The institution of a workers’ council is seen as an integral part of company culture in Germany and other continental European countries and represents a statutory body with various rights that must be respected by companies. A workers’ council is an important internal stakeholder, whose involvement may also bring some advantages when dealing with employees and processing their personal data. However, its role is not always understood abroad. In this article, I draw from my experiences in advising UK companies in this area.

Nature and position of workers’ councils

The very basic mindset on the Continent that underlies workers’ councils probably dates back to the realisation during the French revolution that those who perform hard labour are not second-class citizens and therefore still have certain rights even at work. In Germany, the first predecessor of a modern-day workers’ council dates back to trade and workers’ unions in the 1850’s. This origin is important to remember because there is a close resemblance between the two. Whereas trade unions cover sectors within entire industries such as logistics, workers’ councils could be considered as their counterparts within companies.