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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
JAMES J. DAVIS, Secretary

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

ETHELBERT STEWART, Commissioner

BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES }
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

. . . . No. 383

MISCELLANEOUS

SERIES

WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT
IN GERMANY

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B:, BORIS STERN, Pb. D

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MARCH, 1925

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1925

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CONTENTS
Page

Introduction
Chapter
I.--Origln of-✓---------------------------------------------works council movement in Germany___
Chapter
II.-History
and nature
of works council law________________
Immediate
predecessors
__________________________________________
Passing of works council law____________________________________
Constitutional government in industry____________________________
General analysis of the law_______________________________________
Chapter 111.-Purpose and scope of the law__________________________
Definitions
________________________________________________
Aims
and objects
------------------------------------Scope of the law ___________,_________________________
Chapter IV.-Workers' representation in single establishments __________
Shop stewards
------------------------------------------Works
councils and elections____________________________________
----------------------------Membership
Expiration of membership and recall__________________________
Chapter V.--Other forms of workers' representation____________________
United
works councUs
-------------------------Special and
kindsjoint
of workers'
representation__________________________
Works
assemblies------------------------------------------Chapter
VI.-Problems
of organization ________________________________
Business
Costs andprocedure--------------------------------------expenses_____________________________ .:, _____
Chapter VII.-Functions of workers' representatives __________________
------------------------General duties of works councils
Additional duties for group councils------------------------------Interests of the public considered_________________________________
Works councils devoid of executive power,,___________________
Chapter VIII.-Works councils and collective bargaining_________
agreements----------~--------------------------------Collective
Factory agreements
_______________________________
Problems of fines and gate controL___________________________
Hiring and discharging_________________________________
Discharging workers' representatives_________________________
Chapter IX.-Boards of adjustment and labor courts__________________
New boards of adjustment_______________________________
Functions
of _____________________________________________
boards of adjustment and arbitration________________
Labor
courts

1,2
3-10
11-15
11-13
13, 14
14, 15
15

16-19
17,18
16,17
18,19
20-26
20,21
21-26
22-25
25, 26
27-Sl
27,
28
28-SO
30,31
32-35
32, 33
34,
35
36-42
36-41
41
41
42
43-50
43-45
45-50
46, 47
47-49

49, 50
51-54
51, 52
52, 53
53,54

Chapter X.-Special rights of workers' representatives________________ 55-60
The balance sheet law_____________________________
58
Workers' representatives on boards of directors__________________ 58-60
Chapter XI.-Works councils and German trade-unions________________ 61-70
Status of trade-unions since the revolution________________________ 61-63
Works council law and trade-union.,_________________________ 63, 64
Workers' soviets versus trade-unions______________________________ 64--67
Organization of works councils within unions______________________ 68, 69
Causes of friction between works councils and unions____________ 69, 70
Chapter XII.-Works councils and workers' education________________ 71-79
Chapter XIII.-Four years of works councils in German industry______ 80-90
Attitude of employers toward works council law____________ 80, 81
Struggle between employers and their works councils, 1920________ 81-84
Growing cooperation between employers and their works councils-- 84-88
Accomplishments of works councils
_____ 88-90
Chapter XIV.-Works council movement in other European countries ____ 91-97
Works councils in Austria_,____________________ 91-95
Shop committees in Czechoslovaki,_________________ 95-91
97
Shop committees in Norway________________
Appendix 1.-Works council law of February 4, 1920__________ 98--111
Appendix 11.-Balance sheet law of February 5, 192,...__________ 111, 112
Appendix III.-Law conceming sending members of works councils to
boards of directors,
February 15, 1922-----------------------------112
Bibliography
_______________________________________________________
113,114

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BULLETIN OF THE

U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
N0.383

WASHINGTON

MARCH,1925

WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY
INTRODUCTION
The outstanding feature of the J)OStwa.r development in the labor
movement of Europe and America has been the rapid growth of the
works council movement. Were one to include among the systems of workers' representatives the Russian soviets, which have
completely socialized Russian industry, and the American shop committees, hardly a country would remain which has not been affected
by this movement.
In spite of the multitude of forms which the idea of workers'
representation has taken in the· various countries, one can clearly
distinguish two separate types of works councils:
1. Voluntary workers' representation, organized in individual establishments by the employers themselves or by the employers in
agreement with the unions.
2. Compulsory workers' representation, organized in all industries of a country on the basis of special national legislation.
To the first group belongs the entire shop committee movement
in the United States and Canada, the Whitley councils and other
systems of workers' representation in England, and the Conseils
d'usine in France and in Italy. The various systems of workers'
representation included in this group are different not only in the
separate countries, but also in the individual establishments within
the same country. They differ in name as well as in their method
of organization and in their functions. Perhaps the one common
characteristic of the entire group is the fact that all the systems
of workers' re;presentation are intended to allow the workers some
degree of participation in the regulation of wages and working conditions.1
The second type of workers' representation, which is the subject
matter of this study, embraces tlie works councils in Austria and
Germany and the shop committees in Czechoslovakia and in Norway.
Due to their geographic :position and to the similar ethnic, cultural,
and social developments m Austria and in Germany, the systems of
workers' representation established in these two countries are, with
a few minor exceptions, uniformly similar. A very large percentage of the population in Czechoslovakia is of German descent,
and the works council law of Czechoslovakia is a very close imitation
1 Committees organized in connection with safety and welfare work in American establishments, which accord to their employees no voice in the determination of wages and
other working conditions, are not included here.

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

of the corresponding laws in Austria and in Germany. Norway is
the onl_y country among those mentioned, with a culture and
nationality different from the German, which has adopted a compulsory system of workers' representation, although one different in
many imPQrta.nt respects from the works councils in Austria. and
Germany. and from the shop committees in Czechoslovakia.
The chief characteristics of this group of workers' representation
are, of course, its compulsory feature1 its general application to all
industries within a country, and the influence which it exerts upon
other social and industrial institutions. During their four years of
existence since 1920, the works councils in Germany have been
called upon to deal with a wid~r range of social and industrial
problems than have those in the other countries mentioned. The
Gern;,.an sy:stem of workers' representation has therefore been selected as the subject of this study, descriptions of the systems of
the other three countries following those of Germ.any for th~ purpose of coml?arison.
In prepanng this study the author received much valuable assistance from numerous workers' and employers' organizations in
Germany and is glad to utilize this opportunity to express his sincere thaiiks for their cooperation. He is especially grateful to Ministerialrat Dr. Georg Flatow, the adviser to the Prussian Minister
of Trade and Commerce, to M:r. Clemens Norpel, secreta!'Y to the
Germ.an Federation of Socialist Trade Unions, and to Mr. E_rich
Liibbe chairman of the United Works Council of the SiemensSchuckert Electrical Works at Berlin. Special thanks are also due
to Miss Cecilia Razovsky and to Dr. Willard L. Thorp for assistance
in the organization of the materiak._and_ to Profs. Henry R. Seager and
Wesley C. Mitchell, of Columbia university, New York, for reading
and criticizing the manuscript. La~: but not least, the author is indebted to Mrs. Malcka R. Stern for the literary quality of the work.

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Chapter 1.-0RIGIN OF WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN
GERMANY
Although a direct product of the 1918 revolution, the works council movement in Germany had its origin in two entirely distinct and
independent sources:
1. The various shop committees that had existed in Germany prior
to the revolution, and
2. The workers' and soldiers' soviets,1 patterned after the Russian
model, which arose spontaneously throughout the country in the
first days of the revolution.
Of the two movements, the second played a more important role
during the first year immediately after the revolution. Durini this
period the idea of works councils was first developed and finally
embodied in the ·weimar constitution and in the works council law
of February 4, 1920. As the revolutionary ardor gradually subsided and the new workers' representatives settled down to work,
it became evident that the nature of their duties and responsibilities
bore an unmistakable resemblance to those of the shop committees
that had existed before the revolution. What the revolution did
for the workers' representatives was to enlarge their sphere of activities and give them a social. and legal background such as the
shop committees had never enjoyed.
The first attempt to introduce workers' representation in industry
on a large scale was made by the industrial commission of the
revolutionary Parliament in Frankfort, on February 20, 184-9.
Strangely enough, the plan presented by this commission was in its
main conception and even in many details very similar to the one
incorporatea. in the law of February 4, 1920-nearly three quarters
of a century later. The plan provided that in'each factory a shop
committee be organized, consisting of a member and a master from
each independent group elected by the workers, and the owner
of the factory or his representative. The duties of the committee
were to be-1. To mediate in all disputes between the employer and his
workers.
2. To accep~ or reiect the factory rules prepared by the employer.
3. To establish and regulate a Sick benefit fund.
4. To oversee the minors working in the factory, assuming responsibility for their school attendance.
5. To represent the factory in the district interfactory council.
The duties of the interfactory council were to be--1. To approve and oversee the various factory regulations in the
district.
1 Arbeiter und Soldaten Rite.
The correct transla.tion of this phrase ls workers' and
soldiers' councils, but the term " soviets " has been used throughout the book In order to
emphasize their close similarity to the RUBSian model and at the same time to distinguish
them from the existing works councils and wagewor.11:ers' councila organized on the basis
of the works council law of February 4, 1020.

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

2. To fix the hours of work and the length of the notices of dismissal.
3. To fix the number of apprentices in proportion to the number of
journeymen employed, and to examine them at the close of the apprenticeship period.
4. To supervise all the sick-benefit funds in the district.
5. To represent all factories in the district board of industry.
6. To elect from its members a board of mediation, presided over
by one versed in the law, to decide disputes among the workers themselves as well as disputes between workers and employers.
This plan was too novel and too radical even for the revolutionary
period of 1848. It was not adopted by the parliament and soon
fell into comylete oblivion. But the idea of shop committees did not
disappear with the plan. It was again taken up in the seventies by
some of the liberal professors, the "Socialists of the chair," and
under their influence was actually carried out in the Ruhr district.
In 1890, the "Verein fiir Soziale Politik" authorized Prof. Max
Serin~, who is still on the faculty of the University of Berlin, to'
investigat.e the activities and extent of the shop committee movement
in Germany.• Professor Sering found two kinds of shop committees
prevalent at that time: Those which had been established before 1889,
and those organized in 1889 and 1890 as a result of the big general
strike in the German coal industry. ·
The first group of shop committees was found almost exclusively
in the industrial district of Dusseldorf, under the supervision of the
"Left Rhine Union for Common Welfare," founded in 1888. The
committee of elders (Altesten Kollegi'tllln) organized in a t.extile factory at Munchen-Gladbach in 1873, may serve as an example of this
kind of workers' representation. The name ".A.ltesten Kollegium
was applied to the executive committee of the sick-benefit fund association in the factory, consisting of eight representatives of the
workers and four representatives appointed by the employer, one of
whom was the chairman of the committee. The qualifications required of the workers' representatives were: 24 years of age, membership in the sick-benefit fund, and employment in the factory for
not less than two consecutive years. The duties of the committee
were to supervise the factory regulations, to receive the complaints of
the workers because of bad materials1 lack of machinery or safety
devices, and to be in full charge, with disciplinary powers,· of the
education of the minors and the moral standards of all the workers.
The women in the factory were accorded the same rights as the
men and some of them were even elected to membership on the committ.ee of elders.
The committee had the right to make its own decisions and to pass
resolutions, but these could become effective only when passed upon
and signed by the employer. Its functions were limited strictly to
such problems as affected the common interests of the workers and
the employei:s. The regulation of wages, for in&t;ance, was not placed
under the jurisdiction of the committee of elders because the problem of wages was looked upon as an individual matter~the mterests of the worker and the employer being naturally opposed.
• Even before this was done the editor of the "Arbeiterfreund " in Berlin made a similar
atudy of the shop committees, but from a general and more theoretical point of view.

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ORIGIN OF THE MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

Similar organizations of workers' representatives existed in more
than 30 different factories throughout the country, and some of them
survived the war and even the revolution and were changed into
works councils after the works council law was passed on February
4, 1920.8
The years_ 1889 to 1891 we!e a I?eriod of big strikes !'fild general
labor unrest m Germany.· This period also marked the birth of some
of the larger unions, which at once entered the industrial field with
an extensive program of organization among the dissatisfied workers. To counteract this move of the unions and to keep them out
of their shops some of the employers decided to concede a few
of the demands of their employees by organizing shop committees in
the factories. The majority of these shop committees were unsuccessful and were soon abandoned, chiefly because of the strict limitation of their functions to a few unimportant questions in the field
of workers' welfare, and because of the lukewarm attitude of the
employers.
But the big strikes and the growth of the unions in 1889 exerted
still another influence upon the development of the shop-committee
movement in Germany. Up to that time shop committees were very
rare in the mining industry, and the strikin~ coal miners demanded
the organization of such committees to adJust their controversies
with the employers.' The strikers sent a delegation to the Kaiser,
Wilhelm II, who approved their demands, and on May 18, 1889, the
mine owners and the workers signed the so-called Berlin protocol,
which granted the mine workers the right to organize shop committees in the mines. The Kaiser emphatically declared himself in
favor of the shoP--committee movement in his speech of February 4,
1890, before the Reichstag. He said:
In order to protect the interests of the workers and to establish permane~t
peace in industry, there must needs be created a legal body in which the representatives of the employers and the workers--· should get together to regulate
their common affairs.

In response to this speech a resolution was brought into the Reichstag calling for the or~anization of compulsory shop committees in
all the larger industries throughout the country. It is significant
that the principal opponents of this resolution were the members
of the Social Democratic Party-. Their leader, August Behel, denounced the shop committees as a tool of the employers for the further enslavement of their workers. It was because of the OJ_>position
of the Social Democrats that ~he compulsory phase was eliminated
from the legislation, and the new industrial regulation order of
June 1, 1891, provided only for voluntary organization of shop committees in shops employing 20 or more workers.
As a result of this law, the development of the shop committee
movement in Germany was considerably accelerated, but not sufficiently to justify the radiant hopes aroused by the enactment of the
law. In 1894, the district of Dusseldorf agam reported the highest
number of shop committees, namely 285 organizations, representing
• In his book, "The Constitutional Jl"a.ctory," M1•. H. Freeze desc1ibes the activities of
the shop committee in his factory since its organization in 1884 up to the ti.me of Its
replacement by a works council, and draws a eompariso11. between the lwo kinds of
workers' representation.
• The chief demands were an increase in wages and a shortening of the shift.

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

19 per cent of all the factories in the district; Ma,gdebul'g reported
67 shop committees, Frankfort on the Oder 43, and Coblenz 27.
The first reports of the activities of the new organizations were very
favorable. It seemed as if a means had finally been discovered to
span the gap between the workers and the employers. The most
favorable reports came from lower Bavaria, where about 30 shop
committees were ¢.ven a wide ran~ of ·activities from the very
start, and their rights expanded as time went on. These actually
succeeded in averting a number of strikes by settling many a dispute
concerning wages, hours, and so forth. Much was also accomplished
in the field of workers' insurance, factory hygiene, and workers'
welfare in general.
Similar reports came from a few of the shop committees in
Frankfort on the Oder, but many others were reported later as being
indifferent or as complete failures. The causes for these failures have
been attributed to both sides, but chiefly to the employers.C1 It was
charged that, while accepting the workers' committees as a convenient means of introducing into their shops the factory rules which
were required by the new Code of Industrial Regulations, the emJ>foyers were not far-sighted enough, or were averse to providing
the committees with sufficient rights and duties to keep them continually busy. The result was that once the factory regulations
were approved, the shop committees had nothing else to do, and did
not even assemble for months at a time. One reason for the lukewarm, when not actually antagonistic, attitude of the employers toward the shop committees was the fear that this might open a way
for the introduction of socialist propaganda in the shops. Furthermore, the members of the committees were not acq_uainted with their
duties and dared not speak out for fear of arousmg the displeasure
of the employer.
It was therefore to be expected that the workers would lose all
their respect for and confidence in their committees. It must not
be overlooked that very often the failure of the shop committee
could be directly attributed to the workers who expected their reI_>resentatives to secure all their demands, however extravagant. This
caused Professor Stieda to conclude his speech before the Evangelical
Social Congress in Berlin, in 1898, as follows: 8
The shop committees, although theoretically a step forward 1n the relationship between the employer and his employees, have proved untenable 1n practice, as the workers are not yet socially and intellectually ready for such an
experiment.

Others, however, did not share this"pessimistic view. They called
attention to the success of the shop committees in Bavaria and on
the Rhine, and maintained that the success was due to the employers
who kne:w how to deal with the workers' representatives in a manner
which actually created a community of interests between themselves
and their employees. It was further argued, that wherever the attitude of the employer was of this nature, the shop committees flourished. The numoer of these, although admittedly small, was nevertheless large enough to enable the defenders to conclude that, given
a more socially minded employer and a better educated class of
• H. Koch: "Arbel.terausschfisse," M11.nchen-Gladba.ch, 1907; Professor Stteda: "Arbeltsordnung und A.rbeiteraullllChttsse" In the Handworterbucn der Staatswilll!ellschaften,
volume 1.
• Minut.es of the Evangelical Social Congress, Berlin, 1898, cited by Heinrich Koch.

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ORIGIN OF THE MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

workers, the shop committee would prove a satisfactory medium
for mutual understanding between employers and their employees.
In spite of numerous failures of workers' committees in the nineties and the hostile attitude of the majority of employers and tradeunions, the idea of shop committees made considerable headway in
the first decade of the twentieth century. Successful organizations
were reported in the German General Electric Works and in other
large plants in Berlin and in Hamburg. In 1904, the famous social
reformer, Ernst'Abbe~ganized a system of workers' representation
in the Zeiss Optical works at Jena. This system, because of the
liberality of the employer and the earnest attitude of both sides,
proved very successful and soon became the model form to be followed by a number of other large industries. In 1906 the Government industrial inspectors reported over 10 per cent of all the shops
and factories with more than 20 employees as having some kind of
workers' representation, and altogether there were more than 1,000
such shop committees throughout the country.
The attitude of the Impenal Government to the idea of shop committees had been favorable from the very start. In 1892 shop committees were organized by a Government decree on all the railroads
in Prussia.; Bavaria, Saxony, and Baden soon followed suit. Similar shop committees were organized on the railroads and in the post
and telegraph services in Wurttemberg. In 1904 the rights of these
committees were extended and in 1905 the minister of the German
railroads publicly declared the work of the shop committees a success and still further amplified their functions on the railroads.'
In March, 1905,. in spite of the opposition of .the mine owners, a law
was passed providing for the compulsory establishment of shop committees in all mines having 100 or more employees. The workers'
representatives were given the following rights:
1. To participate on equal terms with the employers in the management of the mutual aid funds.
2. To take up and discuss with the employers all the complaints
and demands of the workers.
3. To choose for each mine a trustee, who, at the expense of the
employees, should supervise the weighing of the coal and the wage
accounts of the workers.
In the meantime, the attitude of the socialist trade-unions toward
the idea of shop committees underwent a revolutionary change. Instead of denouncing them as the chief support of the factor_y despotism, or the " HerrnimHause " spirit as 1t was designated in Germany, the socialist unions suddenly recognized in the shoJ? committees
a valuable tool toward furthering their aim of overthrowmg the capitalist system, and became the stanchest supporters of the shop committee movement.
It was due to their pressure that the national service act of December 5, 1916, provided for the compulsory establishment of shop
committees in all factories and plants employing 50 or more workers.
These were given broad ·functions, including the right to appeal to
the newly organized boards of adjustment which were established
by the same act. The revolutionary decree of December 23, 1918, extended the organization of shop committees to all establishments
' Sozlale Praxis, 1906, No. 22.

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WORKS 00UNCll, MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

with 20 or more employees and considerably widened their scope of
activity. This decree was repealed by the works council law of
February 4, 1920, which finally replaced the shop committees by the
new institution of works councils.
But the transition from the shop committees to a system of works
councils was not peaceful-the two institutions were bridged by the
Russian soviet revolution of November, 1917, and the German revolution of November, 1918.
The soviets arose in Russia during the revolutionary days of 1901>,
as a spontaneous fiihting organization of the working class. This
form of organization is to be explained, first, by the absence of
a free trade-union movement in Russia prior to 1905, and, second,
by the necessity for the Russian workers to fight their battles
simultaneously on two fronts. The trade-unions in western Europe
as well as in the United States are primarily economic organizations
and the political .struggle of the workers is carried on by means of
a political party and the ballot. The Russian workers, prior to 1905,
did not possess any political rights whatever, and even the organization of trade-unions for economic purposes alone was, with a few
exceptions, forbidden by the Czarist Government. When the revolution broke out direct mass action in the form of soviets wa~ therefore, the only means available for the politically untrained .ttussian
workers.
The same thini occurred in 1917, but this time a precedent was at
hand, and the victorious proletariat soon possessed in the soviets a
strong and effective organization. Local soviets dotted the entire
country; these were organized into district soviets, which converged
into one central all-Russian soviet, with all political and industrial
powers concentrated in its hands.
Even before the revolution broke out in Germany, the idea of
soviets or councils had already found numerous converts among the
·German workmen and soldiers. Secret workers and soldiers' soviets
were organized on the various German fronts and in a number of
factories, but openly the workers' and soldiers' soviets began to be
active on the 8th of November, 1918, the first day of the German
revolution. In Germany as in Russia, they became the leading
force of the revolution and with the slogan "Aile Macht den RatenAll powers to the soviets" proceeded to concentrate in their hands
the political powers of the country. But while in Russia the machinery of the soviets fell into the hands of the Bolsheviki,8 who are
still guiding the destinies of Russia in the name of the soviets, the
development in Germany took a decidedly different turn.
The beginning of the revolution saw the formation of workers'
and soldiers' soviets in all of the larger cities in Germany and the
concentration of the former Imperial Government into the hands
of the Berlin Soviet, which corres_ponded to the Central All-Russian
Soviet in Petrograd. The executive committee of the Berlin Soviet
elected from its midst six members who became known as the people's
representativ~ and temporarily constituted the highest Government office in uermany. Three of the members were from the Independent Socialist Part_y, which was not satisfied with a mere political overthrow of the Kaiser's Government and demanded the unme• Now the official Commuwat Part.v of Ruasia.

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ORIGIN OF THE MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

diate social revolution and a confiscation of all industries in favor
of the workers' and soldiers' soviets. The other three members belonged to the Majority Socialist Party, which was at least temporarily satisfied with the political results of the revolution and counseled moderation and conservatism in the industrial field.
The first serious clash between the two parties took place in the.
first general congress of the German workers' and soldiers' soviets,
in Berlin, December 16 to 20, 1918. It was on the question of a
national assembly. The extreme left, following the example of
Russia, wanted no national assembly whatsoever and insisted on a
" Dictatorship of the proletariat" based upon a system of workers'
soviets. The more moderate middle group wanted a ~overnment of
workers' soviets, first, to realize the most important socialist demands
of the workers and afterwards to convoke a national assembly to
continue the· work begun by the workers' soviets government. The
Majority Socialists on the right, however, stood firmly by their
decision that no economic reforms were to be undertaken until a
national assembly should have been called and a democratic constitution formulated.
The street riots during the months of December, 1918, and January, 1919, in Berlin and other centers resulted in favor of the
Majority Socialists. The three Independent Socialists resi@ed from
the Government, and the new Government proclaimed on February
25, 1919, that-No member of the Oovernment intends or ever intended to have a system of
workers' soviets in any form incorporated either in the constitution or in the
Government machinery.•

This proclamation was met with a series of general strikes throughout the country1 and the Government was finally forced to retract its
proclamation ot February 25, and replace it by a new one of March
7, 1919, namely:
The workers' soviets are recognized as the representatives of the economic
interests of the workers and as such will be incorporated in the constitution.
Their rights and functions will be definitely specifted in a law to be especially
issued for this pupose. e

In its second proclamation the Government drew for the first
time since the revolution a clear.distinction between the political and
industrial fields and placed the functions of the workers' soviets in
the industrial field. The same plan was followed by the National
Assembly at Weimar. Article 165 of the German constitution,
adopted on August 11, 1919, contains a skeleton outline of the form
of government which was to be established in the economic field,
and its relations to the political government. It reads as follows: .
The workers and the salaried employees are called upon to cooperate with
their employers on a basis of equality in regulating wages and other conditions of work, and in furthering the development of the forces of production.
The organizations of either side and their mutual agreements shall be
recognized.
The workers and the salaried employees shall for the prosecution of their
economic interests, receive legal representation in the works councils, in the
district workers' councils organized in each economic district, and in the central workers' council for the entire country.
District workers' councils and the central workers' council shall be combined with the employers' representatives into district economic councils for
• Wilhelm Wimer: Die Entwickl~ des Ril.tegedankens In Deutschland, 1921, P. 10.

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each economic district and into a national economic council for the entire
countr;y. The district and the national economic councils shall be so constituted as to include also representatives of the consumers and all important
professional groups in proportion to their economic and social importance.
All bills of fundamental importance on social and economic questions must be
submitted by the National Government to the national economic council before
being introduced in the Reichstag. The national economic council is entitled
to initiate bills of its own and if the National Government objects to them,
it must nevertheless submit them to the Reichstag, with an explanation of its
attitude. The national economic council may then appoint some of its members to defend its bill before the Reichstag.
Functions of control and administration may be transferred to the workers'
or economic councils within the sphere of activity assigned to each. The
organization and the aims of the various councils and their relations to the
other social institutions are placed exclusively under the jurisdiction of the
Nation and are to be regulated by special laws.

The first step in the realization of the program outlined in this
article was made in the works council law, passed on February 4,
1920.

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Chapter II-HISTORY AND NATURE OF WORKS COUNCIL
LAW
IMMEDIATE PREDECESSORS

Even before the adoption of the Weimar constitution on August
11, 1919, there existed m the various German States separate works
council laws which anticipated to a large degree the scope and the
contents of the national law of February 4, 1920. The works council law of Bavaria, passed on April 22, 1919, provided for workers'
representation in all establishments having a minimum of 10 employees. The works councils were given a voice in all matter$ directly affecting the emJ>loyees? including employment and dismissals.
They were also gi-anted the right to cooperate with their employers
in testing the quality of raw materials and machinery purchased, and
in general to assist the management in keeping order and discipline
in the establishment. Somewhat similar were the works council laws
passed in some of the other States and principalities, such as Anhalt,
Brunswick, and Thuringia.
But more significant and illustrative of the spirit of the times in
which the works council law was drafted is the series of collective
agreements which were concluded in the spring of 1919 in some of
the most important industries of Germany. These were also approved and made compulsory by the Government.
The first collective agreement containing a more or less detailed
outline for the organization of a system of works councils in industry affected the coal industry. The general ~al strike in the first
week of March, 1919, was settled by a conference of the employers
with the representatives of the strikers, presided over by the mimster
of labor. The conference resulted in an agreement signed by both
sides on March 15. It consisted of two parts.1
Part one dealt with the general principles for the establishment of
a system of works councils in the coal industry, namely:
1. Election of wageworkers' and salaried employees' representatives in all mines.
2. Election of an executive committee to carry on the current
activities of the works councils.
3. Recall of any workers' representative by a majority vote of the
employees.
The second part contained temporary rules governing the ri~hts
and activities of the workers' representatives, to be effective until a
general works council law should be passed. These temporary rules
were:
1. The works councll represents all tlt.e wageworkers and salaried employees
of the establishment.
2. The members of the works councll are to cooperate with the management
in determining wages and other conditions of work.
l BelchBIIIlzeiger, March 20, 1919, No. 65.

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WOR.KS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GER.MANY

3. The workers' representatives have the right to inspect all records concernlng the processes of work, so long as no industrial or trade secrets are thereby
endangered.
4. They are to confer with and assist the management in securing the highest possible efficiency of production in the industry.
5. Rules for hiring and discharging employees shall be agreed upon between
the employers arid the unions, and it shall be the duty of the works council
to see that the agreement is carried out by both parties.
6. Office and meeting rooms for the works councils must be provided by the
employers. In joint meetings the employer or his representative is to preside.
7. The executive power to carry out all the decisions and agreements is left
exclusively in the hands of the employers.

A month later came the general strike of the salaried employees
( foremen, engineers, office workers, etc.) in the entire metal industry
of Berlin. The strike was settled by a conference between the Association of Metal Employers of Berlin, the three metal workers
unions,2 and the representatives of the strikers. Again the minister
of labor presided. The strike was precipitated by the refusal of the
employers to grant the demands of the salaried employees that their
representatives be given a voice in all cases of employment and dismissal of salaried employees. The agreement of April 8, 1919,
provided:
1. That the management of each establishment notify the representatives of the salaried employees each time a new salaried employee is hired. Exceptions are allowed only in the employment
01 higher officials and such employees as are required by law to be
recorded in the Commercial Register.
The representatives are entitled to protest within a period of five
days the employment of any salaried employee who, in their opinion,
mi.ght endanger the interests of their constituents or the establishment as a whole. Political activities, membership, or nonmembership in any kind of organization may not be considered grounds
for a protest.
.
The protest must be gupported by documentary evidence prepared by the representatives and presented to the management
simultaneously with the protest. Should the employer disagree
with the representatives on a case of employment, they are then
entitled to appeal to the board of adjustment in the district. The
decision of the board of adjustment is final.
2. That the management of each establishment notify the re_Presentatives of the salaried employees each time a notice of dismissal
is given to a salaried employee. The same exceptions are allowed
as m the case of employment.
The representatives are entitled to protest the dismissal if they
consider it contrary to the interests of their constituents or to the
establishment as a wholei· or if the dismissal constitutes an unfair
diS11,dvantage to the emp oyee, not justified by his behavior while
employed, or by the economic conditions in the industry.
The protest does not, however, have the effect of an immediate
recall of the dismissal. It must first be taken up for consideration
in a joint session between the management and the representatives.
In case of disagreement, the final decision is left with the district
board of adjustment.
• The Socialist, Christian, and Hirsch-Dunker.

