ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways in which European works councils (EWCs) are operating in practice and reviews some of the theories advanced so far to explain their operation and prospects. It analyses management attitudes towards EWCs and the strategies that employee representatives and unions might adopt to maximize their potential for influence. The chapter aims to plot the changing attitudes towards the directive, to observe how it has been very often adapted to serve management interests and how European works councillors and the unions have managed to use EWCs to their own advantage. The impact of a EWC in securing an attitude shift amongst employee representatives was reported by managers involved in the NatWest Staff Council. Indeed, J. Wills notes a change in attitude amongst those employers who have introduced EWCs. The research, carried out by P. Marginson into 386 voluntary agreements, makes a simple distinction between 'active' EWCs on the one hand and 'formal' or 'symbolic' EWCs on the other.
