Confidentiality of information and worker participation

Confidentiality is a cornerstone workplace issue, involving the protection of sensitive company and employee matters, and of individual workers’ and collective rights to information and consultation (I&C), board-level representation, health and safety (H&S) representation, and privacy. For many worker representatives, however, it is not always clear what and when information will be shared with them, nor the extent to which they will be consulted on key workplace issues. For example, in the restructuring of transnational companies, European Works Council (EWC) involvement in related processes has long been shown to be limited (De Spiegelaere 2016), and EWCs are often informed only after strategic decisions have been taken. In part, this may reflect limited dialogue in the contexts in which national I&C structures are comparatively weaker.