Pay Transparency Directive adopted

IOn 30 March 2023, the European Parliament voted by a large majority, with 427 votes in favour, 79 against and 76 abstentions, to adopt the new Pay Transparency Directive, which aims to reduce the gender pay gap in the EU. In 2021, women in the EU received on average 12.7% less pay than men...

Sweden joins the legal action against the Minimum Wage Directive

On 27 April 2023, the Swedish government announced that it will join the action for annulment of the EU Minimum Wage Directive before the European Court of Justice. The legal suit was initially filed before the court by the Danish government on 18 January 2023...

Global Due Diligence Directive on the home straight

On 1 June 2023, the European Parliament adopted its position on the content of the Due Diligence Directive by 366 votes in favour, 225 against and 38 abstentions. The draft of this directive, which holds companies accountable for violations of human rights and environmental standards...

Federal Labour Court reinforces codetermination in the SE Directive

On 23 March 2023, the first legal dispute in history on supervisory board codetermination in companies with the legal form of a European Company (SE) came to an end. After more than seven years, the trade unions ver.di and IG Metall succeeded in convincing the Federal Labour Court...

EWC establishment still possible in England after Brexit

On 25 January 2023, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) in London, the first instance in British EWC law, ruled that the 2 Sisters Food Group must establish a European Works Council. The case was filed on 4 October 2022, well after Brexit. The Birmingham-based food manufacturer has 13,000 employees and production sites in the UK, Ireland...

Unequal pay through collective agreement compatible with EU law

On 31 May 2023, the Federal Labour Court confirmed the common practice that temporary agency workers may be paid less than the permanent workforce in the hiring company. On average, the 800,000 temporary agency workers in Germany (2% of all employment relationships)...

German whistleblower protection law comes into force after delay

On 2 July 2023, the EU Whistleblower Directive was transposed in Germany after a delay of one and a half years. Six other EU countries are also behind schedule, which is why the European Commission has filed a complaint before the European Court of Justic...

Works council members are entitled to attend seminars in person

The Düsseldorf Regional Labour Court ruled on 24 November 2022 that works council members cannot be obliged to participate in a webinar instead of attending a seminar in person. The reasoning behind the ruling was made public in January 2023. The airline Eurowings, based in Düsseldorf...

Court ruling jeopardizes the functioning of the EWC

On 14 April 2023, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) announced the first ever decision in an EWC dispute in Irish history. The WRC acts as a court of first instance in disputes arising under TICEA, the Irish EWC Act, but has fewer powers than the UK Central Arbitration Committee (CAC)...

Gigantic investment in chip manufacturing in Europe

The US semiconductor manufacturer Intel, which has a global market share of 80% in microprocessors for PCs, will invest €80 billion in Europe to tackle supply chain problems. A fully integrated value chain for semiconductor production is to be created in Europe to act as a counterbalance to locations in the USA and Asia...

Rough management tactics to increase profits

On 1 February 2023, the state-owned bank Caisse des Dépôts acquired a majority of the capital of the French care group Orpea, which has 72,000 employees in 23 countries. Its debt at that time was €9.5 billion. Then, on 12 May 2023, a loss of €4 billion was announced for the 2022 financial year...

EWC remains in place on the basis of SE agreement

On 16 January 2023, a revised EWC agreement was signed at the headquarters of bioMérieux in Marcy-l'Étoile (near Lyon). The family-owned company provides diagnostic solutions (reagents, equipment, software and service) and has 11,000 employees worldwide, including 4,000 in France. In the course of a planned SE conversion...

Dormant SE works council and freezing of codetermination on the supervisory board

Since 18 April 2023, Bickhardt Bau in Kirchheim (Hesse) has been operating as a European Company (SE). With just 1,887 employees in Germany, one-third board-level employee participation could be secured shortly before the 2,000 threshold was reached, and hereby full-parity codetermination permanently excluded...

Siemens works council members visit the USA

Once a year, six unions represented at Siemens in the USA and Canada meet for an exchange of experience and to be informed by North American management on the business situation and employment trends. A delegation from European works councils of Siemens and Siemens Energy also participated in...

Have you been treated unfairly?

This is the question that the European Network of Equality Bodies is asking on its website. If so, you can contact an equality body in your country. They support and protect people who are exposed to discrimination. Equinet, as an umbrella organisation, coordinates their European cooperation in EU countries and beyond...

Why is there no board-level employee participation in Belgium?

Belgium is one of the few EU countries in Western Europe where there is no board-level codetermination. The country is a codetermination-free island between the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France, which do have a long tradition of company codetermination, albeit to varying degrees...

Training at face-to-face EWC meeting in Switzerland

From 27 to 30 March 2023, a meeting of Roche European Forum (REF) was held in Basel in person for the first time since the start of the Corona pandemic. The EWC Academy delivered a training session during the meeting that covered fundamental topics, such as introduction of new methods of...

EWC and SE introductory seminar at Montabaur Castle

For the first time after a long Corona pause, the seminar normally offered every year was once again held from 11 to 14 April 2023; the starter days for newcomers and an in-depth training on internal communication and the consultation procedure for advanced participants...

Tight deadlines for consultation procedures

TeamViewer became a European Company (SE) on 15 March 2023. The software company, based in Göppingen, has 1,400 employees (incl. 600 from outside Germany) and specialises in digital networking of computers, mobile phones, industrial machines and robots. Through the SE conversion the company...