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HISTORY AND NATURE OF WORKS COUNCIL LAW

Similar collective agreements were made between the banks and
insurance companies and their employees on April 17; between the
brewery employers of Greater Berlin and the brewery workers' union,
and between the organizations of the office workers and lower officials of the municipality of Berlin and the city government, on April
30, 1919.
PASSING OF WORKS COUNCIL LAW

Coincident with the establishment of works councils in the separate States and industries, the minister of labor proceeded rn
draw up a plan for the national works council law. On May 15
it was presented for the first time to a conference of representatives
of labor unions and employers' associations. The employers objected most strenuously to the provisions of the draft which gave
the workers a voice in all cases of employment and dismissal,
similar to that which the miners and the Berlin salaried employees
won after their strikes in March and in April, 1919. The employers
further objected to the clause granting the works councils the right
to inspect the wage records, to request from their employers yearly
reports on the financial and economic conditions of the establishment, or to send their delegates to the company's board of directors.
They declared that they could not bear the responsibilities for
the management of the works if such wide and far-reaching powers
were given to the works councils. The latter were, in the opinion
of the most conservative employers? merely an unproductive element
representing but an additional burden on mdustry.
.At the other extreme were the more radical representatives of the
workers, especially the independent socialists and the communists.
They maintained that the draft of the law did not grant sufficient
:powers to the works councils, that some of its provisions were too
indefinite, and requested that the works councils be empowered
not only to advise or assist the employers but also to have an equal
voice with them in all phases of management in the plant.
In August?..}919, the proposed law was submitted for consideration to the ~ ational Assembly at Weimar and was turned over
to a committee especially appointed for this purpose. The committee held 29 sessions during the period from August, 1919, to
January, 1920. Its work was exceedingly difficult. The two extremes, the communists and the independent socialists on the left
and the nationalists on the right, both of which were opposed to
·the coalition Government made up of the Socialist, Democrat,
and Center parties, did everything in their power to block the work
of the committee. Within the coalition parties, the socialists were
determined to gain as much as possible for the workers' cause, while
the other two parties, which were closer to the employers, attempted
to strip the law of the :{>rovisions which the employers themselves
tried but failed to elimmate in their direct conferences with the
Government and trade-unions.
More than once the Government was on the verge of a complete
collapse because of disagreement on one point or another. Numerous provisions of the law were compromised, for example: The
right of the works councils to pass judgment UJ?.On the liiring of
employees was completely elimin.ated, but the similar right in cases
22477°-25--2

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

of dismissal was retained, although considerably weakened, as the
employers were given the choice between reinstatement of the discharged employee and the payment of damages. ~ although
the faw provided that annual financial statements be presented to
the works councils, and their delegates to the company's board
of directors be accorded an equal right with the other members
of the boa.rd, these two rights were in effect sidetracked by a further
agreement that they be regulated by special legislation to be fornmlated later.
The weakening of the law was met with an outburst of oppositiou
on the part of the workers. Delegation after delegation was sent
to the committee in charge of the law, and large mass gatherings
took place before the Re1chstag, where the law was being considered •in its new form. On January 13, 1920, during the second reading of the law in the Reichstag, over 100,000 workers stormed
the buildin~ and were repulsed only after the police shot into the
crowd, leavmg 42 persons killed and 105 wounded.
In its present form the law was J?assed on January 18, 1920,
by a majority of 250 to 63. It was signed by President Ebert on
February 4, to become effective from the first day of its announcement, on February 9, 1920.
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT IN INDUSTRY

The works council law when passed was not meant to be an
independent unit, but rather a part of a comprehensive legislative
scheme, the skeleton of which was outlined in paragraphs 3, 4,
and 5, of article 165 of the Weimar constitution.• The scheme
provided for a parliamentary form of government in the industrial
field similar to and parallel with that of the political State.
The lowest unit of this government, corresponding to the political
community, was to be the establishment itself, the mine, the factory,
the office, and the like. The works counci17 assisted by the economic
organization of the workers, the trade-uruon, was to represent the
interests of the employees, while the employer himself or the manager, assisted by the employers' economic organization, 'the association of employers in the trade, was to represent the interests of the
employer.
The next unit in the industrial field was the economic district,
which was to be governed by the district economic council made up
of an equal number of representatives of capital and labor. The
representatives of capital were to be elected, some by the individual
employers in the district, and some by the district association of
employers, while the representatives of labor were to be elected,
St>me by the district organization .of the works council (Bezi:rk8arbeit61"1'at), and some by the trade-unions in the district.
Finally, the highest unit in the scheme was to be the nation itself,
governed by the national economic council ( Reich8wirtschaftsrat),
also made up of an equal number of representatives of labor and
capital, elected on the same principles as to the district economic
councils. In addition to the representatives of labor and capita],
the district and the national councils were to contain representative'il
• See Chapter I, p. 9.

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HISTORY AND NATURE OF WORKS COUNCIL LAW

of such trades and occupations as would otherwise not be represented, including the liberal professions and the organizations of
consumers. All additional members were to be appointed by the
political government of the district or the nation.
It is unnecessary to give a detailed account pf the particular
rights and duties of the various units, as, with the exception of the
works councils, and a temporary national economic council, the functions of which are considerably different from those outlined in the
plan, the whole scheme failed of realization.
GENERAL ANALYSIS OF THE LAW

Technically, the works council law represents a very awkward
and COmJ?licated piece of legislation, loose in its structure and full
of repetitions and meaningless assertions. Very often a right
granted to the works councils in the first part of an article of the
law is completely nullified by a statement to the contrary or by a
sweeping exception in the last part of the same article. It would
seem that the framers of the law were afraid to commit themselves
definitely by using clear language, and that they sought to hide behind phrases which are so ambiguous that after nearly five years of
argumentation and discussions in the numerous legal and industrial
magazines, after hundreds of decisions and interpretations have
been made by the various boards of adjustments, by the lower and
higher courts, a.nd by the minister of labor, there are still hundreds
of points on which the interpretation of the law is just as indefinite
as when the law was first put into operation.
And yet, in spite of its numerous faults and shortcomings, this
law constitutes the most extensive and most important piece of social
legislation ever passed in Germany before or since the revolution.
It is often referred to as a skeleton co.de (Rahmengesetz), because
it touches upon almost every phase of labor and social legislation,
such as the Code of Industrial Regulations, the laws concerning collective agreements, labor exchanges, mediation and arbitration, the
rehabilitation of wounded veterans, and others.
That both the employers and the employees realized the significance of this law can be seen not only from the intense struggle
which ensued before its passage, but also from the numerous commentaries published by representatives of both sides immediately
after it became law. If one were to include as commentaries the
separate guides issued by the unions and the employers' associations for the benefit of their memberships, one can count no less than
50 commentaries on the law.'
'Only a few of the more important commentaries can be menttened here :
(o) The most popular of all and by far the most authoritative is Der Kommentar zum
Betrlebllrlltegesetz, by Dr. Geor,: Flatow, the adviser to the Prussian lfintster of Trade
and Industry.
(1'1) The commentary by Dr. H. Brandt, which was publlshed by the united employers'
associations and is used u a· guide by employers.
(o) The commentary by Doctor Dersch and the one written jointly by Doctor Fel,:
and Doctor Sitzler are less partial but are too technical for popular use.

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Chapter m.-PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE LAw
The works council law is divided into six parts containing 106
articles : 1
Part !.-General provJ,sf.ons (articles 1 to 14).
Part 11.-Structure and organization of the works councils (articles 15
to 65).
Part III.-Rights and duties of the works councils (articles 66 to 92).
Part IV.-Arbitration of disputes (articles 93 and 94).
Part V.-Protection of the works councils (articles 95 to 100).
Part VI.-Practical application of the law and temporary measures (articles 101 to 106).
AIMS AND OBJECTS.

The objects of the new institution of works councils are definitely
stated in article 1 of the law, which reads a.s follows:
In order to safeguard the collective economic interests of the employees
(wageworkers and salaried employees) as against those of the employer, and
to assist the latter in fulfilling the " economic aims " of the establishment, works
councils are to be organized in all establishments having under normal co11.ditions not less than 20 employees.

Thus at the very outset appears the dual nature of the law. First,
the attempt to please the revolutionary working class by using the
word "Betriebsri.te "-the German translation for the Russian
"soviet "-instead of the previously existing "Arbeiterausschiisse,"
or shop committees, which correspond more to the evolutionary development in the labor movement of Germany. With the same purpose in view the law distinctly recognizes the existing clash between
the economic interests of the employers and their em~loyees and
places the interests of the salaried employees on the Side of labor.
In the second place the law strikes a new note in trying to bring employers and employees to2ether, to have them cooper.ate for one
aim-the " econonnc a.im if of the enterprise in which both are
vitally concerned. The economic aims of the enterprise are not, how- •
ever, to be interpreted as synonymous with the profit-making interests of the owners, but rather with the highest possible efficiency of
production, coupled with a maximum of economy.
This dual nature of the law appeared to be both its chief weakness
and chief strength. The struggle in the legislative body before the
law was finally formulated and passed was a mere echo of the real
struggle outside. The employers frightened by the aggressive attitude of the workers' and soldiers' soviets which _sprang up everywhere spontaneously with the revolution and which for a time, at
least actually held the political and industrial powers in their
hands, saw in this law merely a legal sanction of what had heretofore
existed only by the right of force. The revolutionary proletariat,
1 A complete translation of the law is given in Appendix I.
In order to avoid unnecessary repetitions and to present the plan of the works council organizations and their
actl.vitles as they exist in actuality, the author was forced to abandon the divisions of
the law as they appear in the statutes and to proceed with an analysis wblch corresponds
more closely to tlie practical appllcation of the law in iDdWltr,y.

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PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE LAW

on the other hand, which had by this time lost its battles on the
political field as well as on the streets of Berlin and other large cities,
saw in the same law merely a scheme intended to cool the revolutionary fervor of the masses.
Time has shown both sides to have been in the wrong. On the
one hand1 no common-sense employer will now seriously contend
that his rights or powers have been. greatly endangered by the law.
To be sure, the spirit of the " HerrnimHause "-the German expression for the absolute control of the shop by the employer-which for
decades had dominated the German factories, is now gone, probably
forever. But its disappearance was due chiefly to the rapid growth
in power and membership of the German trade-unions, and the
works council law can hardly be held responsible. On the other
hand, the more intelligent employees, and there are many of them
to be :found in the trade-unions, maintain that although the law did
stop short of granting the workers many rights which they had
hoped to gain from the revolution, it is not altogether a bad law.
They believe that, given better economic conditions for the country
as a whole, and a working class better educated to the responsibilities placed on it by the law, it can and will become a power for good
to the workers.
DEFINITIONS

Before proceeding with a further analysis of the law, some of the
terms and definitions used should be explained.
1. The law recognizes as an establishment (Betrkb) "all industrial and commercial undertakings as well as all administrative
offices of a public and private nature. Subsidiaries and constituent parts of an undertaking which are connected with one another through an administrative office, or by the process of production, and which are located within the same or nei~hboring economic
communities, are. not, however, to be counted as independent establishments." This distinction between a dependent and independent
establishment is not explicit and leaves much room :for discussion.
Equally indefinite points are what constitutes an economic community, or whether a group of small shops belonging to the same
owner and located in the same community are sufficiently connected
industrially to make up but one establishment.
As it stands, however, a" Betrieb" may be a giant industrial plant
employing tens of thousands of workers as well as a tiny shop of a
single artisan; the office of a lawyer, as well as a theater or a tradeunion. The definition makes no distinction as to the aim of the
enterprise or the form in which it is organized. A factory belonging to a single owner·or to a corporation is as much of an establishment in the sense of the law as the railroads belonging to the Government; in the same claesification are to be found the office of the
minister of labor, a cooperative store, or a large household.
2. A.11 workers who sell their labor to others for a wage, a salary,
or as apprentices, are recognized as employees. From these are
excluded the relatives of the employers, all Government officials and
candidates for Government offices; all persons who are employed
not primarily for their economic gains, but because of other considerations such as health, vocational training, or for charitable, reli-

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

gious, scientific, and artistic purposes. Hospitals, houses of correction, schools, convents, artistic enterprises-all are counted as establishments and must have works councils to represent their employees.
But such of their workers as aro there for reasons other than mere
gainful employment are not considered among the regular employees,
even if they receive some remuneration for their work.
All employees are divided into two groups-salaried employees
and wagew~rkers. In the group of salaried employees are included
the following occupations:
(a) All employees in managerial and executive positions when the
latter constitute their chief occupation.
(b) Minor industrial officials1 engineers, foremen, and all other
employees of a similar nature, irrespective of their previous training; all office clerks with the exception of those who are occupied
with the lower and merely mechanical services.
( c) Trade and drug clerks.
( d) Stage and orchestra employees regardless of their artistic
qualifications.
( e) Teachers and educators.
(f) All apprentices to any of the professions or occupations mentioned above.
All other employees and apprentices are regarded as wageworkers.
These include also the home workers who live in the vicinity of the
factory and whose work from the factory constitutes their chief occupation, but who do not themselves employ other labor.
3. An employer is the single owner of an establishment or the
executive head of a private or public corporation. Either may be
replaced by a legally empowered representative. In case of its own
institutions, the Government may decide by a special decree which
of the officials is to be regarded as an employer in the department
concerned. It may also in the same way decide which of its own
employees or of the employees of public corporations, whose services
are subject to Government control, are to be considered as salaried
employees under the jurisdiction of the law, or as Government officials who are not affected by the law. 1
SCOPE OF THE LAW

The works council law covers all industries with the exception of
river and sea transportation. With regard to this industry the present law merely states that the representation of the employees in
this industry must be regulated by a special law. The reasons for
this exception lie in the peculiar nature of the industry, namely, the
requirement of strict subordination of sailors while on voyage, and
the impossibility of organizing an efficient form of representation
with the larger part of the employees not _present at the place of employment. It is with this in view that the board of adjustment of
Hamburg decided on May 15, 19211 ~ t the exception applies only
to enterprises whose ships are maltlng distant and comparatively
long voyages, but .not to tugs and shore traffic, because their employees all live on land and enjoy a regular form of employment.
• 'l'be representation ot the GGvermnent officials Ill now being regula.t.ed by special Government decrees, State or National, untll a separate works council Ia.w will have been
passed covering all the Government officials.

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PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE LAW

No decision has yet been made as to whether each ship is to be considered as an independent establishment, or merely as a {>art of one
large ship transportation industry, as has been decided m the case
of the taxicab business. Nor has a special law as yet been passed
covering workers' representation in this industry.
In the case of home industries and agriculture and forestry, the
law applies in a somewhat modified form. In the home industries
(chiefly textiles and tov making) the law provides for the organization of a separate works council in each establishment having at
least 20 home workers to whom the home work constitutes their
chief occupation and who, in turn, have no employees of their own.
The methods of election and the duties of the home workers' council are somewhat different from those of the regular works councils, due to the nature of the industry.
With regard to agriculture and forestry, the law applies, with
the exception of a few minor legal details, which may be easily disregarded for the purpose of the present analysis.
With these few exceptions, it is hardly possible to imagine any
kind of enterprise, industrial, commercial or other, which would
not fall within the scope covered by the works council law.

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Chapter IV-WORKERSt REPRESENTATION. IN SINGLE
ESTABLISHMENTS
SHOP STEWARDS

The shop steward constitutes the simplest form of workers'
representation established by the works council law. He is elected
in all establishments having normally from 5 to 19 (inclusive) employees, of whom at least 3 must sa.tisfy the election requirements
prescribed by the law. 1
The following table, taken from the la.test German industrial
census, of 1907,2 represents the distribution of German industry in
accordance with the number of workers employed in each establishment.
OLASSIFIED NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES IN GERMAN ESTABLISHMENTS, 1907
of Total num•
Number of employees in Number
establish• ber of em•
each establlsbment
plc,yees
menta
1 to 5 •••••••••••••••••••••
6 to 20 ••••••••••••••••••••
21 to 50 •••••••••••••••••••
51 to 100 ••••••••••••••••••

3,146,134
~715
49,427
17,766

5,383,233
2, 137,«9 ·
1,561,725
1,239,156

:ff!~=

Number
of
eachellta

101 to 200 •••••••••••••••••
201 to 500•••••••••••••••••
501 to 1,000 •••••••••••••••
1, 001 and over••••••••••••

Number of Total numestablish- berofem•

menta

8,613
',349
988
506

ployeea

1,178, 9114
1,304,819
686,237
964,6411

Establishments having less than five employees each are not required to elect a shop steward, while certain other shops are barred
from workers' representation because of various legal technicalities2
although they have more than five employees. The total number ot
workers employed in these shops who are thus excluded from the
system of works councils is so large that it would almost justify
the complaints of the trade-unions that the law left the majority
of German workers without representation. In practicet however,
the reports of the Government industrial inspectors wnose duty
it is to enforce the law1• show that the employees in the smaller
shops do not seem to display any keen interest in electing representatives even when such are required by the law. As a rule, the
reports continue, the workers in such shops are personally acquainted with their employers and actually deprecate the use of
intermediaries. Even where, in response to the spirit of the times,
a shop steward had been elected in 1920 and 1921, the elections have
failed to take place in the subsequent years, partly beca.use of the lack
of candidates for the office, but chiefly because of the indifference of
the workers who became tired of " useless " elections.
1 Articles 20 and 21 ot the works council law.
• Statistik des DeatJlcben B.etehs, volumes 212 an.d 218. Smee 1907 a consl.derable
!)bange has taken place in ttle diat:ribotlon, but It has a1rected chle1ly the Iarpr plant&,
leaving the smaller ones more or lesa untollehed.
• Factory Inspection was tlrst Introduced In Germany In 1869. It was a part ot the
tlrst lndnstrlal regulations order, which called for voluntaey Inspections only. In. 1879
factory iJlapection was made compulsory and the Inspectors became regular Government
· offl.clala. S"lnce then their functions have been repeatedly mtended and now their duty
ls to supervise and enforce all the laws passed in the field of tactoey !egislation.

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WORKERS' REPRESENTATION

If among the employees ( 5 to 19) there are at least five wageworkers and five salaried employees, each group is entitled to elect
a shop steward of its own to represent the particular interests of
the group. The two shop stewards combined represent those interests of the employees which are common to both groups. · The wageworkers and-the salaried employees may, however, agree to have
but one representative, in which case the shop steward elected by
a common vote of all the employees represents the common as well
as the particular interests of the separate groups. The methods of
election and the rights and duties of the shop stewards are with
hut a few minor exceptions very much the same as in the case of
works councils.
WORKS COUNCILS

The fundamental unit of organiza.tion of the workers' representatives is the works council. It is elected in every establishment
of 20 or more employees to reprei:ront the interests of all the wageworkers and the salaried emplo:yees in the establishment. The first
plan of the law did not contam any provisions for the separate
representation of the two groups. But due to the pressure of tbP.
employers and especially of the salaried employees, the majority
of whom are organized in other than socialist trade-unions, separate
1·epresentation of each group was added to the works council. The
result is tha.t an establishment which is required by law to have
a works council has, in reality, three kinds of workers representation:
1. A works council (Betriebarat), to represent the common interests of the wageworkers and the salaried employees.
2. A wageworkers' council (Arbeiterrat), to represent the separate interests of the wageworkers.
3. A salaried employees' council (Angeatelltenrat), to represent
the separate interests of the salaried employees.
The relations between the two group councils and the works
council constitute one of the most difficult problems arising from
the law. The question as to whether or not the works council is
a higher form of organization than the group councils has finally
been decided in the negative. Each form of organization is now
recognized as completely autonomous within its own particular
sphere of activity. But the elections for the three organizations,
which are carried on simultaneously and on a single ballot, still
present a number of difficulties, the nature of which can best be
illustrated by the following opposing decisions of two boards of
adiustment in two similar cases:
Case 1: A firm in Ulm employed 670 wageworkers and 125 salaried employees. In 1920 the elections to the works council and
to the group councils proceeded in the regular fashion. In 1921,
however, the wageworkers elected their council as usual, but the
salaried employees completely ignored the elections. They did not,
however, legally give up their rights in favor of the wageworkers,
nor did they express any desire to retain their previous representatives. The question arose whether the newly elected wageworkers'
council could at the same time also function as a legal works
council. The board of adjustment, which was called upon to settle
the difficulty, decided that the wageworkers council could not func-

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

tion as a works council, and tha,t it was not even a legal wageworkers'
council, as the elections according to the law are for the works
councils primarily, and if a works council was not elected, then the
wageworkers' council was also nonexistent.
Case 2: During the general strike in the metal industry in Wurttemberg in the summer of 1920, the wageworkers of a motor company at Unterturkheim went on strike, while the salaried employees
remained at their jobs. The result was that the wageworkers' council was dissolved, while the salaried employees' council was retained.
When the strike was settled and work again resumed, it became necessary to elect a new works council. The salaried employees, in
spite of the repeated requests from the election committee, refused
to present a new list of delegates and did not participate in the
elections. The works council was to be made up of 13 wageworkers
and four salaried employees, but because of the refusal of the salaried employees to participate in th~ election, the election committee
appointed 17 wageworkers to constitute the works council. The firm
refused to recognize the new works council on the ground that the
wageworkers had more representa,tives than they were entitled to
by law, and the board of adjustment of Stuttgart was called upon to
settle the dispute. It decided that the new works council was legal,
but it must consist of only the 13 representatives to which the wageworkers were entitled. They were to perform the duties of a wageworkers' council and of the works council, but not the duties of the
salaried employees' council.
Both decisions were binding in their respective cases, but because they mutually offset each other, their contribution to the general solution of the problem has been slight. Other decisions arising from similar situations followed, but here, too, some of them
were made in accordance with the Ulm precedent, while others followed the example of Stuttgart. The problem is continually discussed in the magazines devoted to questions on labor rights, such
·as the "Neue Zeitschrift fiir Arbeitsrecht," but no final decision
has as yet been reached. In the meantime the possibility of any one
group of employees sabotaging the works council and thus interfering with the rights of the other group to have their legal representation, constitutes a real menace to the entire scheme of workers'
representation and to the :peaceful relations between the two groups
of employees in the establishment. ·
MEMBERSHIP AND ELECTIONS

The total membership of a works council and of each group council must consist of 3 representatives in industries with 20 to 49
employees, 5 representatives in industries with 50 to 99 employees, and 6 representatives in industries with 100 to 199 employees.
This number is to be increased by 1 for every 200 employees between
200 and 999, by 1 for every 500 employees between 1,000 and 5,999,
and by~ for every 1,009 employees from 6,000 and over. The highest
number of representatives must not, however, exceed 30.'
' The maximum number of 30 representatives was found rather too small for the larger
plants having 25,000 employees and more. To overcome this difficulty the works council

and management of a ftrm employing normally about u0,000 workers, agreed to divide the
entire plant into 15 sections. Each section was put in charge of two members of the
works council, assisted by four additional delegates elected by the workers in the section,

These additional representatives enjoy all the rights and privileges of workers' representa•

tlyes, but are not officially considered members of the wo1·ks council.

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In accordance with the rule la.id down above, the number of representatives in the works councils and in the separate group councils
must be as follows:
Employees

Representatlves

200 to 399________________
400 to 599________________
600 to 799________________
800 to 999________________
1,000 to 1, 499________________
1,500 to 1, 999________________
2,000 to 2, 499________________
2,500 to 2, 999________________
3,000 to 3, 499________________
3,500 to 3, 999________________
4,000 to 4, 499________________
4,500 to 4, 999________________

Representatlves

Employees

7 5,000 to 5, 499_______________
8 5,500 to 5, 999_______________
9 6,000 to 6, 999_______________
10 7,000 to 7, 999_______________
11 8,000 to 8, 999_______________
12 9,000 to 9, 999_______________
13 10,000 to 10, 999_______________
14 11,000 to 11, 999_______________
15 12,000 to 12, 999_______________
16 13,000 to 13, 999_______________
17 14, 000 to 14, 999_______________
18 15,000 and over________________

19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
:29
30

The number of members to be elected to the works council is determined regardless of the proportions of wa.geworkers and salaried
employees existing in the plant. The minority group, which may be
either the wa.ieworkers' or the salaried employees' group, even
though it conS1sts of but 5 members, must have at least one representative in the works council. The total number of representatives
from the minority group is determined according to the following:
Representatives
50Members
to 299.____________
_ 2
800 to 599___________ _ S

600 to 999____________ _

Members

Representatives
5
6

1,000 to 2,999 _____________ _
3,000 to 5,999______________ _
6,000 and over_____________ _

The other members of the works council a.re elected from the
majority group, unless this group voluntarily concedes a larger representation to the minority than the minimum it is entitled to by law.
The separate wa.geworkers' council and salaried employees' council
are made up of the corresponding group members within the works
council. A careful analysis of the rules which determine the total
number of members in the works council and their distribution between the two groups of emplo_yees will show that the separate group
councils a.re in reality entitled to more members than their respective groups have in the· works council. The additional members are
elected by ea.ch group of employees and are called supplementary
representatives. These a.re members· of the separate group councils
but do not belong to the works council.
The candidates for election from each group are nominated by
lists. Ea.ch list must contain at least twice as many names as the
total number of representatives to which the group is entitled and
must be signed by at least three members of the group possessing the
right to vote. In practice, the three major union organizations and
the unorganized employees present as a rule separate lists of candidates. But with the ~owth of the communist influence among the
members of the socialist unions, it often happens that these unions
present two lists of candidates, the regular union list and a list of
the opposition, ma.de up by the communist members in the socialist
unions.
The right to vote is granted to all adult employees, male and ~ema.le, who a.re at lea.st 18 yea.rs of age, and who have· not been dISfra.nchised by the civil authorities.

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To be a candidate, however, one must be at least 24 years of age, ·a
German citizen, a member of the trade for not less than three years,
and in the present employment for not less than six months l>efore
the day of election. No _employee can be elected in more than one
establishment at the same time.
The six months' employment requirement may be set aside in cases
of new enterJ?rises which have been in existence for less than six
months, or in mdustries which do not employ their workers the whole
year round. If there are not enough workers eligible to be elected,
or when rehabilitated wounded veterans have been nominated, both
the three years' trade membership and the six months' employment
requirement may be disregarded.
All workers' representatives are elected at the same time by a
direct and secret ballot. They are distributed among the various
lists on the principle of proportional representation. The elections
are for a period of one year. Reelection from year to year is
permissible.
The elections are arranged and the results announced by a special
election committee, which: must be appointed by the works council
at least four weeks before the expiration of its term. This committee, too, must contain representatives from~ach group. Should
the works council fail to do its duty, the committee must be appointed by the employer. Similar action must be taken by the
employer when a new establishment has been organized. Loss of
time because of exercising the right to vote, or performing the duties
of an election committee must not be made the occasion for deduction
of wages or salaries.•
A concrete illuBtrati()'ll,.-The following is a concrete illustration
of an election to a works council, the distribution of the representatives between the wageworkers and the salaried emplo_yees, the
proportional division among the various orfanizations that ii9ok
part in the elections, and the formation o the separate group
councils.
In March, 1923 at the time of the general works council elections,
a plant employed 6,200 wageworkers and 1,625 salaried employees.
In accordance with the regulations of the law, the works council
was to be made up of 22 members, of whom not less than five
were to be salaried employees, the remainder to be wageworkers.
The wageworkers' council was entitled to 21 members, and the
salaried employees' council to 12 members. The two groups of
employees :presented three lists of candidates each, and the results
of the electiontP were as follows:
• Article 95 : Any interference by the employer or his representative with the rights of
his employees to elect their representatives or to serve on the election committee, or in
~}' way to j)Ut them at a disadvantage,. Ill punishable by a ftne ot 2,000 marks (repeat~ change4 with the progress of infla.tioa) or by 1m.prlaonment.

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WORKERS' REPRESENTATION
NUMBER OF VOTES AND OF MEMBERS OF COUNCIL ELECTED

Wageworkers

Votes

Salaried employees

N ationallst Unlon•••••••••

8oclallst•••••••••••••••••••
Vold ••••••••••••••••••••••

2, lM
12 Communist •••••••••••••••
1, 606
8 Soclallst•••••••••••••••••••
45 •••••••••••• Vold ••••••••••••••••••••••

Total...............

Hirsch·Dunlter ••••••• ··-·
Communlst •••••••••••-

361

Members
of council
elected

I ', 166

Members
of council
elected

Votes

874

3)2
781

2
7

1, 376

18 ••••••••••••

1 Per cent of wageworkers who participated in the election, fr1 .2.
• Per cent of salaried employees who participated in the election, rrr .4

Out of the 33 workers' representatives thus elected, the election
committee appointed the 17 wa.geworkers and the 5 salaried em;ployees receiving the highest number of votes in their respectiYe
groups as members of the works council, leaving the remaining four
wa.geworkers elected to become the supplementary representatives
of the wa.geworkers' council, and the remaining seven salaried employees elected to become the supplementary representatives of the
salaried employees' council.
It may appear from the example shown that the elections are
really being held for the members of the group councils rather
than for the works council. This discrepancy is due to the requirement that each group vote separately for its own members in the
works council. 13ut the two groups may have previously agreed
by a two-thirds majority vote to have their elections in common.
In this case all the em:ployees vote for all the members of the works
council, and the election procedure is much simplified. In practice, however, such agreements are still rare and can be found only
where the two groups of employees belong to the same economic or
political organization.
E.XPIBATION OF MEIIBBBSmP AND RECALL

All the workers' representatives a.re elected at the same time for
a period of one year. The elections generally take place a.bout the
middle of March. Should one member resign from office or withdraw from employment, he is succeeded by a substitute taken from
the list of candidates for election. If there a.re not enough substitutes, or if the entire works council resigns. or is recalled, new elections must take place.
A single member or the entire works council may be recalled only
by a boa.rd of adjustment at the request of not less than one-fourth
of all the employees or at the request of the employer.8 The reasons
for the recall must be definitely stated in the request and must constitute a. "serious violation " of the official duties of the worb
council.
The term "a serious violation" (grobliahe V erletzung) is another
of those unhappy phrases which the framers of the law, in their
ardent desire to please both sides and not to infringe upon any of
their rights, left entirely open. They did not give even a single
• Since October SO, 1923, the lndnetrlal and (!Olllmerclal courts are to act in sueh cases
In place of the boards of adjustment.

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

example of what might constitute such a serious violation. Since
the passage of the law a flood of articles has been written .~n this
topic in the legal literature. Decision after decision has been made
by the various boards of adjustment, but the field of possible interpretations is not yet exhausted.
It is true that many employers, eager to rid themselves of undesirable workers' representatives, have taken advantage of this provision
as the most favorable means to that end. It must be admitted, however, that the workers' representatives often make themselves subjeci
to recall through mere carelessness on their part. This is esr.ecially
true of the more class-conscious members of the works councils, who
are inclined to look upon their office as an instrument to further the
class struggle rather than to bring about peaceable relations between
the employer.and the employee. They do not stop to consider whether
their own acts or advice given to other workers would or would not
constitute a serious violation of their duties.
One member of a works council was recalled by a board of adjustment in Berlin because of the following incident: A worker complained to him that instead of the expected raise of 30 pfennig, he
received only one-half of it. The member hastily replied: "Then
you must work accordingly." The employer requested the recall of
this member on the ground that he was advocating sabotage, and
the board of adjustment granted the request. 7
Any member or the entire works council may be recalled for:
1. Encroaching upon the rights of the employer by counteracting his orders
or the orders of his manager.
2. Calling and participating in a general assembly during working hours,
without expressed permission of the employer.
3. Calling or participating in a strike without previously attempting to effect
a conciliation by appealing to a board of adjustment.
4. Interfering with the constitutional right of the workers to organize by
coercing them to resign from or to join any political or trade-union organization.
5. Refusing to sign tbe factory regulations ·as required in articles 75, 78,
and 80 of the works council law, for no important reason except personal bias.
6. Refusing to cooperate with the other members of the council or with the
other group council.
' Sabotage, or passive resistance, as it is ealled in German:,, was practiced b:, German
workers even before the war and 1s still used aa a stratecic method to secure favorable
public opinion b:, converting a strike into a lockout. An example of this 1a the recent
metal workers' lockout 1a Berlin on J"11,J1,1J&r:, 3, 1924.

