L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
TheDefinition
European Works Council (EWC):
A transnational Organization?
Ludger Pries/Luitpold Rampeltshammer/Markus Hertwig
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin Workshop
„High and Low-Wage Countries in Production networks
of the Automotive Industry“
Berlin, 30.11.2007
1. Introductory remarks
2. State of play and the concept of transnational organizations
3. Research questions and methodology
4. Comments on the potential of EWCs to influence relocation
processes
Project Funding
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
DefinitionIntroductory remarks
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
Directive on EWCs came into force in 1996
Initial intention: To create a European body for the
information and consultation of employees on transnational
issues (more than one country affected)
Most the EWCs in the automotive sector were established just
prior to the deadline set by the European Commission in 1996
which left room for company-specific agreements
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
Definition
State of play
of EWC research:
EWC research mainly based on industrial relations perspective
and focused on capital-labour interchange
EWCs analyzed mainly in terms of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Relationship management – EWC
Internal EWC relationships
Relationship EWC – national level of industrial relations
Relationship EWC – trade unions
Analyses of EWC negotiations
Case studies of existing EWCs
Emergence of a European identity
Emergence of a European system of industrial relations
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
Our approach:
Definition
EWC as European Non-Profit-Organisations based on European
and national law acting within and towards internationally
operating companies based exclusively on national law
Focus on the relation between the company structure and the
structure of the EWC on the output of the EWC in terms of
safeguarding of employment and policies on working time
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
4 ideal types of international organizations
Definition
(according to their distribution and coordination of material
resources, knowledge, culture and power)
coordination
weak
strong
centralized
Focal
organization
Global
organization
decentralized
Multinational
organization
Transnational
organization
distribution
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
4 ideal types of international organizations
Definition
(according to their distribution and coordination of material
resources, knowledge, culture and power)
coordination
weak
strong
centralized
Focal
organization
Global
organization
decentralized
Multinational
organization
Transnational
organization
distribution
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
Definition
EWC type 1:
Focal organization
(centralized, weak coordination)
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
4 ideal types of international organizations
Definition
(according to their distribution and coordination of material
resources, knowledge, culture and power)
coordination
weak
strong
centralized
Focal
organization
Global
organization
decentralized
Multinational
organization
Transnational
organization
distribution
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
Definition
EWC type 2:
Global organization
(centralized, strong coordination)
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
4 ideal types of international organizations
Definition
(according to their distribution and coordination of material
resources, knowledge, culture and power)
coordination
weak
strong
centralized
Focal
organization
Global
organization
decentralized
Multinational
organization
Transnational
organization
distribution
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
Definition
EWC type 3:
Multinational organization
(decentralized, weak coordination)
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
4 ideal types of international organizations
Definition
(according to their distribution and coordination of material
resources, knowledge, culture and power)
coordination
weak
strong
centralized
Focal
organization
Global
organization
decentralized
Multinational
organization
Transnational
organization
distribution
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
Definition
EWC type 4:
Transnational organization
(decentralized, strong coordination)
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
Main Questions:
Definition
1. What explanatory value can be ascribed to the typology: global,
focal, multinational and transnational organizations for the
selected companies and/or their European Works Councils?
2. Which conditions support or weaken the emergence and stability
of these 4 ideal types?
3. Which ‚output‘ do the different EWC types achieve? Can a
relationship be detected between the results of negotiations in
respect to the safeguarding of jobs and the regulation of working
conditions (working time) and the type of EWC?
