The establishment of European works councils : from information committee to social actor / Wolfgang Lecher, Bernhard Nagel, Hans-Wolfgang Platzer ; project team, Roman Jaich, Stefan Rüb, Klaus-Peter Weiner ; affiliated researchers, Lionel Fulton, Udo Rehfeldt, Volker Telljohann ; translated by Pete Burgess.

Translated from German.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 270-278).

1. Scope and Method of the Research -- 2. Political Europeanisation -- Economic Globalisation? -- 3. The Transformation of Corporate Strategies -- 4. The Legal Context for EWCs: The Directive and its Precursors -- 5. The Establishment of EWCs: Process and Course of Development -- 6. National Industrial Relations and the Context for EWCs in Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Germany -- 7. EWCs as a Catalyst for European Industrial Relations -- 8. Fields of Interaction of EWCs -- 9. Schmalbach-Lubeca: Countervailing Power through Information -- 10. Hoechst: The EWC as the 'Fourth Tier of Codetermination' -- 11. The EWC at Bull: Tackling the 'Long Haul' -- 12. The EWC at Rhone Poulenc: The Politics of Incrementalism -- 13. The EWC at GKN: Still Searching for Independence -- 14. ICI: The Untypical Briton -- 15. The EWC at Merioni: 'Left in the Lurch' -- 16. The EWC at ENI: Building Block of a European Corporate Culture -- 17. Implications of the Case Studies -- 18. EWCs in the 'European Social Model' -- From Information Committee to Social Actor -- 19. The EWC Model as Political Objective -- 20. National Prospects: EWCs in Italy, France, the UK, and Germany -- 21. Will EWCs Promote the Europeanisation of Industrial Relations? -- App. I. Comparative Overview of EWCs -- App. II. Interviews Conducted.