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•
Chapter V.-OTHER FORMS OF WORKERS' REPRESENTATION
UNITED AND JOINT WORKS COUNCILS

The works council law states thatThe works councils of a number of establlshments belonging to the same
owner and producing the same commOditles or complementing each other in the
process of production, have a right to organize a united works council, provided the establishments are located within one commuuity, or within a group
of neighboring and economically connected commuuities.1

There are two ways in which a united works council can be organized: It may exist side by side with the individual works councils,
or it may completely replace them. In the latter case the individual
works councils are dissolved1 and the united works council is known
under the name of joint works council.
Both the united and the joint works councils denote an attempt
to have the workers' representatives organize along lines parallel
with, and corresponding to, the organizations existing in trade and
industry. The united works councils a;re most common in the larger
industrial concerns, in the steel, electrical, textile, and other industries. The constituent parts of these concerns complement one another and constitute a vertical combination. The joint works co~cils are, on the contrary, prevalent in concerns the constituent parts
of which represent a horizontal combination, such as department
stores or bank branches, for example. Joint works councils are also
to be found among the city employees and in those industries where
the workers are prevented by the very nature of their emplo~ent
from o~anizing separate works councils. A notable example of
such an mdustry is that of the building trades, where the workers,
although hired by the same employer, do not have a permanent place
of employment but are contmually being transferred from one
building project to another.
This attempt to have the workers' representatives organize along
industrial lines did not, however, go very far. The restriction to
a single owner eliminates the :possibility on the part of works councils of following the organizations of the German trusts and cartels.
The constituent parts of these trusts, although to all intents and
purposes knitted together into a single whole, retain their individual
names and in the eyes of the law each constitutes a separate ownership.
In addition to the restriction of a single ownership, the limitation
to one community makes ·it impossible for the workers' representatives of the various establishments belonging to the same owner
but scattered in different localities, to organize into a united works
council. Both restrictions are chiefly the product of the influence
of the trade-unions on the works council law when ~assed. The
German trade-unions are, with but a few exceptions, still organized
• Articles 50 to liS ot the works COUDCU law.

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WORKS COUNOll, MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

on a craft basis. In 1920, when the law was passed, they were still
actively opposed to industrial unionism and feared that an industrial form of organization of the wor~ers' representatives would undermine the prestige if not, indeed, the very existence of the unions.
Since 1920, however, a number of. events have occurred which
have brought about a change in the attitude of the unions toward
an industrial form of organization. First, the struggle for supremacy between the unions and the works council a resulted in the
complete triumph of the unions. Second, some of the stronger
unions, for example, the metal workers', the textile workers', and the
factory workers' unions, accepted the principles of industrial unioni@n and proceeded to reorganize accordingly. Finallr, the congress
of the socialist unions, in Leipzig in June, 1922, declared itself in
favor of the industrial form of organization wmmever and wherever
possible.
With the support of the unions, some of the works councils, particularly in the metal industry, attempted to org~nize informally,
if not legally, into federations corresponding to the trusts and ca.rt.els
existing in the industry.
The works councils of a steel trust have thus organized a federation of works councils. These are mostly located in a number of
small towns in the Ruhr, a.nd represent altogether over 40,000
workers. In the new organization, the members of the works councils, although belonging to the various trade-union organizations,
namely, the Socialist, the Christian, the IDrsch-Dunker,. the
Unionist,. a1;1d the SJ!1dicalist, are all working wgether in a ~le
body. Srmilar e~enments have been made by the works councils
of other trusts which operate plants and commereial offices all over
Germa.ny and employ large numbers of workers.
Attempts were even made to organize the federated worb councils in the metal industry in the Ruhr into some kind of loose combination. This federation of federated works councils would presumably correspond to the combinations in the industry brought
about by means of " gentlemen's agreements," which bind together
such lar~. trusts as the Stinnes concern and the German General
Electric Works, or both of these with the Krupp and Otto Wolff
trusts.
Most of these schemes and organizations broke down, however,
before the force of inflation, as the rapid depreciation of the German
mark in 1922 and 1923 played havoc with the treasuries of the
unions which supplied the funds for the experiments. Nevertheless_,
the tendency of the works councils to parallel industry remains an<1
is characteristic of the new alignment in the German labor movement
ca.used by the new institution of works councils.
SPECIAL KINDS OF WORKERS' REPRESENTATION

All government enterpr~, such as the railroads, the post office,
the telephone and telegraph, and all administrative offices of the
National, State, and municipal governments are entitled by law to
organize special kinds of workers' representation for their employees.• The form of representation is drawn up by the a.uthori• See Chap XI, pp. 6-:l to 6!i.
• Article 61.

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WORKERS' REPRESENTATION

ties in charge of the enterprise or office, in cooperation with the economic organizations of the employees concerned.
Based UJ>On this provision, the various· departmental chiefs proceeded to issue decrees relrU!ating the organization of workers' representation within their clepartments. Of special interest are the
regulations of the works councils in the post office and in the railroad departments. Although drawn up at different times, the provisions for the organization of works councils in these two government enterprises were patterned after the same model and can therefore be considered together. The regulations provided for:
1. Local representation (a shop steward or a works council) for
each post office and every railroad station in the country. Where
there are not enough employees at the station to entitle them to
elect a. shop steward, a. number of smaller stations in the immediate
neighborhood are allowed to combine and form a joint works
council.
2. Distr~ct works councils for every fost office and railroad district, res:p,ectively,. located at the seat o the authority in charge of
the district. In the post office the number of representatives in a
district works council must not exceed 12, while on the railroads the
maximum was put at 15. In the case of the railroad, also, provisions have been made for the train and shop workers to have proportional representation in the district works councils.
3. One central works council with a maximum membership of 15,
to represent all the employees in the post office, and one central
works·council with a maximum of 25 members to represent all the
employees on the railroads. As in the case of the district works
councils on the railroads, the train and shop workers are allowed
proportional representation also in the central works council.
The difference between this kind of workers' representation and
the re2Ular forms prescribed by the law is significant. In their
usual forms the shop steward, the wageworkers' council, the salaried
employees' council1 the works council, and the united works council
are each restricted to a definite sphere of activity where they retain their absolute independence. The united works council, whose
activity is limited to problems affecting the entire firm, has no more
. right to inva.de the field of the wageworkers' council (whose authority
is supreme over problems affecting the wageworkers of a single plant
of the firm) than the shop steward has to invade the field of a joint
works council. In the post office and on the railroads this autonomy
of the separate units of workers' representation was completely
abandoned. A district works council has not only the right to pass
upon problems affecting the post office or railroad employees in
their respective districts but also may invade the field of any local
works council within its district and even reverse a decision made by
the lower unit. This is 89.Ually true of the central works councils,
which not only have the Jurisdiction over problems concerning all
the employees of the post office or the railroads, respectively, but
also are authorized to decide any matter affecting a sin~le district
or a single local. The difference is illustrative of the high degree
of centralization of control existing in the German post office and
on the railroads.
22477°-25---3

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The regulations for the establishment of works councils in Government enterprises and in the various administrative offices do not,
however, apply to the Government officials (Beamten) in these enterprises or in the offices of the Government. The officials were altogether excluded from the works council law' and were supposed to
be covered by a special law. This so-called officials' council law
(Beamtenriiteg88etz) never went beyond its draft stage, in spite of
the pressure of the various unions into which a large percentage of
the .officials have been orfanized since the revolution. Decrees for
the formation of officials councils have been issued by the various
departmental chiefs, but these are only temporary and can be recalled at any moment at the discretion of the head of the department.
Special forms of workers' representation may also be organized
in such private undertakings as do not lend themselves readily to
the estaolishment of the regular works councils. In this group are
included the building trades, the roof makers, the chimney sweeps1
and the entire field of forestry and logging. The scattering ot
these workers in tneir various places of employment and the short
duration of their jobs in any particular place makes it exceedingly
difficult, if not impossible, to organize regular works councils as
prescribed by the law. The special kinds of representation for
these workers are to be agreed upon between the economic organizations of the employers and employees in the industry concerned
and are to be made part of the general collective agreement existing
in the trade. It is also required that these agreements for a special
kind of workers' representation in private undertakings be declared
binding for the entire country, otherwise these enterprises are compelled to organize regular works councils.•
·
WORKS ASSEMBLIES

Finally -there is one more kind of workers' representation existing
in all establishments, large and small, private and ·Government.
This is the works assembly. The assembly (general assemblies for
all the employees, wafeworkers' assemblies for the wageworkers,
and -salaried em.Ployees assemblies for the salaried employees in the
establishment) 1s summoned by the chairman of the works council,
either at his own discretion, or at the request of not less than one- ·
fourth of the employees1 or at the request of the emplo:rer. -The
assembly must meet outside of regular hours of work~ with the exception of the meetings called at the request of the employer and in
cases of special emergencies recognized and approved by the· employer, in which case he also bears all the expenses involved.
The definition of a "special emergency" has been the cause of a
number of disputes between the works councils and the emplo:yers.
In 1920, while still under the spell of the revolution, the workers
were prone to seize every dispute, no matter how insignificant; as a
J>retext for a general meeting. The employers proceeded to dock
them for all the time spent on unauthorized assemblies, and the
boards of adjustment upheld their action. This and the gradual
'See Ch. III p. 17.
.
.
• The right to declare an agreement as binding for the entire country is e:terelsed by
the minister of labor at the request of either party concerned. AU such agreements are
published In the regular lsS11es of the Relchsarbeltsblatt.

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WORKERS' REPRESENTATION

decline of the revolutionary zeal among the workers had a sobering
effect upon them. The general assembly meets now as a rule outside of the regular hours of work, usually immediately after work.
In the establishments which are too small to have a shop steward,8
the general assembly enjoys all the rights of a shop steward. In
all other establishments the rights of the general assembly are limited to the voicin~ of an opinion and to the passing of resolutions for
the· works council. The latter, although required by law to carry
out the wishes of the assembly, can not be compelled to do so and
can not even be directly recalled by the general assembly.
The narrow limitation of the rights of the general assembly was
the cause of considerable criticism of the law by the rank and file
of employees, a criticism which is still advanced by the more radical
groups of workers. But practice has proved this criticism to be ·
unjust. Although theoretically the most democratic and ideal form
of representation? the general assembly, especially in the larger
plants, is too unwieldy and can not function effectively. It provides
an excellent platform for rhetorical speech makers, but these have
not always worked for the best interests of the employees or of the
establishment as a whole.
• If they have less than five employees, or if they have somewhat more than five
employees, but are barred by legal technicalitles from electiDC a shop steward.

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Chapter VI.-PROBLEMS OF ORGANIZATION
BUSINESS PROCEDURE

The current business activities of the works council are carried
on by its two chairmen, one from the wae;eworkers and one from the
salaried employees. 1 If the works council has more than eight members, its affairs are taken care of by an executive committee of five
members, including the two chairmen. The executive committee
or the two chairmen alone have the full power to represent the council before the employer or before a board of adjustment.
The first session of the works council must be called by the election committee not later than one week after the elections have taken
place. .All other sessions are called by the majority chairman who
prepares the agenda and presides at the meetings. Specia:l meetings
of the works council must be called at the request of either the employer or of not less than one-fourth of all the employees in the establishment.
In addition to the sessions to which the employer is invited, he
has a right to participate in all sessions which he himself initiates.
He may also preside at the session of the works council. This provision has brought out a curious clash, very far-reaching in its effect,
between a principle and the requirements of common sense. The law
provides that the employer may under given circumstances participate in the meetings of the works council, but does not make it
obligatory for him to attend a session when invited. It also provides
that in joint sessions the works council may offer the chairmanship
to the employer but does not make it obligatory for it to do so. As
a result of this laxity of the law, there arose a number of disputes,
of which the following may serve as an illustration: 2
A shipbuilding company at Gestemunde requested of its works
council that in all sessions in which the management was to participate the chairmanghip be ~iven to the representative of the firm.
This request was made a sme qua non £or the firm's participation
in the joint sessions. The works council refused the request. The
case went to a board of adjustment, which merely decided that there
was no way of compelling the employer to attend the sesgions of
the works council, and that the two parties must agree among themselves as to who should :preside at the meetings. The Socialist Metal
·workers' Union, to which the majority of the workers of the firm
belong, called the attention of the mimster of labor to this impasse
and requested a final decision. This was ~endered on May 11, 1920,
and reads as follows:
The chairmanship remains in the hands of the works council unless it
voluntarily offers it to the employer. The employer can not, however, be
compelled to attend the sessions of the works council, otherwise the works
council law would have had to provide the means by which this should be
accomplished.
, The desire to give adequate representation to the minority group has led to an overemphasis of its rights. Thus, if it happens that the minority has but one representative
in the works council, this member must be elected to the executive committee and must
also become one of the two chairmen of the works council.
1 Der Betriebsrat, 1920, No. 9, p. 91.

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PROBLEMS OF ORGANIZATION

So much for the legal side of the question. In practice the works
councils, as a rule, refused to give up the chairmanship and the
employers, who would not take part in meetings presided over by
one -of their emplo1.ees, stubbornly stayed away from the S88sions
of the works councils. The result is that up to this time no actual
joint sessions are known to have taken place, unless the council
voluntarily offered the chairmanship to the employer. Thus the
most important point of contact between the two parties was sacrificed to a principle, with the workers decidedly on the losing side.
Some of the most hostile employers refused to have anything
whatever to do with their workers' representatives, by absolutely
ignoring them. Other employer1:1 continue to have business relations
with their works councils, but instead of coming to the meetings
of the council they merely invite the two chairmen or the entire
executive committee to their own office and there transact the necessary business in a semiofficial manner. The works council then takes
up the problems suggested by the employer at its regular session,
and the decisions are relayed to the firm, either in the same manner
as the propositions were made or by mail or telephone. Most of
the larger plants have organized a legal department (Sozi<ile or
Llr-beitsrechtlicM .Abteuung) which is used as a means of communication and as a buffer between the employer and the workers' representatives.
The sessions of the works council must take place outside the regular hours of work. Only members of the council are permitted to
attend. At the request of one-fourth of the total number of employees in the establishment, one delegate from each union having
members in the establishment may be admitted to the sessions, but
in an advisory capacity only. Similarly a delegate from the employer's economic organization must be admitted at the request of
the employer, but only to sessions in which the employer himself
has a right to participate.
•
In case of necessity the meetings of the works council may take
place during the regular hours of work. Due notice must be given
to the employer of all such sessions that take place durin~ working
hours. In spite of the fact that the law does not regmre it, the
employers found it advantageous to both sides to permit the works
councils to meet at more or less regular intervals during working
hours, the works councils merely bemg required to notify the management of such sessions.
A meeting of the works council is lawful only when a written
announcement of the order of business has been sent to all the members of the council. Half of the membership constitutes a quorum.
The decisions are made by a majority of the members present. All
sessions of the works council must be recorded. The decisions and
votes must be recorded as passed and must be signed by the chairman
and some member of the council. If the employer has taken part
in the meeting, he too must sign the minutes and is given a duplicate copy. The representatives of the minority group, if they regard a decision of the works council as a serious injury to the interests of the group they represent, are entitled to express their
opinion in a minority resolution and present the same to the
employer.

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COSTS AND EXPENSES

The office of a workers' representative is honorary and the members of the various councils are required to serve without any remuneration. Their duty is lirst and foremost to do the kind of
work for which they were originally hired and for which they continue to receive the usual wages or salaries even after having been
elected to office. No deductions, however, from their pay are permitted for the "necessary loss of time" spent in performing the
duties of a workers' representative or in special consultation hours
which are to be arranged in all establishments having 100 and more
employees.8 During these hours the chairman or any other member of the works council must be in the office in order to receive the
complaints or the suggestions of the workers.
The phrase "necessary loss of time" is not defined by the law.
and this deficiency caused various difficulties which can best be illustrated by the following two decisions rendered by the Mannheim
Board of Adjustment in two very similar cases:•
1. The members of the wageworkers' council are not entitled to receive pay
for the time lost by them on a<'Count of difficulties in the plant during which
the entire plant was at a standstill. It was not contested by the firm that
during this time the members of the wageworkers' council did everything in
their power to bring about an agreement between the employees and the firm,
but the office of a workers' representative is not remunerative and as the entire
plant was not at work, the ·members of the council did not lose any time and
are, therefore, not entitled to receive pay for it.
2. The firm must pay the members of the works council for the two hours
during which a demonstration took .place in the plant. The members of the
works council did not participate in the demonstration, but, in accordance with
their duties, were busy in conferen_ce between the rebellious employees and
the manager. There were a few other workers in the plant who· also did not
participate in the demonstration and who were paid for the work done during
theRe two hours. Were the members of the works council not to be paid for
the time lost in the conference, it would place them at a special disadvantage
merely because of their being workers' renresentatives.

The correctness of the two decisions from a legal point of view is
not questioned here. The two cases are presented in order to show
on what circumst~ntial factors the defuiition of a. "necessary loss
of time" may depend. 41
To avoid the numerous complications arising from the different
interpretations of the time lost by members of the various councils, the employers of a great many of the larger concerns reached
a definite understanding with their works councils as to the exact amount of time the members might require each week in order
to perform their official duties as workers' representatives. The
total amount of " free" time agreed upon includes the time spent
in sessions held during the hours of work, but does not include the
special consultation hours which must be specified separately. The
usual custom has been to free entirely from daily factory routine
one or both chairmen and sometimes even the entire executive committee of the works council; to subtract their time from the total
free time agreed upon and to divide the difference among the other
members of the council. The workers' representatives a.re allowed
• Article 76 ot the works oouncll Jaw.
'Das Schlichtungswesen, 1921, No. 10.
For other cases see the reports of the Government Industrial inspectors, 1920 and 1921.

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PROBLEMS OF ORGANIZATION

to leave their jobs in the factory at any time. They are merely -required to report to their superiors before they quit working and
when they again resume it.
In addition to the free time, the employers also carry all the
necessary costs of the business management of the works councils,
including the personal expenses incurred by the members while ~erforming their duties. The employers must also provide converuent
quarters for the meetings, for the consultation hours, and for the
transaction of the current affairs of the councils, as well as the necessary writing materials and literature.
The problem of office expenses seems to have caused very few
dis:putes. The employers, as a rule, have been willing to provide
their works councils with satisfactory headquarters. Some of the
very large concerns even pride themselves on the elegant and
spacious offices fitted out for their workers' representatives and use
them as a means of advertising. In such cases the offices are
perfectly equipped, and the works councils have at their disposal
not only telephones and typewriters but also one or two stenographers and other office assistants.
The total annual costs of the entire institution of works councils
to the employers have not as yet been ascertained. Individual
employers, however, have attempted to make an estimate of their
expenses incurred in connection with the system of workers' representatives in their plants.6 These range from about 21 marks per
single. employee per annum for the 50,000 employees of a large
concern in Berlin, in 1921 (average value of the dollar about 75
marks), to 93 marks per head for another concern having about
5,000 employees in the same year. In the district of Merseburg,
Prussia, the largest plant, with 15,364 employees, ~alculated its
expenses for 1921 to have been a.bout 350,000 marks, or about 23
marks per single employee, while a smaller plant in the same
district, with but 800 employees, incurred during the same year a
total expense of 87,600 marks, or somewhat over 105 marks per
single employee.'
• • These costs Include not only the direct eQeDses ot the works council but also nch
expenses as were caused by the maintenance of legal departments and advisers to Interpret the works council law and by the numerous Iltlgatlone before the boards of adjustment or labor courts in disputes arlslns from the law.
' Reports of the Industrial inspectors, Merseburg, Prussia, 1921.

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Chapter VII.-FUNCTIONS OF WORKERS' REPRESENTATIVES

GENERAL DUTIES OF WORKS COUNCILS

The duties of works councils are :1
1. To advise 'With the marw,gement /or the pwrpoae of aeC'U#'inl,g
the higheat poasible effeck'IW'!I a'TUl, the greateat 8CO'll,()'1n,'JJ of production in the plant.
.
·
The abstract nature of this requirement makes it necessarily
void of any practical significance. Besides, it presupposes a class
of emplo:rers willing to consult their worke:r;s' representatives -0n
matters which do not directly affect the interests of the employees
and which, until vecy recently, have been the undisputed domain
of the owner of the establishment.
Indeed, the obligation on the part of the workers' representatives to assist in the management of the works seems naive in view
of the stubborn fight the employers put up against the passage
of the works council law and their strong and persist_ent efforts
to confine the activities of the works councils strictly within the
limits of the law. On the one hand, there is no provision -in the
law compelling the employers to consult their workers' representatives if they do not desire to do so. On the other ha.n~J the works
councils are e~ressly denied the right to interfere in the management of works on their own initiative. Wherever attempts have
been made by works councils, without being asked, to impose
their views upon an unwilling employer, they were reprimanded
by the legal authorities for overstepping the bounds prescribed to
them by Jaw.
.
Cases are not rare, however, where the em:eloyers found it to
their advantage to appl:y to their works councils for assistance in
industrial difficulties, and where they actually obtained the· desired
cooperation. One large sawmill in the district of Koni~berg petitioned the Government for the extension of a canal wliich would
enable the mill to get its supply of logs by a direct water route.
The petition of the firm was rejected, 1:iecause the Government felt
the extension was costly and too complicated. The employer called
a meeting of the workers' representatives and explained to them
that unless the Government granted the extension of the canal the
mill would be forced to shut down because of the irrewiiarity of
the supply of logs and because of the large expenses mcurred in
transporting them from the source of supply by a combined water
and rail route. The works council i.mn).ediately •sent a special delegation to the Government authorities and succeeded in procuring
for the firm the desired extension of the canal.11
• Article 66 of the works council law.
• Reports of the industrial inspeeton,, Prussia, 1921, pp. 20, 21,

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FUNCTIONS OF WORKERS' REPRESENTATIVES

Similarly the management of a large locomotive plant appointed
the chairman of the wage workers' council as a member on the
special commission formed to keep the works continually supplied_
with the necess8J!y railroad cars. The workers' representative
proved so efficient in his work on the commission that the company
gave him a vote of thanks and made him chairman of this commission.
~- To cooperate with the management in the introduction of new
methods of work.
There are two ways in which the workers' representatives may
cooperate with their employers in the introduction of new methods
of work. They can help the employer introduce the methods devised by the management or they may offer suggestions of their
own.
In the first case, the functions of the works councils are more or
less indirect. The German labor movement has long been on record
as not opposing the introduction of new machinery or new processes
of work, and there are very few disputes to be settled on this score.
The workers' representatives are merely required to help the management in adjusting the difficulties and problems which naturally
arise as a result of the changes in the technique of production. These
problems include the dismissal of those employees who have become
superfluous because of the changes made, their replacement by a
different group of workers, rearrangement in the hours of work,
etc. Whether arising out of changes in the technique of production
or from other causes, these problems supply the chief routine occupation of the workers' representatives.
In the matter of making suggestions of their own, the works
councils have up to the present time made but very little progress.
They have been hampered by the general indifference of the workers
to such problems and by the hostile attitude of many employers.
The majority of the employees, as some of the workers' re_presentatives admit with regret, are interested solely in the immediate questions of ·wages and hours of work and pay little or no attention to
problems of technique and machinery. Should some of them happen
to be more ingenious and think of a new scheme or invent a new piece
of machinery, they prefer to take it directly to the management,
which, as a rule, offers to pay premiums for any practical suggestion coming directly from an employee but not through the works
councils. The latter are_, therefore, deprived of any opportunity to
do valuable work in this connection.
3. To safeguard jhe inilmury agaimt disturbances. ParticulO/l'ly
to call up()'II, the boo:rds of aajmtment in all disputes between the
employer anil the empl<Y!JeeB WM'fl, CO'll,ciUati()'II, lJ,y conference rw
longer seems possible.
This section introduces at once the problem of the strike. What
are the duties of a workers' representative in case of a strike¥ The
law makes it incumbent upon him to use all means at his command
to prevent a strike or any other interference with the continuation
of production. Even when a strike is called by the union in connection with some matter not directly under the jurisdiction of the
works council, the workers' representatives are not permitted to
lead the strike. They are required to use their authority to bring

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

about an agreement between the employer and the union, and, in
event of failure, to call upon the board of adjustment to settle the
dispute in a peaceable manner.
In order to " safeguard the industry against disturbances " the
workers' representatives must be very careful in considering the
various demands the workers may choose to have them present to
the employers. The works council is required by law to do the bidding of the employees, but only when it is certain that such demands
will not result in some kind of disturbance or interruP.tion of production in the plant. The members of the works council can be held
individually or collectively responsible for the interruption in production, and if found guilty the individual members or the whole
council may be impeached by a board of adjustment. 8
The employers generally admit that the works councils have succeeded in eliminating a great number of the so-called " wild," or unauthorized, strikes. The workers know now that the best way to
obtain a hearing of their case is to appeal to a member of the works
council rather than quarrel with the foreman and run the danger
of being dischar~ed. This in itself has eliminated. a great deal of
unnecessary friction. Besides, the workers' representatives, schooled
by their every-day experience, are now better able to handle individual cases with the least possible disturbance to the plant as a whole.
4. To see to it that the deciBi<>nB of the boards of adjUBtment or
any other mediation agency are actually earned out.
The decisions of the boards of adjustment are not effective unless
accepted by both sides or declared compulsory by the proper authorities.' Then they become the equivalent of a contract or a collective
agreement? and it is the duty of the works councils to take care that
these decisions, and, for that matter, all other agreements, are carried
out in practice.
The works councils have, however, no executive power to force the
employers to carry out the various agreements. All that the workers representatives can do is to remind the employer of the existing
discrepancy or report it to the union, which may then take action
against the guilty employer for breach of contract. They may also
induce the individual workmen affected by the failure of the employer to comply with the agreement to sue him for damages in the
labor courts. 5
6. To further the solidarUy wi,thin the ranks of the employees, as
well aB between them and the employer, OJnd to uphold the <JQ'fl,8titutional rivht 8 of the workers to organise.
The right ol the workers to organize can be restricted either by
other workers in the same plant or by the employer. The majority
of workers belonging to one union may exert pressure upon the
minority which may not be organized or which may belong to a
different organization. Or the employer himself may choose to favor
one _union or _th~ unorganized workers as against the organized.
In either case 1t is the duty of the members of the works council to
see that the rights of the minority or of the individual workers are
• Articles 30 and 41.
• The minister of labor or the s~ial arbitrators.
For labor courts, see Ch. IX : 'Mediation and arbitration machinery"
• The " Vereinlgunsfrelheit," or the right to organize was granted to the German workers by article 1119 of the Weimar constitution.
1

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FUNCTIONS OF WORKERS' BEPBESENTA'IlV.ES

not molested. The law does not provide fot any definite action to be
taken by the workers' representatives against such offenses, and the
works council can resort only to moral suasion as a means of bringing the offenders-employer or employees-to terms.
Should, however, any member of the works council be iruilty of
interference with the workers' right to organize, or should the werks
council as a body remain inactive in the face of such infringement
upon the workers' right, it makes itself or its guilty member subjed;
to impeachment by a board of adjustment. The attitude of the legal
authorities in this matter is clear and can be illustrated by the
following characteristic example: 7
On September 17, 1921, the board of adjustment at Krefeld rendered the following decision:
The firm X which, under the pressure of the majority of its employees, dls<:harged the complainant because of his refusal to join the union, is held fully
responsible for its action. It did nothing to counteract the illegal demand of
its employees and is therefore to pay the discharged worker the full sum of
damages applied for. The works council, too, did nothing in this case to dissuade the workers from their illegal demand, and the employer ls hereby requested to enter a claim for its impeachment because of a serious violation
of its official duties.

6. To take up the complaints of the employees and to effect their
redress thrO'Ugh conferences with the employers.
This section deals primarily with the complaints of individuaI
workers. The usual order of procedure in dealing with a complaint
is as follows: The worker goes to any representative of his group
or directly to the group council during the regular consultation
hours. The complaint is then taken up for consideration at the next
session of the council. If in the judgment of the council the complaint is justified, the matter is taken up with the management. In
event of disagreement, the only action the works counml can then
undertake is to apply to a labor court for _a final decision, as the
boards of adjustment can not now be called upon to settle individual disputes. 8
7. To take an active part in all campaigns agai,nst industrial accidents and against conditions menacing tne health of the workers in
the factory; to assist the Government ind'U8trial inspectors wilh advice and proper information and to see that all the police and safety
Teg__ulations are carried out in the plant.
Compulsory factory inspection has existed in Germany since 1878.
The supervision of the hygienic conditions in the factories and the
enforcement of the labor protective laws lie in the hands of the
Government industrial inspectors, who are now being assisted by
the works councils. The latter have thus become an executive
agency of the Government. The cooperation of the works councils
with mdustrial inspectors and the employers is usuall_y in the form
of a special safety commission on which each of the three parties is
represented by an equal number of members. This commission acts as
an independent body in all investigations of industrial accidents,
as well as in its campaigns for better safety conditions, but the
members are required to make periodic reports to their respective
organizations.
'Clemens N6rpel: Aus der Betrlebsrllte Praxis, Vol. II, p. 106.
8 According to the arbitration decree of October 30, 1923,

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

In their official reports for the _years 1920 to 1922, the industrial
inspectors speak of the gradually mcreasing activity of the workers'
representatives in the field of factory inspection and their salutary
influence on the rank and file of em_ployees. In addition to the
direct help rendered to the officials durmg their inspection tours and
in investigations of accidents, the works councils arrange for special
lectures on hygiene, on the necessity of keeping order in the plant,
and on the importance of strict obedience to the factory regulations
and the use of the safety devices installed in order to avoid accidents.
The industrial inspector of the district of Liegnitz, Prussia, says
among other things: 8
·
But their chief accomplishment [referring to the activltles of the works
councils] consists in persuading the workers. to make use of the safety devices
and installations to avoid accidents in the plants. In the field of health preservation the works councils in the larger plants accomplished a great deal.
They paid special .atttintion to the installation an(J the proper upkeep of washing and bathing facilities, sanitary toilets, dressing rooms, dining and . entertainment halls, etc. They also took care that the unnecessary gases, dust,
and other foreign elements were regularly removed from the workshops.

Th0 report of the industrial inspector at Konigsberg reads: 10
In matters of cleanliness and preserving the health of the workers, the works
councils have made many· contributions, paying special attention to the supplying of fresh water, clean resting places, and s=;i.nitary wash rooms and toilets.
In one pulp mill a special committee of the workers' representatives inspects the
entire establishment at regular intervals and reports the findings to the employer
and the Government Inspector. In another establishment a similar committee
decided to protect the workers against dangers from infection by having all
employees submit regularly to medical examinations with special attention to
optical and venereal diseases. In still a third place all the apprentices were
required to attend a course in first aid given regularly In the plant, under the
supervision of the works council.

8. To cooperate with the employer in the a,d,minutratW'II, of the
workers' Uv1111,g quarters belonging to the pluJnt, in the a.dminutration
of the variom benefit fwnds, and in the admimstratW'II, of any other
workers' welfare organization, pro'Vided, the employees have not
alJrea.dy other representatives in accordance with previously ewisting
'1'6gulations.
·
A number of disputes have arisen over the extent of the work
councils' cooperation with the employers in the administration of
the workers' living quarters belonginp to the plant. The chief
problem has beeri whether the workers ref resentatives should participate only in the formulating of genera rules for the renting of
the guarters or whether their cooperation should include the actual
rentmg and management of the quarters. On this question a very
significant decision was inade by the board of adjustment in Dortmund on March 7, 1922 : 11
The board drew a ·distinction between the meaning of workers'
cooperation in the field of production and in the field of workers'
welfare. · In the first case, the decision stated, participation can not
be on equal terms, as it was not the intent of the works council law
to have the works council encroach upon the individual property
rights of the owner of the plant. Welfare organizations, however,
• Reports of the industrial inspectors, Prul!l!ia, 1921, pp. 210, 211.
•Idem p. 5.
11 Dus Schllchtungswesen, 1022, Xo. 10.

