Results of the 1998 works council elections

The results of Germany's 1998 works council elections clearly indicate the high level of employee acceptance of works councillors as their representatives, and of the "works constitution" system as a whole. Despite losses, the DGB remained by far the most influential of the trade union confederations, with 62% of works councillors and 73% of works council chairs affiliated to its member unions. However, the results also confirm the trend away from union towards non-union representation within works councils.

Between 1 March and 31 May 1998, works council elections took place in around 33,000 German establishments. In contrast to countries such as France (FR9809131F), the results of the German elections are not published by a central authority. However, a preliminary evaluation of the results, based on a survey of around 1,000 companies where trade unions affiliated to the German Federation of Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB) operate, was conducted by the Hans-Böckler Foundation in June 1998 (Trendreport Betriebsratswahlen '98: Kurzfassung- DE9806270N). Subsequently, in September, the Cologne Institute of Business Research (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, IW) published the findings - summarised below - of a comprehensive survey of the 1998 works council elections covering 13,659 establishments, 84% of which were in manufacturing and 16% in services ("Schlappe für den DGB - Betriebsratswahlen 1998: Keine Lust auf Experimente", H-U Niedenhoff, in IW-Gewerkschaftsreport 3/98).The IW has been conducting surveys of the results of the works council elections since 1975.

Works council elections

The works council election (Betriebsratswahl) is the institution under Germany's "works constitution" for establishing a works council and appointing works council members (Works Constitution Act §§13 ff, Electoral Code §§ 1 ff). Regular elections are held every four years, during the period between 1 March and 31 May. Voting is by direct secret ballot and the electoral procedure follows the principles of group-based election and protection of minorities. Responsibility for conducting the election lies with an electoral board. The costs of works council elections are borne by the employer. All employees in the establishment who on the day of the election are aged 18 or over are eligible to vote, with the exception of executive staff. All those employees eligible to vote, who on the day of the election have been employed in the establishment for at least six months, are eligible for election. If there is more than one works councillor, blue-collar and white-collar employees elect their respective representatives in different ballots. If one occupational group does not nominate candidates, this group is not allowed to participate in the elections. If both groups want to elect their representatives in a joint election (Gemeinschaftswahl), § 14 II of the Act requires majority votes to this effect in separate secret ballots.

The key results of the 1998 elections

The 1998 elections witnessed a decline in turn-out by a considerable nine percentage points, from almost 77% in the previous elections in 1994 to 68% in 1998. This decline was even greater among blue-collar workers, dropping from 79% to 65%.

Of elected works council members, 24% are female, an increase of more than four percentage points against 1994, while 76% are male. These figures have to be seen against the background that women represented 44% of employed persons covered by obligatory social security as at 31 December 1997. The larger an establishment, the higher is the share of female councillors. The share of non-German works councillors dropped by two percentage points to 4%, in spite of non-German citizens representing 7% of those covered by obligatory social security at the end of 1997. In terms of occupation, 49% of the councillors are representatives of blue-collar workers and 51% of white-collar employees.

Once elected, works councillors are very likely to stay in office in the next elections. In the 1998 elections, almost 68% of councillors were re-elected, while more than 71% of works councils chairs were confirmed in office. Most councillors are not voted out of office, but lose their position when they retire.

The "typical" works council chair is 44 years old and male, with 22 years' service in his company. Average age and length of service increase with company size. Only 12% of chairs are female, while 2% do not have a German citizenship.

In 1998, 63% of employees voted for joint blue-collar/white-collar elections (Gemeinschaftswahl) to works councils, compared with 60% in 1994. The preference for joint elections was especially high (around 70%) in establishments with between five and 600 employees. In larger establishments, this preference was about 50%.

The table below sets out the results of works councils elections from 1975 to 1998, indicating the votes received by candidates, broken down in terms of their trade union or non-union affiliation. In the 1998 elections, the DGB remained by far the most influential union confederation, with 62% of works councillors and 73% of works council chairs belonging to its member unions. However, DGB has lost ground in both categories, especially as regards works councillors, where it has lost almost five percentage points since 1994. DGB performed best in the metalworking sector (80.2% of councillors) and the chemical industries (79.4%). With 3.2% of works councillors and 3.0% of chairs, the German Union for Salaried Employees (Deutsche Angestelltengewerkschaft, DAG) is the second most important union. The Christian Federation of Trade Unions (Christliche Gewerkschaftsbund, CGB), the Confederation of Executives (Union der leitenden Angestellten, ULA), and the other unions are far behind and of minor importance. All traditional trade union confederations have been losing ground.

Most notable, however, is the gain of the non-union candidates among both works councillors and works council chairs. After the 1998 elections, one in three works councillors is non-union, an increase of almost seven percentage points. As regards the chairs, one in five is non-union, up by two points.