European Works Councils after Brexit: Institutional Stability, Change and Demise in Transnational Employment Relations

这项研究项目考察了英国退欧对欧洲工会(EWCs)的影响。EWC为员工提供在欧盟(EU)运营的跨国公司(MNC)的咨询和信息权。联合王国离开欧盟的决定对欧洲妇女委员会有影响，因为它涉及《欧洲妇女权利公约》立法的两个门槛条件，即在至少两个欧洲国家存在拥有150名员工的地点，以及所需的欧洲公司总规模为1,000名员工。英国退欧意味着一些在英国设有子公司的跨国公司不再符合这些条件。该项目使用了制度理论的视角。这部文献的一个重要概念是，制度具有监管、规范和文化层面。监管层面指的是为雇员和公司界定权利和义务的EWC立法。在这一监管框架内，行为者制定了针对其在公司一级颁布《环境公约》立法的做法、规范和想法。这项研究项目的一个关键谜题是：在监管维度脱离后，EWC会发生什么？一种可能性是EWC不复存在，例如，管理层可能坚持要求达到监管门槛。另一种可能性是，EWC和管理层之间过去的工作和经验形成了规范、惯例和想法，使EWC得以延续。过去对制度理论的研究主要集中在制度变革上。我们超越了这一关注点，询问制度是如何转变、维持或放弃的，重点是制度的变化、稳定和消亡。一项关键任务是找出解释英国退欧后这些制度进程的驱动因素、因素和参与者。我们对受英国退欧影响的EW进行了初步研究，结果显示，一些EW和管理层已经谈判达成补充协议，作为欧盟立法的替代，而另一些EW则难以继续下去。在此基础上，该项目将通过对员工代表、工会和管理层的16个深入案例研究(约128次访谈)来询问这些调整过程。该项目做出了几个关键贡献。首先，之前没有任何研究考察了英国退欧对EWC的影响，因此我们开辟了新的实证领域。其次，我们对理论文献做出了贡献，解释了当监管基础消失时，制度是如何继续、变化或消亡的，超越了关于变化的成熟文献，并指定了维持制度并解释其稳定或消亡的机制。第三，该项目有一个参与和影响层面，在法国、德国和英国举办研讨会，为从业人员提供如何应对英国退欧的建议，这将反馈到公司层面的适应过程，影响雇佣关系。

This research project examines how Brexit affects European Works Councils (EWCs). EWCs provide employees with consultation and information rights in multinational companies (MNCs) operating in the European Union (EU). The decision of the United Kingdom (UK) to leave the EU had implications for EWCs as it concerned two threshold conditions of the EWC legislation namely the existence of sites in at least two European countries with 150 employees and a required total European company size of 1,000 employees. Brexit meant that some MNCs with subsidiaries in the UK no longer met these conditions.The project uses the lens of institutional theory. An important notion of this literature is that institutions have regulatory, normative and cultural dimensions. The regulatory dimension refers to the EWC legislation that defines rights and obligations for employees and companies. Within this regulatory frame, actors develop practices, norms and ideas that are specific to their enactment of the EWC legislation on the company-level. A key puzzle of this research project is: What happens to an EWC after the regulatory dimension breaks away? One possibility is that an EWC ceases to exist, e.g. management might insist on the regulatory thresholds to be met. Another possibility is that the past work and experiences between EWCs and management shape norms, routines and ideas, enabling the continuation of an EWC.Past research in institutional theory had a key focus on institutional change. We go beyond this focus and inquire how institutions are transformed, maintained or abandoned, focussing on institutional change, stability and demise. A key task is to identify the drivers, factors and actors that explain these institutional processes in the wake of Brexit.We have done preliminary research on EWCs affected by Brexit for this application which showed that some EWCs and management have negotiated supplementary agreements as a substitute for EU legislation, while others were struggling to carry on. On this basis, the project will interrogate such adjustment processes across 16 in-depth case studies of EWCs (about 128 interviews) with employee representatives, unions, and management.The project makes several key contributions. First, no previous research has examined the impact of Brexit on EWCs and thus we break new empirical ground. Second, we contribute to the theoretical literature by explaining how institutions continue, change or demise when regulatory foundations disappear, reaching beyond the well-developed literature on change, and specify mechanisms that maintain institutions and explain their stability or demise. Third, the project has an engagement and impact dimension with workshops in France, Germany and the UK to provide advice for practitioners on how to deal with Brexit, which will feed back into adaptation processes on the company-level, impacting employment relations.