Paths to Transnational Solidarity

Paths to Transnational Solidarity

Identity-Building Processes in
European Works Councils

Hermann Kotthoff and Michael Whittall

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014932443

ISSN 1662-7784
ISBN 978-3-0343-1775-7 (print)
ISBN 978-3-0353-0590-6 (eBook)

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About the authors

HERMANN KOTTHOFF is professor of industrial and organizational sociology at Technische Universität Darmstadt. He is the author of significant research literature on industrial relations (German and European Works Council), corporate culture and sociology of management.

MICHAEL WHITTALL has taught and researched in the area of European industrial relations for over twenty years. He is renowned for his work on European works councils, in particular the question of European identity.

About the book

With national industrial relations systems struggling to keep apace with the global and mobile nature of capital, the emergence of the European works council has caught the imagination of both practitioners and scholars of this institution in the last two decades. European works councils find themselves at the centre of an ever emerging European industrial relations landscape, offering employees of multinationals within the European Economic Area the opportunity to work together in regulating employment conditions. An in-depth empirical study of five European works councils, this book offers a unique look into factors which promote and hinder the development of solidarity amongst employees. With a sociological bent, this volume is a must for EWC delegates struggling to deal with geographical, cultural and historical factors that undermine relations between them.

← 24 | 25 → CHAPTER 3

Methodology and structure of the report

3.1 Methodology

The aim of the study is to investigate the conditions for the possibility of EWC effectiveness, based on the premise that solidaristic behaviour, through which the group becomes socially constituted, represents a crucial precondition for such a development. As a consequence, and in order to undertake comparative research, we initially decided to choose four ‘best case’ EWCs from a larger number of those that had demonstrated a capacity to undertake a range of activities, and hence representative effectiveness, and proceeded to carry out intensive case studies on these. Our aim was to identify companies in which the EWC had attained a developed practice of information and consultation, possibly extending to negotiation. We also wanted to select companies from four different industrial sectors (metals, chemicals, food, and services), with their corporate centres in four different countries. In order to identify ‘best candidates’ for inclusion, we undertook an extensive prior search process in which we drew on the advice of other EWC researchers and trade union officials active in the EWC field. Our own previous fieldwork, involving case studies of two EWCs, was also included when assembling the list of EWCs that met the criteria. The initial long list contained eight EWCs, and these were then subject to further exploratory interviews. This process yielded a final total of five candidates, and we decided to retain all five, rather than the four initially envisaged. They are:

With hindsight, it became clear that the views of our advisers were not entirely apposite in one of these cases, where there were few signs of solidaristic processes. This also revealed that it is not easy for an external observer, however well informed, to obtain an accurate impression of the internal workings of an EWC.

We conducted initial interviews in each company with nearly all members (between five and seven) of the EWC’s steering committee, with two ‘ordinary’ EWC members (that is, not on the steering committee), with one or two local employee representatives who were not members of the EWC, and one to two full-time trade union officials. Overall, between ten and thirteen interviews were conducted for each case. As a rule, interviews took around two hours. Interviewees originated from ten different countries, with the bulk (some three-quarters) from Germany, the UK and France.

Interviews were conducted by the authors. All the German and most of the British and French interviews were conducted locally at interviewees’ workplaces. Other interviews were conducted at the locations in various countries where EWC or steering committee meetings were held. Interviews conducted in French were conducted by a research colleague with French as their mother tongue in the presence of one of the researchers. Interviews in other languages, carried out on the margins of EWC meetings, were conducted using the services of one of the professional interpreters at the meeting. Overall, these arrangements proved to be successful and enabled us to conduct a large number of fruitful and informative interviews.

In addition to the interviews, we also observed two meetings of the steering committee in each of the five case-study companies, and in two of the companies we observed a training session for the whole EWC that extended over several days. These participant observations and informal discussions held in the context of these meetings also allowed us to gain deeper insights into processes of group dynamics.

Our original intention was to interview a number of employees from different countries in each company. In practice, this proved possible to ← 26 | 27 → only a limited extent, as the steering committee members were only able to secure interviews with a small number of employees on the subject of the EWC. The level of interest was low. Those interviews that did take place also confirmed this impression: lack of familiarity with the issue and meagre interest. We replaced the smaller number of employee interviews, with additional interviews with ‘normal’ EWC members.

Given that our aim was to focus on internal EWC processes, we did not envisage conducting interviews with managers – although this was certainly a disadvantage in terms of obtaining an overall picture of how the institution functions. As a consequence, our understanding of the shift in how central managements perceived the EWC, evident in all five case-study companies, had to be based on inferences drawn from statements made by EWC members. Empirical work for this study was carried out during 2009–2010.

3.2 Structure of the report

This study focuses on the activities of EWCs, and in particular steering committees, in terms of their internal relationships, their relationship to management, and their relationship with national workplace employee representatives. The main outcome was our identification of four distinct patterns of dynamics in terms of how EWCs demonstrated solidarity. These will be described and analysed in each of the detailed case study reports that make up Chapter 4. Two case studies have been combined for the first pattern, as they exhibit close similarities: Unilever and Kraft Foods. The second pattern is represented by Ford; the third Burger-Miller (as already noted, anonymized at the request of the EWC chair); and the fourth Sanofi.

The presentation of each of these patterns follows the same structure, using the sections indicated below:

Chapter 5 compares these patterns of solidarity and offers an overall interpretation.