We analyse the interaction between different labour market institutions in Germany, a country with a long tradition of strong bargaining partners. A number of studies have established that industry-level bargaining exerts a moderating role on firm-level co-determination: works councils generate...

The German model of co-determination (Mitbestimmung) with works councils, in which workers are involved in the management of a company, was a role model for other countries for many years. However, since the 1990s the appeal of works councils has been declining, to the extent that now even...

Increased wage inequality between skilled and unskilled workers is a stylized fact, which can be observed in many developed countries. Among the explanations advanced for this phenomenon is the increasing globalization, a skill-biased technical progress, restructuring of the firms, and last but...

This paper provides the first full examination of the effect of German works councils on wages using matched employer-employee data (specifically, the LIAB for 2001). We find that works councils are associated with higher earnings. The wage premium is around 11 percent (and is higher under...

This study examines the differences in the likelihood of overpayment and overemployment in establishments with and without works councils. In contrast to other studies, we use assessments by the management concerning the existence of such problems. Furthermore, we also analyze how different...

In this paper, we investigate the effects of works councils on apprenticeship training in Germany. The German law attributes works councils substantial information and co-determination rights to training-related issues. Thus, works councils may also have an impact on the cost-benefit relation of...

Innovationen werden als wichtige Erfolgsstrategie fuer Unternehmen gesehen. Dabei stellt sich die Frage, ob es auch Aufgabe fuer Betriebsraete sein kann, langfristig die Innovationsstrategie der Unternehmen zu beeinflussen und die Innovationsbereitschaft der Beschaeftigten anzuregen. In diesem...

Die betriebliche Mitbestimmung hat in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten massiv an Bedeutung verloren und erreicht heute lediglich eine Minderheit der in Deutschland beschaeftigten Personen. Bisherige Erklaerungsansaetze verweisen auf wirtschaftliche, betriebliche und beschaeftigungsstrukturelle...

An interesting aspect of British research on unions based on the Workplace Industrial/ Employment Relations Surveys has been the apparent shift in union impact on establishment performance in the decade of the 1990s compared with the 1980s – and the recent scramble to explain the phenomenon....

With a tradition of informing and consulting employees resting on a single union channel, the 2002 EU Information and Consultation (ICE) Directive was bound to have a significant impact on employee relations in the UK Undoubtedly, the works council as an institution, or employee forum as it is...