EU Rule To Empower Workers Would Include Multinationals

Employee empowerment could take on a new and powerful meaning if a pending European Union (EU) plan is put into practice. Subsidiaries of U.S. multinationals would be among those affected by new rules requiring companies employing 50 or more people to consult with workers on layoffs and sales of businesses. Padraig Flynn, the 15-nation EU's employment commissioner, claims the plan will benefit business by allowing greater work flexibility. But two EU governments -- in Britain and Germany -- aren't buying that line and have raised objections to the plan.