Employee Representation in Multinational Companies by Thomas Haipeter & Markus Hertwig & Sophie Rosenbohm

Author:Thomas Haipeter & Markus Hertwig & Sophie Rosenbohm
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783319975597
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Interest Articulation During Restructuring

‘Rubber’

The three companies in this category, the practice of articulation by employee representatives at ‘Rubber’ corresponded most closely with the pattern of ‘international integration’. The core activity for employee representatives during restructuring consisted of exchanging information at both transnational and national level. By contrast, articulation effectively ceased when it came to inter-plant competition. Not only was there no exchange of information but on occasions information was held back, hampering the forming of common interests.

The most recent restructuring plans at ‘Rubber’ generated a rather restrained reaction from employee representatives. Although the EWC expressed its concern, including the issuing of a joint opinion criticising management’s closure plans and holding their poor decision-making responsible for the company’s difficulties, there were no joint activities by local and national workforce representatives and the EWC. And despite the fact that the company’s strategy was transnational in nature—as expressly designated by management—transnational employee representatives restricted their activity to ensuring that the closures were undertaken in a socially responsible way in the countries affected (mainly France, Northern Ireland, and Hungary). Substantive negotiations on the closures were concluded exclusively at local level and without the EWC’s involvement.

Interest representation during this restructuring was characterised by weak coordination, a strict division of labour between the levels of employee representation, and only a loose coupling between the various representative bodies. This affected, firstly, coordination across levels. The EWC, national bodies, and local negotiators in Hungary and Northern Ireland were only linked via the exchange of very basic information. This was largely confined to passing on information at regular EWC meetings, where ‘the state of negotiations on Northern Ireland and Hungary’ was a customary agenda item (Rubber-DE-1). The added value derived from coordination between the transnational level (EWC) and national level (trade union negotiators in the UK) consisted in the forwarding of significant information. For instance, information provided by the EWC was used in Northern Ireland to improve the local negotiating position, as British employee representatives were then able to gauge the type of redundancy package they might reasonably expect to negotiate, with details about what had been agreed at other plants serving as a benchmark to put pressure on the company. This also prevented representatives from being played off against each other, as it was possible to point to and demand concessions offered by the company at other sites (e.g. on severance payments or the scope for company-financed training).

One of the preconditions for the ability of the EWC at ‘Rubber’ to play such a supportive role was the existence of a functioning relationship between the EWC and management, who complied with the information and consultation procedure stipulated for restructuring proposals. Overall, management was seen as a fair counterparty by those involved. Information was always made available openly and at the appropriate time, and the chosen strategy was adhered to consistently.

Although integration (horizontally ) appeared to be strong during the restructuring at ‘Rubber’, it also had ambivalent aspects. Exchanges within the EWC (and between some individual EWC actors) were dense and based on trust.

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