What is an EWC - European Works Council?
An EWC can give you more influence across national borders. Read how the EWC works, how it is established, and what rights and obligations it entails.
What is a European Works Council (EWC)?
- The European Works Council (EWC) is a cooperation body at European level in large corporations that have operations in at least two European countries.
- The EWC functions as a group committee where representatives of the employees in the group's European companies meet with management to discuss and obtain information on matters that affect employees across national borders.
- Regular dialogue with corporate management through the EWC gives employees the opportunity to influence decisions made at group level. The EWC is also a good arena for networking with employee representatives from other countries.
What does it take to create an EWC?
Employees can request that an EWC be established if the group has at least 1000 employees in total in Europe (EEA), with at least 150 employees in each of at least two European countries.
How to create an EWC?
- Send written request: The creation of an EWC starts with a written request from either the group's management or representatives of at least 100 employees from at least two different European countries. Often, it is representatives of employee associations who take the initiative and cooperate with associations in other countries to put forward demands for an EWC.
- Establish a negotiating delegation: Before the negotiations begin, a negotiating delegation must be established from the employee side, called the Special Negotiation Committee (SFU) in Norwegian and the Special Negotiation Body (SNB) in English. All countries in which the group has operations shall be represented, and the SNB shall have a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 17 members.
- Negotiations: The employer must facilitate and cover all costs in connection with the contract negotiations. Employees have the right to be assisted by an external adviser. NITO will assist union representatives or members who wish to establish an EWC with their employer.
Get in touch for help setting up the EWC
What should the EWC agreement contain?
The EWC agreement must contain at least:
- Which countries and which of the company's entities are covered
- The composition of the EWC committee, number of members, distribution of seats, competence and working methods, as well as term of office
- What type of cases the EWC will handle
- Place, frequency and duration of the meetings
- Budget for EWC's activities
The agreement will also clarify how information and discussion will be carried out and coordinated with information and discussion with employee representatives in the individual countries.
How are the Norwegian SNB and EWC members elected?
The Norwegian SNB and EWC members shall be elected by written and secret majority voting or in accordance with the rules of the Limited Liability Companies Act for employee representation. In practice, however, the Nordic delegates are often appointed by the trade unions, where these represent a majority of the employees.
EWC members should have good insight into the business, and good language skills are a great advantage.
How does an EWC work?
At least one meeting must be held a year, but many have two. Extraordinary meetings can be called in special circumstances, such as in the event of major changes in the company.
The employees' representatives have the right to meet before and after the main meeting without the management being present. This gives the employee representatives the opportunity to discuss strategy and issues they want to raise with management.
The employee representatives elect a select committee of a maximum of five people who will have regular contact with the management throughout the year. The committee plans and prepares the EWC meetings, and can also meet with the management between the main meetings.
What issues should be addressed in an EWC?
An EWC will only deal with cases that affect workers in several countries, such as:
- The Group's economic and financial situation
- Employment issues such as downsizing, hiring or restructuring
- Health, safety and the environment
- Introduction of new technology that can affect work processes and job safety
- Corporate social responsibility, reporting obligations and ethical guidelines
Regulations for EWC
The European Works Council (EWC) is regulated through a three-part set of rules:
- EU Directive: The EU Directive 2009/38/EC (eur-lex.europa.eu) sets out the minimum rights for EWCs in all EU and EEA countries.
- National legislation: All EU and EEA countries have transposed the EWC Directive into their national legislation. In Norway, the EWC rules have been incorporated into Norwegian legislation by making the collective agreement between the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) on the establishment of European Works Councils (lovdata.no) generally applicable.
- The EWC agreement: Each group has its own EWC agreement that regulates how the EWC should function at their company.
What can we do if the employer does not follow the regulations?
Disputes concerning EWC agreements in Norway are handled by the Dispute Resolution Board pursuant to the Working Environment Act.
- If a Norwegian group does not start negotiations on an agreement within six months of receiving the request, the Dispute Resolution Board can intervene
- The Tribunal can also intervene if the parties have been negotiating for two years without reaching an agreement. In such cases, the Tribunal may order the company to establish an EWC and determine the committee's structure and tasks
- The Tribunal can also decide disputes concerning the interpretation of EWC agreements, the duty of confidentiality, the duty to provide information and election procedures
If the company does not comply with the Tribunal's order, they may receive ongoing coercive fines.
NITO has its own network for those who hold positions in an EWC
NITO has a network for members with positions in EWC. We would like to have more people join us.