European Works Councils and ‘flexible regulation’: the politics of intervention

Much literature on European Works Councils (EWCs) is pessimistic, stressing their limited formal powers and the risks of isolation from broader mechanisms of worker solidarity and of 'capture' by management. This article questions such dismissive conclusions. EWCs must be studied as an element in a more general and complex process of regulatory innovation within the EU. Three specific developments create 'windows of opportunity' for a more optimistic scenario: the internal inconsistencies of managerial control, the new strategic importance of information flows, and the evolution of new bases for supranational trade union cooperation.