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The labour market dualisation theory claims that labour unions bargain against the interests of temporary workers and that they foster inequalities between temporary and permanent employees. Conversely, the industrial relations literature argues that unions commonly follow solidaristic strategies towards outsiders. This study contributes to the literature by analysing unions' associations with temporary workers' hourly wages and the wage gap between permanent and temporary workers in Spain: one of the most prominent examples of labour market dualisation. By analysing cross-sectional surveys, unions' influence through works councils, collective agreements and union density are studied during a period of economic growth (2006–2007) and a period of recession (2008–2010). Results show that there is generally no association between these three institutions and wage differences between permanent and temporary workers. The associations with temporary workers' wages are insignificant or positive during both the period of economic growth and the period of recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present diary study investigates the impact of daily effort–reward imbalance (ERI), subjective stress and the cortisol awakening response (CAR) as an objective measure on work engagement of top managers and high-level works council members (N = 45) on three consecutive working days. In the scope of psychosocial risk assessment, we argue that focusing on ERI as a generalized work characteristic might be more suitable for work re-design of higher leadership positions because of their highly dynamic and unpredictable psychosocial work characteristics, while at the same time having more access to job resources. The analyses reveal that both baseline and daily ERI, as well as subjective stress, influence work engagement. Our results suggest that interventions to reduce daily levels of ERI may improve the work environment of top managers and works councils by promoting work engagement and related positive health outcomes in the scope of person-centred risk assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although works councils provide a highly developed mechanism to promote workplace democracy, research on their consequences has been dominated by economic aspects. This study brings a new perspective to the understanding of works councils by examining their influence on workers' political behavior. Political spillover theory suggests that participation in the firm's decision making has the potential to foster workers' political participation in civic society. Our study for Germany indeed finds a positive association between the presence of a works council and workers' interest in politics. This holds in panel data estimations including a large set of controls and accounting for unobserved individual‐specific factors. However, separate estimations by gender show a positive association between works councils and political interest only for men, but not for women. Traditional gender roles may make it difficult for women to be politically engaged even when a works council is present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bloom and Van Reenen (2007) have suggested an index of best management practices capturing three broad areas: monitoring, targets and incentives. However, it is an open question whether the functioning of these practices depends on contextual factors. From a theoretical viewpoint, the management practices involve both productive and dysfunctional effects. We hypothesize that the relative strength of these effects depends on the industrial relations climate. Works councils help management practices live up to their potential by building long‐term employer‐employee cooperation. Our empirical analysis uses panel data from the German Management and Organizational Practices survey to examine this hypothesis. Applying a reformulated version of the Mundlak estimator, we disentangle short‐term and sustaining productivity effects of the management practices. Our results show that the incidence of a works council specifically strengthens the sustaining productivity effect of the practices. Practitioner notes: What is currently known?Bloom and Van Reenen (2007) have suggested an index of best management practices capturing three broad areas: monitoring, targets and incentives.The practices captured by the index can be seen as typical US management practices.Studies for the US and other countries have shown that firms scoring high on the index have substantially higher productivity.Nonetheless it is an open question whether the functioning of the practices depends on contextual factors. What this paper adds?We theorize that nonunion worker representation improves the functioning of the management practices by building trustful and cooperative employment relations.Using panel data from Germany, we apply a new estimation method to disentangle short‐term and sustaining productivity effects of the practices.The sustaining effect of the management practices is much stronger in firms where employees are represented by a works council. Implications for practitionersThe functioning of the practices can be better understood under a pluralist than under a unitarist management perspective.Typical US management practices and a typical European institution of nonunion employee representation complement each other.The adoption of US‐style management practices by firms in Europe does not undermine works councils, but instead increases their position.Overcoming the representation gap in the US by implementing works councils may increase productivity by improving the functioning of management practices used by American firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of employee participation in AI implementation, focusing on a case study from the German telecommunications sector. Theoretical discussions highlight concepts of employee participation and workplace democracy, emphasizing the normative basis for human-centered AI in Europe. The empirical analysis of the case study demonstrates social practices of human-centered AI and the importance of employee representatives and labor policies in sustainable technology. The contribution is structured into two main parts: first, discussing sociological concepts of employee participation and summarizing the role of works councils in shaping digital technology implementation. Second, focusing on a case study of AI regulations at Deutsche Telekom, highlighting the significant effects of employee participation and co-determination by the group works council in promoting socially sustainable AI implementation which is done via qualitative case analysis. The article highlights the significance of participation and negotiations and gives an example for social partnership relations in AI implementations.

In the course of the so-called 'digital transformation', the digitalisation of manufacturing is on the agenda in many companies. Are works councils, as an important form of workplace representation of employees' interests, prepared to bring employees' interests into company digitalisation processes, and does this affect their own position of power? To answer these questions, four in-depth qualitative case studies of works councils from German industrial companies are conducted. The results show that works councils can rely on important resources in the bargaining of digitalisation processes. Through the combination of resource use with other factors, such as the perception of digitalisation and the (un)willingness of management to involve works councils, three different constellations can be identified under which dealing with digitalisation represents an opportunity or a threat for works councils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) has growing impact on working life. Risks of job losses, discrimination, data protection violations, surveillance pressure and health hazards require legal regulation. But which legal framework is necessary to effectively protect the rights and interests of workers? Workplace co-determination can help to minimize risks and reap the benefits of AI systems. It is therefore a problem that collective, co-determinated solutions do not seem to be considered in the drafting of the AI Act at EU level. This does not live up to the aspirations currently expressed in the European Pillar of Social Rights, and some member states go decidedly further, too. Fair AI requires involvement and empowerment of the workforce. Otherwise, the intended "human-centered" approach to AI in the world of work remains just a phrase.

This article reviews assumptions that determined the introduction of works councils into Lithuanian labor law, analyses changes in their legal status, identifies practical problems related to the creation and operation of works councils, and pays special attention to the problems of works councils in civil service. One of the main goals of the legalization of works councils in Lithuania was to ensure the implementation of collective rights for those employees who do not want to belong to trade unions. That is why Lithuanian works councils were given extremely broad powers of collective representation of employees at the employer level on 1 July 2017, without making a real distinction between works councils and trade unions. After the entry into force of the 2017 Labor Code, works councils lost the right to conclude collective agreements at the employer level and to initiate a collective labor dispute due to interest, thus the collective rights of employees were essentially narrowed. Nevertheless, such regulation is seen as a legitimate means of social engineering. In this article, it is concluded that in order to ensure the effective implementation of the rule of mandatory collective representation of employees not only should legal effects be applied, but soft pressure measures should also be used. Implementation of the latter measures directly depends on the activity of employees in exercising their rights to vote in works councils. After assessing peculiarities of the legal status of civil servants, it is proposed to apply the legal norms regulating the institute of works councils in civil service mutatis mutandis, adjusting the court practice formed on this issue accordingly.

From a theoretical viewpoint, there can be market failures and organizational failures resulting in an underprovision of occupational health and safety. Works councils may help mitigate these failures. Using establishment data from Germany, the empirical analysis in this article confirms that the incidence of a works council is significantly associated with an increased likelihood that the establishment provides more workplace health promotion than required by law. This result also holds in regressions accounting for the possible endogeneity of works council incidence. Furthermore, analysing potentially moderating factors such as collective bargaining coverage, industry, type of ownership, multi-establishment status and product market competition, the article finds a positive association between works councils and workplace health promotion for the various types of establishments examined. Finally, this study goes beyond the mere incidence of workplace health promotion and shows that works councils are positively associated with a series of different measures of workplace health promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the representative IAB Establishment Panel in Germany and estimating a heteroskedastic probit model with fixed effects, this paper finds a negative relationship between the existence of owner‐management in an establishment and the probabilities of having a works council or a collective bargaining agreement. We show that family firms which are solely managed by the owners or by external executives significantly differ in the presence of these kinds of worker representation. The probabilities of having works councils and (company‐level) collective agreements increase substantially if just some of the managers do not belong to the owner family. We argue that these differences cannot simply be attributed to an aversion of the owners against co‐determination and unions but suggest taking account of the notion of socio‐emotional wealth prevalent in family firms. In addition, our results support the idea that external managers mainly act as agents rather than stewards in family firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful innovations are deemed to be necessary requisites for enterprise success. On the other hand, works council participation ("co-determination" in Germany) and employee participation are judged differently as either fostering employee and enterprise benefits or only the former or even none. Both forms of participation have found diverging theoretical and empirical argumentations regarding innovations. Here, we argue and show empirically that both forms of participation deliver positive contributions to innovation success, economically and employee-related, substantiated with qualitative reports from 36 process innovation cases and quantitative data from 44 cases. Qualitative case analyses reveal different profiles of works council participation depending on the innovation type. Independent of the innovation types, more successful innovations are marked by more intensive participation. Quantitative examinations of a causal model with path analysis specify how this is achieved: works council and employee participation further the growth of appropriate knowledge and the former also raises the coordination capability; both are essential preconditions for innovation success. A direct impact of works councils on innovation success complements the indirect effects. The slightly modified path analysis explains 53% of the innovation success variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful innovations are deemed to be necessary requisites for enterprise success. On the other hand, works council participation (“co-determination” in Germany) and employee participation are judged differently as either fostering employee and enterprise benefits or only the former or even none. Both forms of participation have found diverging theoretical and empirical argumentations regarding innovations. Here, we argue and show empirically that both forms of participation deliver positive contributions to innovation success, economically and employee-related, substantiated with qualitative reports from 36 process innovation cases and quantitative data from 44 cases. Qualitative case analyses reveal different profiles of works council participation depending on the innovation type. Independent of the innovation types, more successful innovations are marked by more intensive participation. Quantitative examinations of a causal model with path analysis specify how this is achieved: works council and employee participation further the growth of appropriate knowledge and the former also raises the coordination capability; both are essential preconditions for innovation success. A direct impact of works councils on innovation success complements the indirect effects. The slightly modified path analysis explains 53% of the innovation success variance.

Der Beitrag beleuchtet die Rolle der Mitbestimmung in der Ausnahmesituation der Pandemie. Anhand von exemplarischen Befunden aus drei Handlungsfeldern – der Entwicklung und Umsetzung von Maßnahmen zum Infektionsschutz, der Stabilisierung der Beschäftigung sowie der Verlagerung von Arbeit ins Homeoffice – wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob die Beteiligung am betrieblichen Krisenmanagement zu einer Stärkung oder Schwächung der Interessenvertretung führt. Die Befunde zeigen eine aktive und häufig auch als erfolgreich wahrgenommene Betriebsratsarbeit, sie zeigen aber auch erhebliche Branchenunterschiede, fortgesetzte Spaltungstendenzen und erweiterte Beteiligungsoptionen, denen die Verankerung in der Mitbestimmung fehlt. Dies deutet auf Pfadabhängigkeiten einer Mitbestimmung im Krisenmodus hin. This paper deals with the role of co-determination in the extraordinary situation of the pandemic. Presenting exemplary findings from three fields of action, i.e. development and implementation of measures for infection prevention, stabilization of employment, and relocation of work into the home office, the paper addresses the question whether participation in crisis management leads to a strengthening or weakening of the workersʼ interest representation. The empirical findings reveal an active role of the works councils which in most cases has been perceived as successful. On the other hand, there are also indications of significant differences according to branches, continued tendencies toward fragmentation, and extended participation options lacking anchoring in the codetermination norms and institutions. These results point to path dependencies of codetermination in the crisis mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Der Beitrag thematisiert die pandemiebedingten Auswirkungen auf die Arbeit in der Paketzustellung. Diese war von zwei Entwicklungen geprägt: Zum einen resultierte die zeitweise Schließung von Ladengeschäften in einer stark ansteigenden Nachfrage des Online-Handels, was für die Beschäftigten in der Paketzustellung zu einer Intensivierung und Zunahme der zu bewältigenden Arbeitsmenge führte. Zum anderen musste der Zustellprozess möglichst kontaktlos erfolgen. Die sich hieraus ergebenden Folgen und Spannungen für Arbeit, Organisation und Mitbestimmung werden mit einem vertiefenden Fallstudienansatz empirisch untersucht. Grundlage bilden leitfadengestützte Interviews mit dem Management und Interessenvertreter*innen, die von Herbst 2020 bis Frühjahr 2021 erhoben wurden. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass die Maßgabe der Kontaktreduktion intern mit Hilfe einer räumlichen und zeitlichen Trennung der Arbeitsvorbereitung umgesetzt wurde. Diese führten gleichermaßen zu Entlastung (z.B. äußerst geringes Infektionsgeschehen im Betrieb) und Belastung, weil sie den Beschäftigten eine hohe Flexibilitäts- und Kompromissbereitschaft abverlangten. Die Zusteller*innen bewältigten die hohe Arbeitslast durch die kontaktlose Übergabe der Pakete und unter Einsatz ihrer subjektiven Ressourcen. Neues Personal konnte aus anderen krisengebeutelten Branchen abgeworben werden. Für den Betriebsrat entpuppte sich der Beginn der Covid-19-Pandemie als eine arbeitspolitische Schrecksekunde, in der er das Management zunächst gewähren ließ. The article deals with the effects of the pandemic on the work of parcel delivery. This was affected by two developments: On the one hand, the closure of shops due to the two lockdowns resulted in a strong increase in the demand of ecommerce, which led to a considerable intensification and increase in the amount of work tobe done for the employees in parcel delivery. On the other hand, the delivery process had tobe as contactless as possible. The resulting consequences and tensions for work, organization and co-determination were empirically investigated with an in-depth case study approach. The basis is formed by interviews with management and representatives of works councils, which were conducted from autumn 2020 to spring 2021. The results show that the requirement to reduce the number of contacts was implemented internally with the help of a spatial and temporal separation of work preparation. This led to moments of both relief (e.g., extremely low incidence of infection in the workplace) and strain, requiring a high degree of flexibility and willingness to compromise on the part of the employees. The delivery staff coped with the high workload by contactless handover of the parcels and using their subjective resources. New staff was recruited from other crisis-ridden sectors. For the works council, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic turned out tobe a moment of shock in terms of labour policy, in which they initially let management have its way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article investigates the relationship between codetermination at the plant level and paid vacation in Germany. From a legal perspective, works councils have no impact on vacation entitlements, but they can affect their use. Employing data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), the study finds that male employees who work in an establishment, in which a works council exists, take almost two additional days of paid vacation annually, relative to employees in an establishment without such institution. The effect for females is much smaller, if discernible at all. The data suggest that this gender gap might be due to the fact that women exploit vacation entitlements more comprehensively than men already in the absence of a works council. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world of work is undergoing huge changes as a result of digitalisation. Part of this transformation process involves a growing demand for skilled employees—a section of the workforce that appears increasingly less reliant on the representative services provided by works councils. In the following article, we consider works council's use of ICT tools to re‐engage with skilled employees, noting that current institutional and cultural contingencies appear to hinder its employment of ICT tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Industrial Relations / Relations Industrielles is the property of Universite Laval, Department of Industrial Relations and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper utilizes establishment-level data to explore the impact of works councils on firm productivity in France. A variety of empirical techniques is employed, including fixed effects and regression discontinuity designs, to identify this impact. We estimate the works council effect on productivity in union and nonunion settings, and investigate the extent to which alternative forms of worker voice and information sharing might substitute for the works council’s impact in production. We find no evidence of a positive impact of works councils on firm productivity in any of our results, and some limited evidence of a negative effect in some of the findings. There is no indication that estimated impacts on productivity vary with union status. However, a notable finding is that worker voice and information-sharing human resource practices are prevalent in French firms regardless of works council status, and are found to have positive and statistically significant effects on firm productivity.

Recent empirical research generally finds evidence of positive economic effects for works councils, for example with regard to productivity and – with some limitations – to profits. This makes it necessary to explain why employers' associations have reservations about works councils. On the basis of an in-depth literature analysis, this article shows that beyond the generally positive findings, there are important heterogeneities in the impact of works councils. The authors argue that those groups of employers that tend to benefit little from employee participation in terms of productivity and profits may well be important enough to shape the agenda of their employers' organization and have even gained in importance within their organizations in recent years. The authors also discuss the role of deviations from profit-maximizing behavior like risk aversion, short-term profit-maximization and other non-pecuniary motives, as possible reasons for employer resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Industrielle Beziehungen is the property of Rainer Hampp Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Universal Excellence (JUE) / Revija za Univerzalno Odličnost (RUO) is the property of Fakulteta za Organizacijske Studije v Novem mestu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the role of employee participation in AI implementation, focusing on a case study from the German telecommunications sector. Theoretical discussions highlight concepts of employee participation and workplace democracy, emphasizing the normative basis for human-centered AI in Europe. The empirical analysis of the case study demonstrates social practices of human-centered AI and the importance of employee representatives and labor policies in sustainable technology. The contribution is structured into two main parts: first, discussing sociological concepts of employee participation and summarizing the role of works councils in shaping digital technology implementation. Second, focusing on a case study of AI regulations at Deutsche Telekom, highlighting the significant effects of employee participation and co-determination by the group works council in promoting socially sustainable AI implementation which is done via qualitative case analysis. The article highlights the significance of participation and negotiations and gives an example for social partnership relations in AI implementations., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Haipeter, Wannöffel, Daus and Schaffarczik.)

Background: Integrating Industry 4.0 technologies in organizations affects employees’ workplaces and working conditions. Works Council members play an essential role in this because as intermediaries of information between employees and management, they increase mutual trust and help introduce changes in the work environment. This article discusses the Works Council members’ autopoietic endowments that are necessary for their proactive activity, which we discuss as building blocks for creating constructive relationships with management and quality energy in an organization. As such, we were interested in examining whether the autopoietic endowments of Works Council members influenced the type of relationship with the Works Council and management, and whether this relationship affected Works Council members’ organizational energy. Methods: A questionnaire was developed, piloted and distributed to Works Council Members, and 220 completed questionnaires were returned. Results: We found that the higher the level of self-awareness, the better the relationship between Works Council members and management. Moreover, poor energy represented poor relationships, and poor relationships signified a higher degree of resigned inertia and corrosive energy. Conclusions: Our research provides managements with insights into the relationship between employees and management, and the quality of their organizational energy.

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Copyright of Ankara University SBF Journal / Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi is the property of Ankara University SBF Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)