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FUNCTIONS OF WORKERS' REPRESENTATIVES

and the living quarters belonging to the plant, are established :primarily for the workers. The existence of such welfare orgaruzations and workers' living quarters in the plant bears a definite relationship to wages and the. general working conditions in that plant.
In the second case, therefore, participation means cooperation with
equal rights in the actual management as well as in all decisions.
ADDITIONAL DUTIES FOR GROUP COUNCILS

The members of the group councils ( wageworkers' council and
salaried employees' council) have, within their own sphere of
activity, duties similar to those of the works council,12 but in addition they are required1. To cooperate with the employers in the regulation of wages
and other conditions of work in those industries where no wage
contract exists in the introduction of new methods of renumeration; in the determination of regular daily hours of work, and
especially when the regular hours must be shortened or lengthened;
in the regulation of vacations for employees, and in the consideration
of complaints concerning the instruction and treatment of the apprentices in the ylant.
2. To agree with the employer upon rules regulating the employment and dismissals of the members in the respective groups, m
case this has not yet been taken up in a wage agreement with the
union.
·
3. To be particularly concerned with the wounded war veterans
and the employees injured in the plant and assist in providing them
with work :fitted to their strength and capacity.
INTERESTS OF THE PUBLIC CONSIDERED

In performing their tasks the workers' representatives must
always have the interests of the community at heart. It is their
duty so to influence the employer and the employees that any demands or actions on either part which may be detrimental to the
interests of the community shall be abandoned. This provision
was supposed to be merely a guide for the activities of the works
councils. Under favorable circumstances, however, it mayf·ve the
workers' representatives powers far beyond those specifie in the
law. For example, in tlie interests of the community the works
council may at any time demand a report on the process of determining the price of a commodity, or forbid the export or import of
an;y article. In practice these powers have been used very seldom,
and in the only instance reported by the Betriebsrittepost ( an organ
of the United Christian Trade-Unions), the board of adjustment
denied the works council the right in the interests of the community to inquire into the amount of goods exported by the :firm
and into the pure profits the company made from the sale of the
exported commodity. The same provision to protect the· interests
of the public may also be used against the works council itself, if by
word or deed it causes dissension or disturbance in an industry in
which the public may be vitally concerned.
u Th1s ls also trne of the shOp ateward and the united works eounell, the lowest and
the highest form of workers' revresentatlon.

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WORKS OOUNOIL :MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

WORKS COUNCILS DEVOID OF EXECUTIVE POWERS

The carrying out of all the agreements and joint decisions is left
entirely in the hands of the employer or his mana~r. The works
council is :r;>rohibited from encroaching upon the rights of the emplc;,yer by 1SSuing orders independently of the management. This
provision definitely places the executive powers in all cases in the
hands of the management. In fact, it was only after a long and
bitter struggle that the works councils were finally granted the
right to make announcements of their own and were permitted to
use the works bulletin boards for that purpose.
In the majority of establishments the works councils must send a
copy of their announcement to the management for approval.
Unless approved, the announcements may not be placed upon the
bulletin board. Other establishments require that a copy of the
announcement be sent to the management only as a matter of official
record, posting bei~ permitted without the express approval of the
management. In still other firms, the works councils have agreed
with their em:r;>loyers that no announcements are to be postea by
either party without previously securing the approval of the other
side. In event of disagreement the announcement may be poste(l
on the bulletin board, but it must contain the statement that the
announcement had been presented to the other side and had not been
approved.

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Chapter VIII.-WORKS COUNCILS AND COLLECTIVE
BARGAINING
Wages and general conditions of work in Germany are regulated

by three kinds of agreements: The general collective agreement, the

works agreement, and the individual contract. The general coliective agreement (Tarifvertrag) is concluded between a single
employer or a, group of employers in a trade, and a single union or a
group of unions representing t!1e empl?yees i~ t~1e trade. The works
or factory agreement (Betriebsvereznoarung J 1s concluded between
the owner of a single plant or a number of plants and the workers'
representatives in the plants. The individual contract is made between the employer and the individual worker at the time of hiring.
The individual contract, which predominated before the war, has
now lost all its significance. It is limited to the narrow group of
highly skilled specialists whose wages and conditions of work are not
covered by a collective agreement. On the other hand, since the
revolution the general collective agreement has become the accepted
means of stipulating terms of employment, wages, and other conditions of work.
COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS

Collective bargaining has been known in Germany since 1848. At
that time the workers in the printing trades in a number of cities
struck for the right to participate in the determination of conditions
of labor in their industry. The strike failed, but local collective
agreements were concluded in many cities, including Leipzig, the
most important printing center in Germany. Generally, however,
organized labor and organized capital, especially, were opposed to
this method of regulating conditions of work. The collective agreements, although used to a large extent during the war due to the
pressure of the Imperial Government, made, as a matter of fact, but
little headwav before the revolution.
The first official recognition of collective bargaining by both organized capital and organized labor took place in the now famous
agreement between the three major trade-union m;ganizations, Socialist, Christian, and Hirsch-Dunker, and the United Employers'
Associations of Germany, on November 15, 1918. This important
document, termed the " Magna Charta " of German labor, contained
the following provisions referring to collective agreements:
1. The trade-unions are recognized as the official representatives of labor.
2. Conditions of work for all employees are to be regulated by collective
agreements between the employers and the unions concerned.
3. In establishments with 50 or more employees special workers' committees
are to be elected whose duties it shall be to see thn.t the stipulations of the
collective agreements are carried out.

The official adoption of collective bargaining by organized labor
and capital was followed by its legal sanction by the provisional

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

government in the decree of December 23, 1918. The Government
added at this time two ve:·y important provisions to the system of
collective bargaining as outline<fby the agreement above. The first
provision stipulated that any other contract concluded between the
parties affected by a general collective agreement and not conforming
to the agreement should be null and void. The second provision
made it possible for collective agreements to be declared binding for
a whole trade or an entire industry in the country1 thus extending
the influence of these agreements far beyond the lillillediate fields
covered by them.
The effect of this law and of the agreement of November 15, 1918,
upon the progress of collective bargaining in Germany may be seen
from the following table. It represents the number of establishments and employees in ~he various industries covered by collective
agreements in 1918 and m 1919, only one year after the law went
into effect.1
NUMBER OF ESTABLISHMENTS AND WORKERS COVERED BY COLLECTIVE
AGREEMENTS, 1918 AND 1919
Establishments

Persons covered

1918

1919

1918

it~
919

9,265
41,368
1,482
1,924
27,898
1 26,790
41,303
280
14,534
5,501
31,098
1,901
1,482
2,322
3,217
10,256
4,556
17,487
24,828
5,759

5,293
141,451
6,968
1,563
141,229
34,589
63,407
2,576
7,690
43,440
282,430
481
743
35,142
26,794
68,298
111,399
38,916
120,114
15,167

90,577
437,195
177,226
22,224
327,581
1 134, 786
243,950
16,591
145,444
81,152
1,463,032
1,372,628
14,100
122,511
158,213
95,785
332,277
168,426
305,298
277,479

107, li03

273,251

1,127,690

5,986,475

Industry

Agriculture and fisheries_______________________________
Building __________________________ - -------------------Chemicals ____________________________________________ •
Cleaning and sanitation________________________________
Clothing ____________________________________ ----------·
Commerce.--------··------- _____ ---------------------·
Food, drink; and tobacco_______________________________

740
23,475
56
:167
12,485
2, 513
11,629

Leather •• __________________ ··-·-----------------------Metal working and machinery_-----------------------·

l~'i':'In1l~~¥~aiiis:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

1, ~
4, 965
10,983

t::~~i:i~s:g:~r~===================================
~~Wery and china______________________________________

~:g:i

Printing_-····------------------------ - ------ ---------Textiles. ________ ----- - -- -- - - - • - - - - -- -- - ---- -- - - - - -- - - -•

U,. 551
8, 063

~~'&ng_:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Miscellaneous.. ___ • _____ ···-··-- __ •.• _. -- -- _-- __ ______ __

Total •••• _______ --------· _•• __ ----· _. ___ ---------

r-------+-----!-

1919

I Includes 6 insurance offices, covering 669 persons.

According to ~he reports. of the Reichsarbeitsblatt of February 1,
1923, the followrng collective ~agreements were concluded in 1921 :
NUMBER OF COLLECTIVE AGREEME_NTS CONCLUDED IN 1921
Collective
agreements

Establish-

Wsgeworkers
--------------------Salaried
employees
________________

11,488
1,481

697,476
145,487

12,882,874
1,811,300

Total ____________ -- ----------

12,969

842,963

14,694,174

Employees

ments

• International Labor Office: Collecttve Ap-eements In German,.

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Persons
covered

Geneva, 1921, p. 578.

WORKS COUNCIL AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Most of these a~reements are applicable to a whole trade or to an
entire industry within a single district, or even for the entire country. 2 They must, therefore, necessarily be of a general and loose
nature in order to allow for the differences existing among the
various localities and in the separate establishments. The differences are taken care of by the factory a~eements between the
individual employers and the works councils. These agreements
constitute the "Arbeitsordnung" or factor7 regulations and are
sometimes called the "Betriebsverfassung' or the works constitution, as they, together with the collective agreements, play a very
important role in the new system of workers' rights (Das Neue
Arbeitsreaht).
FACTORY AGREEMENTS

The requirement of published factory regulations in each establishment has existed in Germany since 1891, when it became part of
the new industrial regulations order. 3 In accordance with the same
law, the regulations were to be taken up for consideration with the
shop committee if such existed in the establishment, or with a
group of the older employees in the factory. Although the absolute
rights of the employers in their establishments were left more or
less intact, the factory regulations requirement of 1891 represented
the first serious limitation of the master and servant theory, or the
" Herrn im Hause " spirit which at that time prevailed in the German factories.
By the national service law of December 5, 1916, the employers
were forced to present the factory regulations for approval to the
new compulsory shop committees which were established under the
same law. Finally, the works council law gave to the workers'
representatives equal rights with the employers in preparing the
factory regulations. These become effective only when signed by
both parties, or by a board of adjustment, which is the sole body
authorized to take the place of either party.
All factory agreements must be made to correspond with the
stipulations of the collective agreements existing in the trade. But
since they deal with the more detailed problems and the peculiar
differences inherent in individual establishments, the formulation oi
the factory regulations was attended by more difficulties than were
the collective agreements. The works council law required that the
new regulations be prepared and signed before September 1, 1920,'
but in spite of this clause in the law, the reports of the Government
industrial inspectors for 1922 speak of a great number of smaller
and even larger plants as still being without factory regulations.
The delay was due chiefly to disagreement existing between the employers and the workers' representatives over the contents of these
regulations. In some plants the sections of the regulations on which
the two parties could agree were signed at once, while the disputed
parts were left for the final decision of a board of adjustment. In
other plants, the board of adjustment which was appealed to either
• 83.1 per eent of the total number of employees affected by collective agreements in
1921 were covered by district or na.ttonal agreements.
• Die Gewerbeordnung, secs. 134a-134k.
'Art. 80.

22477°-25--4

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by the employer or the works council, because the other party refused to sign the regulations, provided the necessary signature and
thus made the regulations effective.
PROBLEMS OF FINES AND GATE CONTROL

The chief obstacles in the way of agreement on the factory regulations were the questions of fines, of searching the workers for stolen
tools or materials, and of hiring and discharging of employees.
The matter of fines had been worked out .more or less in detail
in the Industrial Code of 1859. Since the revolution, however, the
workers demanded the complete abolition of fines in the factories.
This demand was not realized. Instead, the workers' representatives
were given the right to cooperate with their employers in imposing
the fines prescribed by the Industrial Code. But the works council
law does not state explicitly whether the workers' representatives
are to participate only in preparing the gentiral rules according to
which the fines are to be imposed, or in actual imposition of the individual fine in each case.
Scarcely any other clause in the works council law has caused so
many disputes as that relating to fines. No less than 50 decisions
regarding fines were · made by the various authorities during. the
first two years of the existence of the law. These, however, were so
conflicting that neither the employers nor the workers can point to
any one decision as a precedent for their claims. There is a somewhat more authoritative weight on the side of the workers, as their
claims are supported by a decision of the minister of labor which
coincides also with the opinions of such experts in the field of works
councils as Professor Erdel and Doctor Flatow.
But in practice the decision of each board of adjustment is binding
:for the particular establishment concerned. The result is that while
in some establishments the works councils cooperate with their employers in each individual case of imposing a fine, in other establishments they merely participate in the preparation of the general
rules and leave the executive power of imposing the fines to the
employers themselves.
Complications have also arisen in the question of a gate control
system and the close searching of workers upon leaving the plant.
The continued depreciation of the mark since 1920, which often
made any tool or a :few pieces of copper, leather, or silk more valuable than a whole week's wages, resulted in an exceedingly large
increase of thievery among the workers. The situation became so
desperate that even the most radical works councils admitted the
need of some kind o:f gate control to apprehend the guilty. What
many of them objected to so violently was the cruelty of the guards
and the arbitrary methods used in the searching of the workers.
Very often innocent employees were subjected to this cruel treatment merely because they had incurred the displeasure o:f the
employer or of some foreman.
The works councils demanded that they be consulted as to the
kind of gate control to be used. They also reguested that one o:f them
be allowed to be present at the gate and m the room where the
workers were being searched. The employers refused these demands,
and the struggle was long drawn out. In the majority o:f estab-

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WO!tKS COUNCIL ANI> COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

lishments, however, these demands of the works councils, which
were supported by the unions, were granted. The workers' representatives succeeded in introducin~ an impersonal and official atmosphere into a proceeding which, m any other spirit, might bring
humiliation to a worker subjected to a close personal search.
m:amG DD DISCHA.B.GD'G

The cooperation of the works councils in the hiring and discharging of employees has developed out of the revolutionary demands of
the workers to have a right to their jobs. As already stated elsewhere,11 this demand was the cause of many a serious strike in the
spring of 1919. The strikes resulted in a number of agreements which
conferred upon the then existing shop committees a large measure
of control in the matter of hiring and discharging of employees.
The works council l'aw, however_, does not go so far as did these
agreements. In the case of hiring mdividual workers, the law states
merely that no worker shall be refused employment because of his
or her political, military, religious, or trade-union activities, or for
belonging or not belonging to an organization furthering such activities.• The works councils were given the right to receive any
complaints that might arise in this connection. They are required
to take the matter up first with the employer and in the event of disagreement, with the board of adjustment. In the case of mass hiring,
the employer is required to notify the workers' representatives about
his plans some time before the actual hiring is undertaken, so that
the works council may have sufficient time to communie'ate with the
union or the official labor exchange operating in the district. In all
cases, however, the final decision and the executive powers are left
solely in the hands of the employer. The utmost a works council
can do is to appeal to 'a board of adjustment, which alone has the
right to overrule the employers.
In the matter of discliarging employees, the rights of the works
councils are somewhat more extensive. The whole problem of dismissing employees is divided into mass and individual dismissals,
and the latter mto regular and summary dismissals.
Until very recently m'ass discharging was regulated by a special
law, passed on February 12, 1920, and known as the "work stretching" law. This law provided that no employer should undertake
to discharge a considerable number of his employees until after the
work in his establishment had been " stretched " by putting all employees on a part-time b'asis. Only when it had been proved that
the nature of the industry would not permit of part-time employment, or that the part-time had to be reduced to less than three days
per week, could the employer proceed with the dismissals. He was
then obliged to follow closely the regulations which explicitly prescribed the order in which the employees should be dismissed. This
section of the law was repealed by the decree of October 15, 1923,
which gave the employers full freedom in the field of mass disch'arging.
• Chap. II, pp. 11 and 12.
•Art. 81.

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WORKS COUNOll, MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

As in the case of mass employment, however? the employers are
required to notify the workers' representatives m adva.nce of their
-intentions to dismiss a considerable part of their employees. In
addition, each individual worker discharfed may, withm a definite
time Ii.nut after having received 'a notice o discharge protest against
his dismissal to his group council Grounds for such a protest may
be (1) that the notice was ~ven without a stated reason for the dismissal; (2) that the dismissal resulted because o~ the emplo:y~e's
refusal constantly to do other work than th'at for which he was hired,
or_ ·(3) that the dismissal constitutes an "unfair disadvantage" to
the employee, not justified by his or her behavior in the plant, or
by the economic conditions in the industcy'.
In his book, "Aus der Betriebsrate Praxis," Clemens Norpel
gives about 35 ·cases of dismissals which have been reversed by the
vario~s boards of adjustment because they ~presented an unfair
disadvantage to the employees concerned." Some of these cases
follow:
t. A boa;rd of adjustment at Diisseldorf reversed the discharge of
a 60-year old man who demanded payment in accordance with the
regular rates established by the collective agreement in the trade.
2. Similar action was taken by a board of adjustment in Munich
in the case of a worker discharged because of his refusal to act as
a strike breaker.'
3. A board of adjustment in Stuttgart nullified the dismissal of
a worker who appealed to the court in order to make the employer
obey a decision rendered by another board of adjustment.
4. An office girl was dischar~d on account of repeated absence
because of illness and the necessity of undergoing a cure prescribed
~y the State insurance office. The dismissal was reversed by the
board of adjustment of Berlin as constituting an unfair disad.
vantage to the girl.
5. A board of adj-qstment in Berlin considered an unfair disadvantage the dismissal of a stoker in a glass factory who, contrary to the orders issued, did not prepare the furnace for the next
-shift; because he knew that the next shift would go on strike-as
actually happened;
·
Upon receipt of the protest of the dismissed worker, the works
council is required to arrange for a session to decide whether or not
the protest is to be approved. If the complaint of ·the worker is
not approved, the dismissal takes effect and the discharged emplo:ree may not even appeal to the board. of adjustment. But if the
workers' representatives concur with the protest, the works council
must arran~ for a ·conference with ·the employer and attempt to
·persuade him to reconsider the dismissal. In event of disa~eement between the works c~uncil and the employer, the disnussal
takes effect, but the· dismissed worker or the works council has a
right to appeal within a week to the board of· adjustment for a final
decision.•
A decision in favor of the worker does not,· however, compel the
employer to reinstate the discharged employee. He ma_y choose the
alternative, which is to pay the discharged. man a definite sum of
' Vol. 2, p, 183.
8 Since October 80, 1928, the place of the board of adjustment in BUCh cases has bPen
take11 by an Industrial or commercial court.

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WORKS COUNCIL AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

money as damages, these also to be determined by the board when
decidmg the case. The sum determined upon depends on the length
of time the discharged worker had been in his present employment.
It usually amounts to one month's wages for each year of employment, not exceeding six successive years. Some boards of adjustment also add compensation for the time lost during the interval
between the time of discharge and the rendering of the decision.
This sum the employer must pay even if he agrees to reinstate the
discharged employee.
A summary dismissal is different from a regular dismissal because
in the former no time notice is required. Nor is any complaint permitted, other than that the case did not justify a summary dismissal
as provided for in article 123 of the Industrial Code. This article
provides that employees may be summarily discharged for:
L Presenting false documents or a false work book.
2. Thievery, misappropriation or fraud, or for questionable morals.
3. Leaving work without a permit or refusing to do the kind of work for
which the employee was hired.
4. Not heeding the fl.re rules or other safety regulations.
5. Committing or inducing others to commit an act harmful to the employer
or to a fellow worker.
6. Offending the employer, a member of bis family, or the manager by word
or deed.
7. Being incapacitated or afl'.ected by a contagious disease.

A complaint against a summary discharge is handled in the same
way as a protest against a regular dismissal. The handling of the
cases in connection with these two kinds of complaints forms the
chief routine occupation of the members of the works councils.
DISCHARGING WOB.XERS' REPRESENTATIVES

The special protection granted the workers' representatives from
discharge constitutes the only real advantage a workers' representative has over other employees. Article 96 of the works·council law
expressly provides that no member of the works council, while in
office, may be discharged or transferred from one plant to another
without the approval of the other members of the works council.
When the works council refuses to apfrove the dismissal of one
of its members, the employer may appea to a board of adjustment 9
whose decision in the case is final. But he must keep the workers'
representative employed until the decision of the board is made. No
approval of the works council is required in the discharging of a
workers' representative in case of a com:P.lete shutdown of a plant,
or when a member of the works council commits a crime which
makes him subject to a summary dismissal in accordance with article
123 of the Industrial Code.
Attempts have been made by some employers under one pretext
or another to avoid the necessity of procuring the approval of the
works council for the dismissal of one of its members, but the boards
of adjustment have always insisted on the observance of the required rules, as illustrated by the following example :10
• Since October SO, 1928, the place ot a board of adjustment has been taken by the
labor courte.
18 Board of adjustment, Hamburs, December 21, 1920, quoted from " Mitteilungsblatt
•
i!chleswig," No. 5, 1921.

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A firm discharged without notice two of its employees, both
members of the works council of the firm, without applying to the
works council for approval. Its contention was that the two members did not work regularly and interfered with the work of other
employees, thus causing much damage to the firm. It did not present a more serious reason for the discharge, such as would justify
the application of article 123 of the Industrial Code.
The boa.rd of adjustment of Hamburg which was called upon to
pass upon the appeal of the works council declared the dismissal
of the two members of the works council to be ineffective. The
firm was requested to reinstate the two employees and pa.y them
their full wages since the time of their discharge up to the time of
reinstatement. In this instance the board of adjustment did not
decide upon a sum for damages, as the la.w requires that members
of the works councils unjustly discharged must be reinstated.
A short time after the decision was rendered, the same two members received a letter from the firm stating that their wages were
waiting for them and that the firm had no objection· to their reinstatement, but on account of poor business, the firm was forced to
shut down and was therefore again obliged to dismiss them. The
case was once more appealed to the same board of adjustment. It
decided that since the workers had never been reinstated, they could
not be again discharged, and insisted upon their immediate reinstatement.
The special protection of the workers' representatives against
dismissals gives the members of the works councils the necessary
independence they need in dealing with the employers. The nature
of their functions is such that it brings the works council in constant opposition to, if not in direct conflict with, the employers.
Cases of disagreement between the works councils and the employers
are always pending before the boards of adjustment or before the
labor courts. Only when the workers' representatives are secure in
their jobs can they proceed with a policy of honestly fulfilling the
tasks set for them by the works council law.
The employers are sufficiently protected against any abuse of
privileges on the part of the work:ers' representatives. The works
councils are required to follow strictly the regulations prescribed
by the works council law. Any attempt to go beyond the bounds
set for them by the law, or any violation of their official duties and
responsibilities can be easily checked by an appeal to a board of
adJustment (now a labor court) for the impeachment of the indi•
vidual members guilty or of the entire works council

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Chapter IX.-BOARDS OF ADJUSTMENT AND LABOR
COURTS
The outstanding characteristic of the labor movement in Germany
since the war has been the emphasis placed u;pon mediation and
arbitration. Inaugurated by the national sernce law of 1916, as
a means for the successful prosecution of the war, the institution of
mediation and arbitration was first officially recognized by organized
capital and labor in their agreement of November 15, 1918, and was
sanctioned by the Government in the decree of December 23, 1918.
Since then scarcely a law has been passed in the field of labor that
did not provide additional functions for the boards of adjustment.
.As was to be expected, the works council law with its numerous
legal technicalities deals at special length with the boards of adjustment. Although organized originally for mediation purposes only,
the boards were callea upon b;y the works council law also to arbitrate
disputes between the workers representatives and the employers and
even to render final decisions, as in the case of complaints of discharged workers or in the recall of members of the works councils.
The work of the boards soon became so burdensome and the dockets
so crowded that in spite of the increased number of members and
their subdivision into trades and industries, no case could be expected to come up for decision in less than 30 days after the application had been filed.
In addition to this slow and awkward functioning of the boards,
they were objected to by both employers and employees for other
reasons. The employers resented the constant interference in the
relations between the individual employees and their employers.
The workers also soon came to realize that even when decisions had
been rendered in their favor they were far from securing the benefits
of the decisions. These could be made enforceable only by an official
court after a special hearing of the case. In reviewing the decisions
of the boards of adjustment, the courts.could easily dismiss the entire case on the basis of some slight legal or technical error made by
the board.
NEW BOARDS OF ADJUSTMENT

As a result of this dissatisfaction on both sides and the rapidly
growing expense of the upkeep of the original boards,1 the Government undertook a complete revision of the system. The decree of
October 30, 1923, completely abolished the old boards of adjustment
and established instead a new system, differing from the old both
in structure and functions.
First, the districts of the boards were made considerably larger.
Due consideration was given this time to the social and economic
• The boards of adjustment are a Government institution and all the ~penses are carried by the National Government.

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WORKS CC>UN"ClL :M:O\fE:M:ENT tN GElt.:M:ANY

nature of the district in contrast with the old division which was
made during the war and was based entirely upon the military
requirements of the country .1
.Another important change is that the new boards of adjustment
must. all be presided over b:r_ impartial chairmen especially appointed by the Government. Formerly it was left to the discretion
of the members of the board whether they should proceed with or
without a chairman elected by themselves. The new boards, as
were the old, are made up of an equal number of representatives
of capital and. labor. The old boards consisted of six perm11,nent
mem~ three from each side, who were considered regular officials
of-. the uoYernment, and two temporary members1 one from each
side, elected by the employees and employers in the trade concerned.
The new boards are made up of only four members, two from each
side, and the impartial chairman. The members are considered
:public officials only when summoned to session by the chairman.
The latter, however, is a permanent Government official appointed
by the. highest authority of the State, after a conference with the
representatives of the organizations of capital and labor.•
A third change is that the minister ·of labor is empowered to
appoint ·one permanent arbitrator for each economic district, and
special arbitrators in each labor dispute, should the importance of
the case warrant such measures. Formerly the minister of labor
himself arbitrated such disputes, but this experiment proved '1nsatisfactory, as it caused much ·opposition to. the Government on the
part of both capital and labor. Hence the attempt to refer even
the. most important cases to an impartial body. There are now ~
Germany 20 such districts, selected primarily- for their economic
importance1 for which permanent arbitrators have been appointed
by the minister of labor.'

FUNCTIONS OF BOARDS OF ADJUSTMENT AND ARBITRATORS

.All labor disputes have been divided into two distinct classes:
1. Group disputes1 affecting a whole trade or industry, or all em.
ployees in a single plant.
2. Individual disputes, affecting an individual worker in a plant.
Formerly all cases of disputes were handled by the boards ·of
adjustment. Now only the group dis:putes are placed within the
scope of the new boards, while the individual cases are transferred
to a different jurisdiction. ·
The duties of ~e new boards of adjustment and the arbitrators
are 1,>rimarily to mediate in the general collective agreements
(Ta'rifvert'l'ag) and-in the works agreements (Bet'l'kb8'Vereviibarwng).

are

• Under this new division there
now In Germany 1111 arb11:ra.iion dlstr:lcts, namely':
In Pl'UBllia. 66 (of which the Ruhr section alone has 10); Bavarla,_13;-BuoDY.i..,6; Thu6; .Wurtt.emberg, G; BadC!il!J 4; ·Hesse, 3; Mecklenburg, 2; arem:en, 2; namburg,
Luoec:g, uppe, Waldeck, .Uhalt. etrelltz. Brunswick, and Oldenburg, l each. ,
• The new boards are supposed to save the Government the greater pa.rt of lts former
eme118N OD tbl8 Institution.·
.
. i Thill accounts for the grea.t varl~ In the sllles ot the districts : Berlin was ma.de Into
a district all by 1 ~1 as has been the Buhr, with the arbitrator's office In Dortmund, and
the Rhineland, with me arbltra.tor In Cologne• Slleala has been divided Into Upper Silesia
and Lower Silesia, wblle the rest of Pnuri1a Las been given but two arbitrators, one for
East Prussia, with the headquartera at G11111bllmeD, aD4 one for Pomenuda, with the
office at Stettin.

l'ID:.gia,

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BOARDS OF ADJUSTMENT AND LABOR COURTS

In either case the boards or the arbitrators are to act only when
there is no other mediation agency provided for by a previous agreement, or when such agency has failed to bring about the desired
results. It must be emphasized here that the impartial machinery
in GermanY. has been established not so much for the purpose of
settling strikes and lockouts which have already taken place as for
drawing up collective agreements which would preclude in a large
measure the occurrence of lockouts and strikes.
The boards or the arbitrators begin to be active in a case, either
on the a~peal of one of the parties concerned or on their own initiative, if the gravity of the situation warrants such action. There
is no compulsion for either side to apply to the board, although
the by-laws in the constitution of the .A. D. G. B. (the general
office of the socialist trade-unions) , as well as of the other tradeun ions, provide for mediation in all cases where direct negotiations
with the emr,Ioyers have failed. Strikes and lockouts, without previously app ying to a board for mediation, are forbidden only in
the most vital public utilities, such as in the supplying of water, gas,
or electricity,11
The procedure of the boards of adjustment is now as follows:
First, the impartial chairman calls a conference of the parties concerned and· attempts to bring them to terms, without calling an
official session of the board. If he fails, it becomes his duty to organize a board consisting of two members from each side and presided over by himself. 6 This chamber, too, first sits as a mediation
agency, and only after this second e:ffort has failed to bring about
a free agreement between the parties, does the board suggest its own
plan of settlement which, if accepted by both sides, ·becomes equivalent to a written agreement.
Unless accepted by both sides or declared compulsory by the
proper authorities-an arbitrator or the minister of labor-the decisions of the boards of adjustment are not binding, and the parties
are left free to proceed as they please. It is customary, however,
in submitting the dispute to a board of adjustment or to an arbitrator, that the two sides agree beforehand to accept the decisions
rendered, in which case the decisions are also binding.
LABOR COURTS

The ·second group of labor disputes contains cases o:f individual
employees in a plant. The disputes arise chiefly in connection with
the application of the Industrial Code, the works council law and
other labor laws. Formerly they constituted the majority of eases
which the old boards of adjustment were called upon to decide.
Here belong all the disputes arising in connection. with the imposing
of individual fines,7 in connection with the discharging of employees,8 including the dischar$ing of workers' representatives, 9
and all cases of impeaching individual workers' representatives or
the entire works council. 10
• President Ebert's decree of December 10, 1920.
• If they deem it necessary, the arbitrators are allowed to call more than the prescribed
two members from each side to serve on the board of adjustment.
• Ch. VIII, p. 46.
8 Ch. VIII, pp. 47 and 48.
• Ch. VIII, pp. 49 and 50,
10 Ch. IV, pp. 25 and 26.

