Call for social protection during restructuring

On 13 March 2025, European Parliament in Strasbourg adopted a resolution on the social and employment aspects of restructuring and the necessary protection of jobs and workers' rights. The initiator is Belgian socialist Estelle Ceulemans, who was General Secretary of the FGTB trade union confederation from 2018...

EU postpones reporting requirements for supply chain monitoring

The controversial Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive for environmental protection and human rights has been in force since July 2024. Member states were to have two years to transpose it into national law. This deadline has been extended by one year. On 3 April 2025, the European Parliament voted 531 to 69...

Czech Parliament prevents scrapping protection against unfair dismissal

On 7 March 2025, the Chamber of Deputies in Prague passed a major labour law reform. A controversial article that would have allowed unfair dismissal without justification was rejected. In addition to the opposition parties, the ruling Christian Democrats also rejected the article, while two right-wing conservative parties...

Better protection for employee representatives in Switzerland

On 21 March 2025, the Swiss government approved a package of 13 measures to protect high wages in Switzerland from being undercut by EU companies posting workers, particularly in the construction industry. The aim is to prevent EU companies from charging Swiss prices while paying foreign wages. The details had been agreed...

Changes for works councils and trade unions in Germany

Since 6 May 2025, Germany has again a "Grand Coalition" made up of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, as was last the case between 2013 and 2021. The coalition agreement aims to establish a framework for the growing challenges posed by digitalisation and artificial intelligence in the working world and...

Landmark ruling on fines under the General Data Protection Regulation

On 13 February 2025, the European Court of Justice ruled on the level of fines for data protection violations. According to the General Data Protection Regulation, which has been in force since May 2018 (see report in EWC-News 1/2016), these must be "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" and...

Fines for late transposition of the Whistleblower Directive

On 6 March 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that five countries had to pay fines for late transposition of the Whistleblower Directive into national law. Germany must pay a fine of €34 million, while Czechia, Hungary, Estonia and Luxembourg must pay...

EWC establishments on the decline, sharp rise in SE works councils

For twenty years, the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) has maintained an online database containing the texts of EWC and SE agreements, which is considered the most important source for research work. The Institute's work is financially supported by the European Union. The database also provides statistics...

German family-owned company avoids full-parity co-determination

On 15 January 2025, an SE agreement was concluded for Trox in Ratingen. The company, headquartered in Neukirchen-Vluyn (Lower Rhine), has 5,000 employees worldwide and is the global market leader in room ventilation and air conditioning. As part of the SE conversion, employee representation on...

Building equipment manufacturer completely rules out co-determination

On 29 April 2025, an SE participation agreement was signed for the TECE Group, based in Emsdetten (Westphalia). The family-owned company has 1,700 employees at five locations and manufactures sanitary systems. The 14 members of the future SE works council represent 17 countries in the European Single Market...

Status proceedings at Chinese battery manufacturer

On 6 May 2025, the works council of Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) in Thuringia filed an application with the Erfurt Regional Court to have the composition of the supervisory board determined by the court in status proceedings. To date, CATL has neither one-third participation nor full-parity co-determination...

Japanese chemical group pre-empts new EWC directive

On 18 December 2024, an EWC agreement was concluded for graphite and carbon product manufacturer Tōkai Carbon. The company, based near Tokyo, had acquired production facilities in France, Germany, Italy and Poland in recent years, thereby falling within the scope of the EWC Directive. It mainly supplies the tyre...

Mexican packaging manufacturer establishes EWC in Denmark

On 26 February 2025, an EWC agreement was signed at the head office of Envases Europe in Løsning (Central Jutland). The group has 92 production sites on three continents with 12,000 employees worldwide and primarily manufactures food and beverage cans. In addition to Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Hungary...

Diversity and inclusion at French environmental group

On 26 March 2025, a framework agreement on diversity and inclusion was concluded in Paris for Veolia. It applies to 120,000 employees in the European Single Market and the United Kingdom. The French group operates in the water/wastewater, waste management and energy supply sectors...

French care group seeking to improve occupational health and safety

Since 10 April 2025, the SE Works Council of Clariane (formerly Korian) has been negotiating an improvement to the protocol on health, safety and the prevention of accidents at work, which was first concluded in November 2021. Since then, nine meetings of the European Health and Safety Committee...

Vestas wind technicians in the USA join a union

On 6 March 2025, the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) announced that a small group of technicians at Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas in Michigan had spoken out in favour of union representation for the first time. They criticised inadequate health and safety standards, 16-hour shifts and...

Swedish group violates its own framework agreement in the United States

On 14 April 2025, a delegation from UNI Global, the international umbrella organisation for service sector unions, was prevented from entering an Elanders plant in New Jersey. The majority of the workforce at the logistics centre, which supplies customers in the New York fashion industry...

