THE Jefferson Smurfit Group has reached agreement with its workers to establish its European Employee Forum, the company said yesterday. Under the scheme, which is designed to give employees of large companies a voice in a multi national corporate structure, Smurfit workers' representatives will meet once a year.

Each country in the Smurfit Group's European sphere of operation had been allocated seats according to a formula based on the total number of employees in that country, the firm said last night. The group has some 18,000 workers across Europe.

to The purpose of the forum was open, two way communication process with all employees, said Mr Patrick J Wright, the company's president and chief operations officer. "It is seen as a valuable addition, and complements the existing structures at local and country levels."

The company pointed out that it had met the September 22nd deadline to agree on the forum with staff on a voluntary basis, but could not release the information publicly until yesterday because all of its staff members had not yet been formally notified.

Under EU law, all multi national firms operating in the European Economic Area will ultimately be forced to comply with the directive.