Mr. John Hurley:

I guess the main requirements of the European directives in the area of major restructurings are that workers and their representatives have to be informed of the intention to make a collective redundancy in all firms above a certain size; there has be information and consultation with the employees and the worker representatives; certain time limits and administrative processes have to be gone through before any redundancies can be enacted; and, at the far end of a restructuring process in situations where employers are insolvent, there has to be the institutionalisation of some type of wage guarantee fund to make sure that workers are not left high and dry in terms of forgone wages or entitlements. These European directives are transposed differently based on the different legal traditions. We have a common law approach in this jurisdiction but in most of continental Europe there are different legal structures. The directives set out a minimum set of provisions for all of the agents in a restructuring to abide by. However, the overarching principle is that workers’ rights should be protected as far as possible and that restructurings should be done in a way which is public and involves some degree of consultation to mitigate any negative consequences for workers. In many restructurings, the proceduralisation of large-scale restructurings in Europe often results in fewer people being made redundant than was originally announced by the employers.