European Unions and American Automobile Firms: From European Works Councils to World Councils
Authors
Isabel Da Costa
Centre d’Etudes de l’Emploi
Abstract
This paper analyzes two of the most advanced developments in industrial relations at the European level in the automobile industry. The first one is the evolution of the role of European Works Councils from information and consultation rights toward collective bargaining, as has been the case at the European subsidiaries of Ford and General Motors. The second one is the tendency to expand the representation of workers beyond the frontiers of the European Union by creating World Works Councils, as has been the case in such automobile firms as Volkswagen, Renault, and Daimler Chrysler.