Question 1 aims at the expedience of the four-fold typology
Questions 2-3 aim at causal explanations of the formation of
EWC types and the quality of the output
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
Research approach
Definition
1. Identify EWCs according to their internationalisation type:
global, focal, multinational or transnational resource distribution + coordination
Company
structure
EWC types according to
global, focal, multinational or
transnational distribution and
coordination of resources
2. Explain EWC internationalisation type by
company structure,
country effects, actors’
strategy and trajectory
3. Explain EWC output by its internationalisation type, company structure, country
effects, actors’
strategy + trajectory
Country
effects
EWC output
(in employment security)
Actor’s
strategy
Trajectory
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
Definition
Methodology:
• Case studies: 6 companies – OEMs: DC, VW, GM, Ford,
Renault, PSA
• Production sites in 5 EU-countries: Germany, France, GB,
Spain, Poland
• Expert interviews with EWC members, managers, national
und EU-level trade unions and employers associations
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
European Works Councils as counterweight to relocation pressure: Some
preliminary findings
(hypotheses):
Definition
For EWCs to become an effective counterweight to relocation
pressures they would have to:
- either become a negotiation partner for management, in case
management accepts the EWC as a partner for negotiations
- or in case the management refuses to negotiate, to use the
information obtained at EWC meetings and coordinate
collective action on a European level and simultaneously
organize nationally (or regionally) to put pressure on
management to negotiate
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
European Works Councils as counterweight to relocation
Definition
pressure: Some
preliminary findings (hypotheses):
In relation to relocation, EWC face two main problems:
1. The legal status of agreements is unclear due to a lack of a
European-wide regulatory framework
2. To create and maintain solidarity in the face of win-lose
situations is an enormous organizational task that requires
enormous resources
-
-
Equal distribution of resources, power and culture within the
company and within the EWC fosters effective interest
representation and
Asymmetric distribution of resources, power and culture
within the company and within the EWC obstructs effective
interest representation
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
European Works Councils as counterweight to relocation
Definition
pressure: Some
preliminary findings (hypotheses):
-
Homogeneous composition of EWC (representatives of the
location where the same product is produced) fosters
effective interest representation („Company EWC instead of
Group EWC“ or working groups within the EWC)
-
European management endowed with decision-making
competencies promotes the development of EWCs into
effective interest representations
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
Concluding remarks:
EWCs are noDefinition
panacea for the problems associated with
relocation, but they do have the potential to create the
organizational platform for employee representatives on which
strategies can be built
Daimler case: negotiations about outsourcing initiated by
management
GM case (Delta selection process)
5 locations competing for one product, management refused to
negotiate
Huge coordination effort by the GM EWC, IG Metall (funded
partly by the European Commission), resulted in a “share the
pain strategy” which resulted in prevention of the closure of one
location (however, with job losses mainly in Belgium)
Problem: Management made clear that there would be no
reduction of production in Gliwice
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
Indicators to determine the type of the EWC
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
Definition
Distribution
•
Number of members and distribution over headquarter/subsidiaries
•
Residence of EWC-chair, steering committee (composition, role)
•
exclusion of certain sites/groups?
Coordination / control
•
Frequency of meetings, duration, topics treated, written memory
circulated, intranet-site
•
Preparation mode of meetings (papers and documents 2 weeks before?,
translated?)
•
Communication among EWC members in-between meetings
(unilateral – multilateral; reciprocal/one-way?)
•
Resources (translation, consultation, training), language courses,
assistants for EWC activities, technical equipment
•
Decision-making process within the EWC (centrally/one-sided –
majority/minority veto-powers?)
L. Pries - Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sociology of Organisations & Participation Studies
EWC as a transnational interest organization?
Indicators to determine the type of the international company
Distribution (degree
and type of internationalization)
Definition
•
basic production/site information: models and installed production
volume, total investment and area size, production stages (body shop,
painting, subassembly, assembly, supplier park, inputs/autoparts from
which other (European) plants, brief history of site
•
Employees in nation states /local sites
•
Turnover / year in nation states /local sites
•
production by models, capital expenditure in nation states /local sites
Coordination / control
•
Decision competencies (strategically, concerning distribution of
capacities, investment, personnel, knowledge) – operationalisation:
amount of autonomous investment budget decisions at plant level,
personnel recruitment decisions
•
Intensity of inter-plant coordination of production
•
Accountability, degree of dependency on headquarter decisions
•
Exchange of managers: trajectory of local CEOs
•
Nature of the functional relationship between company center and
subsidiaries, e.g. supplier relationship vs. autonomous production