Backbone of an Organization – Work Council

Employees in an organization represent their interests in the form of a Betriebsrat. The function of a Betriebsrat is to represent the workforce and also serve the establishment. Therefore function of the workforce include co-determining rights of the work force, right to information and consultation, and rights of participation in deciding the policies of an organization. Betriebsrat has the right to decide on work agreements of the work force, and it can go to the court of law if its rights are disregarded.

The duties of a Betriebsrat towards the workforce include its duty to carry on its work impartially, without any regard towards religion, race or nationality of a person. It should also not take into account political preference of a person, his/her union activity, age or sex. Both manual and white collar workers and workers of both sexes should be treated with equality. Its functions also include coordination with trade unions and employer’s association. All departments of the organization should have their presence in work council, as per their numbers in the work force. There is work council elections held to elect its members and it cannot be voted out of office. It can only be removed from office by Labour court, in case of violation of its duties.

A work council can be set up in an organization in case it has five employees who can vote. The term of office for a work council is four years. A chairperson and vice chairperson are elected for work council. Council members cannot be dismissed from duty. Their membership can only end in case of conclusion of term of office, dissolution by labor court, loss of eligibility and expulsion and resignation. Cost of work council activities is born by the employer.

There are seminars held for its members, to make them aware of situations in a company and to make them aware of their roles and responsibilities towards the organization. Topics of these seminars can be employment, new recruitments, training, workers rights, new policies in business, etc. Main role of a work council is working towards rights of its workers. For that there are regular meetings held to discuss its working strategy. Conflicts between workers or between workers and employers are resolved in these meetings.

European companies depend well on Betriebsrat!

Betriebsrat is a German term which literally means ‘works council/ works committee’ in English and ‘délégué du personnel’ in French. The origin of this functional committee is in Germany/ Austria. In Germany almost 2/3 rd companies have the Betriebsrat councilors designated for representing the interests of the employees. This concept has gained its importance because of its baseline of looking after the well being of the mostly neglected but highly productive part of the company. While making the decisions it is mainly the management which plays an important role, the workers are represented by the union leaders in the board. They may not have the best of workers interests. They also may misinterpret workers demands, as their personal interests can hinder to see things in correct perspective. Considering these points, the workers were first educated after the revolution in 1848/ 49. The plight of the workers was lessened. Thereafter there were many attempts to enhance the living conditions of the workers by granting them various rights. But so far there was no authorized body which would have a base line for crafting the protection of rights policies for workers.

Then Betriebsrat came into existence on 15th May 1919 through the “ Law on establishment of Betriebsrat” in Austria. It was the first body with official foundation for the enforcement of protection right for the workers. It was the beginning of new era for the workers. They became more aware of their rights. Their voice was represented by a legal body which had common interest across the country. Thus workers’ unions took a backseat. Such councils were on rise in the other parts of Europe as well. Immediately after Austria, Germany took steps to form such council, which would solely represent the perception of workers. Today almost two third of German companies have these bodies. These councils have members elected among the permanent employees of the companies. They are aware of very details of the company, because of their experience working in that company.

These footsteps were soon followed in other countries like Switzerland and France. Switzerland does not any such representation in the company, but a similar functioning body called “employee representation” with comparatively less rights. In France, this term is used in more elaborate way. The company has an independent committee which is headed by the manager. His rights include those of information and consultation only. He is not entitled for any kind decision making. This committee, being an independent entity in company, has its own budget for expenditure.

Promoting voluntary agreements through Work council

Betriebsrat (Work counsil) is a unit where employers and employees share the different issues related to the finance and operations of the business or the organization. It gives the work of participation to the employees for information, consultation and co-determination rights of the Betriebsrat. Betriebsrats are present in the different European countries that are called as European Betriebsrats. The EU directive on establishing an European Betriebsrat in community-scale companies of undertakings for informing and consulting the employees was implemented and was agreed on September 1999 and it was implemented in UK in January 2000 through the Transnational Information and Consultation of Employee Regulations 1999 (TICER).

EWCs are highly important for the European industries as it follows the single Europeanization. To have the European Betriebsrat Directive, the requirement is to have 1000 employees within the member states and to have at least 150 employees in each of at least two member states. There is no obligation for companies to establish a EWC or transnational information and consultation procedure unless either company management takes the initiative to do so, or employees (or their representatives) trigger the request procedure laid down in the directive.

The objective of the directive is to promote voluntary agreements on the constitution and operations of EWCs.

Betriebsrat: responsible and sensible service with liability

The works council is a term used for the workers who represent the shop floor organization and functions as the local level negotiations. The most simple type and common kind of implementation of these institutions for the work council are seen in Germany. Here what happens is the general labor agreements are made at the national levels by the responsible national unions and other national employer associations. Then there are meetings held with the local firms that of the Betriebsrat to adjust the agreements mentioned earlier to that of the local circumstances. These members of the Betriebsrat are elected by the company work force for a four-year term.

Presentation however has a very important role to play in the industrial developments of the employed. Every step of work done by you is examined well by the industry and the other associates who are given the examining responsibility. The things from your gait, your attire to your way of talking are a matter of concern. The better is the presentation the better impact can you make upon the people around in your industry and company. Betriebsrat keeps all these in, mind and tries s to get your skills improved in that field of presenting yourself. As presentation is the core of every business you cannot bear to negotiate on that and neither r can you avoid them all over!!!

Once the Betriebsrat gets appointed in a company it has two main responsibilities. The first is to get the work done by the managers and other employees in the company handling them well while the other role is to see the well being of the workers. They also give tips upon keeping up good health on work place and the other knowledge pertaining the law and the constitution. Also it has to maintain the economic that include the Labor and the Management relations Act. They also help in arranging the seminars on the Federal Labor Court that is also essential for the industries. So there are sites that allow the companies to select their members and give upon the charges of treating the employees and their problems on them. They carry them out effectively without raising any harmful queries for the companies. 

What are the functions of these members?

Ever thought why Betriebsrat is so much important in an organization? It is so because, their role as Betriebsrat member is very much all encompassing. These members work as a bridge between the employees and employer, between the employer and state, between the state and the employees etc. These functions are not only important for a smooth functioning of a company but also for the smooth functioning of a company within a state. These functions and roles are very much important within as well as outside of the organization. They are a voice and face of the workers placed at the management level. Outside the organization they are required to represent the voice of workers through the company, this way they can influence the perspective of outsiders towards the company and its employees. So taking overall care of the company image is one of the functions carried out by Betriebsrat members along with the management.

It is said that happy employees are more productive and they affect the overall health of the company. The basic health of a company boils down to making profits. Thus we can say if the employees are happy, then they are more productive and loyal to the company and make good efforts to raise the profit bar of that company. But making all the level happy is very much difficult and tough task. There are numerous interests with numerous mindsets are involved in any organization. These many numbers of interests needs to be negotiated well. Negotiation is a very complex task, but one has to tackle it. Sometimes negotiations can go hard and may lead to conflicts. A role of mediator steps in at this point. If they are not resolved then they may lead to non-cooperation and can aggravate into huge lose of cost. The conflicts at workplace can be solved before they get out of control with the help of the mediators. Mediation is an alternative means of conflict resolution and it is gaining importance in the work environment. Betriebsrat trains the members to aptly control the negotiations on all the levels and drive everyone towards the same goal, harmonious environment and higher profits for everyone’s benefit.

This is a very much demanding role with numerous functions all of which are aimed only at better functioning of the company to ensure a better standard and improved life to the employees, which in return guarantee an effective and quality production.