Ms. Stopkotte, the deadline for applications for the German Works Council Prize is currently underway. What kind of projects are there? We had a really great initiative last year. It came from Siemens, and it was about democracy and diversity. With the support of the company, the works council has launched many projects across the group in order to clarify the employees about their democratic rights – in the company and in society – from the Basic Law to the right to cooperate in the company. There were training courses, information days and offers in particular for the trainees. For this we have awarded the Siemens works council with the German works council price in gold. Here you have to emphasize that it was so great because the employer supported the work law: Eva-Maria Stopkotte is a lawyer and voluntary judge at the Labor Court.Privathat the relationship between works councils and employers in recent years? There are still different interests. But the situation has improved in many areas. In the meantime, there are now even works councils where fought for a long time, as with the delivery services. I think well -advised employers are those who work with the works council. After all, it is also about employee satisfaction and keeping specialists in the company. There are also examples of rather classic works council work among your excellent projects? For example, the nominees for the prize last year was the case of a pharmaceutical manufacturer in Dresden belonging to an international group, which had been in trouble after pandemic. There, the works council managed to prevent the layoffs of around 100 employees planned by the company. An agreement was concluded according to which working hours were reduced by 3.5 hours a week and the salary for all employees up to the management. In this way, savings goals could be reached and the jobs were preserved. Is working for works councils in companies with international Holdings more difficult? The decision -makers often do not know German law. There is also a try to prevent the establishment of a works council, and if it already exists, he has to fight a lot more for his rights. Trade unions and the Federal Ministry of Labor therefore provide works councils expenditure in English so that they can show the employers what the legal situation is. How has the work of works councils beyond such challenges? Due to the digital transformation and the associated changes in companies, the requirements have increased significantly. Everything is getting faster and faster and works councils have to react much faster. In some areas, the tasks have risen twice. This applies in particular where it is about automation in factories or where AI is introduced, for example, in the HR departments. But also with new programs that enable more monitoring of the employees. Here works councils face the challenge of protecting the rights of the employees. Is it also about those systems that report, for example, if the computer mouse has not been moved for a few minutes? The new systems offer a wide range of options. But there must never be total monitoring, there are also corresponding judgments. Permanent control puts people under stress. Works councils are required to ensure agreements to protect the workforce. For this, however, you first have to find out which surveillance systems are used. How does it look with the threat of jobs by AI? There are definitely areas in which this plays a major role, especially where the economic pressure is now high and staff is to be dismantled anyway. This also means that employees are said, for example, at insurance companies, with the help of AI you can now edit twice as many cases. But for this, the employees would also have to be trained accordingly and have time for controls, otherwise they can have problems. Then there can even be cases of workers’ liability. However, it is often only attempt to found a works council when the situation is already critical. Then it will be difficult. Often the employees only wake up when the child has already fallen into the fountain. Many companies want to see their employees more often in the office again, this is a topic for the works councils? Company agreements on home office and mobile work have employed many works councils in recent years, and there are usually certain odds. You can’t change that unilaterally. In the meantime, you can even go to offer something for those who do not do classic office work. So that you can do, for example, concept or documentation work and thus part of your working hours outside the company. This is also considered for laboratories. In this way, conflicts between employees in the administration and other areas can be remedied. It always depends on whether working hours remain the same or should be reduced, how this applies to salary and also regulations such as maximum working hours. But there may be new opportunities soon. Overall, this is a topic that plays a role, especially where there is a lack of specialists. It is then easier to assert because the employer wants to become attractive. Zu person and preava-Maria Stopkotte is a lawyer and volunteer judge at the labor court. She works as a responsible editor for the journal “Labor Law in the company”, which appears in the Frankfurter BUND-Verlag and is aimed at works councils. She also works as a mediator. “Do good and talk about it,” is your credo. That is why she wants to encourage works councils to apply with her initiatives for the German works council award initiated by the magazine, whose jury belongs. With the application, employee representatives could show the public how professionally and committed works council work, Stoppkotte argues. Because the commitment of works councils is still not valued within the workforce. According to the publisher, he has been characterized by the commitment of works councils since 2009, which are sustainable for the preservation or creation of jobs, improving working conditions or coping with crises in the companies. A jury of unions, science and practitioners make the selection from the submissions. More than 1200 committees have applied for the price since the first tender. The award is given once in the categories of gold, silver and bronze. In addition, the jury awards various special prices – last year on the topics of working hours, transformation and participation.
Why AI is a challenge for works councils
