UNIT 3: How it works in practice?
Workers’ participation can be more or less formal, it can involve workers’ representatives or be carried out directly, but it must be a meaningful exchange of information and views on company decisions and policies.
Direct forms of workers’ participation include meetings between employers’ representatives and workers, communication in writing and various informal ways of including workers in decision-making on the company level.
Representative forms of workers’ participation can be carried out either through workers’ representatives elected specifically for that purpose or through trade union representatives.
In small companies, more informal and direct methods can be encouraged, while in bigger enterprises election of special workers’ representatives, or carrying out these procedures through trade union representatives, is usually best and most effective method.
Information and consultation procedures are usually carried out in written form. They also need to be based on quality information and properly timed.
Management should provide workers’ representatives with the information necessary to have objective and fair view of company’s performance and engage in constructive dialogue.
Information should be complete, but also presented in a way to enable workers’ representatives to properly understand and assess it.
Consultation with the workers’ representatives should be done in a reasonable time before adopting the decision, so that there is a chance of their opinion influencing the final decision.
In order to fulfil their role in information and consultation procedures, workers’ representatives must have regular communication with the workers.
This includes both the ability to inform and consult the workers during information and consultation procedures, as well as regular communication with the workers, allowing them to collect their opinions, needs and grievances.
Workers’ representative should also have appropriate time and resources to exercise their function. National legislation in some countries includes provisions on this, but details can also be set by an agreement with the employer.
Workers’ representatives should use paid working time, have access to meeting rooms, communication equipment and other necessary resources, and be able to visit different company premises and keep regular contact with the workers. They should also be entitled to paid time-off for education.