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The jurisdiction over all cases in connection with individual disputes has been transferred to the so-called labor courts. These
have not yet been organized, and their place is temporarily taken
by the old industrial and commercial courts which have been in
existence in Germany since 1891.11 The industrial courts have jurisdiction over all the wageworkers and such of the salaried employees
as receive a salary below a fixed amount. The commercial courts
have jurisdiction over the majority of the salaried employees.
Both kinds of courts are organized very much in the same fashion
as are the boards of adjustment. They consist of a chairman, usually a judge, appointed by the Government, and of eight jurors,
four from each side, elected by the employers and the employees of
.the community in which the court is established. As in the case of
the boards of adjustment, no attorneys are allowed to plead before
the labor courts, and the parties concerned must be on hand to
present their own cases. The place of the employer can be taken
by his manager or by his permanent legal adviser, while the place
of the individual employee can be taken by a member of the works
council.
In contrast with the boards of adjustment, however, the decisions
of the labor courts are absolutely binding and enforceable and may
be appealed only to the higher civil courts. This gives the labor
courts a real advantage over the boards of adjustment, and it is
the general opinion of the leaders of organized capital and labor
that the transfer of the individual cases to the jurisdiction of the
labor courts can not but lead to the greater satisfaction of all the
parties concerned.
·
·
u Until actual labor courts shall have been established, the name "Labor courts " is
applied to the industrial and commercial court&

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Chapter X.-SPECIAL RIGHTS OF WORKERS' REPRESENTATIVES
The various duties a.nd responsibilities placed upon the works
councils require of the workers' representatives a knowledge of
facts and details which can be obtained only directly from, and
through the assistance of, the management of the plant. Thus,
in order " to safeguard the industry from disturbances," the works
councils must not only be well informed of the plans and activities
of the unions and the rank and file of employees with reference to
the establishment, but they must also be acquainted with at least
those projects and undertakings of the inanagement which relate
directly to the conditions of work in the establishment. Furthermore,
the works councils have been made the legal guardians of the collective agreements and the decisions of the boards of adjustment
referrin, to the plant. This can be accomplished only when the
workers representatives are permitted access to records which
would enable them to compare the stipulations of the agreement
and the decisions with actual practices in the establishinent regarding wages, hours of work2 etc.
To enable the works councils to fulfill their duties efficiently,
the workers' representatives were granted certain specific privileges which can best be classified under the general heading of
" Rights to information." These rights may be divided into three

paf8ihe right to demand infonnati()'II, and emplanatiom abO'Ut all
the proceedings in the plant which bear a direct relationship to
the collectwe a,greement or to the general conditions of work in
the plant.
This right of the works councils, even when interpreted in its
narrower sense as is done in practice, would have given the workers'
representatives a large insight into the affairs of the plant, were
it not for the provision in the law concerning trade and industrial
secrets. Under this provision the employers are permitted to refuse the workers' representatives any information which in their
opinion might endanger the industrial or trade secrets of the company. The result is that any employer unwilling to impart to the
workers' representatives the desired information can easily evade
it by merely referring to the "secret clause." The works councils
are then compelled to use the tedious method of litigation before
the boards of adjustment each time they are confronted with such
a refusal.
In reality, therefore, the amount of information given to a
works council depends entirely on the relationship existing between it and the employer concerned. Where the relations between the two parties are of an amicable nature, the works councils
have no serious difficulties in obtaining the desired information
from the management of the plant. But where the two parties
do not cooperate, the workers' representatives, even when upheld

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

by the board of adjustment, can secure but little information from
an unwilling and hostile employer.
S. The right to ewamine the wage records and any other data pertaining to the canying out of the collectvve agreements.
This privilege !)f th~ works councils ~-more specific and depends
less on the relabonsh:1,:p between the workers' representatives and
the employers. The kmd of information to which it refers is also ·
more defuiite and can not be imparted orally, as in the case of the
general information mentioned above. The extent and J.4nitations
of this right are clearly demonstrated by the following decision
· handed down by the board of adjustment at Pforzheim on July 11,
1922. The case was as follows:
·
At the request of the metal workers' union the chairman of the
works ·council of a firm wrote to the· management demanding the
privilege of examining the wage records. The purpose was to find
out how far the actual wages paid by the firm corresponded with
those set in the existing collective agreement. The em_ployer refused to let the chairman see the records on the ground that this
would endan~r his business secrets. The works council appealed
to the board of adjustment which decided:
General wage records can not be regarded as business secrets as this would
be contradictory to the contents of the law. If the wages of any Individual
worker are regarded by the employer as secret, the employer must show the
record, but he should make use of the provision In the works council law· which
forbids the workers• representatives to disclose any Information given them
confi-dentlally.•
The works council ls entitled to take whatever notes of the records it may
deem necessary In the event a mere examination of them does not suffice.
. Should this work require more time than one could reasonably expect a
workers' representative to sacrifice of his own free time he may, with the permission of the employer, do this work during the regular working hours. Any
expense that may be required for this purpose, if justlfl.ed, belongs in the class
of " necessary" expenses and are to be borne by the employer.
·
When required the works council may report the contents of the wage
records to the economic organization of the workers It represents ; I. e., the
union.
The best means of solving the various difficulties that may arise In connection with the examination of the records by the works council ls for the employer •or his manager to copy the reqtiested lnforma~lon ftom the records and
deliver It to the works council!

3. The right of the· works cowncil to demand regular guarterZy
reports on the general, conditions of the industry <UJ a whole, and of
the establishment concerned in particular.
The reports are to be made only at the request of the works council. · This request. may either be general or may take the form of a
q_uestioimaire contaimng a complete outline of the information desired by the workers' representatives: Due to their confidential
nature, these reports have never been published. But their nature
and scope may be illustrated by the questionnaire presented to the
management of a shoe factory in Nuremberg in August, 1920.3
• Article 100. Any workers' repreaentatlve guilty- of dlacloeing lnformatlon given to
him by his employer coml.dentially 1s to be punished by a fine of 1,500 marks (this
amount varying with the progress of inflation) or imprisonment.
• Article 99. - Imprisonment for one 7ear and a fine up to 10,000 marks (this amount
varying w.lth the progress of inflation), Ol' either, 1s tlie punishment for any employer
who for the sake of deception ldves to a workers' representative false data concerning
the economic and financial conditiona In the establlahment.
1 Aus der Betriebsrllte Pru:ls, by Clemens Nllrpel, Vol, II, pp. 125-127,

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SPECIAL RIGHTS OF WORKERS' REP;RESENTATIVES

The works council demanded the following information:
1. Present number of employees in the factory; number of wageworkers;
number of salaried employees.
2. Total amount of wages paid to the wageworkers for the quarter from
June to August, 1920.
3. Total amount of salaries paid to the salaried employees during the same
period.
.
4. Total amounts of money contributed by the firm to the various insurance
funds of the wageworkers and the salaried employees separately.
5. Number of pairs of shoes manufactured during the quarter.
6. Average selling price of a pair of shoes during the period.
7. Average cost of production of a pair of shoes during the period: (a)
Itemized cost of raw materials used ; ( b) labor costs.
8. Total net costs of running the establishment during the period : (a)
Amount of fuel used and costs; (b) new machinery purchased and costs; (o)
new buildings erected and costs ; ( d) repairs made and costs.
9. Pure profits or losses incurred by the firm during the period.
10. Amounts of cash on hand in the beginning and at the end of the quarter.
11. Amount of bank accounts and at which banks kept.
12. Accounts receivable and accounts payable.
13. Does the firm need new capital? How much, and how does it intend to
obtain it?
14. What increases or decreases in the number of employees are planned for
the next quarter?
15. What is the immediate outlook for the shoe and leather industries at
home and abroad? What changes in taxes or in foreign tariffs are expected to
aft'ect the two industries?
16. What are the firm's connections abroad? What use did the firm make
of these connections during the last quarter?

In addition the following information was requested by the works
council for statistical purposes only:
1. Prices of the various raw materials used in August, 1919, and in August,
1920.
2. Selling prices of the articles produced in July, 1914, in August, 1919, and
in August, 1920.
3. Number of employees in the factory in July, 1914, in August, 1919, and
in August, 1920.
4. Total amount of wages and salaries paid in July, 1914, August, 1919,
and August, 1920.
5. Number of shoes produced in July, 1914, August, 1919, and August, 1920.

The firm declined to answer these questions and the case was first
brought before the local authorities and finally before the Bavarian
minister of social welfare, who was in charge of the department
of labor, the highest authority in this instance. His decision was:
The management is obliged to give to the works council full information
concerning the total number of employees in the factory, the amounts of wages
and salaries paid out to each individual and in toto during the quarter, and
the amounts of money contributed by the fl.rm to the various insurance funds
of the workers and the salaried employees.
With regard to the questions dealing with the purely commercial side of
the undertaking, such as cash on hand, itemized expenses, or net costs, etc.,
the firm need not answer these questions in detail. A general statement concerning the economic and financial condition of the establishment is sufficient.
It must, however, contain sufficient data to give the workers' representatives
a comprehensive and reliable picture of the conditions prevailing in the establishment. Special emphasis must be placed on the.prospects of the enterprise and its requirement of labor for the next quarter.
The firm is not obliged to make its report in monthly installments-one
account for the entire three months is sufficient. Nor is it required to give
to the works council any information covering a period prior to the passage
of the works council law.
The report may be made either in the form of a written statement or in
written answers to the questionnaire of the works council, or preferably,

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WORKS COt.J:NCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

orally to the executive committee of the works council. The workers' representatives are absolutely forbidden to make public any of the information
given to them confidentially. They are not even permitted to disclose it to
the works assembly or to the other memhers of the works council.

THE BALANCE SHEET LAW

In addition to the quarterly reports, the employers of such establishments as are reqmred by the Commercial Code to keep a complete account of their affairs, or who employ at least 300 wage- ·
workers or 50 salaried emplo1,ees, must present to the executive
committee of its works council a full account of the profits and
losses the firm incurred durin~ the entire fiscal year.' The workers'
representatives are again forbidden to make public any information
received confidentially. The required report must be made not later
than six months after the close of the business year and must comply
with the regulations laid down in a special law passed :for this pur"!/ose. The law was passed on Februa.ry 5, 1921, and is known as
The balance sheet law." Its cl:i.ie:f provisions are:
The balance sheet of the concern must contain all the component parts of
its liabilities and assets as required by the various commercial laws applying .
to the enterprise in question. The final financial statement must be presented
in such a way that when examined alone, independently of other sources of
information, the balance sheet provides a complete abstract of the financial condition of the concern.
The meaning of, and the connection between, the separate items must be
explained in a separate statement, based upon the data contained in the financial statement, in the inventory, in the cash accounts, and in the expenses
of producing and marketing the commodity. All essential changes in matter
of administration and finance which occurred during the business year must
be mentioned in the report. The submission of actual vouchers is not compulsory.
If several plants belong to the same concern, the financial conditions of each
plant must be explained to the individual works councils concerned, in so far
as the nature of the whole concern as well as of the separate plant permits
of such separation of accounts. The balance sheet of the entire concern must
be presented to the united works council, lf there be one organized in the
concern.

The balance sheet law has not been in existence long enough to
permit a critical analysis of its application in industry. The fact
that it applies only to such concerns as are already required by other
laws to publish their financial statements, robs the law o:f its revolutionary significance. What it really amounts to is that the same
financial statement, which was prepared for publication in the press,
is read before the workers' representatives with but a. few additional details.
WORKERS' REPRESENTATIVES ON BOARDS OF DIRECTORS

Article 70 of the works council law grants the workers' representatives the right to elect one or two delegates as members to the board
of directors of their firm. It reads as follows:·
One or two members Qf. the works council• are to be elected as members to
the board of directors in every establishment having such a governing body and
no special provisions for its employees to be represented in the; same. The
rules regulating the elections are to be set down in a law especially to be
• Art. 72 of the works council law.
One member to represent the wageworkers and one the salaried employees.

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SPECIAL BIGHTS OF WORKERS' REPB.ESENTA.TIVES

passed for this purpose. The members of the works councils on the board of
directors are to represent the interests and the wishes of the employees regarding the organization of the entire concern. They are to attend and to vote
at all sessions of the board. They are not, however, entitled to any remuneration outside of their personal expenses, and are forbidden to disclose any of
the information received confidentially.

The special law concerning the "Sending of delegates of the
works council to the board of directors" was passed on FebruarJ
1, 1922, ro go into effect immediatel)". It enumerates the kinds of
organizations which are required by the Commercial Code to have a
board of directors as their governmg body. It describes the ways
and means by which the labor members to the board of directors are
to be elected and specifies the qualifications which a member of the
works council must possess before he may be elected.
Not a word is said with reference to the rights and the duties of
the labor members on the board of directors, or to the legal responsibilities which membership on the board would place upon
a workers' representative. Nor is mention made as to whether or
not the labor members are permitted to serve on some of the committees of the boa.rd, or to take part in the general meetings of the
stockholders. A number of disputes have therefore arisen with
respect to the last ..two questions, both of which have been decided
in the affirmative. The majority of the boards of adjustment and
the higher courts have taken the position that the delegates of the
works councils to the boards of direcrors are bona fide members of the
board. Their names are to be recorded in the official commercial
registries, together with the names of the other members of the
board. Aside from the fact that the labor members must serve
without remuneration, they a.re entitled to equal rights with the
regular members of the board.
The employers from the very beginning objected to having
labor members sit on the boards of direcrors. They opposed the
article of the works council law which grants this right to the
workers' representatives and fought persistently the passage of the
special law. Their opposition did not cease after its passage. Most
of the organizations which previously had boards of directors, but
which are not required by law to have such a governing body, abolished their boards alrogether, rather than to permit a labor delegate
ro sit on the board. Others have caused their stockholders to tran8fer to special committees not accessiple to the labor members the
most important functions of the board, except those actually prescribed by law. In the case of the trusts and cartels, the constituent parts have merely transferred the most important functions of
the separate boards of directors to the combined central board of
direcrors, to which the workers' representatives a.re not entitled to
send delegates.
Whenever admitted to the board of directors, the workers' repreresentatives have been considerably hampered by the requirement
of secrecy which forbids them from making re:eorts not only to the
workers at large, but even to the works council itself, from which
they were elected. On the board they are in a minority even under
the most favorable conditions when the proportions of the labor
members to the representatives of capital are two to three. However: a ratio of one or two labor members to twenty-five or thirty

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

representatives of capital is not a rare instance. Some of the labor
members admit freely that they often find themselves at an intellectual disadvantage in comparison with the other members of the
board, who are, as a rule, industrial and financial experts.8 This,
they say, accounts for the silence and appa.rent inactivity of the
labor members on the board of directors.
Potentially, however, the law· is a very significant advance in
the field of industrial relations in German,. It ~ves the representatives of labor an opportunity to :participate m the direction
of industry and finance and to take part m all the decisions of boards
of directors on equal terms with the representatives of capital.
Necessarily, it means also a closer cooperation between the two
sides in other fields, including the soCial phases. The German
worker, unlike his brethren across the channel, does not so easily
break away from the hal>it of hating the capitalist and his way of
doing business, a hate which w.as instilled into him by decades of
class. struggle and socialist propaganda. He must now go through
a conscientious struggle before he will agree, as a member of the
board of directors, to attend a social entertainment given by that
body. Besides, he is more apt to lose the confidence of his fellow
workers or be removed from his office as a traitor to the cause.
Nevertheless, the first steps of a social rapprochement between the
two classes have already been made and the way paved for increased
cooperation in the future.
• That the workers in Germany are fully conscious of this Intellectual disadvantage can
be seen from their efforts to overcome it-witnessed by the widespread and Intensive
educational campaigns. See Ch. XII, on works councils and workers' education.

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Chapter XI-WORKS COUNCILS AND GERMAN TRADEUNIONS
STATUS OF TRADE-UNIONS SINCE THE REVOLUTION

The revolution of November 9, 1918, produced a number of very
important changes in the trade-union movement of Germany. The
most essential of these changes were:
1. The consolidation of the numerous big and small independent
unions into three large central organizations, Socialist, Cliristian,
and Hirsch-Dunker.
The tenth general congress of all the socialist unions in Germany,
held in Nuremberg in June, 1919, voted to federate all the socialist
unions into one -large central organization. The new organization
was named "Der Allgemeine Deutsche Gewerkschafts Bund," literally, the General Federation of the German Unions. The individual
unions were left absolutely autonomous in their internal afiairs as
well as in their methods of organization. The object of the federation was to take care of the common interests of the unions and to
afford the necessary assistance to all unions alike, whether SIJ).all
or larg-e, whether organized on the basis of the craft or the industry.
No discriminations were to be made regarding the :political or
religious affiliations of the individual members of the umons.1
The Federation of the Christian Trade Unions of Germany (Der
(] esamtverband der Ohri8tlichen Gewerlcschaften D8'Utschlands)
was organized through the merger of the independent Catholic
unions of Germany with the other Christian labor orgMizations,
which took place in October, 1919. This federation declared itself
in favor of the craft form of organization and found its political
expression in the Clerical, now the Centrum, Party of Germany.
Finally, those unions which could not subscribe to the political
doctrines of the socialists, on the one hand, and to the religious
doctrines of the Christians, on the other hand, met in conference in
November, 1919, and organized the Federation of Liberal HirschDunker Unions of Germany (Verband der D8'Utschen GtYWerlevereine Hirsch-Dunker). This third federation also expressed a
preference for the craft form of organization as against the industrial. Politically it became affiliated with the Democratic Party of
Germany.
2. The rapid growth of trade-union organizations among the
salaried employees and the Government officials of Germany and
the alliance of their central unions with the central organizations
of the wageworkers.
As a result of these two changes the entire trade-union movement
in Germany has now reached a stage of development which is known
• Thill clause was the result of the splitting of the former Socialist Party of OE'rman.v
Into majority sociaUsts, flldependent socialists, and communists.

22477°-25--5

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

in Germany as "Das Drei-Saule System," literally, the three-pillar
system, representEld in the following tables: •
ORGANIZATION AND MEMBERSHIP OF CENTRA't GERMAN TRADE·UNION
FEDERATIONS IN DECEMBER, 1923

Federation of Socialist Federation&-8,814,656 members

Federation of Socialist Wagework•
era' Unions (A. D. O. B.)-49
unions, 7,817,152 members
Mem•
hers

Union

Metal workers••••••••••• 1,624,554
Factory workers••••••••• 733,583
Textile workers •••••••••• 727,446
Transport workers••••••• 566,274
Construction workers.••• 543,578
Agricultural workers••••• 499,107
Railroad workers •••••••• 444,764
Woodworkers ········-·· ~843
Mine workers •.••••••••• 395,836
Other unions (40) •••••••• 1,847,167

----

Total •••••••••••••• 7,817,152

Federation of Socialist Salaried
Employees' Unions (A. F. A.
B.)-15 unions, 643,230 mem•
hers
Union

Federation of Socialist Officials'
Unions (A. D. B.)-20 unions,
354, 27' members

Mem•
hers

Union

Central Union of Sal·
aried Employees ••••••• 310,419
Foremen •••••••••••••••• 160,000
Technicians and engi•
neers••••••••.••••••••• 86,500
Bank :!ones•••••••• 31,000
Other
ons (11) ••••••• 65,311

.. ------------------------- 643,230

Mem•
hers

Of Government railroad
officials. ••••••••••••••• 200,000
Government officials in
railroad workers' un•

Ion. ....•.............. 40,000

Officials in transPort
workers' union••••••••

20,000

Other unions 16) •••••••

76,274

Post office em&loyees... 18,000
354,274
---------------------·---· ---

Federalion of Chrislian Federalions-1,881,080 membera

United Christian Wageworkers'
Unions-19 unions, 1,031,006
members
Mem•
bers

Union
Metal workers•••••••••••
Textile workers••••••••••
Mine workers •••••••••••
United factory and
transport workers.
Agricultural workers•••••
Other unions (14) ••••••••

228,406

144,504
141,016
126,281

104,344
286,455

Total •••••••••••••• 1,031,006

United Christian Salaried Em•
ployees' Unions-IO unions,
459,576 members
Union

United Christian
Officials'
Unions-21 unions 390,478
members

Mem•

Union

bera

Mem•
hers

Mercantile clerks ••••••• 285,879 State and railroad offi• 280,000

Female clerk and office 102,626
workers.
Foremen•••••••••••••••• 14,541
Other unions (7) •••••••• 56,530

cials.
Post office officials •••••••
Administrative officials.
Other unions (18) •••••••

----------------------·--- -459,576

........................................... --390,478

30,000
17,991
42,487

Federation of Kirach•Dunker trniona-667 ,969 members
Federation of Hlrsch•Dunker
Unions of Wageworker&-21
unions, 230,612 members
Union

Mem•
hers

Metal workers•••.•••••••
Factory and hand work•
ers.
Hotel and restaurant
workers.
Other unions (18) ••••••.

130,459
44,727

Total••••••••••••••

230,612

• Special Annex

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Union of Hirsch•Dnnker Sal•
arled Employ~! union,
300,357 members
Union

Mem•
bers

Salaried employees•••••• 300,357

10,080
45,346

---

Total .••••••••.... 300,357

to the Relchsarbeitsblatt, 1924,

Nos. 1, 2.

Hirsch-Dunker Unions of Officials-2 unions, 147,000 mem•
bers
Union
Government officials ••••
Railroad officials ••••••••

Mem•
hers
65,000
82,000

....__
Total ••••••••••••• 147,000

WORKS COUNOILS AND TRADE-UNIONS

In addition to these three central federations, there are now existing in Germany the following trade-union organizations:
1. The National Federation of German Unions, composed of 22
unions of wageworkers with 221,553 members, 7 unions of salaried
employees with 55,726 members, and 1 union of officials with 5,919
members, or a total of 30 unions with 283,198 members.
2. The Unionist-Syndicalist Organization of wageworkers with
246,892 members.
3. Independent organizations of wageworkers with 132,251 members, of salaried employees with 232,199 members, and of officials
with 1,040,496 members.
The total number of organized workers in Germany in December,
1923, was 13,808,721.
WORKS COUNCIL LAW AND TRADE-UNIONS

Article 1 of the works council law provides that "in order to
safeguard the economic interests of the employees as against those
of the employ-ers, works councils are to be organized." This sounds
like a direct challenge to the German trade-umons, which for decades
had been :preaching the doctrine that the union was the only organization designed to protect the interests of the workers. The framers
of the law did not, however, have the slightest intent to interfere
with or to diminish the influence of the trade-unions. On the contrary, there is every indication that the opposite was true, and that
the rights and functions of the works councils were determined with
due consideration for the interests of the unions. Thus article 8 of
the works council law reads:
The rights of the economic organizations of the wageworkers and the
salaried employees (i. e., the unions) are not to be affected by the regulations
of this law.

Elsewhere the law grants the unions the right to have representatives at the sessions of the works councils and at the workers' assemblies within the plant.3 Also, the law definitely restricts the
activities of the works councils to their particular sphere of influence, namely, within the plant, while the other more important
socio-political functions, prmcipally the making of the collective
agreements, are left exclusively to the unions.
The attempt of the lawmakers thus to draw a line between the
rights and functions of the unions and the works councils did not
succeed in solving the problem of the relationship between the two
organizations. This is especially true of the socialist unions. The
otlier two major union organizations, the Christian and the liberal
Hirsch-Dunker unions, were little affected by the workers' and
soldiers' soviets which had arisen in Germany simultaneously with
the revolution. When the works council law was passed these
unions welcomed the new institution as a continuation of the formerly existing shop committees to which they were always favorably
inclined. The tendency to cooperate with the employer has always
been prevalent among these unions, and the works council law
merely gave effect to their doctrines.

-------------

• Articles 31 and 37 of the works council law.

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Within the socialist ranks, however, the advent of the revolution
immediately brought about a struggle for supremacy between the
workers' and soldiers' soviets and the unions. Later, when the
works council law was passed, this struggle developed into a conflict
between the followers of an independent system of works councils
and a system organized under the control of the unions. The strife
continued for nearly two years' and is now regarded•as one of the
most important phases in the post-revolutionary development of the
labor movement in Germany.
WORKERS' SOVIETS VERSUS TRADE-UNIONS

The pre-war attitude of the socialist trade-unions to a system of
workers' representation in the shops has been variable, depending
largely upon the exigencies of their "class struggle" policy. This
explains their strong opposition to any shop-committee movement
inaugurated by the employers, while at the same time supporting
similar movements originating from the workers.
Since the war, however, the socialist unions definitely committed
themselves in favor of the shop-committee movement and accepted
the demand for the establishment of workers' committees in the
shops as part of their program. It was chiefly due to the influence
of these unions· that the national service law of December 5, 1916,
contained the provision for compulsory organization of shop committees in all establishments having at least 50 employees, and that
the revolutionary decree of December 23, 1918, considerably extended the rights and the functions of these committees. That the
unions well understood the importance of these shop committees
can be seen from the fact that they were willing to let these committees acquire rig-hts even beyond those granted them by the revolutionary decree of 1918. In the spring of 1919 the unions actively
supported the strikes of the salaried employees in the banking and
metal industries of Greater Berlin and helped them win the right
for their representatives to cooperate with the management in all
cases of employment and dismissal of salaried employees in the industries concerned.
Entirely different was the attitude of the trade-unions to the
workers' and soldiers' soviets. These, patterned after the Russian
model, grew up in Germany simultaneously with the revolution and
for a while at least forced the unions into the background and completely overshadowed them. The belief that the hour for the final
ov~rthrow of the capitalist order had come, and with it also the
complete triumph of socialism, made the unions, which were but
a tool of defense against the capitalist exploitation of labor., appear
superfluous. Their place was to be taken by the new workers organizations, the workers' soviets, which were to lead the victorious
proletariat into the new economic order dedicated to the idea of
producing for the benefit of the whole nation rather than for the
profits of the few.
Under the spell of the revolution the returned soldiers and the
.
mass of unorganized and untrained workers became eager followers
• In a sense the struggle is not over yet, as the numerous communist members In thr.
socialist unions stin advocate a system ot works councils which would make the continued
existence ot the unions 111perfluous.

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of the soldiers' and workers' soviets. Through these soviets they
also became members of their respective trade-union locals. This
accounts for the amazingly rapid growth in membership of the German trade-unions at a time of their apparent inactivity and lack of
popularity. In October, 1918, all the socialist unipns combined had
a total of 1,648,313 members, while at the end of 1918, only two
months after the revolution, their combined total was already
2,858,053 members; a year later the total membership was over
1,000,000.

It was thus the thought of soviets that gathered the millions of
workers around the unions. 5 The masses of new members, together
with a large number of the old ones, demanded the recognition of
the workers' soviets by the unions. This caused a big split within
the ranks of the socialist unions. The old leaders, the ·so-called
bureaucracy of the German labor movement, refused point-blank to
have anything to do with the soviets. Their attitude was best
expressed in a speech made by the late president of the socialist
unions, Mr. Karl Legien, at the conference of trade-union leaders,
held on February 1 and 2, 1919. Legien said:
The soviet system is generally incapable of rendering any services to the
working class. In addition it breaks up the unity of the craft organizations.
There is no present need for this system, and its incorporation into the economic and political organizations of the workers is hardly conceivable.

In direct opposition to the policy of the workers' and soldiers'
soviets, which was of a revolutionary nature, based upon the concept
of the "class struggle," the heads of the unions continued even
after the revolution the policy of industrial peace upon which they
embarked since the war. The idea of joint councils (Arbeitgemein.~cliaft) grew out of the industrial truce proclaimed by the Imperial
German Government at the outset of the World War. On November
15, 1918, only six days after the outbreak of the revolution, at the
time when the triumphant workers' and soldiers' soviets had practically completed the overthrow of the political State and were devising ways and means of proceeding with the socialization of German
industry, the leaders of the unions openly joined hands with the
owners of the industries against the soviets. On this date the unions
concluded with the United Employers' Associations of Germany that
famous agreement which the conservatives in the trade-union movement still call the "magna charta" of German labor, while among
the more radical groups of workers it is known under the name of
the great betrayal (der gros8e Betrug).
This agreement consists of 13 brief articles, of which not less than
eight contain each some important concession made by the employers
to the unions. These concessions were :
1. Recognition of the trade-unions as the official representatives
of the wageworkers and the salaried employees.
2. No limitations to be placed upon the rights of the wageworkers
and the salaried employees to organize.
3. Repudiation by the employers individually and collectively of
the company unions (the so-called peaceful unions organized by the
employers in their plants).
• It is now generally admitted by the unions that during their short existence the
workers' and soldiers' soviets concentrated around themselves large masses of the working
population who later became good and efficient members of the trade-unions.

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4. Equal rights with the employers in the control and the administration ·of the labor exchanges.
5. Regulation of wages and general conditions of work by collective agreements to be concluded between the representatives of
the employers and the unions in the trade concerned.
6. Organization of shop committees in all establishments having
50 or more employees to see to it that the conditions in the establishment correspond to the stipulations contained in the collecti-rn
agreements.
7. Acceptance and the immediate introduction of the 8-hour day
as a maximum.
8. Immediate organization of trade joint councils and one central
joint council with equal numbers of representatives of capital and
labor to work for the preservation of the economic life of the
country.
It can not be denied that this agreement marks the triumphant
success of the trade-union movement in Germany. The German
workers have been for decades fighting their employers for the
recognition of the unions and for the establishment of the 8~hour
day throughout the country. This document not only conceded to
the workers their two principal demands, but actually granted tliem
an equal right with the employers in determining wages and the
general conditions of work.
Nevertheless, these concessions were not looked upon even by the
employers as too high a price to be paid for the assistance they received from the unions. That the employers knew where to turn for
help at this most critical moment in the history of German industry
becomes evident from the statement made by Doctor Reichert, the
director of the Association of the German Iron and Steel Producers,
on December 30, 1918, when he said: 8
The situation was already clear to us In October. The question was how to
save all German Industry from the danger of socialization which was to follow
immediately upon the wake of the coming revolution. The only stronghold in
sight then appeared to be the organized part of labor, the unions. In ~e midst
of the general insecurity, in view of the rapidly waning powers of the Government, there remained but one way to save the lndm1tr1es-by making common
cause with the workers' organizations, the trade-unions.

It is obvious that the revolutionary workers could not be satisfied
with such a policy of the union leaders. It roused tremendous opposition even among the individual unions, some of which openlv
repudiated the policy of their leaders. "The trade-unions are not
a revolutionary organization, hence their flace must be taken hy
the workers' soviets," was the general cry o the militant extremists.
But having already been defeated on tlie political field and having
failed to incorporau, a system of soviets in the political state,7 the
opposition did not dare ro break away from the unions and concentrated its energy on capturing the union organizations by boring
from within.
In the meantime the effects of the revolution upon the unions also
began to assert themselves. The memberships of the individual
umons continued to grow by leaps and bounds. The new member• Reindl, lacob1.. Die Deutsche Gewertsehaftsbew~ng, 1922, p. 258.
' See Cli. I, p. v.

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ship consisted chiefly of unskilled and untrained workers, who had
come to the unions under the influence of the workers' soviets. First
within the soviets, and later within the unions, the skilled and unskilled workers learned to work together and finally broke down the
barriers which for years had separated the skilled aristocracy from
the unskilled laborers. A~ain, the triple system of organization in the
Federation of the Socialist Unions brought into closer contact not
only the wageworkers of the separate unions, but also the wageworkers with the salaried employees and the officials.
The two changes combined helped to overcome the reJ.>ugnance of
the socialist unions toward an industrial form of organization. As
early as 1919 the Nuremberg congress of the socialist unions declared
itself willing to accept within its fold both forms of organization,
the craft and the industrial union. The more important and larger
unions, such as the metal workers' union, the factory workers' and
the railroad workers' unions, adopted the industrial form and reorganized accordingly. Finally, the Leipzig congress of the socialist unions, in June 1922, declared itself in favor of the industrial
form of organization wherever and whenever possible.
The reorganized unions soon realized that the idea of workers'
soviets or works councils had taken deep root among the workers,
and that the only means of saving the labor organizations from splitting into separate parts was to incorporate some kind of system of
works councils within the unions. They accepted the system which
was first outlined in article 165 of the Weimar constitution and
later brought into realization by the works council law of February
4, 1920.
The socialist unions took a very active part in the framing of the
law. It was due to their influence that the more important sociopolitical and economic functions were left exclusively in the hands
of the unions and that the activities of the works councils were so
arranged as to make them absolutely dependent upon the unions.
On July 5, 1920, the leaders of the socialist unions met in conference
with the heads of the federation and worked out a complete and detailed program for incorporating the new institution of works councils into their organizations. At the .same time, in order to overcome the resistance of the followers of a soviet form of organization,
who continued to preach the doctrine of Alle Macht den Betriebsraten, " The works councils above everything else, including the
unions," the leaders decided to call a general congress of all workers'
representatives in the country belonging to the socialist unions.
This was the first general congress of works councils in Germanv
and took place in Berlin on October 5 to 7, 1920. It was attended
by 1,100 delegates from all parts of the country, and represented
not only the two socialist parties, but also the Communist Party of
Germany. The unions won an overwhelming victory over their
opponents. The congress voted by a large majority to make the
works councils an integral part of the trade-unions and adopted the
program o:f organization presented by the leaders of the federation.
Thereupon the socialist unions became the staunchest supporters of
the works councils, and it is now admitted, even by the most conservative union leaders, that the system of works councils constitutes
the most important achievement of the revolution.

