Workers' Representation in Central and Eastern Europe: Challenges and Opportunities for the Works Councils' System

Neuausgabe 2013
ISBN: 978-90-411-4746-2
Verlag: Wolters Kluwer

Buch, Englisch, Band 85, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 363 g

Reihe: Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations Series

The works council, as a participatory means of regulating the employer–employee relation, is long established in Western European countries, but has failed to take significant root in other parts of the world where it has been tried. This is particularly the case where transition from socialist state control to a particularly free-wheeling form of capitalism and massive privatization has wreaked havoc on the employer–employee relation. This book is the first in-depth exploration of the legal, political, and cultural forces that complicate this transposition. Focusing on Eastern and Central Europe, where the works council system has been most extensively applied and where the evident reasons for its lack of purchase are most telling, the contributors examine the relevant experience, both negative and positive, in twelve countries, with a particular focus on non-union representation of workers.
Many important issues pertinent to workers’ representation in general in a globalized world are covered, including the following:

cooperation and confrontation between trade unions and works councils;
insufficient division of competences between the two representative bodies;
legal norms concerning both trade union and works councils independence from employers’ interference;
;need for serious and dissuasive sanctions against creation of employer-controlled (‘yellow’) unions;
need for extension to non-union workers of protection from anti-union discrimination;
real vs. formal implementation of EU norms in Eastern European Member States;
unnecessarily complicated regulation of institutions of representation;
lack of protection against dismissal of non-union representatives;
responsibility for breach of employers’ obligation to consult and inform; and
employers’ lack of legitimacy in the eyes of workers.;
There is general agreement among these authors that, as long as human beings spend a serious part of their lives at the workplace, they must be allowed not merely to express opinions about the job but have a real influence on it. Fully aware of the sensitivity of these issues in market economies, the authors’ careful research and call for public discussion open the path to real changes in the existing system, clearly in Eastern Europe but to be much desired elsewhere also.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Blanpain, Roger

Weitere Mitwirkende

Lyutov, Nikita

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Ausländisches Recht Mittel- und Osteuropa, Russland

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Challenges of the Implementation of Works Councils in Central and Eastern Europe: General Overview; N. Lyutov. Belarus. The Problems of Workers’ Representation in the Republic of Belarus and Some Possible Ways to Resolve Them; E. Volk, K. Tomashevski. Bulgaria. The experience of the non-union workers' representation in Bulgaria; K. Sredkova. Croatia . Works Councils in Croatia: A Form of the Protection of Workers’ Rights and/or the Employer’s Interest? M. Vinkovic. Czech Republic. Past, Present and Future of Non–Trade Union Employees’ Representation in the Czech Republic; P. Hurka, M. Vrajík. Estonia. The Status of Non-Union Employees’ Representatives in Estonia; M. Muda. Germany. Non–Trade Union Workers’ Representation in Germany; B. Waas. Hungary. Old-New Concerns about the Hungarian Works Councils; E. Kovács. Latvia. Representation of Workers in Latvia: Problems of the Implementation of the Works Councils; A. Baikov. Lithuania. Workers’ Representation in Lithuania: Works Councils’ Role; D. Petrylaite. Poland. Works Councils in Poland: Problems of Informing and Consulting Employees; L. Mitrus. Romania. Workers’ Representation in Romania; R. Dimitriu. Russia. Non–Trade Union Employees’ Representation in Russia; N. Lyutov, E. Gerasimova. Serbia. Works Councils in Serbia: Present Situation and Future Prospects; S. Jašarevic. Slovenia . On Dual System of Workers’ Representation in Slovenia; P. Koncar .