FGMM-CFDT: Results of the survey of 260 European Works Council members

On 12 and 13 January 2023, the metalworking federation of France’s CFDT trade union confederation (FGMM-CFDT) organised a conference for its members who have been elected to EWCs. Here, it unveiled a survey to which 72 members from among its 260 representatives on EWCs have responded. The results support the need for a revision of the EWC Directive. For example, 45.8% of respondents think that the EWC “never” has any influence over decisions taken by management, while 51.4% declare that this is “seldom” the case, and just 2.8% believe this is “often” the case. Are EWC members allowed to pass on information to employee representatives at national and local level? Almost 28% of them stated that they were prohibited from doing so, because “everything is confidential”. In 50% of cases, the documents presented at meetings are distributed either “just before” the meeting (50%) or even “during” it (18%). The level of information passed on by management is deemed to be “neither good nor bad” (43%) or in some cases, even insufficient (19%). Other findings worthy of note: 54% of EWCs have already expressed an opinion; 24% of the EWCs entitled to use the services of an economics expert do not do so (this figure is 11% for using the assistance of a trade union expert).