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ORGANIZATION OF WORKS COUNCILS WITHIN UNIONS

All industries, trades, a,nd institutions in Germany have been
divided into 15 industrial groups, namely:
1. Agriculture and gardening.
2. Banking, commerce, and insurance.

8. Building trades and the stone industry.
4. Chemical industry.
5. Clothing and textile industries.
6. Foodstuffs and kindred industries.
7. Leather industry.
8. Liberal professions.
9. Metal industry.
10. Mining industry.
11. Printing ti:ades and the paper industry.
12. Social insurance organizations.
18. State and municipal institutions and offices.
14. Transportation.
15. Woodworking industries.

The members of the works councils and the shop stewards are required to organize themselves into works council groups corresponding with the above ~roup division 0£ the industries. Membership
in these works council groups is determined not by virtue 0£ belonging to one or the other union but by virtue of being employed in a
plant belonging to one or the other industrial group. In practice
this means that workers' representatives belonging to the same union
may, if employed in different industrial groups, also belong to
different works council groups. Similarly, any one works council
group may consist of members belonging to different trade-unions,
provided they are all employed in establishments belon~ing to the
same industrial group. The outstanding characteristic of these
works council organizations is that all the workers' representatives
of a single establishment must belong to the same works council
grAoulp.th
. a smg
. 1e commum
.
·ty are require
. d
.1 e works counc1·1 groups m
to organize a single works council local. This central organization
consists either of all the workers' representatives in the community
or, if there are too many, of not less than five delegates from each
works council group. In addition, the works council local must
contain also five members from _each socialist union in the community. The local elects a governing body consisting of one member from each works council group and one member from each
socialist union. At the head of the governing body is an executive
committee, consisting of five members from the works council local
(three wage workers and two salaried employees) and five members
from the socialist unions. The executive committee is known under
the name of a "Betriebsriitezentrale " and cares for all the common
interests of the workers' representatives in the community.
There are no district organizations of the works councils. Each
union may, however, of its own accord organize all of its members,
workers' representatives, into district or national units. These are
usually directed by a works council department, a part of the general
office of the union concerned. Similarly, the federation of the socialist unions organized a works council department (Die Gewerk-

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shaftliche Be&rieb8'1'atezentrale), which guides the activities of
the works councils in the federation. 8
It would seem from the nature of the works councils and the
purely industrial form of their organizations that they would become the bone of contention between the industrial· and craft unions
organized within the federation. Cases of encroachment by the
larger industrial organizations upon the smaller craft unions have
indeed come up before the federation and before the general congress of the socialist unions in June, 1922. Nevertheless, this problem has not really presented aliy serious difficulties to the labor
movement in. Germany. One of the reasons for the comparative
absence of strife between the two kinds of organization is the fact
that the great majority of the socialist unions are already organized
industrially. Another more important reason is the consideration
given by the larger organizations to the smaller unions.
Although absolutely autonomous and independent, the German
unions seldom act individually in performing their chief functions,
namely, in the making of the collective agreements. In dealing
with the employers the unions usually form combinations of all tl}ose
labor organizations which are interested in the trade affected by an
agreement. These alliances are called Gewerkscha.ftliche Kartelle. 9
The negotiations with the employers are carried on by representatives of the unions in the cartel. It is a common experience that
the smaller unions intrust the representatives of tke larger orgam.zations with the authority to protect the interests of their members,
with results favorable to all parties concerned.
While the collective agreements thus hel_P to bring the variollls
tendencies of the German labor movement mto closer contact with
one another, the institution of works councils serves to promote a
closer cooperation between the unions outside and the workers'
representatives within $e shops.
CAUSES OF FRICTION BETWEEN WORKS COUNCILS AND UNIONS

In spite of the incorporation of the system of works councils
within the unions, there are fields where the two organizations must
necessarily clash with each other. The friction results either from
the difference in the aims and objects of the two organizations or
from the difference in their fields of activity.
The members of the works councils are supposed to be first and
foremost representatives of the workers in the plant. Their responsibility and allegiance· to the plant must, therefore, supersede their
allegiance to the union. Now, it is the object of each union t,o gain
as many members as possible in the plant at the expense of the unorganized workers or any other union organization. It is1 on the contrary1 the duty of the works councils t,o protect the right of each
individual to belonO' or not to belong to any organization. It is
further the duty of the works councils t,o safeguard the establishment against any disturbance, whether it come from the employer
s Since January, 1924, the Gewerkschaftllche Betriebarlltezentrale has been dissolved,
chiefly because ot the lack of funds in the federation, doe to inflation.
• In the larger district and national agreements the socialist untoos also make alliances
with the Christian and the Hirsch-Dunker organizations, aod eTeo with the natlo1m!lst
unions and the syndicaliats. This ls especlally true in the steel industry In the I:uhr,
where all the organizations ha'Ve more or less considerable followings.

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himself, the workers, or their union. This task of the workers' representatives not only excludes the possibility of a member of the
works council acting as a union organizer, but it even precludes the
presence of an organizer in the establishment. Some of the unions
have, therefore, complained that the workers' representatives take
their duties toward their establishment too seriously and thus hamper
the growth of the union.10
Another cause of friction between the works councils and the
unions rises from the difference in the field of activity of the two
organizations. The union has its membership scattered among numerous establishments in the various parts of the country. It must,
therefore, necessarily adhere to a policy which can be justified only
from a broad point of view but which may prove very dangerous
and unjust if applied to any one particular establishment. The
workers' representatives, if they be truly interested in the welfare
of the workers and the establishment they represent, must needs
oppose such a policy of the union. A clash between the unions and
the works councils of a particular plant is also easily conceivable in
the case of a strike, especially in a general or sympathetic strike. In
fact, the members of the works council do not have to be actually
on the side of the employers, as was expected in the case of the company unions, to find that many of their important duties unavoidably clash with the aims and purposes of their unions. 11
Finally, there is the struggle between the members of the works
councils and the officials of the unions for leadership in the union.
The four years of application of the works council law in industry
produced among the workers' representatives a number of new leaders better acquainted with the industrial problems of the day and
closer to the rank and file of the workers than the professional union
leaders. Time has not yet permitted these individual quarrels to
assume a concrete form of opposition, but QPless the unions manage
to absorb the new generation of leaders into their ranks, the opposition will not fail to assert itself in the very near future.
10 Korrespondenzblatt, October 2, 1920, cited by the International Labor Office Studies,
Series B, No. 6.
11 The functions of the workers' representatives in the plants are so similar to those of
the company unions that there is always the danger that the works councils will break
away from the trade-unions and either turn Into company unions or pass over to the
more extreme and also decentralized 11Yndicallst organizations. Both tendencies have
increased considerably during the year 1923, due to the weakening ot the socialist un.tons
as a result of the in11ation.

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Chapter XII.-WORKS COUNCILS AND WORKERS'
•
EDUCATION

The aims of the various labor organizations in supporting the
works-council -movement in Germany are exceedingly different. It
is the well-known purpose of the Communist Party of Germany to
overthrow the existing social order and replace it by a new system
with the works councils as its political and industrial centers. The
socialists plan by means of legislation and evolutionary measures to
usher in the cooperative commonwealth, also based upon a system of
works councils. Finally, the more moderate Christian and HirschDunker unions-and with them must be classified also the social
reformers of Germany-see in the works councils an organization
intended to raise the moral and intellectual level of the working
class, at the same time also raising the standard of production by
having the workers take a real interest in the establishments and
share jointly with the capitalists the res{>onsibilities of industry.
But, whatever the final aim may be, it is universally conceded that 1f
the works councils are to accom.Plish anything at all, their members
must first undergo a rigid traming in order to carr:y: out the responsibilities placed upon them by the works council law. This
means a new system of workers' education. The old method of
preparing trade-union and socialist leaders by means of occasional
lectures and propaganda meetings proved entirely inadequate in
the face of the flood of the new and difficult problems which the labor
movement in Germany was called upon to solve since the days of
the revolution.
New problems.-The scene of battle between capital and labor has
shifted £~om the factories and shops into the conference halls, where,
sitting at the green table with the representatives of capital, the
labor leaders are compelled to show reasons why their point of view
rather than that of their opponents should prevail in the collective
agreements. This requires a knowled~e of hard economic facts
rather than a mere display of force, which was the only means us~d
before the war.
Even more varied and complicated are the problems with which
the members of the works councils are confronted in their every-day
routine work in the factory. It will be recalled that one of the
tasks of the workers' representatives is to assist the employer in
running his ;plant at the highest possible efficiency coupled with a
maximum of economy. To be more specific, the members of the
works councils are required not only to be the outposts of the tradeunions in the shops and as such to see to it that the stipulations
of the collective agreements and the factory rules are carried out,
and in general to represent the interests of the employees when
called upon, but also must actually be acquainted with each detail
of the industrial and commercial processes which are going on in
the plant. For example, in order to determine the rates of any task
or piecework the workers' representatives must know the average

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wage an average worker earns in a week, the average amount he can
produce in that time with the industrial eg_uipment at hand,1 the
cost of materials used in the process of production the price of the
product when sold, and the profit made by the em_ployer. Similarly,
a knowledge of the writings of either Marx or :&nm will not help
the members of the works council to understand the quarterlJ reports of their employers or their yearly financial statements filled
with figures representin~ capitalization, stocks and bonds, rents,
dividends, amortization, mterest, the inventory of stock, the value of
raw materials, of finished and semifinished products at hand1 ete.
Likewise the doctrine of the class struggle would hardly be ot any
help to the labor delegates of the com.pany's board of directors when
even more complicated financial affairs and methods of organization
are being discussed.
·
The concrete tasks set for the new institution of works councils
required equally concrete and equally new methods of educating and
preparing the workers' representatives to meet the obligations
placed upon them by the law; and organized labor in Germany did
not fail to :provide this new kind of workers' education.
Trade-un'UYf/, pamphleta.-First in this field were the pamphlets
issued by the three major union organizations. Each pamphlet
deals with a particular problem of the works councils. Thus the
central organization of the socialist works councils issued the following pamphlets:
1. Plans for incorporating works councils into the socialist trade-unions.
2. How to transact the current atrairs of the works councils. (Thls pamphlet also contains a sample of factory rules as advocated by the socialist
unions.)
3. Rules.of procedure for guidance in cases of employment and dismissal ot
workers and salaried employees.
4. Duties of the workers' representatives in the small shops and how they
are to be performed.
5. Who is authorized to decide disputes between the works councils and the
employers?
6. What is a financial statem1mt?
7. The works council law and its relation to the other laws in the field of
labor legislation.
8. Organization of the works councils in the trade-union locals.
9. Storehouses and their significance in the plant.
10. How to read and digest a financial statement.
11. What constitutes" net costs" in an establishment?

The united Christian trade-unions also issued a number of pamphlets of which the more important are :
1. A guide to the works council law and other labor laws.
2. How t.o protect oneself from being discharged.

The individual trade-unions either issued similar pamphlets of
their own or distributed among their members the pamphlets published by their central organizations.
The works cou/ri,cil, preaa.-The next step was to issue special semimonthly and monthly magazines devoted entirely to the interests of
the works councils. These were published either by the central
trade-union organizations for all the works councils or by the individual trade-unions for the members of the works councils in the
1 Should the equipment be obsolete or worn out, the works council has a right to demand
its replacement b7 more· modern machinery.

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particular trade$. O:f the general magazines the most important
were: " Der Betriebsrat," which was issued by the central organization o:f the socialist salaried employees even before the works
council law was put into effect and which was finally merged with
the " Betriebsrate-Zeitung," published monthly by the general office
o:f the socialist trade-unions 12 the" Betriebsrate Post," issued by the
general office o:f the Christian trade-unions; and "Wirtscha:ftliche
Selbstverwaltung" (Self.government in Industry), published by the
general office o:f the Hirsch-Dunker trade•unions. O:f the works
council papers issued by separate trade•unions the most important
are: " Die Betriebsratezeitschri:ft," published twice a month by the
socialist metal workers' union, claiming a membership of one and
a half million workers, which were represented in 1922 by more
than 26,000 members in the various works councils ;3 " Merkblatter
fiir die Betriebsriite in der Textil Industrie," issued by the Socialist
Textile Workers' Union, with a membership in 1922 o:f over 700,000,
represented by more than 20,000 shop stewards and members of the
"orks councils;' "Der Betriebsrat in der Holz Industrie," issued by
the Socialist Woodworkers' Union, with a membership in 1922 of
416,462 workers, represented by over 18,000 shop stewards and
members o:f the works councils; and the "Merkbliitter :fiir Betriebs
und Beamtenrate der Reichsbahn," published by the Socialist Union
of Railroad Workers, with a membership in 1922 o:f 442,000, represented· in the Central Railroad Works Council by 19 members ( the
other six are divided equally between the Christian and the HirschDunker unions o:f railroad workers) , 344 members in the 35 district
works councils, and about 20,000 out of the total 25,000 members in
the local works councils.
.An examination o:f these works•council magazines will immediately reveal the striking difference between these and the ordinary
labor papers which were published in Germany before the war.
• This magazine ceased publication in December, 1923, due to the lack of funds in the
general office, caused by inflation.
• According to the report of the Socialist Metal Workers' Union, 1922 (p. 114), the distribution of the
total number of workers' representatives In the metal industry for 1922 was as follows:
Members of works
councils
Union

Number
Wsgeworkers:
Soelallst MetAl Workers' Union•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••.•.•••••••••
Other socialist unions ••••••••••••••••.•••.••••••..•...•••••••••.......••...•
Christian Metal Workers' Union••••.•..•..•••....•..•••••••••••••••...•...•
Hirseh•Dunker Metal Workers' Union..•...••....••••••••••••••.••••.•••..•
Unionists and syndicallsts (Ruhr)-•••••••..••.•••.••••.••.••.••••••••••••••
Unorganized.-----··············································

Per cent
of total

26,430

81.2
7.9
5. 5
2. 0

884

2. 7

32,562

100.0

Soelalist Union of Salaried Employees (A.F.A.) ..•••••....••..••••••••••••••
Other organizations of salaried employees •••••••••••••.•••..•••••..•••••••••
Unorganized ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••.••••••••.•.••.•••

3,516
1,295
804

62. 6
23.1
14.3

Total....• ---·-----------·······················

5,615

100.0

Total •• ······•••••-·•······---········ ••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Salaried employees:

2,576
1,783
646
243

• The factories In the textile Industry are much smaller than the plants In the metal industry, hence a
disproportionately large number of representatives for a comparatively smaller number of workers. In
tbe metal industry there are more than 60 workers for each representative, while ill the textile lndllstry
lbere are only 35 workers for eaoh representative.

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While the pre-war labor magazines dealt chiefly with problems of
trade-union policies and methods of organization or were devoted
to the general discussion of socialism in its various ;phases, the
works-council press concentrated its efforts upon an entirely different field of problems. The following is a random selection of
samples to give an idea of the contents of these magazines:
Betriebaratezeitung, No. 10, Maroh, 1921

Do we need entrepreneurs in industry? (The answer is affirmative.)
The· relation of credit to the housing problem in the city of Berlin.
Essentials of trade and barter.
The present economic conditions in the world market.
A descriptive account of the State printing shops.
A course in double-entry bookkeeping (running serially). Book reviews.
The worka oounoti in the Stone ·anlZ Marble Pradea, June, 1921

The nature and duties of the works council (serially).
Vertical and horizontal trusts in industry.
Marble and stone enterprises in Germany (serially).
Decisions of the boards of adjustment in the marble and stone trades.
General economic remarks.
Betrlebaratezeitachrlfl, Ma11 18, 1922

Community of interests agreements in the German steel industry.
Formation of " Trust works councils " in the steel industry.
The activities of the economic schools in Thuringen.
The present world economic crisis.
The new economic policy of Soviet Russia.
The German marine-transportation industry.
Properties of chemically pure iron (Welchelsen).
Workers' education in the shops.
Short economic notes.
MerkbZatter fur die BetrlebariJ.te ln lier Pe0tii Induatrie, Jtmuar11, 19!8

Results of the works-council elections in the textile industry in 1922.
The coming new "Work stretching" law.
A unlfted system of workers' representatives in the textile Industry.
Standards of production in the cloth-weaving industry.
Important phases in the process of production in the textile industry (running serially).
Important decisions in the field of works councils.

The trend of the works council magazines represented by thesesamples is clear. It is no longer trade-unionism or socialism i~
general-these are left to the voluminous union and socialist party
press-it is the desire to lift the worker out of the immediate narrow
surroundings of his job in the factory or in the plant and to give
him a larger view of the whole enterprise or tlie entire industry
of which he is a member. The object of the works council press
and the new workers' education is to make the worker understand
industry and become its enli¥htened guide, rather than a blind tool
in the process, or a mere cog m the wheel.
W orkera' education.-In addition to the works council press,11
special courses were organized by the individual trade-unions for
1

Among the works council magazines must also be reckoned the monthly reports ot the

boards of adjustment which were forced out of elCl.stence !)y the growing inflation of 1923
and the Neue Zeitschrlft fllr Arbeitsrecht, edited by Prof. Walter Kaskel, of the University

of Berlin, BJ1d devoted to a dl11Cllll8lon of problems ln the fteld of workers' rights. 1'rof8880l" Kaskel is also the autbor ot " Daa neue Arbeitarecht," 1920, which Is considered
tile best book on the subject.

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the education of the members of the works councils in the particular
trades and by the central organizations, usually in cooperation
with some of the universities, for the education of the works council members and trade-union leaders in general. The first J?roblem
that &r01!6 simultaneously with the idea. of workers' education, was
whether this education should be made available to all the members
of the unions or whether it should be limited to the elite only, represented by the members of the works councils and trade-union secretaries.8 The lack of teachers and the shortage of funds, which
became more and more acute with the frogress of inflation, caused
the trade-unions to decide in favor o the second plan.7 It was
thought, however, that after the members of the works councils
would have had their special training, combined with their experience in the plant, they would soon be in a position to disseminate their lrnowledge among the rest of the workers.
Of the courses arranged by the separate trade-unions, the most
widespre'ad are the so-called " flying courses," organized by Dr.
En~elbert Graf, educational director of the Socialist Metal Workers'
Uruon. The courses are arranged as follows: The enti~ country is
divided into educational districts with at least one important metal
industry as the center of each district. A quiet little town is selected m the immedi'ate vicini~ of the industry, where the educational director gathers around himself from 60 to 80 elected members
of the works councils and trade-union secretaries appointed by their
locals for a period of from two and one-half to three weeks. The
workers are freed from their regular labor but receive part· of their
wages for the support of their families, either from the local or the
central union. The latter also carries all other expenses connected
with the course. During•the period of instruction the workers form
a cooperative community doing their own housework. 8 The instruction is carried on by the educational director himself with the assistance of whatever local talent he can get, usu'all_y university professors or industrial engineers. The method used 1s cliiefly Socratic,
being in the form of questions and answers with occasional lectures.
The workers receive from five to six hours of instruction every day,
on the following subjects:
The nature and development of modern capitalism.
Problems of socialization.
Workers' rights and social insurance.
Rights and duties of the works council.
Technical and commercial problems in the metal industry.
In a personal interview with the writer, Doctor Graf stated that.
although the courses were too short and the time- could well be
doubled or even trebled, the workers gained 'a great deal from the
" flying courses." It is significant, of course, that the members are
e The number of these is not 80 small considering that In Prussia alone there are over
50,000 members In the works councils and that each town, no matter how small, has at
least one or two trade-union locals.
, No other orpnization sultered 80 mnch from inflation as the soclalist trade-unions.
During the summer and fall of 1923 the funds of the unions fell so low that they were
forced t.emporarl.ly to give up all their educational projects and even the press had to
suspend publication for some time. Since the stabilization of the mark in December,
1923, the unions have been coming back Into their own. The 1>ress has been reestabltshed and the educational projects are being revived.
• One of the requirements in this temporaey cooperative eommumt:r ts absolute abstinence from alcoholic beverages.

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selected from the more educated and more active groups of workers.
During their stay together they com:pare expei:iences with their respective employers and boards of adJustm.ent and in this way gain
even more than from the actual instruction. In the hours free from
classes, visits are made to the near-by factories, usually under the
~idance of some industrial expert, and to concerts and theaters to
llllprove the cultural standard of the workers.
Similar courses have been arranged by the socialist mine workers
textile ',VOI'kers, shoe workers, and agricultural workers' unions, and
are being planned by other organizations as well.
-Trade-ulnwn aeminara.-More comprehensive are th~ courses arranged in the la!"ger centers by the combined trade-union organizations (socialist, <Jhristian, and Hirsch-Dunker) assisted by, or under
the direct supervision-of-l.-some university. The trade-union seminar,
organized by Professor Ji.uske of the University of Cologne in May,
1920_, can be taken as a characteristic example. The most distinguished feature of this seminar is that in its organization there participated not onl_y the three major unions but also the Chamber of
Commerce and the Employers' Assotiation of the city of Cologne.
The first session was arranged for _10 weeks, from May 10 to
July 19, 1920. The instruction was given regularly five times a
week from 8 to 10 o'clock in the morning. The sub1ects of the
lectures were as follows: lni/;u,atri.ol, economica,· Indua-/Jrial, forma of
orgar,,i,sa-tiun,; Hiatury of the Rldne indW8'triea; Righta and dutiea
of the works co'IJRWUIJ; W'agea and atar,,darda of prod'UCtion.
The first subject was given two hours per week, the others one hour
each week. The remaining four hours were devoted to lectures, two
by the representatives from the employers' side and two by representatives of the trade-unions, on various subjects selected by the group
concerned. The number of students was limited to 60 workers, selected
as follows: AJ?pointed bi the chamber of commerce, 5; by the empfoyers' association, 5; by the socialist trade-unions, 33; by the
united Christian trade-unions, 14; by the Hirsch-Dunker unions, 3.
The expenses were divided among the organizations in proportio11 to the number of students sent by each organization, the workers
receiving from their employers their regular pay for the two morning hours spent in the seminar.
The first 10 weeks were very successful, but the time was found
too short and the second course was len~hened to 15 weeks. The
hours were also changed from the mornmg to the evening because
of inconvenience to the teachers as well as to the workers. Similar
successful courses were organized in Frankfort on the Main,
Mannheim, Hamburg, Darmstadt, Leipzig, and other university
centers. To Hamburg the students were divided according to
trades and were instructed by special experts in their trades.
An even larger attempt in the same direction was made by the
Socialist Union of Textile Workers. In cooperation with the University and Commercial Institute of Leipzig and the Technical
College of Dresden, the union arranged for a four months' intensive trttining course for 40 of its members from the works councils
of the textile industry. The course was made up of the following
subjects:

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Subject
Hours
Commercial arlthmeti._____________________ 28
Bookkeeping
and accounting
------------------------- 22
Essentials
of commercial
20
Industrial economl......______________________________ 12
Monetary problem,.,___________________
6
General principles of economi...._______________________ 16
The place of the textile industry in Germany's industrial organization____ 20
Trade and its methods in modern society___________
8
Selected problems in industrial policy_________ _ _ _ 16
Labor's rights in industry________________
24
Industrial inspection in Saxony_______
______
6
Social Iegislatio,,..__________________________ 18
Economy of heat and energy and other forces of production___________ 12
Essentials in the technique of the textile industry_____________________ 16
Scientific industrial managemen---------------------8
Industrial hygien.,.__________________________
4

law________________________________

Tota..__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ,_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 236

At the end of the four months the students were given a special
examination, at which the heads of the union were also present.
They expressed themselves as absolutely satisfied with the progress
made, but oo.uld n9t repeat the course without aid from other organizations because of the large expense involved. Transportation and
living expenses of the 40 students, the reimbursement of the wages
lost during the time of training, salaries to the professors, and incidental expenses amounted altogether to 580,000 marks. The union
declared itself ready to repeat the experiment in cooperation with
other organizations, but the plans were not carried out because of
the rapid fall of the mark, which robbed this union, as well as the
other unions, of the larger portion of its funds.
These two examples are sufficient to show the trend which workers'
education in Germany has taken under the influence of the works
council law. The German universities have liberally responded to
the need of the workers and assisted them with classrooms and instructors. Especially valuable work in this direction was done by
the political institute at Munster, under the leadership of Professor
Plenge and the present adviser to the Prussian Ministry of Education, Engineer Richard Woldt. 9
. Other educational projects.-Finally permanent works council
schools and economic colleges have been established, the first by the
unions themselves and the second by the unions in cooperation with
the Government. Of the works council schools, the largest and the
most important is the Betriebsrii.teschule in Berlin, organized by the
socialist trade-unions in 1920. In 1923-24 the school conducted two
semesters of courses in eight different sections of greater Berlin.
The courses are open to all members of the socialist trade-unions at
a nominal fee and are divided into three groupir-for beginners,
ir.termediate students, and advanced students. The school is conducted along the line of socialist traditions and, in addition to such
courses as bookkeeping, financial statements industrial management
industrial hygiene, and others, one may find also courses and specia1
• Richard Woldt is the author of a number of pamphlets on the education of works
councils, and his "Economic Education under the Leadership of the Trade-Unions,"
Lei~, 1922, contains a fuller d81lCl"lptioll of the couraes above meo,tloned and a number
of others.

22477°~

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lectures on socialism, the class struggle, the economic doctrines o-f
Karl Marx, and others.
.
Economic colleges have been organized in Berlin, Leipzig, and
Diisseldorf. The one in Berlin was closed at the end of 1922 because of lack of funds, and the other two are also suffering from
the same cause. Similar is the situation with the special economic
schools organized by the minister of railroads, with the active assistance of the three railroad unions. In 1922 the schools successfully
carried· out a very extensive educational program among the railroad workers and the officials, but in 1923 the program had to be
abandoned because of insufficient funds. 10
The academy of labor.-At the head of these various experiments
in workers' educa.tion in Germany stands the academy of labor in
Frankfort on the Main. It is a part of the University of Frankfort and was organized by a special agreement among the three
major unions, the ministers of education and science and the city
and the University of Frankfort. According to this agreement, the
academy is to admit each _year 100 students sent to Frankfort by
the three unions. The academic year consists of two semesters, four
months-each, with a vacation period of four we~ks in between. Its
object is primarily to train· trade-union leaders, and the field covered b:y the academy is much wider than that of the various other
educational J_>rojects, including even the program of the Political
Science Institute at Munster. Althoufh the chief emphasis is here,
too, ]?laced on problems of a technica and industria.l nature, much
time is also devoted to the fields of labor legislation, political science.
and law. Special attention is also given to the natural sciences,
and at least one course a semester is devoted to the fundamentals of
philosophy. The students are given all the privileges of the university pounds, including the use of the large economic library in
the institute of political science, which is also a part of the university. The academy of labor is otherwise an entirely independent
institution and is conducted by a director ap:{>ointed by the univer•
sity with the approval of the union organizations.
The course of studies is arranged by the director with the assistance of the teaching staff and the committee elected by the students.
The expenses are covered by the unions, althou~h the Government
and the city of Frankfort are supposed to contribute a definite sum
each year. The first semester began on May 2, 1921, and lasted
through August. The second continued from September, 1921,
through January, 1922. The work of the first year was so successful
that the trade-unions in Switzerland asked for permission to send
some of their members to the academy, and durm~ the second and
third years the academy had 110 students, including the 10 Swil'lB
workers. The work of the academy was carried on even du:rin~ thE::
worst months of the inflation in the fall of 1923, although neither
the Government nor the city of Frankfort was in a position to contribute its share of the expenses. Because of the shortage of funds
the academy remained· closed during the summer of 1924, and was
reopened again in the fall. The trade-unions attach so much weight
10 In the spring ot 1924, the writer was assured by the secretary ot the Socialist Union
of Railroad Workers that with the stablllatlon ot the mark, the program. will again be
taken up ID_ the veq near tature.

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WORKS COUNCILS AND WORKERS' EDUCATION

to the importance of its work to their movement that unless the
unions themselves are forced out of existence the future of the Academy of Labor is assured.
On the whole, the inflation of 1923 put a serious check upon the
entire development of workers' education in Germany. Not only
plans for the future but successful accomplishments of the past few
years-organized institutions of training-had to be abandoned for
lack of funds. But the idea of workers' education, the new methods,
and the results of three years of their practical application have
strongly . entrenched themselves in the entire labor movement
of Germany, and with the first wave of relief from the financial
and industrial chaos into which Germany was thrown by her policy
of inflation and the French occupation of the Ruhr the work will
again be taken up where it was left in the spring of 1923. Besides,
the works councils are still alive and with them there will alwa;vs exist
that stimulus which initiated the new workers' education m 1920
and which will renew it again as soon as the first favorable opportunity presents itself.

