Directive 94/45/EC - outlook for application in companies

Europe's employers have always opposed the European Works Council Directive, and they still do, says UNICE's Olivier Richard. But now that it has been adopted, it has to be applied. The way forward for employers is to go for voluntary agreements with the unions that will satisfy the directive's requirements, and avoid the imposition of a single consultative model.

There is enough flexibility in the directive - thanks to the employers - to give negotiators room for manoeuvre. The three years allowed to set up voluntary deals should see some imaginative and innovative agreements that will benefit management and workers.

But this flexibility has to kept to the fore; Mr. Richard adds a final warning to legislators, and to the working group set up by the commission to oversee the transposition of the directive into national law: their role should be to reduce sources of conflict, not to tighten up the directive.