ABSTRACT
ENI is a holding company, formerly a public corporation, with six main groups of businesses: in the energy field, Agip, Snam, Agip Petroli, Snam Progetti, Saipem; and in the chemical industry, Enichem. The core of the group's activities are in the energy field, which in 1995 accounted for 80 per cent of group turnover, 75 per cent of employment, and over 90 per cent of investment. ENI is a highly nationally-focused group. Although 130 of the 228 companies in the group have their headquarters outside Italy, the distribution of employment in the group presents a quite different picture. The composition of the European Works Council (EWC) points to at least two potential lines of cleavage which could prejudice the cohesiveness of the institution. The first runs between the foreign and the Italian EWC representatives, who dominate the body both quantitatively and qualitatively.
