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DOI: 10.33226/0032-6186.2019.10.3
JEL: K31

Unfulfilled dream of European Works Councils. How trade unions lose to multinational corporations

The article attempts to answer the question whether trade unions have been able to use the institution of European Works Councils to strengthen the position of employee representation vis-à-vis multinational corporations. In the author's opinion, problems with building cross-border solidarity of trade unions and their inability to work out joint attitude towards the phenomenon of the transnational company agreements (TCA) make unions’ approach to the role of EWCs increasingly ambivalent. As a result, paradoxically, the management boards of multinationals may  become the main beneficiaries of the existence of the EWCs.

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Keywords: trade unions; European Works Councils; multinational corporations

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