On 31 January 2020, at 23:00, the United Kingdom (UK) officially ceased to be a member of the European Union (EU). One of the many areas that will likely be directly affected with regard to workers’ rights is the organisation and functioning of European Works Councils (EWCs). EWCs are company-level... Find out more

This policy brief considers the lack of European Works Councils through a Belgian perspective. It discusses Belgian companies who are currently engaged in establishing one or have developed ‘functionally equivalent’ structures. The remaining companies are confronted with serious obstacles to... Find out more

This policy brief considers what is the scope for addressing the challenges linked to irregular work schedules in EU social and employment policy. It first describes EU competence in the areas of work and employment conditions in order to assess what the EU institutions can de jure do to address... Find out more

This Policy Brief analyses the main forms by which workers are able to share in the profits and ownership of the companies they work in. It also examines the risks and opportunities of financial participation for workers and poses some questions about how practice should be regulated. Its main... Find out more

The proposed EU company law package, which was published in April 2018 by the European Commission, seeks to encourage cross-border company mobility while at the same time protecting stakeholder interests. The ETUI’s GOODCORP network of company law experts has identified three areas where the package... Find out more

This policy brief discusses how social media can help renew trade union collective action and strengthen the labour movement’s capacity to mobilise. It demonstrates how social media can strengthen campaigning activities by examining two recent union-led campaigns in the United States: ‘OUR Walmart’... Find out more

This policy brief examines the development of and background to the 2018 Posting of Workers Directive. Arguably, the new Directive illustrates the uneasy development of a European social dimension and marks a sea-change to the previous approach, which can be attributed to a change of preferences in... Find out more

This policy brief assesses the presence and the relationships brokered by trade union confederations through their online channels, in order to, first, find out who they are engaging with and, second, to consider whether these virtual connections have any implications for the wider discussion about... Find out more

Are we currently living through a new industrial and technological revolution? Does it differ qualitatively from similar revolutions in the past? How can we gauge its political implications? Researchers working within the school of evolutionary economics, in particular those who embrace the concept... Find out more

The 2017 revised Shareholder Rights Directive gives shareholders a say on executive pay and requires institutional investors to improve shareholder engagement. The directive is thus designed to provide a counterweight to the increasingly dominant ‘shareholder’ model of corporate governance which has... Find out more