PROPOSALS that will force all companies with more than 50 employees to set up 'works councils' has been met with disbelief by Oxford business advisers.

The proposed European Directive follows a spate of employment legislation and would require increased disclosure by employers to their staff regarding company business such as redundancies and the sale of subsidiaries.

Stephen Dexter, managing partner at Grant Thornton's Oxford office told the Oxford Mail: "We are, of course, in support of strengthening employees' rights - but not at the expense of business survival.

"This is a bizarre attempt at what seems to be role-reversal where employees rather than the employer drive business decisions.

"Small businesses especially would suffer from the power-shift this will create, aside from the additional administrative burden."

Mr Dexter claims employers are increasingly finding themselves at the mercy of new European regulations which continue to place unrealistic pressures on them.

"1998 has seen an astonishing amount of new employment legislation including the introduction of the Working Time Directive, the Data Protection Act and the proposed Fairness at Work White Paper," he said.

"Many businesses simply do not have the administrative and management resources to cope."

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