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Chapter XIII.-FOUR YEARS OF WORKS COUNCILS IN
GERMAN INDUSTRY
ATTITUDE OF.EMPLOYERS TOWARD WORKS COUNCIL LAW

The general attitude of the German employers toward the idea of
works councils in industry has been in the main very anta.gonistic.
Powerless, however, to resist the organization of revolutionary
soviets within their own plants and fearing the law might grant
the legal workers' representatives powers similar to those the
workers' soviets had taken by the right of revolution, the employers
concentrated their efforts not so much against the passing of the
works council law in general, as against some of the clauses in the
law which they deemed most objectionable. In addition to direct
conferences with the Government and with the committee of the
National Assembly in charge of the drafting of the law the employers individually and collectively sent delegation after delegation to the National Assembly at Weimar and to Berlin protesting against the objectionable provisions of the law and offering to
replace them by provisions of their own...
In a special issue of September 15, 1919, devoted primarily to
the problems of works councils, Der Arbeitgeber, the official organ
- of the United Employers' Associations of Germany, systematically
outlined the list of objections of the employers to the proposed
works council law. These objections were of two kinds. The
first group of objections was aimed at the general and sweeping
nature of the law, which did not make allowance for the differences
among the various industries. The mine owners, for example,
maintained that theirs had always been an exceptional industcy
because of its peculiar characteristics and that the plans of workers'
representation which fitted into other lines of endeavor could not
possibly be applied to mining. Similarly, the building trades
stressed the seasonal and scattered nature of their industry, as one
which would not permit of the application of a general law.
The other set of objections was directed against separate provisions of the proposed law. It was demanded, for instance, that-1. The age of candidates for the works council be raised to 25 ( 30
in the mining industry) in contrast with the age of 18, as demanded
by the radical workers.
.
2. Service in the trade, which would make a worker eligible to the
works council, be lengthened to three years (five in mining) instead
of the two years reqmred by the law.
3. The size of the works council be limited to a maximum of 20
members instead of the present maximum of 30.
4. No meeting of the works council should ever take place during
regular hours of work.
5. The employees should not be granted the right to recall their
representatives, as this would result in numerous difficulties and repeated elections which would seriously impede production.
80

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FOUR YEARS OF WORKS COUNCn.8

6. The employers be granted the right not only to be present at
all the sessions of the works council but also to preside over them;
otherwise the authority of the employers in their plants would be
seriously affected.
·
The protests of the united employers were not left unheeded by
the lawmakers and exerted a considerable influence upon the na.ture
of the works council law. One need but compare the content of
the law as it was finally passed on February 4, 1920, with the original draft of the minister of labor 1 to see the effects of the employers' influence.
STRUGGLE BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND THEIR WORKS
COUNCILS, 1920

The opposition of the employers to the works councils did not
cease with the passage of the works council law. Their first move
to counteract the aggressive attitude of the newly elected workers'
representatives was to organize in each large plant, or in a number
of small shops combined, a legal bureau conducted by one or more
lawyers versed in the field of labor problems and labor legislati.on.11
It became the dut:y of this department to interpret the works council
law for the employers and the workers' representatives. Later,
when the impasse regarding who should preside at the joint sessions
was reached,8 this legal department became the sole medium of contact between the workers' representatives and the employers.
During the first year of the ap;plication of the works council law,
neither the workers' re:presentati ves nor the employers themselves
were well acquainted with its provisions. This, together with the
numerous exceptions appended to each article of the law, its ambiguous language, and the numerous contradictory decisions of the
boards of adjustment and of the courts, made it possible for the
trained lawyers of the employers to interpret to the advantage of
the employ:ers even such clauses of the law as were definitely intended to benefit the workers. On the other hand, the masses of
the employees, including the workers' representatives, were still
under the influence of the revolutionary soviets, and did not discriminate between legal and illegal acts, or between industrial and
purely political problems. Finally, the first month of the application of the worlis council law coincided with the attempt to overthrow the Government (Kapp Putach)', which was defeated by the
general strike throughout Germany and was followed by a few
months of continuous communist uprisings in the Ruhr and elsewhere. It was during these months that the majority of clashes
between the new workers' representatives and their employers took
place. Some of these were so serious that a complete closmg down
of the works was unavoidable.
One of the concerns seriously affected by the struggle between
its works council and the management usually employed about 6,000
wageworkers and salaried employees. The firm had installed an
• See pp. 13 and 14.
• This bureau is known tn some works as Die Soziale Abteilunc, in others as the

A rbettrechtliche Abtellung.
• See Ch. VI, pp. 82 and 38.

• March 13, 1920.

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electric steel furnace, the use of which was forbidden by the coal
commissar on account of the tremendous amount of electricity it
consumed. .After failure to dispose of the furnace within the country, the company sold it to Hungary. As the time of delivery drew
near, the wageworkers' council suddenly declared its objection to the
removal of the furnace from the plant on the ground. that it was
contrary- to law to send any productive material out of Germany.'
It was also against the announced policy of the German trade-unions
to supply the reactiona.ry Horthy government of Hungary with
war materials.
·
All a.ttempts to persuade the members of the wageworkers' council
of the need to fulfill the firm's contract failed, a.nd the management
ordered the furnace forwarded in spite of the disapproval of the
workers' representatives. The chairman of the wa~eworkers' council forbade the workers to load the furnace and his influence prevailed. The firm could not immediately discharge the chairman
of the wageworkers' council as it could not secure the necessary
approval of the other members of the works council.8 The management appealed to a board of adjustment, which recalled the
chairman. To counteract this decision of the board of adjustment,
the entire works council resigned and called for new elections, which
resulted in the reelection of the same chairman. This case and a
number of other incidents in connection with the pre_paration of
the factory rules for the plant created such tense feeling between
the manag~ment and the employees that the firm was forced to
shut down the entire works and lock out all of its employees.
At about the same time another even more disastrous clash between
the management and the new organization of works councils occurred in a large motor works. During the spring of 1920 the general office of the firm was twice stormed by the workers because of
misunderstandings in connection with additional wage payments,
made necessary by the rapidly increasing cost of living.7 Relations
between the firm and its employees became still more strained by a
number of other incidents during the summer of 1920. On August
3, the manager of the firm ordered the loading of three large military tanks on railroad cars for foreign delivery. Under the leader·ship of two communist members of the works council, who told the
workers the tanks were destined for Poland to be used against .
Soviet Russia, the excited mass of workers unloaded the tanks from
the cars and cut them to pieces with a gas burner, thus causing the
firm a loss of a few hundred thousand gold marks. The other members of the works council, including the two chairmen, either purposely absented themselves from the plant or explained their inactioD. by the spontaneous nature of the uprising whic~ they claimed
they were powerless to control. Two days later the men who actually had burned the tanks were summarily dismissed by the management. A riot immediately took place in the plant. Thousands of
employees quit their work, and, armed with pieces of iron and other
weapons, · surrounded the office ~d demanded the unconditional
• Since the war the German Government has forbidden the export of any productive
toolfl or materials.
• Art. 96 of the works council law.
' As a res.ult of the continuous fall of the mark, the employers were compelled to adopt
a sliding scale of wages, which were being adjusted at first once each month and finally
twice each week in accordance with the food indeE number& published by the Government.

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FOUR YEARS OF WORKS COUNCILS

reinstatement of the discharged employees. The manager was compelled to tear up the notices of discharge and the director himself
was forced to announce it to the enraged mass of workers.
A similar scene occurred before the office of the same firm when
the first deduction of the 10 per cent employment tax was made a
few weeks later. 8 This happened in spite of the fact that the members of the works council in conference with the employer admitted
that the firm was not responsible for the tax and promised to use
their authority to pacify the workers. But even the interference of
the Government, which sent a special delegate to the plant to plead
with the workers, could not sway them to submit to the tax deduction. With the permission of the Government the plant was closed
down on August 25, and reopened three weeks later with a 50 per
cent reduction in the force of employees.
In a special issue of the works paper of October 18, 1920, the management of the firm published a list of its grievances against the
system of works councils. This list is significant because it contains the kind of objections to the works councils which had arisen
in a large number of other plants, although not necessarily all at the
same time, or in the same plants. These grievances were:
1. The cost of the system of workers' representatives is too large for the
impoverished German industries. The Daimler Motor Co., employing over
9,000 workers, claimed a monthly outlay on its works council of about ·so,ooo
marks. This sum did not include the expense of litigation before the boards
of adjustment nor the cost in time and energy the management was obliged
to devote to the weekly -conferences with the works councils.
2. The works council quarters, its office help, and equipment were generally
used for political and union propaganda, or for other purposes which had no
direct relationship to the interests of the workers in the plant or the concern
as a whole.
~
3. The works councils preferred to follow blindly the orders of their political
party or union leaders, rather than act judiciously for the immediate interests
of the workers concerned or the plant.
.
4. The majority members of the works councils discriminated arbitrarily
against other political or trade-union organizations and especially against the
unorganized employees in the plant.
5. Sessions of the works councils and general assemblies of all the employees
were called during regular hours of work without the permission of the employer for the purpose of discussing political or other irreleTant issues.
6. All the members of the works council, especially the independent socialists
and communists, did e,·erything in their power to foment discontent among the
workers instead of allaying it, to the mutual benefit of the employer and the
employees.
7. The members of the works council attempted to terrorize the management
with such phrases as "We warn you" or by open threats to call a strike
every time the management chose to differ with an opinion of the workl:I
council.

The character of these grievances and the nature of the struggle
between the employers and their workers' representatives, as illustrated in the two instances mentioned, tend to show that most of
the difficulties between the employers and works councils in 1920
arose from political reasons. They took place at a time when
general strikes and communist uprisings were common occurrences
not only in the Ruhr but in all the industrial centers in Germany.
Historically, this struggle therefore represents the aftermath of the
• The 10 per cent employment tax deducted at the source o:t iD.come was the cause of a
large number of factory riots throughout the country.

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WORKS COUNCIL .MOVEMENT IN GER.MANY

revolutionary days of 1918, when a large number of industries suffered from the excesses of revolutionary zeal among the workers
and the returned soldiers.
GROWING COOPERATION BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND THEIR
WORKS COUNCILS

Since 1920 the attitude of the employers toward the system of
works councils has undergone a considerable change. Here, however,
one must distinguish clearly .between the general views of employers
as represented by their associations and the practical experiences
of the individual employers. In contrast to the dogmatically
negative attitude of the employers' associations to the entire system
of works councils, their violent opposition to every suggestion of
their counterparts, the trade-unions, to extend the rights and activities of the workers' representatives, the individual employers have
as a rule mana~d to establish a definite modus vivendi with their
own works _councils. Some of the employers have not only reconciled
themselves to the presence of works councils in their plants, but have ·
actually found the workers' representatives a· useful medium for
keeping peace in their establishments. They now admit that the
economic demobilization after the war could hardly have been
carried out so peacefully without the constant cooperation of the
workers' representatives. Time and again have the works councils
acted as the intermediaries between the workers and their employers,
or between the latter and the unions, and have on numerous occasions averted breaks which seemed imminent and which would
necessarily have led to bitter hostilities and protracted cessation
of work.
The reports of the Government industrial inspectors for 1921 already contain numerous references to the improved relations between the employers and their works councils. Soziale Praxis for
August 2, 1922 (p. 821), quotes one of the inspectors:
The experiences of the employers wiOl their works counclls are growing
more encouraging, with more favorable results. The di1ferences which accompanied the first introduction of the system of works councils into industry
are gradually disappearing. Where there ls good will present on both sides
the majority of disputes in the plants are decided in a peaceful fashion by
the employers and the workers' representatives. Even in the more complicated problems dealing with the dismissals of masses of employees necessitated
by contractions in the industry or by complete closing down of plants, the
workers' representatives have often proved -capable of averting very serious
complications.

The industrial inspector of Chemnitz, a large industrial center in
Saxony, reports: 8
The experiences with the works councils in the medium-sized and large
plants have been very good and are constantly improving. It often seems a,;
if this form of workers' representation has been in existence for a very long
time, so natural and smooth are the relations among the three groups--the
employers, the works council, and the employees. This, in spite of the fact
that the position of the chairman of the works council as the usual intermediary between the workers and the employer ·is a very delicate one and
requires much alertness combined with farsightedness and, above all, a cool
hM~

Similarly, the industrial inspector of Berlin:•
• Soz1ale Pruis, August 16, 1922, p. 876.

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The cooperation of the employers and their works councils was made easier
because of the gradual establishment of a mutual tolerance between the
two. The works councils have learned to take a larger point of view and
bring a deeper insight and a good will toward the solution of difficult problems. Many employers have openly and unconditionally declared that they
have the best of relations with their workers' representatives, through whose
activity the hostile spirit which previously predominated among the employees
has been completely eliminated.

Even more explicit than the reports of the industrial inspector:;,
is the statement made on .August 3, 1921, by the Karlsruher Zeitung,
a daily published by the Democratic Party of Germany, which occupies a middle posit10n between the two political extremes:
Although one can not say that industry in Germany has prospered because
of the positive contributions of the works councils, the contrary is certainly
not true. Much has been accomplished by the workers' representatives in
keeping the social peace in the plant. Had it not .been for the institution <lf
works councils German industry would have certainly suffered more froru
regular and wild strikes and lockouts than it did in previous years. The works
council is that organ in the plant through which the rank and file of the employees can at any time notify their employer of their complaints and wishes.
Also the employer has in the works council a convenient medium of direct
contact with his employees. He is now in a position to know exactly what
is taking place in his own plant and can eliminate much of the frictio~ which
previously existed, not so much because of the fault of one side or the other
as because of the lack of understanding between the two sides.

On the labor side, too, reports have appeared which speak in unmistakable terms of the growing cooperation between the employers
and the workers' representatives. It has always been the aim of
the Christian unions in Germany to establish such a cooperation between the workers and the employers in the plants. The report,
therefore, of the Christian Metal Workers' Union, issued in pamphlet form in 1921, and entitled, " From experience for the sake M
experience" ( .Aus der Prarois fiir die Praxis), is of great importance. It is even more significant since it also contains a more or
less impartial analysis of the entire works council law:
Like all new institutions, the works councils had to go through the various
stages of "children's diseases." Their difficulties were still more complicated,
because the works council law was the result of a compromise of various
political parties with fundamentally different ideologies, of extravagant
demands from the extreme left and absolute denials from the extreme right.
To these must be added the exaggerated expectations on the part of the
employers and the employees due to the peculiar historical background of the
law. The employers did not even realize that the works council law meant
a definite denial of the social-democratic principles of the class struggle. Nor
did they see that the institution of works councils was intended to secure
intelligent cooperation of the employers and the workers on the principles laid down in the organization of the joint councils on November 15, 1918.
The employees, on the other hand, expected much more from the law than it
actually contained. Their disappointment was very keen indeed when the
golden age which was supposed to be ushered in with the organization of
works councils failed to appear in the light of cold reality.
Then there were the serious shortcomings of the law itself, with no previous experience and no precedent to fall back upon in cases of misunderstanding or contradictions. Its complications were even more involved by the fact
that the works council law was not a piece of independent legislation, but was
hopelessly entangled with other laws and regulations, such as the Civil and
Commercial Codes, the Industrial Code, the various insurance laws, the demobilization orders, and the Versailles Peace Treaty.
The principal points of contention between the employers and the works
councils were of a socio-political rather than of an industrial character. This

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struggle was still more exaggerated by the agitation of the political parties on
the one hand, and the hair-splitting contentions of the Oyndici (the lawyers of
the employers) on the other hand.
The employers themselves were not always innocent in the disputes with their
employees or with the works councils. They often submitted their quarterly
reports to the workers' representatives in such a form that the members of
the works council could not possibly understand them. The data presented
were at times the exact opposite of the conditions prevailing in the plants.
Later, when these reports were compared with the real figures of production
in the industry, with the inventories and the actual amounts of goods purchased and sold, their falseness became evident, and new difficulties ensued.
It must also be emphasized that' most of the employers absolutely excluded
their workers' representatives from cooperating in the field of production or in
the business side of the industry. Nevertheless, when given an opportunity,
the works councils did attempt to cooperate with the employers for the purpose
of increasing production. In one large factory in Hagen, in the Ruhr, the
works council posted the following notice on the bulletin board in the factory :
"All employees are hereby notified that it is absolutely against the rules to
be late for work, to change clothing during hours of work, to leave work prior
to the midday rest, or to go to the wash room before the closing hours. It
is desirable that the workers devote the full eight hours to real and conscientious work. Penalty for the first oD°Pnse against these rules will be a fine ;
subsequent offenses will be met with heavier punishment, including dismissal
without notice."
·

The att1tude of the socialist unions, with the exception of the
extremists who have no use for the works councils except as a.
means of revolutionary propaganda, has also changed in favor of a
closer cooperation of the employers and the workers' representatives in the shops. This attitude is clearly presented in an article
"Two and a half years of the works council law," by Herr Asterott,
chairman of the works council of the Henschel Locomotive Works
at Cassel, published in Soziale Praxis of October 12, 1922.10
:According to Herr Asterott, the object of the law was to give the
workers a voice in industry and by this means preserve peace within
the plants. The task put upon the workers' representatives has so
far been carried out very successfully, considering the hard times
and the economic difficulties from which the entire country had
suffered since the end of the war.
There were, of course, excesses. There were those among the members of the
works councils who believed that by bullying the employers and by beating
with their fists on the tables they would make the employers concede to their
demands and thus make themselves popular with the workers. But these soon
gave place to another kind of workers' representatives who knew better how
to serve the interests of their constituencies than by using such questionable
methods.
There is, in fact, no better way of·educatlng the workers' representatives
than to have them sit ever so often at the round table with their employers
or the managers of the plant and thrash c:,ut their mutual problems In a
frank discussion. This alone caused thousands of radically inclined members
of works councils, who previously regarded their employers as parasites living
o:ff the industry, to become convinced by their own experience of the huge
amount of energy fllld intelligence required for the successful management
of a large enterprise. They brought this spirit of understanding back to the
general assem1'lies of the rank and file of the employees and thus contributed
much to the maintenance of peace in the establishments.
In Bl)ite of the multiplicity of duties of the workers' representatives and
the difficulties encountered because of the complications in the law, in spite
of the constant renewals of the wage contracts necessitated by the rapid fall
of the mark and the numerous ·other ills that followed in the wake of inflation, the works councils have proved a real success. This will readily be
10 In an interview with the author, in February, 1924, Mr. Asterott reaffirmed his stateD1ents of over a year ago with even more emphas1& than in the article mentioned.

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FOUR YEARS OF WORKS COUNOil,S

confirmed by the foremen and the other petty officials in the plants with
whom the workers' revresentatives cooverated in determining rates of task
and piece work and in the solving of numerous minor details, uniml)Ortant by
themselves but very essential to the peaceful and uninterrupted process of the
industry as a whole. The success of the works councils depends, however, on
the political training and the maturity of the individual members and the attitude of the employers, especially in the larger plants, where any other means
of personal contact between the employers and the workers is entirely out
of the question.

Even in the press of the employers, which is in the main still hostile to the system of works councils, voices can be heard testifying
to the good effects of the works councils in industry and their
accom.Plishments. Thus one newspaper representing the interests of
the mme owners in the Ruhr 11 carried the following interview with
an important employer in Essen on the subject of works councils:
The works councils have an important mission to fulfill. All the experiences
so far seem to justify the brightest hopes placed upon them. Many business
managers have already expressed the opinion that they could not get along
without the help of their works councils. The members are in most cases
fully acquainted with their duties and responsibilities and constitute a desirable channel of communication between the employer and his employees. The
large expenses connected with the organization of works councils are returned
with interest by the services rendered to the establishments by the new
institution.

In the summer of 1922 the Bavarian Union of Employers, a
branch of the United Employers' Associations of Germany, issued
a special questionnaire to its members concerning the application
of the works council law in their establishments.12 Out of 120
replies only 19 concerns demanded the unconditional repeal of the
law; 73 merely complained of the difficulties they had encountered
in the application of some of the provisions of the law; the remaining 28 agreed that the works councils were a necessary institution
but that the workers' representatives so far had represented the
interests of the employees only and had either completely neglected
or were only partially concerned with the welfare of the establishment as a whole.
Those employers who were opposed to the works council law in
general were also general in their statements. One of the replies;
for instance, read:
The works council ls the center of disturbance and agitation in the plant.
Its object is to interfere with the work of the employees, to cause unrest and
dissatisfaction among the workers, and to foment every insignificant <Iisagreement into a sensational struggle. The quarters of the works council are turned
into a club for discussion and debate on how to make every worker join the
socialist unions and to turn every establishment into a union local.

Nevertheless there were a few replies which attempted to enter
into a deeper analysis of the problem by presenting both the good
and the bad sides of the works councils. One firm wrote:
The results depend largely on the existing relations between the members of
the works councils and the management, which, in turn, depend on the composition of the works council. One single member who may be in the works
council for political or propaganda purposes only ls often sufficient to spoU
the work of the entire organization. On the whole, however, one may say that
the works councils have already passed through the stage of infancy. They
11 Deutsche Bergwerkszeitung, December, 1921 .
.. Unfortunately, the source of this information can not be given here as it was
imparted confidentially to the author.

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now adhere more closely to the rights given them by the law, and the number
of controversies with the employers is therefore rapidly diminishing.
The objections to the system of works councils are :
1. Its organization and maintenance involve considerable expense.
2. The influence of the restless minority on the members of the works council
is always greater than that of the peaceful but indl.i'ferent maj"ority.
3. The works council is more concerned with the exclusive interests of the
employees than with the general interests of the establishment as a whole.
But a " good " works council can very easily overcome all these and other
objections and become of great assistance to the employer because :
L It does away with unjust treatment of employees by petty officials and
thus re<Juces the causes of unrest among the workers to a minimum.
2. It can, because of its close relations to the rank and file of employees,
carry out many of the wishes of the employer in less time and with less
friction than lf it were done by the management.
3. It eliminates every possibility of sudden outbreaks and wild [unauthorized] strikes in the plant.u
ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF WORKS COUNCILS

In face of the testimony presented above it may well be asked
what have been the real accomplishments of the works councils and
what is their future in Germany. Outside of the communists, who
still regard the works councils as a. means of revolutionary propa~anda among the workers, and the few large employers, who long. mgly look back toward the days of their absolute control in the
factories, the large masses of German workers and employers, as
well as the general public, are of the opinion that the institution of
works councils has so far justified its existence. Of the two tasks set
before the works councils by the Jaw, namely, "to rel?resent the
interests of the emplo1,ees and to help the employers raise the efficiency of production, ' the workers' representatives seem to have
devoted most of their time and energy to the first and only very
little to the second. It is true, however, that the:y were not given an
opportunity to do any constructive work, nor did they really have
the time for it. During the comparatively short period of tht~
existence of works councils much has happened in the labor field in
Germany, claiming- all the time and attention of the workers' representatives for this field alone.
· It is entirely to the credit of the works councils that during the
1921-1923 inflation and the rapid sinkin~ of the mark, so few disturbances of any significance or wild strikes took place in German
industry. It was the duty of the workers' representatives to help
the employers and the unions prepare the weekly changes in the
wage rates, making them correspond with the wage agreements
and the Government food index numbers, which became the basis of
all wage contracts. It was also their task to see that the workers received their bread money daily, which was later to be subtracted
from the weekly wages. But their chief accomplishment during the
summer and fall of 1923 was to help provide the workers with potatoes and coal for the coming winter. Without this help the situation in Germany during the winter of 1923-24 would have been even
more desperate than it was in reality.
"'The elimination of wild strikes by the works COUDcils la admitted even by the most
hostile employers, iDcllidiDg those who had had unfortunate experiences with their
workers' representatives when the law was 1lrst pat into eirect.

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FOUR YEARS OF WORKS COUNCILS

Because of the extreme depreciation of the mark in the fall of
1923, the only way to procure potatoes, the chief means of subsistence of the German workers, from the German farmers or abroad,
was by paying for them in foreign currency or by barter. Until
December, 1923, wages and salaries were still being pa.id in paper
marks. In the cities the police could force the storekeepers to accept
the paper money as a means of exchange, but there was no way of
forcing- the agricultural groups to bring their produce to the cities
in exchange for worthless marks.
·
To check the growing unrest among the workers and to forestall
riots, the works councils in each establishment prevailed upon the
employers to solve the potato problem for the workers in the following fashion : The employers purchased lar~e quantities of potatoes, paying in foreign exchange, and distributed them at cost
among their employees. The cost was deducted in weekly installments from the earned wages. The employers did not readily acce<l.e
to the requests of the works councils. Finally, however, they realized the extent of the growing unrest among the workers and, with
the help of the cooperative canteens existing in every large plant in
Germany, and the active participation of the workers' representatives, the plan was carried out successfully. In the same manner,
the workers' homes were supplied with fats, sugar, and flour for
the Christmas holidays, and with part of the needed fuel for the
winter.
If, in spite of the successful elimination of wild strikes by the
workers' representatives, their cooperation with the Government
industrial inspectors in imJ)roving sanitary conditions in the factories, and in installing sarety devices and actually inducing the
workers to make use of them, the positive contributions of the works
councils to German industry may still be questioned, there can be no
doubt as to their effectiveness m representing the interests of the
employees. As an organ representing the interests of the workers
and as a mediation agency between the employers and the employees,
the works councils have proved a real success.
In visiting about 30 large industrial plants in Berlin, in the Ruhr.2
and elsewhere, the author made it a point to inquire of some or
the workers he met casually about the plants whether there was a
works council in the establishment and where its office was located.
Not one ever paused for a moment to think, while most of them
knew at least one member of the works council by name or by sight.
All the workers know that somewhere in the plant, either near the
general office or in a special improvised room conveniently accessible to the entire plant, there are always to be found the workers'
representatives whom they helped to elect and who are always
ready to lend a willing ear to their complaints and wishes. Once
he has registered his complaint with the works council, the worker
returns to his job, satisfied, even if the workers' representatives
make him see his own fault in the matter or are not always in a
position to help him. The foremen and their assistants also are
aware of the presence of a works council in the establishment and
this knowledge is sufficient to restrain them from petty tyranny over
the employees.

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WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

The works councils in Germany have come to stay. In a period
of reaction, as in the spring of 1924, some of the powers of the
workers' representatives, for example, their right to elect members
of the boards of directors, may be abrogated. They may be hampered in their work, and parts of the works council law may even
be repealed. But the works councils themselves will remain. They
have become an integral part of the economic and social structure of
present-day Germany, and no political party or industrial group
will dare to put them out of existence on pain of jeopardizing its
own life and disturbing the civil peace of the country.

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Chapter XIV.-WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN OTHER
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
WORKS COUNCILS JN AUSTRIA

Austria was the first country to organize a general system of
works councils by way of legislation. The works council law of
Austria was passed on May 15, 1919. In its essence and in the
majority of details, the Austrian law is very much like the German
works council law for which it served as a model.
Scope of the law.-In Austria as in Germany a works council
must be organized in all establishments having at least 20 employees.
Establishments with 4 to 19 (inclusive) employees are required to
elect shop stewards. In addition to a works council, a wageworkers'
council must be organized to protect the separate interests of the
wageworkers in the establishment, and a salaried employees' council to protect the separate interests of the salaried employees. Government officials are not included in the works council law. Similarly
excluded are all the employees in the Government undertakings and
in all public utilities subject to Government control. The employees
of these establishments are permitted to organize works councils
of their own, but the functions and activities of these workers'
representatives are regulated by special decrees issued by the respective authorities in charge.
Aims and objeots.-The object of the works council law in
Austria is " to protect the economic, social, and cultural interests
of the workers in the establishment." The Austrian law does not
make it a dut;v of the workers' representatives to assist the management in runnrng the plant efficiently, with a maximum of economy,
and in this respect it differs from the German law. The absence
of such a clause in the law saved the Austrian works councils
from the reproach of the employers for being too one-sided and
not fulfilling all the duties placed upon them by the law. It also
saved them from attacks of the extreme left for being but tools
of the employers and supporting the ca~italist system.
Methods of organization.-The workers representatives in Austria
are elected for a period of one year. Reelection from year to year is
permissible. The right to vote is granted to all employees who are
at least 18 years old and who have been employed in the establishment not lesie than one month before the election day. A candidate
for election to the works council must, however, be at least 24 years
of age and must have been employed in the establishment not less
than six months before election. In establishments with more than
51 employee~ one-fourth of the total members of the works council
may consist of representatives not employed in the establishment but
belonging to the unions of which the wageworkers and the salaried
employees concerned are members. The outside members of a works
council must be officials of a union and can not belong to more than
one works council at the same time.

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F'l,l/ll,Ctiom of workers' representatives.-The Austrian works council law permits of a closer cooperation of the works councils and
the unions than exists in Germany. This is due to the fa.ct that the
labor movement in Austria has not suffered from a split of the
Socia.list Party, as was the case in Germany. Also, the Austrian
trade-unions at once recognized the significance of the works-council
movement, and instead of actively oppo$g it, as the German 1JI11.ons
did, they declared themselves in favor of a system of works councils
and supported its organization from the very start. The result was
that, in contrast with the German unions, the Austrian unions are
allowed to have permanent members in each ·of the works councils
belonging to the union concerned. Also, in contrast with the German works councils, the Austrian workers' representatives are
allowed to participate in the making of the collective agreements,
while in Germany this function is left exclusively to the jurisdiction
of the trade-unions.
Where there is no collective agreement in existence it is the duty
of the workers' representatives to cooperate with the union in preparing the ground for an agreement. In addition, th13 works councils are required to agree with their employers on factory rules,
which must be drawn up in every establishment to correspond with
the existing collective agreement in the trade. These rules are not,
however, so extensive as in Germany, since the making of the piece
and task work rates is left to the personal contract between the
employer and the employee at the time of hiring. This really means
that the employers are entitled to make those rates themselves. But
in the event of a disagreement, or in the case of a complaint of the
workers that the rates are too low, a committee of the works council
has the right to examine all the data used by the employer in preparing the rates. These include the cost of the raw materials; the
cost of the materials used in the process of production, the labor
costs, and the net profits of the employer.
The other imvortant functions of the workers' representatives are:
1. To supervise the carrying out of all the laQor protective laws,
of the factory hygiene regulations, and the installation and the use
of safety deVIces in the establishment.
2. To help the management in },?reserving order and discipline in
the establishment. Fines for disciplinary offenses are to be agreed
upon between the management and the works council. A special
committee of the works council is to be elected to cooperate with the
management each time a fine is to be imposed upon an individual
worker for any offense against the factory rules.
3. To assist the management in the administration and control of
all the workers' welfare organizations in the plant, including the
workers' dwellings belonging to the establishment.
Rights of workers' representatvves.-Like the German works councils, the Austrian workers' representatives have the rig~t to examine
the wage records of the employees in order to compare the actual
wages paid with the rates set m the existing collective agreement.
They are entitled to access to any other data pertaining to the carrving out of the agreement. A member of the works council has also
the right to be present in the office of the paymaster during the paying hours.
·

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COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Once a month, at the request of the works council, the management is obliged to confer with the workers' representatives on the
financial and economic conditions of the establishment and the desirability to improve these conditions. Special emphasis is to be
placed each time ufon the labor demands of the plant during the
coming month. 0 its own accord the management may extend
these monthly meetings with the works council into weekly conferences.
The employers of all commercial undertakings with not less than
300 employees and the employers of all industrial and mining enterprises are required to present their yearly balance sheets to their
works conncils. The financial statements must be prepared in sufficient detail to give the workers' representatives a fair idea of the
financial and economic conditions of the establishment, of the
amounts of commodities produced, and the net profits or losses incurred during the period covered by the report. A fine or imprisonment is the penalty imposed upon any member of the works council for disclosing information confidentially imparted to the works
council by the employer.
Finally, the Austrian works council law also grants the workers'
representatives of the joint stock companies the right to send two
permanent members to the company's board of directors. The two
labor delegates become bona fide members of the board and are entitled to a voice and a vote in all of its sessions. They can not, however, be replaced by proxies, nor are they entitled to any remuneration except a compensation for their personal expenses.
Mediation and arbitration.-In Austria, as in Germany, the chief
feature of the works-council movement has been the emphasis placed
upon mediation and arbitration of disputes. The Austrian boards of
adjustment ( Einigung8iimite) were established by a special law
passed on December 18, 1919. The boards are made up of an equal
nnmber of representatives of capital and labor appointed by the
minister of social welfare for a period of three years. The appointees are selected from the two lists of delegates nominated by
the labor and capital organizations, respectively. The boards of adjustment are presided over~ a chairman or a vice chairman, both
of whom are Judges appointed by the minister of justice.
The functions of the boards are chiefly to mediate in all disputes
regarding collective agreements. If they deem it necessary, the
boards of adjustment have the right t.o declare any collective agreement compulsory for a whole trade or an entire mdustry, thus extending its influence far beyond the field covered by the parties to
the agreement. In addition, the boards of adjustment have a right
to render final decisions in all cases of disputes which arise in connection with the application of the works council law. This includes
all cases of dismissal of employees or of workers' representatives,
all disputes in connection with the elections to the works councils,
problems of hours of work, of fines, etc.
At the head of the local boards there is one national board of
adjustment, which decides on all cases affecting more than one
locality and p8iSSes upon appeals against decisions rendered by the
local boards.
22477°-25-7