Minimum wage for seafarers to be increased

On 15 April 2025, shipowners and trade unions agreed at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva to increase the global minimum wage for seafarers by 6.2%. From January 2026, it will be $690 (€607). Shipping is the only industry with an officially recognised minimum wage. It has been in force...

Works council app facilitates communication with employees

The "meinBR-App" application for works councils has been available in Germany since January 2025. The communication tool was developed over five years ago by the Austrian Trade Union Confederation (ÖGB). More than 250 works councils in Austria are already using it. The app offers customised functions for flexible, secure and...

Research network on the globalisation of work

The Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalisation and Work (CRIMT) focuses on changes in working life on a global scale. Coordinated by the University of Montreal (Canada), it brings together 184 academic research workers specialising in industrial relations, human resource management and labour law...

Occupational health and safety from an Anglo-Saxon perspective

An Australian consultant and journalist has been running the SafetyAtWorkBlog for over 10 years. He takes an informed and critical look at safety issues in the workplace. The blog has received several Australian and US awards as a digital source...

Self-help for vulnerable groups of the population

Acorn is an international association with 250,000 members in 15 countries that acts like a trade union for its members, primarily people on low and middle incomes. Acorn organises self-help, training, campaigns and research on local issues such as housing costs, unemployment, stagnating wages and...

Case studies on co-determination in the use of artificial intelligence (AI)

On 5 February 2025, the Hans Böckler Foundation published an empirical study entitled "Bots in the office – artificial intelligence and the transformation of office work in the digital age". It is based on 80 interviews in 21 companies and contains numerous case studies. These include a large technology group that...

History of the European umbrella federation for service sector trade unions

On 3 March 2025, a review of 25 years of UNI Europa was published. The union began its work in January 2000 after its four predecessor organisations decided to merge (similar to the formation of ver.di in Germany in 2001). The publication is divided into three chapters. The first part traces...

Current employment trends in EU countries

The EU's annual employment report has been available since 12 March 2025. It provides an overview of employment and social policy developments and the measures taken by the Member States. The focus is on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights. The employment rate...

Guide to collective bargaining for gender equality in the workplace

On 20 March 2025, the European Industrial Trade Union Federation (industriALL) published a guide "to equip trade unions with the tools and strategies needed to put equality firmly on the collective bargaining table". The report is the result of an EU-funded project on equal opportunities in the green and...

German-Polish works council seminar in Gdańsk

From 2 to 4 April 2025, a seminar was held in Gdańsk for the second time (photo: seminar participants in front of the Crane Gate, landmark of the former Hanseatic city). The participants, half from Germany and half from Poland, exchanged views on labour relations in their countries and...

EWC and SE introductory seminar at Montabaur Castle

From 22 to 25 April 2025, 20 works council members from nine companies attended the annual introductory seminar at the Montabaur Castle Training and Conference Centre, located directly at the high-speed train station halfway between Frankfurt and Cologne. The seminar was a combination of taster days for newcomers with...

Unilever to spin off ice cream division

British consumer goods group Unilever plans to spin off its ice cream division by the end of 2025 and list it on the stock exchange. It will operate under the name "The Magnum Ice Cream Company" and will be based in Amsterdam. In 2024, it generated sales of €8.3 billion. On 28 April 2025...

EWC establishment in US software company

On 4 and 5 February 2025, the EWC Academy provided training for the members of the Special Negotiating Body (SNB) of Salesforce. The US software company is particularly active in cloud computing and has not yet established an EWC. It is expected to operate under Irish law and be located in...

Will the minimum wage directive be repealed?

In November 2022, the directive on adequate minimum wages came into force. Its objectives are not limited to adequate minimum wages; the aim is to reinforce collective bargaining coverage too. 20 EU countries, including Germany, where collective agreements cover less than 80% of the working population, must develop action plans to...

Guidelines on the AI Regulation

On 4 February 2025, the European Commission presented guidelines to ensure the consistent, effective and uniform application of the contents of the AI Regulation. The guidelines are not legally binding, but they provide explanations and practical examples to help understand and comply with the requirements. They focus on prohibited high-risk AI systems...

British conciliation body rejects right to face-to-face meetings

On 23 December 2024, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) in London, which continues to be the first instance in British EWC law after Brexit, ruled on a complaint filed by the EWC of the British Council. The complaint concerned the language and cultural institute's decision to outsource some functions...

High Court deals with EWC issue for the first time

The High Court in Dublin has reserved three full days, from 1 to 3 July 2025, for the hearing of the legal dispute concerning the US company Verizon Communications. At the heart of the case is the question of whether the Irish EWC Act (TICEA) is compatible with the EWC Directive. On these grounds, the European Commission has been conducting infringement proceedings against the Irish government since May 2022