ECJ ruling on workers’ participation in SAP company

This I.M.U. report summarises the results of the Böckler group of experts' "Workers' Voice" and shows that various forms of the Workers' Voice are distributed in Europe.

'Dynamics of Interstices' - Creating new perspectives: Workers’ voice for Europe’s future

European corporate governance needs to give workers a voice to be truly sustainable. Global and European challenges such as the climate change or the digital transformation of the economy can be met only if societal stakeholders such as workers are adequately involved. This applies to the governance of companies, too. Companies with workers’ participation in boards have been proven to be more resilient to crisis and more adaptable to change.

Workers‘ voice must be part and parcel of the ‘just transition’ of the EU economy. European works councils can ensure that the effects of digitalisation and decarbonisation on decent work and incomes in the European single market are always taken into account. Only a strong social dimension in the European integration will make a just transition possible.

The Global Framework Agreement between UniCredit and UNI Global Union, including a joint declaration on responsible sales of financial products, shows that Workers‘ Voice is an important vehicle to represent not only workers but also consumers interests.

To create trust, companies have to be transparent in what they are doing and how they treat employees. Workers´ Voice, employee participation on boardroom level, efficiently safeguards this transparency. Therefore, many EU countries have national laws to ensure Workers´ Voice. But the EU is still lacking the necessary statuary framework.

Gender equality is a core value of the European Union. There is empirical evidence that this serves sustainable corporate governance. However, the representation of women in corporate (supervisory) boards varies from country to country. A Europe-wide equality strategy is therefore necessary. It should go hand in hand with strengthening employee participation rights in company boardrooms as workers’ participation positively correlates with a better representation of women.

Workers’ voice rightfully belongs on Europe’s policy agenda. This is why Hans-Böckler-Stiftung’s Institute for Codetermination and Corporate Governance (Institut für Mitbestimmung und Unternehmensführung, I.M.U.) initiates Workers’ Voice Breakfasts. Experts and practitioners of workers’ voice from all over Europe present and discuss their views with professionals working in the EU institutions.

In July 2018 the final report on the work of the European experts group was presented. The report describes the topics addressed by the HBS’s Workers’ Voice experts group: good reasons for embedding it more solidly and in a legally binding manner in the supervisory and administrative boards of cross-border companies in Europe for the purpose of good corporate governance.

In October 2015 a European experts group began work on the topic ‘Workers’ Voice and Good Corporate Governance in Transnational Firms in Europe’. The group, headed by Prof. Dr. Anke Hassel, was tasked with presenting – within 36 months – a report on the current state and possible development possibilities of workers’ voice in the European Union.