| Abstract [eng] |
Relation of Trade Unions and Works Councils. Representation of employees is based on the right to freely join associations. Employees implement this right at the companies by joining Trade Unions or by electing their representatives – Works Councils or employees’ trustees. According to an enforced employee representation model in Lithuania, these representatives act together at the company level within the limits of their authority. Following enactment of a new Labour Law in Lithuania in 2016, as an exclusive right, Trade Unions were given the opportunity to initiate collective bargaining and to contract collective agreements, while the responsibility to implement information and consultation among employees was assigned to the Works Councils. The legislator, through such adjustment, sought to clearly distinguish the fields of activities of employee representatives’ work, further avoiding competition and collision between them. However, when analysing each form of social partnership in a broader context, it is apparent that in certain cases work activities of employee representatives, while implementing their functions, still clash, which may lead to cooperation between them. Employee representatives have an opportunity to cooperate during collective bargaining, where in a case of agreement the Works Councils provide information about the employer to Trade Unions. Cooperation is also accomplished through information and consultation procedures in case of a dismissal of group of employees or a transfer of business or its part. At the same time, the new law has delimited the activities of employee representatives’ work in the field of labour disputes – Trade Unions have been given an exclusive right to initiate collective labour disputes of interests, while Works Councils – an opportunity to initiate and represent employees in collective labour disputes of rights. However, when analysing employee representatives’ work opportunities in the area of collective labour disputes, there is still a certain collision between the activities of employee representatives, which is proposed to address the representation of Trade Union members in the company to the Works Council. Thus, when the new regulation of employee representatives’ activities was established in Lithuania in 2016, the cooperation of employee representatives was consolidated and their mutual competition was avoided. |
