Opleiding: The new EWC Directive: what will change for you?

The New EU EWC Directive

The new EU Directive on European Works Councils (EU 2025/2450) brings major changes to your rights, responsibilities and opportunities as an EWC member. With expanded consultation rights, stronger enforcement, increased financial support and mandatory renegotiations ahead, this is the moment to strengthen your position.

This one-day training is designed for EWC members who want to understand what the new directive means in practice and how to use it effectively in negotiations and daily cooperation with management.

Whether you are part of an existing EWC or involved in new negotiations, this training will give you clarity, confidence and concrete tools to act.

Key topics

• The expanded scope of transnational matters;
• Mandatory renegotiations and employee-triggered requests;
• New rules for meetings, experts, training and costs;
• Transparency and limits of confidentiality;
• Enforcement, sanctions and national implementation;
• Practical implications for existing and new EWC agreements.

Working method

Through short presentations, practical examples and interactive discussions, you will exchange experiences with EWC members from other international organisations and translate the new rules into concrete action for your own EWC.

This training empowers you to turn new legislation into real influence.

Training programme

• 09:30 - 10:00 Arrival at the location

  Reception with coffee and tea.

• 10:00 - 10:30 Start of the training and introduction

  Welcome, programme and practical matters. The participants introduce themselves, explain their backgrounds (which company, in a Works Council, EWC or SNB) and what their expectations are.

• 10:30 - 11:00 Looking back: Directive, recast Directive to new Directive

  We will touch upon the beginning (and the faults) of the original Directive, what changed with the Recast Directive and address how difficult the process was to get to a New Directive, including the (political) powers and interests in play.

• 11:00 - 12:30 The new Directive: what is going to change, and when?

  We present the changes, including the background on how these changes came about, and timeline for implementation of the New Directive.

• 12:30 - 13:30 Lunch break

• 13:30 - 15:00 In practice: your agreement

  The whole afternoon is dedicated to comparing your Agreement to the changes of the new Directive. You will create an overview of the changes that are needed in your Agreement and how these can best be implemented. Because of the different working methods in this session, you also will learn best practices from other EWC’s.
  At last, we discuss when it is the right time to open discussions with your management about the renewal of your Agreement, and discuss how you can best approach the negotiation.

• 15:00 - 15:30 Evaluation and end of the training