Can access to company boards improve transnational employee representation? Insights from employee representation in European Companies

Sophie Rosenbohm and Jennifer Kuebart
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Sophie Rosenbohm: University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Jennifer Kuebart: HTW Berlin - Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 2022, vol. 28, issue 4, 423-440

Abstract: Ways of strengthening workers’ voice within multinational companies, especially with regard to cross-border restructuring, have been much discussed in recent years. Research shows that European Works Councils (EWCs) are not always informed and consulted in a timely or comprehensive manner, limiting and sometimes entirely preventing employee representatives from exercising early and coordinated influence at transnational level. Against this backdrop, one might ask whether access to bodies such as supervisory and administrative boards, in which economic and strategic decisions are taken, can make a difference to transnational employee representation. Little is known, however, about how institutions for transnational information and consultation are linked to board-level employee representation. This article aims to fill this research gap by analysing the different modes of horizontal articulation between SE Works Councils and board-level employee representation within European Companies (Societas Europaea). Building on evidence from case studies, we identify a number of different modes of articulation and highlight how articulation rests mainly on and is sustained by the overlapping roles of the individuals involved and the holding of multiple mandates.

Keywords: European Company; board-level employee representation; SE Works Council; articulation; transnational employee representation; multinational companies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:treure:v:28:y:2022:i:4:p:423-440

DOI: 10.1177/10242589221129505

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