EWC-Academy

About us

Managing Director of the EWC Academy Dr Werner Altmeyer Main focus: EWC and SE agreements, European works councils’ working practice and consultation procedures, workplace representation in Germany, France, Spain and the UK Working languages: German, English, French, Spanish
		Industrial clerk, degrees in business administration and social economics, former scholarship holder of the Hans Böckler Foundation, previously commercial employee and youth representative in the steel industry, spent long periods researching in Paris, Madrid and London as part of a thesis on workplace representation in the EU, lectures at universities, management academies and training institutions for German, French and British unions, worked at the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) in Brussels and since 1997 in the EWC Academy and its forerunner organizations

Further EWC Academy trainers and consultants Rainer Appel Main focus: EWC involvement in transnational restructuring, business and financial analysis, profitability analysis, safeguarding of production sites and employment, industrial revitalizing concepts, post-merger integration Working languages: German, English, Spanish
		Electrical engineer, degree in industrial engineering, organizational study at the University of Warwick on the efficiency of industrial manufacturing companies in a German-British comparison, educated in training and coaching, EU projects in Eastern Europe, since 2000 works councils adviser on economic and financial issues, since 2005 lecturer in business management at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, has worked with the EWC Academy and its forerunner organizations since 2011
Udo Verzagt Main focus: Contents of EWC and SE agreements, cross-border cooperation of works councils, consultation procedures and analysis of financial data Working languages: German, English
		Udo Verzagt is teacher for political science and geography and has a degree in economics. From 1990 to 2014 he was employee and works council member in the IT industry, from 1996 also member of the supervisory board. In 2002 he became a member of the EWC and 2006 the EWC chairman, first of Electronic Data Systems and – following the merger – of Hewlett-Packard. After early retirement in 2014 because of site closure, he has been working as freelance consultant and trainer for European works councils, SE works councils and European IT projects, e.g. with IG Metall trade union on digitalisation in the aerospace sector. Since 2014 he has been trainer with the EWC Academy.

Legal counsellor of the EWC Academy: Professor Dr Reingard Zimmer
		Reingard Zimmer has supported the EWC Academy and its forerunner organizations as a trainer and legal adviser since 2004. Since 2015 she has been professor at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, previously she held a labour law professorship at the University of Hamburg and directed the Department of Labour and Social Law at the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) of Hans Böckler Foundation. She spent long periods researching in Latin America and Spain and worked in Geneva at the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In addition to EWC topics she mainly focusses on international labour issues.

Additional trainers and consultants working with the EWC Academy on a regular basis: Dr Ray Cunningham German-British communications and political adviser, former director of the Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society Joachim Gschwendtner Deputy chairman of the European works council in a UK company in the IT and communications industry, consultant for the design of consultation procedures Carl Guinet French consultant for works councils on economic matters and expert for consultation procedures Ralf-Peter Hayen Retired head of legal department for EWC law at the DGB trade union confederation headquarters in Berlin, lecturer at the EWC Academy's legal seminar every year in October Horst Mernberger Data protection consultant and external privacy officer, certified information security auditor according to ISO 27001 / ISO 19011, former employee at the IG Metall trade union headquarters