EUROPEAN ministers today set in motion a law requiring all companies with more than 50 workers to regularly consult and inform staff about the firm's progress.

And North-East Euro MP Stephen Hughes has played a key role in steering the measure through the European Parliament as front-bench spokesman on employment for the socialist group.

"Too often workers in the North-East have learned that they've lost their jobs from their morning paper on the way to work," he said.

"Corus was just the latest in a long line of instances where our workers were kept completely in the dark about their fate, while their continental counterparts were being consulted by management and kept informed."

The first reading of the proposed law takes place today. If it receives the backing of Social Affairs ministers, it will return for a second reading before coming into effective at the end of the year.