During the recent conference 'Europe at a crossroads. Which way to quality jobs and prosperity?' by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), organised on 24-26 September 2014, panel 16 was devoted to the question of worker participation and its position in the emerging European company law regime.

The panel was moderated by Aline Hoffmann (ETUI), with contributions from two members of the SEEurope Network: Lionel Fulton, Labour Research Department (LRD) (presentation, video interview) and Robbert van het Kaar, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) (presentation, video interview) as well as Philippe Morvannou, Syndex (presentation). Comments were provided by the ETUC Confederal Secretary Claudia Menne.

The focus of the panel was on exploring the potential of EU company law for workers. So far, in seeking to better understand the potential risks and opportunities of the European project for labour, trade unions have focused much of their attention on employment law and social policy. Yet, the development of a European Single Market has gone along with the emergence of a European company law regime which raises, among others, the following questions:

  • What is in EU company law for workers?
  • Are there tools in this legal field which could help better defend workers’ interest?
  • On the contrary, to what extent EU company law – known for its gaps and loopholes – might threaten workers’ interests?

More information about the conference can be found on the ETUI you tube channel (interviews with conference speakers).