The authors analyse why the institution of non-unionised employees' representatives (NER) is created if its functions overlap with those of the unions, including collective bargaining and information-consultation. We aim to find how NERs are created and what their role in comparison to unionised...

Co-determination is not only a political, social and legal issue, it is also an issue of great economic importance. However, there is no consensus what the economic effects of co-determination are. There are vehement proponents for and equally dedicated opponents against co-determination in the...

Recent proposals for a more inclusive capitalism call for labor and minority representation in corporate governance. We examine the joint promise of labor and minority representation in the context of German works councils. The councils are a powerful form of labor representation that grants...

Using the 2019 ECS, we investigate the relationship between union organization, workplace representation, industrial relations quality and strike incidence. We also consider some six issues behind the most recent instances of industrial action or threatened industrial action and their outcomes....

This paper analyzes the role of works councils as gatekeepers safeguarding employee's interests in the adoption of monitoring practices. We first introduce a formal model predicting that (i) the introduction of monitoring practices leads to a stronger increase (or weaker decrease) in job...

Many citizens are relatively dissatisfied with the democratic regimes they live in, which can be a threat to political stability. This paper reports empirical evidence that workers in firms with works councils are on average significantly more satisfied with the democracy as it exists in Germany...