ABSTRACT
In 1991 group management and the chair of the Hoechst AG central works council decided to establish a European information body, the Hoechst European Information Meeting (HEIM). The chemical workers union in Germany can lay claim to responsibility for much of this initiative. When it became apparent in late-1993 that the European Works Council (EWC) Directive would be adopted, the German chemical workers union urged the Hoechst group works council to conclude a written agreement. Although the union had been primarily concerned simply to conclude agreements in the early-1990s, in order to create precedents, this had not ruled out the possibility of being able to improve these in subsequent negotiations. HEIM, the predecessor to the EWC, was established during the pioneer phase of the development of European works councils in 1990. Communication between EWC members and group management is confined for the vast majority of employee representatives to the annual EWC meeting.
