A Review Based on the IW Works Council Election Survey

Works Council Elections in 2014
IW-Trends
German Economic Institute (IW)
A Review Based on the IW Works Council Election Survey
Elected works councils are a central feature of industrial relations in this country. Held every four years between March and May, the most recent round of elections was in 2014. In those companies with a works council the 2014 ballot met with a considerable response, with almost 77 per cent of the workforce voting. Women were elected to an average 25 per cent of seats. While the Works Constitution Act stipulates how many works council members must be exempted from their regular jobs to concentrate on employee representation, three out of ten works councils either exceed or fall short of this number. That such deviations are widely tolerated can be interpreted as evidence of a culture of mutual trust between workforce and management. The average degree of union organisation is almost 64 per cent. In 2014, as in previous years, works councils opted for experience and continuity when choosing their chairpersons, a disproportionate number of whom are trade unionists.

Oliver Stettes: Betriebsratswahlen 2014 – Ein Rückblick auf Basis der IW-Betriebsratswahlbefragung
IW-Trends
German Economic Institute (IW)
More on the topic

Solo Self-employed and Contract Workers as Catalysts of Digital Transformation in German Companies
In 2021, around one in four companies in Germany had solo self-employed workers or employees of outside companies working for them under contract.
IW
Labour turnover in Germany
Labour turnover in Germany tends to be relatively constant over time but decreases slightly in times of economic crisis, such as the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 or the Covid-19 pandemic.
IW