Towards a European Labour Identity : The Case of the European Works Council

Since 1996 a growing number of European employees have access to a European works council (EWC), a transnational employee body designed to complement national forms of labour representation . This volume brings together a hep hive of contributors who present valuable new insights into how employee representatives from different European countries perform their jobs as members of European Works Councils in an attempt to develop some sense of a common European labour identity

The transnational character of the EWC makes it an ideal microscopic structure through which the wider discourse surrounding identity – especially when associated with globalization, Europeanization, and mobility – can occur. ‘Towards a European Labour Identity’ examines not only the workings of the EWCs, utilising individual case studies, but also analyses and asses the link with the broader discussions on European identity as well as European trade union co-ordination and solidarity.

Michael Whittall is an associate professor at the Technical University in Munich and a European Union level correspondent for the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Herman Knudsen is an associate professor in labour relations at Aalborg University, Denmark. Fred Huijgen is a professor in business administration at the Nijmegen Business School, University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands.