Chris,
you seem a bit doubtful as to the power of worker delegates in German
supervisory boards - I can assure you that it is REAL power. Condider this:
A week ago the chairman of BMWs supervisory board wanted to appoint
Wolfgang Reitzle as CEO of BMW, to replace Bernd Pischetsrieder. The
employee-delegates (it is not just "workers") disagreed, Reitzle was not
appointed and left the company! If this isn't power ... The new CEO, Prof.
Milberg, was appointed with the votes of the employees representatives.
What I suggest you do is to go to the homepage of the German Union
(Deutscher Gewerkschafts Bund), click on the English flag and try your best
to find somebody who can give you an English paper on the make-up and
rights of employee participation in German supervisory board. The
homepage:
http://DGB.de
Here are pages of the employers association, who might also point you to
some valuable sources (and they may have a different view than the unions!)
http://www.arbeitgeber.de
http://www.bdi-online.de/org.htm
If you click on BDI International in this page, you come to their Washington
or Brussels office - they should be able to help you.
Let me know, if I can be of further assistance - I know that the German law
and practice in this matter is somewhat of a mystery to many. I think overall
it had a very beneficial effect on German economy.
Regards
Roland Spinola
> Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 13:58:41 +0000
> From: Chris Jarvis <
Chris.Jarvis@BRUNEL.AC.UK>
> Subject: Worker participation in Corporations
>
> Dear All
>
> I am writing some notes for my students at the moment on human resource
> management themes in relation to calls for "worker participation"
> through institutionalised schemes which may or otherwise involved trade
> union recgition.
>
> In the descriptive compediums of human resource management the history
> of worker directors on supervisory boards of German corporations is
> usually referred to as having had positive benefits for German industry.
> I am advised that such supervisory boards are mandatory under German
> law whereas in the UK and US such schemes are be voluntary and .......
> predictably worker directors are noticably thin on the ground.
>
> May I ask if any colleague has some summary information about - just
> what decisions do worker directors on German supervisory boards REALLY
> get involved in? What is the evidence at all that they are anything more
> than just ornamental? The HRM compendium writers offer little data on
> this. It is almost as though they and their readers nod their little
> heads (on strings) and agree on "that sounds like a good idea".
>
> I was around in the 1970s when in the UK there was much bru-ha about
> worker representation (trade union directors) on boards of companies
> (the Bullock report 2X plus Y) formula. This suggestion for national
> policy died a death. Yet HRM writers still talk of "positive benefits
> for German industry" and with European Directive X we are back to works
> councils - this time at corporate rather than "factory canteen level".
>
> At the moment I am in position of needing to become more informed. Can
> anyone throw light on this matter, suggest sources of evidence, point
> me in a non-rhetorical direction?
>
> I would welcome any tit-bits you can throw my way.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Chris Jarvis
>
> --
> Brunel Univ, Dept. of Business Studies, Osterley, Hounslow, Middlesex,
> TW7 5DU
> Tel: 0181-891-0121 x. 2784 FAX: 0181-891-8291
> International: 0044 -181-XXX-XXXX
>
http://sol.brunel.ac.uk/~jarvis/ and
>
http://sol.brunel.ac.uk/~jarvis/bola/
from the Herrmann Institute Germany
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