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Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD)
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
The establishment of works councils should be made easier and better protected by law.
The Federal Cabinet has launched a corresponding draft law from Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD).
Among other things, better protection against dismissal for employees who advocate the establishment of a works council and simpler rules for elections are planned.
The law now has to be passed in both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, and the time for this to the end of the electoral term is short.
One of the reasons for the reform is that there are fewer and fewer companies with a works council and fewer and fewer employees are represented by one.
According to the draft law, there is such a body in around every tenth company that could have a works council.
41 percent of employees in the west and 36 percent in the east are represented by works councils.
To set up a works council, a company must have at least five employees.
Specifically, it is planned that in the future the first employees who invite to a works council election will receive protection against dismissal.
So far there are three people.
And even before an invitation, when employees are thinking about and planning a works council election, protection against dismissal should apply if the persons concerned submit a certified declaration that they want to set up a works council and start preparing.
In addition, the thresholds for drawing up an election proposal will be lowered.
In companies with up to 20 employees, for example, so-called supporting signatures should no longer be necessary for nominations and in companies with up to 100 employees only two supporting signatures should be required.
Fear of dismissal or trouble with the employer
The reform also provides for an extension of the rights of existing works councils.
They should be able to have a say when it comes to the design of mobile work in the company.
It is also made clear that the rights of the works council when planning work processes and determining guidelines for personnel selection also apply if the company relies on the use of artificial intelligence.
The chairman of the industrial union building-agrarian-environment, Robert Feiger, spoke of a "milestone for more co-determination" especially with a view to the handicraft.
Works councils are still a rarity in sectors such as the construction industry and building cleaning.
In small businesses in particular, employees often shied away from setting up an employee representative body out of fear of dismissal or trouble with the employer, said Feiger.
Heil had submitted his draft law for a "Works Council Strengthening Act" in December, and it has now been renamed the "Works Council Modernization Act".
The Union and the SPD had already agreed in the coalition agreement to facilitate the establishment and election of works councils.
fdi / dpa