology, Zürich, Switzerland
Heinz Gabathuler: University of Zurich, Institute of Sociology, Zürich, Switzerland

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 2016, vol. 22, issue 4, 491-504

Abstract: Based on four case studies, this article analyses the significance of Swiss participation in European Works Councils (EWCs) in foreign companies, coming to the conclusion that it is generally low. However, in one case, that of the French-based engineering company Alstom, two sequences of events show that, against a background of the general effectiveness of the Alstom EWC and the relative importance of its Swiss plants, Swiss employees clearly benefit from EWC participation, enjoying the same guarantees and subject to the same procedures as employees in other European countries. The perception of such benefit among employee stakeholders is however dependent on local constellations.

Keywords: European Works Councils; Switzerland; transnational companies; employee participation; information and consultation; company restructuring (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:treure:v:22:y:2016:i:4:p:491-504

DOI: 10.1177/1024258916667016

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