Brexit’s impact on transnational employee representation. Regulatory changes and contested futures of European Works Councils
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This study examines how Brexit reshaped the institutional foundations of European Works Councils (EWCs). Using historical institutionalism, the analysis conceptualises Brexit as a critical juncture that revealed and accelerated existing institutional dynamics. Drawing on 64 company cases, including 16 in-depth studies, it identifies five developmental outcomes – stability, limitation, exclusion, extinction and innovation/expansion. Most EWCs maintained stability through negotiated adaptation, while others experienced limitations, exclusion or innovation. Outcomes were mainly influenced by management strategies and orientations, national employment relations systems and transnational employee coordination. The findings show how macro-level institutional disruptions translate into negotiated meso-level institutional recomposition.
Language: English
Topic: Labor Movements and Unions
Subfield: Public Administration
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: European Works Councils after Brexit: Institutional Stability, Change and Demise in Transnational Employment Relations, Europäische Betriebsräte nach dem Brexit. Stabilität, Wandel und Zerfall von Institutionen transnationaler Arbeitsbeziehungen, European Works Councils after Brexit: Institutional Stability, Change and Demise in Transnational Employment Relations
OpenAlex ID: W7131680729