European Works Council

Around 10 million workers across the EU have the right to information and consultation on company decisions at European level through their EWCs. The European Works Council Directives apply to companies with 1,000 or more employees, and at least 150 in two or more Member States.

The first EWC Directive, dating back to 1994 (94/45/EC), generated some 850 EWCs, covering around 60% of workers in the EU. In order to improve the legislation, the ETUC and European trade union federations launched a campaign leading to agreement in the European Parliament and Council on a new EWC recast Directive (2009/38/EC). It has been fully operational since June 2011. The ETUC is calling for a further revision to deal with gaps in the existing law, as foreseen in the 2009 directive.

More information on the ETUI Database of European Works Council Agreements.