“An umbrella full of holes?”

Abstract

This article concerns the manner in which the European Union Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Directive has been implemented in the UK in the harsh corporate conditions of restructuring, redundancy and site closure. Drawing on interview and documentary evidence from six case companies (Peugeot-Citroën, General Motors, Prudential, Aviva, Marconi, Rolls-Royce), the article exposes major fault lines in the effectiveness of the UK’s ICE Regulations to provide even limited protection for employees who were presented with redundancy as a fait accompli. Contrary to management claims, ICE arrangements have not provided additional levels of representation either to complement unions or to fill the “representation gap” left by declining coverage. The failure to consult raises broader questions on the wider political and legislative environment in the UK.

Book review symposium: Colin Crouch, Governing Social Risks in Post-Crisis Europe by Richard Hyman

“…Visser does not explain; nor why the score increased in the UK after 2000, and even more so in Ireland. Perhaps this reflects the implementation of the EU Information and Consultation Directive; yet academic studies indicate that its impact has been minimal, mainly involving non-union firms seeking to pre-empt legal challenges or to enhance their ‘employee engagement’ procedures (Dobbins, 2010; Sarvanidis, 2010; Taylor et al, 2009). Why, incidentally, does Crouch give more weight to workplace-level rights than to macro-institutions, when his concern is with ‘universalistic’ regulation whereas the focus of workplace or company institutions is inevitably particularistic?…”