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To decide upon individual disput.es industrial courts have been
established by the law of April 52 1922. These are ma.de up of two
judges and an equal number of Jurors from labor and capital appointed for a period of five years. The labor jurors are appointed
by the minister of social welfare from a list of candidates nominated by the labor organizations, while the capital jurors are
appointed by the minister of trade and commerce from a list of
candidates nominated by the employers' organizations. The two
judges are appointed by the minister of justice, who has the supervision over the industrial courts.
A hearing of a case by the industrial court must be held not later
than three days after the appeal has been made. The presence of a
judge and two jurymen, one from each side, is sufficient for a session of the court.· Before assuming their duties the jurors are
required to take a special oath to be impartial and not to disclose
the information presented before the court. The judges receive
their salaries and the jurors their fees from the Government.
Chambers of labor.-Austria does not have an institution similar
to the National Economic Council of Germany, where capital and
labor have their :representatives in the same organization. Instead,
the law of February 26, 1920, provided for the organization of district chambers of labor to correspond with the alreaay existing chambers of commerce and industry, to be situated in the same locality
with these organizations.
The functions of the chambers of labor are:
1. To furnish reports, make proposals, and give advice to the
public authorities on all problems and legislative bills in the field of
labor.
2. To assist the public institutions in promoting industry, trade,
and manufacturing in the country.
3. To keep records of the trade-union developments in their respective districts.
4. To cooperate with the Government in the preparation of labor
statistics and other inquiries in the field of labor.
5. To create and take charge of institqtions for the social and
economic improvement of the workers.
The chambers of labor consist of from 30 to 130 members elected
by the workers for a period of one year. The right to vote is
granted to all workers, irrespective of nationality, who have reached
the age of 18 and who have been employed in the district not less
than 2 months before election. A candidate for election must be an
Austrian citizen, at least 24 years of age, and a member of his trade
for not less than 3 years.
The meetings of the chambers of labor must be public and must
take place at least once in every two months. The business affairs
of the organization and the minutes of its meetings are in charge of
a special secretary, not a member of the chamber, but selected because
of his satisfactory qualifications in the fields of social and economic
problems.
Once a year the chambers of labor are required to make a complete report to the minister of social welfare concerning their activities and accomplishments during the past year. The chambers of
labor are Government institutions, and the State authorities are
required to transmit to them for approval all bills regarding industry

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OOUNOIL MOVEMENT IN OTHER EUROPEAN OOUNTRIES

and commerce or general labor conditions before introducing them
to the legislative bodies. The State, the chambers of commerce and
industry, the financial department, and other autonomous bodies are
required to supply the chambers of labor with all the needed information. At the req_uest of the Government the chambers of labor are
obliged to hold Joint meetings with the other Government institutions, including the chambers of commerce and industry.
The expenses of the chambers of labor are a part of the Government's budget. Any additional expenses not covered by the budget
are made up by a special levy upon the workers in the district,
collected at the source of their income.
SHOP COMMITTEES IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Czechoslovakia has two separate works council laws. The first was
passed in June, 1920, and provides for the organization of works
councils in the mining industry only. The second law became effective in January, 1921, and applies to all other commercial and industrial enterprises. But while in the mining industry the institution
of workers' re.l?resentatives is still officially called "Betriebsrat,"
the name used m Germany and Austria, the general works council
law uses the word "Betriebsausschuss/' the name under which the
shop committees were known before the German revolution of November, 1918. This difference merely shows the decline of,the revolutionary spirit in central Europe since 1920.
There are other indications of the more conservative nature of the
general works council law in Czechoslovakia. Thus, a sho_J> committee is required to be organized only in establishments which employ not less than 30 workers throughout the whole year. Temporary employees, apprentices, foremen, and other officials are not
included in the list of permanent employees. Establishments with
less than 30 permanent em;pfoyees are not even r~uired to elect a
shop steward, as is the case m Germany and in Austria. This limitation excludes a very large proportion of Czechoslovakian workers
from the system of workers' representation.
The shop committees are elected for a period of one year. The
number of members of each committee must not exceed 20. The
right to vote is granted to all the workers who have reached the age
of 18 and who have been employed in the establishment not less than
three months before election. Candidates for election, however,
must be at least 26 years old, Czechoslovakian citizens, members of
their trade not less than three years, and employees of the establishment not less than one year before election. This right is also granted
to citizens of other nations whose. laws accord similar rights to
Czechoslovakian citizens. This provision refers to Austria but not
to Germany.
The aims of the shop committees are similar to those in Austria
namely, to protect the economic, social, and cultural interests of
the workers. The functions of the workers' representatives are also
not limited, and those mentioned in the law merely serve as an example of the duties the sho_P committees may be called upon to
perform. Their chief functions are to assist the unions and the
employers in making the collective agreements, to see that the stipulations of the agreements are carried out by both sides, to safe
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WORKS COUNCIL l\iOVEMENT IN GERMANY

guard the workers against unsanitary conditions in the plants and
against industrial accidents, and to assist the management in preserving order and discipline in the establishment.
The employers are required to transmit to the workers' representatives copies of their collective agreements and their rules for
employment. They are also to notify the shop committee of a
visit by the industrial inspector, who may be accompanied by one
or more members of the committee throughout the entire visit.
Every three months the employer must present to the shop committee a report on the economic and financial conditions of the
establishment, with particular emphasis on the future labor requirements of the plant. Once a year the employers must present their
balance sheets with a detailed account of the amounts produced
and the total net profits or losses incurred during the period covered by the report. Finally, the workers' representatives of the
larger joint-stock companies are entitled to send one to four permanent delegates to the company's board of directors. The rights of
the labor delegates are similar to the rights of any other member ~m the board, except that they receive no remuneration for their
services.
In the mines with more than 100 employees the quarterly arn;l
yearly reports are made before a special joint committee consisting
of two members of the shop committee, one member representing
the salaried employees in the mine, and four members representin3
the employer. This joint committee is also in charge of the workers
share of the net profits, amounting to 10 per cent of the total sum
distributed in dividends.
No member of a shop committee can be discharged without the
approval of a board of adjustment. Each board is made up of
six members, one of whom, the chairman, must be a judge, appointed
by the highest judicial authority; and a second member must be an
expert in the field of labor and social problems, appointed by the
highest civil authority of the State. The other four members are
also appointed by the civil authority from lists of candidates nominated by the trade-unions' and the employers' organizations. The
duties of the boards of adjustment in Czechoslovakia are similar
to those of the corresponding organizations in Austria and in Germany, namely, to mediate in all disputes in connection with the
collective agreements and to render final decisions in the disputes
arising from the application of the shop committee law.
In addition to the shop committees, the law in Czechoslovakia
provides for the organization of district works councils corresponding to the Austrian chambers of labor. The members of the district works councils are elect~d by the workers in the respective
districts for a period of two years. Their duties are to supervise
the activities of the shop committees in the district, to mediate in
disputes between members of the shop committees and their employers, and to assist the unions and the employers in drawing up
uniform collective agreements and uniform rules of employment
for the entire district. In the mining industry the district works
councils are entitled to a voice in determining prices and the distribution of coal. They also assist in determming the workers'
share in the net profits from the mines and the purposes for which
this money shall be used. The expenses of the district works coun
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COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

cils are covered partly by the Government and partly by special
levies upon the workers in the respective districts.
SHOP COMMITTEES IN NORWAY

Norway is the only country with a non-German-speaking population which has a compulsory system of workers' representation.
The shop committee law of Norway was passed on July 23, 1920.
By the nature of their functions and the extent of the rights granted
them by the law, the Norwegian shop committees can not really
be put in the same class with the works councils of Austria and
Germany, or even with the shop committees of Czechoslovakia.
They represent rather a transition stage between the compulsory
system of workers' representation in central Europe and the voluntary system typified by the English Whitley councils or by the
American shop committees.
The law provides for the organization of a shop committee in
all establishments with 50 or more emJ?loyees if one-fourth of the
number of employees expresses the desire to have such an organization. The total membership of a shop committee must not be less
than 2 and must not exceed 10. The candidates for election must
be 21 years of age or more and employed in the establishment not
less than two years before election.
The rights of the shop committees in Norway are of an advisory
nature only. The employers are required to confer with their
workers' representatives on problems concerning important changes
in the establishment affecting the conditions of work, concerning the
rates of wages, hours of work, overtime, and other conditions of
work if there is no agreement with the unions and no contract with
the individual employees concerned; on changes in or annexes to
the existing factory regulations, and on all matters concerning the
organization and the administra~ion of the workers' welfare institutions, such as sick and death benefit funds, mutual benefit funds,
and the workers' living quarters belonging to the plant.
There is no compu]s10n for the employers to comply with the
advice of their workers' representatives. This accounts for the lack
of enthusiasm and support of the shop committees among the
rank and file of the Norwegian workers. The chairman of the
Norwegian section of the International Association for Labor
Legislation reported to the tenth congress of this organization at
Geneva, in the spring of 1923, that since the passage of the law there
were organized in Norway only 130 shop committees, representing
a total of 31,136 employees.1 The trade-unions are in favor of the
shop committee movement in Norway, but they are dissatisfied with
the present law because of the limited rights of the workers' representatives. In fact, the present law. is only temporary, and the
special commission appointed by the King to investigate the problem of workers' representation and prepare the ground for a new
law has already made its report, which is expected to become the
basis of new legislation in the near future.
1 Jnt1>rnational A~~oelation for Labor Legislation, Die Zukunft der Arbeit, vol. 1, Nos.
2 and 3, p. 87. Jena, 1923.

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Appendix 1.-WORKS COUNCIL LAW OF FEBRUARY 4,
1920
I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. In order to safeguard the collective economic interests of the employees
(wageworkers and salaried employees) as against those of the employer and
to assist the latter in fulfilling the economic aims of the enterprise, works
councils are to be organized in all establishments having under normal circum·
stances not less than 20 employees.
2. A shop steward is to be elected in all establishments having as a rule
from 5 to 19 (inclusive) employees, of whom not less than 3 are eligible for
the office in accordance with the requirements of articles 20 and 21 to follow.
One shop steward may be elected in the establishments having at least five
wageworkers and five salaried employees. However, if the two groups do not
agree on a common shop steward, each group is entitled to elect a shop steward
of its own.
3. A special works council must be organized for the home workers of an
establishment employing not less than 20 such workers for whom the home
work of this establishment constitutes their chief occupation, and who in
turn do not have any employees of their own. Further regulations are to be
issued by the minister of labor with the approval of a special committee consisting of 28 members of the Reichstag.
4. Articles 1 and 2 apply also to agriculture and forestry with the exception
that in these industries only the permanent workers are to be considered as
employees. Also a shop steward is to be elected in these industries only if the
establishment has not less than 10 permanent employees, of whom at least 3
are eligible to the office in accordance with the requirements of articles 20
and 21 to follow.
5. Workers' representation in the marine and river transportation industries
shall be regulated by a separate law, especially enacted for this purpose.
6. In order to safeguard the separate economic interests of the wageworkers
and the salaried employees as against those of the employer, separate wageworkers' councils and salaried employees' councils must be organized in all
establishments, the works councils of which are made up of representatives
from both groups of employees.
7. In establishments with two shop stewards, each shop steward represents
the interests of his particular group. If there is but one shop steward he is
entitled to represent the common as well as the separate interests of the two
groups.
8. The rights of the economic organizations of the wageworkers and the
salaried employees to represent the interests of their membership are not to
be affected by the regulations of this law.
9. The law recognizes as an establishment all industrial and commercial
establishments as well as all offices of a public or private nature.
Subsidiaries and constituent parts of an undertaking connected with each
other through an administrative office or by the processes of production and
located within the same or closely lying economic communities are not, however, to be considered as independent establishments.
10. All wageworkers and salaried employees of an establishment with the
exception of the relatives of the employer are recognized as employees.
All public officials, real and potential, all persons who are emplqyed not
primarily for their economic gains but because of other considerations, such
as health, vocational training, or for charitable, religious, scientific, or artistic
purposes, are also llOt to be considered as employees.
11. Wageworkers· in the sense of this law are all persons who sell their
labor to others for a wage or as apprentices, salaried employees excepted.
Among the wageworkers of an establishment are also to be reckon·ed all
the home workers, living in the immediate vicinity of the establishment, whose

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APPENDIXES

work in the establishment constitutes their chief occupation but who do not
in turn employ any wageworkers of their own.
If there is a separate works council organized for the home workers of au
establishment, these are not to be included among the other wageworkers of
the establishment.
12. Salaried employees are those employees who in return for remuneration
perform the activities mentioned in paragraph 1, article 1, .of the salaried
employees' insurance law. With the salaried employees are to be reckoned
all the apprentices for the above-mentioned occupations and all office employees,
including even those who perform the lower and merely mechanical services.
Excepted from this group are all executive officers and such legal ·representatives of the employers or their managers who have the right independently to hire and discharge other employees or who are especially intrusted
with such a right.
13. The National Government may order by a special decree that certain
ofiicials of its own enterprises or of public undertakings which are subject
to Government regulations be reckoned among the wageworkers 01· the salaried
employees of the establishment concerned.
Similar orders may be issued by the State or community governments for
the officials of their own undertakings or of public enterprises which are subject to control by the State or community authorities.
Should this be the case, it precludes the application of paragraphs 8 and 9
of article 78, articles 81 to 90, and articles 96 to 98 of this law to this group
o.r officials.
In a similar manner it may be determined that certain groups of wageworkers or salaried employees who are performing duties similar to those
of 1mblic officials may be reckoned with the public officials when these are
granted their separate form of representation in officials' councils (Beamtcnri.iten).

14. If the employer ls not a single person, bis rights and duties as prescribed
by this law are to be exercised :
(1) In the case of a juridical person or a group of individuals by their legal
representatives.
(2) In the case of the National, S'tate, and community Governments or in
public corporations by the exerutive officers in charge of the particular departments in accordance with the special regulations issued by the highest
Government authoriUes concerned.
Hrepresentation of employers by temporarily empowered delegates is permissible.
IL ORGANIZATION OF WORKERS' REPRESENTATION
A. THE

WoBKS COUNCIL

I. Compo.sU4on and election

15. The works council is to be made up of 3 representatives in establishments with 20 to 49 employees ; of 5 representatives in establishments with
50 to 99 employees; of 6 representatives in establishments with 100 to 199
employees; this number of representatives to be increased by 1 for every
200 employees between 200 and 999 ; by 1 for every 500 employees between
1,000 and 5,999, and by 1 for every 1,000 employees from 6,000 on. The
highest number of representatives must not exceed 30.
The wageworkers' council and the salaried employees' council are to be
made up of the corresponding group members in the works council If
there are but one or two such members, they are entitled to all the rights
and duties of a group council If the membership of any one group is so
large that in accordance with the above method of calculation it would be
entitled to more representatives than lt actually has in the works council,
the group is to elect the required number of supplementary representatives.
Should the establishment have fewer employees eligible for election to the
works council than the workers are entitled to, the works council must be
made up of three members only ; if there are less than three eligible employees, only shop stewards are to be elected in such establishments.
16. The works council must consist of represeDtatives of both groups of
employees in proportion to their numerical strength.

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Each group if consisting of only five members and constituting more than
one-twentieth of all the employees in the establishment, must have at least
one representative.
The minority group is entitled to 2 representatives for 50 to 299 members
in the group, 3 representatives for 300 to 599 members, 4 representatives for
600 to 999 members, 5 representatives for 1,000 to 2,999 members, 6 representatives for 3,000 to 5,999 members, and 8 representatlves for 6,000 and more
members.
The numerical proportions of the two groups are to be determined by the
election committee in accordance with the existing election regulations.
(Article 25.)
The minority group is entitled to no representation if it has less than five
members and constitutes less than one-twentieth of the total number of
employees in the establishment.
17. The distribution of representatives between the two groups can be
arranged otherwise than mentioned ·above if the majority of each group
decides upon it in a separate secret vote.
Should any one group have less members eligible to office than it is entitled
to, it may elect members of the other group.
18. The wageworkers' members of the works council and the supplementary
members of the wageworkers' council are elected by the wageworkers from
their own group, while the salaried employees' members of the works council
and the supplementary members of the salaried employees' council are elected
by the salaried employees from their own group. All workers' representatives
are elected at the same time by a direct and secret vote on the principles of
proportional representation for a period of one year. Reelection from year
to year is permissible.
Should the number of employees temporarily rise to more than double the
original figure, but altogether by not less than 15, the temporary employees are
entitled to elect a representative of their own to be added to the already existing works council. If there were no works council in existence, the temporary
representative assumes the functions of a shop steward.
Should the number of temporar) employees exceed 100, the majority of all
the employees may then decide to elect a new works council In agriculture
and forestry, however, the temporary employees merely elect two representatives of ·their own to be added to the already existing works council
19. The wageworkers and the salaried employees of an establishment may
decide in a separate secret ballot, each with a two-thirds majority, to have
all the members of the works council elected by a common vote of all the
employees.
.
.
The formation of the separate group councils in accordance with the rules
of articles 15 and 16 is not to be affected by this decision.
20. The right to vote is granted to all employees, male or female, who are
at least 18 years of age and who have not been subject to a civil degradation.
A candidate for election must be a German citizen at least 24 years old,
no longer in vocational training, an employee in the establishment for not
less than six ~onths, and a member of his trade or profession for not less
than three years.
No employee can be elected in more than one establishment at the same
time.
21. In establishments or enterprises which have• not been in existence six
months, the employment requirement should be limited only to the length of
its existence.
The six months' employment requirement may also be abandoned ·in establishments which do not employ their workers the whole year round.
The six months' employment requirement as well as the three years' membership in the trade requirement may be disregarded if there are not enough
c!Illployees in the establishment who satisfy these requirements, or in the case
of wounded veterans, whose disability caused them to seek rehabllltation in
a different trade or profession than the one to which they previously belonged.
22. In making up the membership of the works council, the various crafts
of the employees should, if possible, be taken into consideration.
23. The works council must elect an· election committee of three and appoint
one of them as a chairman not later than four weeks before its term expires.
Should the works council neglect its obligations, the employer himself is
entitled to appoint an election committee, which must consist of members
from both groups of employees. The committee elects its own chairman.

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APPENDIXES

101

The employer must appoint an election committee also in the case of a new
establishment or when the number of employees has reached the minimum
required for the election of a works council
Immediately upon its appointment the committee is to proceed with the
preparations for the election of the works council, which must take place not
later than six weeks after the appointment of the election committee.
24. Loss of time in order to exercise the right to vote or to perform the
duties of an election committee must not be made the cause for deductions in
wages or salaries. All agreements to the contrary are void.
25. All other details in connection with the procedure of election shall be
determined by the minister of labor with the approval of a committee consisting of 28 members of the Reichstag.
S. Business f)Tooedure
26. If the works council consists of less than nine members lt elects from
its midst by a simple majority the first and the second chairman. Both chairmen must not belong to the same group of employees if both groups are represented in the works council.
27. If the works council has nine or more members, it elects from its midst
on the principles of proportional representation an executive committee of five
members. All the members of the executive committee must not belong to
any one group of employees if both groups have their representatives ln the
works council
The executive committee elects its own first and second chairmen, one from
each group of employees.
28. Tp.e chairman or the vice chairman is entitled to represent the works
council before the employer or the board of adjustment.
29. The election committee must call the first session of the works council
for the purpose of electing an executive committee or the two chairmen not
later than one week after the elections have taken place. All other sessions
are called by the chairman of the works council, who also prepares the agenda
and presides at the meetings. Special meetings must be called by the
chairman at the request of not less than one-fourth of the total membership of
the works council or at the request of the employer. The causes of the request
must be placed first on the order of business of a special meeting.
In addition to the sessions to which the employer is invited he has also the
right to be present at all sessions of the works. council which are called
upon his request. In such cases the employer may even preside over the
session.
An appeal to the board of adjustment is permissible only after the employer
has been duly notified and invited to attend the session for the discussion of the
disputable matter, or when the employer or his representative has failed to
respond to the invitation duly issued.
30. The sessions of the works councils are to take place, if possible, outside
the regular hours of work. 'l'hey are not to be open to the public.
The employer is to be duly notified of all the sessions which must take place
during the hours of work.
31. At the request of one-fourth of the members of the works council, one
delegate from each of the economic organizations to which the employees of
the establishment belong, may be_admitted to the session of the works council, but in an advisory capacity only.
Similarly, a delegate from each of the economic organizations to which the
employer belongs must be admitted to the sessions of the works councils in
which the employer himself is allowed to participate.
32. A decision of the works council ls lawful only after all the members
have been duly notified of the subject matter under discussion. Half of the
total membership of the works council constitutes a quorum. Attendance by
proxy is permissible only in accordance with the rules set forth ln article 40,
to follow.
The decisions are made by simple majorities of the members present at the
session. A division of votes ls equivalent to a denial.
33. All sessions of the works council must be recorded. The decisions must
be taken down verbatim as passed, with their majorities, and must be signed
by the chairman and one other member of the works council.
If the employer makes any statement before the session of the works council,
. he also must sign the minutes containing his statement. He must also receive

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a copy of all the minutes of the sessions in which he had the right to
participate.
Should the representatives of the minority group of employees regard a decision of the works council as seriously injuring the interests of their group,
they are entitled to pass a minority decision of their own and present the
same to the employer.
34. All other details concerning the business procedure are to be determined
by the works council itself.
35. The office of the works council is honorary, and the workers' representatives receive no special remuneration for it. The necessary loss of time in
performing their duties must not, however, become the cause of deductions in
their wages or salaries. All agreements to the contrary are null and voio.
36. All the necessary business costs, including the personal outlays of the
members, are to be covered by the employer, unless otherwise provided for in
a collective agreement. The employer is also required to provide the works
council with the necessary office room and equipment for the sessions, the consultation hours, and the transmission· of the current affairs of the workers'
representatives.
37. The levying and collecting of any contribution from the employees for
the benefit of the workers' representatives is not permissible.
38. Articles 29 to 37, inclusive, apply to the business procedure of the executive committee of the works council.
The first sentence of article 26, and articles 28 to 37, inclusive, apply also, respectively, to the business procedure of the wageworkers' and salaried employees' councils.
S. Ea:piration of membersMp

39. Membership in the works council may expire through resignation,
through termination of the emplqyment contract, or through the loss of the
right to be a member in the works council.
The district economic council, or if such does not exist, the board of adjustment 1 may at the request of the employer or of one-fourth of the total
-number of employees in the establishment, recall a member of the works
council for a serious violation of his official duties.
The expiration of membership in the works council automatically means also
the expiration of membership in any one of the group councils.
40. The place made vacant by the termination of membership of a workers'
representative is to be ta_ken by a replacement member in accordance with
the election regulations. The same holds true in the case of a temporary
absence of a workers' representative.
The replacement members are to be taken from the 11st of- the nonelected
candidates of the group to which the departed member of the works council
belonged.
41. At the request of the employer, or not less than one-fourth of the total
number of employees in the establishment. the district eeonomic council or,
until such is organized, the board of adjustment 1 may decide to dissolve the
entire works council because of a serious violation of its official duties.
42. Should the total number of members of the works council and their
replacement members fall below the required number of workers' representatives, new elections must take place.
New elections are to take place in the case of recall or resignation of the entire works council. The replacement members can not take the place of an
entire works council.
43. If new elections become necessary, the members of the old works council
remain in office until the new works council has been formed.
The place of a recalled works council is taken by a temporary works council
especially appointed by the district economic council, or ht its place, by the
board of adjustment. 1
44. Articles 39 to 41, inclusive, apply also to the expiration of membership
in the separate group councils.
Expiration of membership in any one group council is followed automatically
by the termination of membership also in the works council.
1 Since Oct. 30, 1923, the place of the board of adjustment has been taken by the
labor courts.

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103

Should the total number of supplementary and replacement members fall
below the required number of representatives in a group council, new elections
are not to take place.
If a group council resigns or is recalled, new elections are to take place,
but only for the members of the works council and the supplementary members
of the particular group concerned. · Article 43 also applies in the case of a
group council
4. Works Assmnbly
45. The works assembly is composed of all the employees in the establishment.
If, because of the nature or the size of an establishment, a complete works
assembly becomes impossible, the assembly is to be divided into sectional
assemblies.
46. The works assembly is called by the chairman of the works council
At the request of the employer or of one-fourth of the total number of employees in the establishment, the chairman is obliged to call a special works
assembly.
The employer must be notified of assemblies which are called at his request.
At such assemblies he has the right to appear in person or through a representative and to participate in the discussion of the assembly, but is not
entitled to a vote.
The works assembly must take place outside the regular hours of work. If,
under pressing circumstances, need should arise to evade this rule it must be
done only with the express approval of the employer.
47. A delegate from each of the economic organizations to which the employees in the establishment belong may be permitted to attend the works
assembly, but in an advisory capacity only.
48. The works assembly can present its wishes and resolutions to the works
council, but it must take up for discussion only such affairs as are strictly
within its own sphere of activity.
49. Articles 45 to 48, inclusive, apply also to the separate assemblies of the
wageworkers and the salaried employees.
B.

UNITED WORKS

CoUNcrr.

50. If there are within one community, or within a group of closely lying
and economically connected communities, a number of establishments alike in
their products or .complementing one another in the process of production, :md
at the same time belonging to the same owner, the members of the separate
works councils may unanimously conclude to organize a united works council
to exist side by side with the individual works councils.
51. Instead of a united works council a joint works council may be organized
to take the place of all the individual works councils.
The employees of any one establishment may decide by a simple majority to
withdraw from the joint works council, but this most take place not later than
six weeks after the joint works council has been elected.
A joint works council must be organized in all establishments which are
precluded by paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 62 (to follow) from having individual works councils.
52. Any one works council or the employer may request that the place of a
united works council be taken by one or more joint councils, if by this means
and without impairing the interests of the employees a considerable simplification in the business procedure of the council can be effected. If all the
works councils do not agree unanimously on the action to be taken upon this
request, the final decision must be left to the district economic council, or
until such is organized, to the board of adjustment.
'.rhe majority of the employees of any one establishment may also propose
the dissolution of the joint works council, but this must take place not later
than six weeks before the expiration of the term of the joint works council
The final decision, in case the works councils do not agree unanimously upon
this proposition, is again left to the district economic coun<'il, or, in its stead,
to the board of adjustment.
53. Articles 50 to 52, inclusive, apply to all public corporations and to all
enterprises of the community, even If they are not connected with one another
in the processes of production.
54. In the election of a united works council all members of any one works
councJJ constitute but one elective body, which elects from its midst the number

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of members to the united works council to which the establishment is entitled.
The elections are carried out on the principles of proportional representation.
Membership and composition of the united works council are determined in
accordance with the regulations of articles 15 and 16.
The formation of separate wageworkers' and salaried employees' councils
within the united works council is not required.
55. The business procedure of the united works council is regulated in accordance with the rules laid down in articles 26 to 37, inclusive.
56. The election of a united works council is for a period of one year.
Expiration of membership in the united works council is regulated by
articles 39 and 41 to 43, inclusive.
Termination of membership in the united works council is followed automatically by withdrawal from the individual works coul'lcil concerned. The
reverse is also true.
In both events the place of the resigned or recalled member is taken by the
replacement member of the works council concerned.
57. In industries having a joint works council the place of a joint works
assembly is to be taken by separate works assemblies in the individual establishments.
C. SHOP STEWARD
58. The shop steward is elected by a simple majority of the employees in
the establishment for a period of one year. Reelection is permissible.
The elections of a shop steward are to be regulated by articles 20, 21, and
23 to 25, inclusive, with the exception that the place of an election committee
is to be. taken by one election manager, who must be appointed at least one
week before the elections are to take place.
59. The business procedure of a shop steward is to be regulated by articles
28 and 35 to 37, inclusive.
60. Expiration of office is regulated by paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 39 and
by article 43.
D. OTHER FORMS OF REPRESENTATION
61. The formation of individual and united works councils in such enterprises or offices of the National, State, il.nd cbmmunity Governments which
extend over more than one community is to be regulated by special Government decrees.
The decrees are to be issued by the authorities in charge, after conferring
with the economic organizations of the employees concerned.
These decrees may also determine which of the constituent parts of the
undertaking or the office are to be considered as separate establishments in
the sense of paragraph 2 of article 9.
62. No works council is to be organized, or the existing one ceases to function if its organization or its activity is connected with special difficulties due
to the nature of the industry concerned. In such cases another form of workers' representation must be organized by a generally compulsory wage agreement. The new form of representation enjoys all the rights and duties of a
regular works council.
At the expiration of the wage agreement this form of representation continues to exist until a new agreement has been concluded and declared compulsory or a regular works council has been elected.
63. If a request has been made to declare the wage agreement general and
compulsory, the minister of labor may on the application of one of the parties
concerned order the suspension of electing a works council until a decision
has been rendered with reference to the wage agreement.
64. Should the wage agreement not include all employees of the establishment, the employees not included are to be allowed to elect their representatives in accordance with the regulations of this law.
65. If in addition to a regular works council there exists in the establishment also an officials' council, the two organizations may meet together in
order to discuss their common affairs.
The common session is presided over alternately by the chairmen of the
works council and the officials' council. The invitations to the session and the
order of business are prepared by both chairmen jointly.
More details concerning the regulation of officials' councils are to be issued
by the respective Government authorities in charge.

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III. TASKS AND RIGHTS OF THE WORKERS' REPRESENTATIVES
A.

THE WORKS COUNCIL

66. The duties of the works council are:
(1) To advise with the management of establishments with economic aims
and by this means help bring about the highest possible production coupled
with a maximum of economy.
(2) To cooperate in the introduction of new methods of work in the establishments with economic aims.
(3) To safeguard the establishment against disturbances; especially, without invading the rights of the economic organizations of the wageworkers and
the salaried employees, to call upon the board of adjustment or any other
agreed upon mediation agency in all disputes of the works council, of the employees, or any group of them, with the employer, when conciliation by conference no longer seems possible.
( 4) To see to it that the decisions of the board of adjustment or any other
agreed upon conciliation or mediation agency are carried out in the establishment.
(5) To agree with the employer, in accordance with article 75 to follow, on
factory rules or changes in the same, corresponding with the regulations of
the existing wage agreements.
(6) To further the solidarity within the ranks of the employees as well as
between them and the employer and to stand up for the rights of the workers
to organize.
·
(7) To take up the complaints of the separate group councils and to effect
their redress through a conference with the employer.
(8) To supervise the campaigns against accidents and against dangers to
the health of the workers in the establishment; to assist the industrial inspectors and other officials by means of inducements, advice, and proper information, and to insist that all police regulations and safety requirements are
carefully observed in the establishment.
(9) To cooperate in the administration of the various benefit funds and the
workers' living quarters belonging to the establishment as well as in all other
organizations of workers' welfare; in the latter case, however, only if there
are no other provisions for the workers' representation, or no special objection
arising out of the last will of the benefactor.
67. Paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 66 do not apply to establishments with
political, trade-union, military, religious, scientific, artistic, or similar purposes, in so far as the nature of such establishments is contradictory to their
application.
68. In performing its tasks, it is the duty of the works council to see to it
that any demand or action on either side which might be detrimental to the
interests of the community shall be abandoned.
69. The carrying out of the resolutions passed jointly with the management
is the work of the management only. The works council must not encroach
upon the rights of the management by issuing orders of its own.
70. Establishments having a board of directors and no special provisions
for the workers to be represented on the same, must admit one or two elected
members of the works council as permanent members of the board. The
regulations according to which this is to be accomplished are to be laid down
in a separate law especially enacted for this purpose. The works council members on the board are to represent the interests and demands of the employees
as well as their views and ideas concerning the organization of the establishment. They are allowed to participate and have a vote in all sessions of the
board but are entitled to no renumeration beyond their personal expenses.
They are duty bound not to disclose any of the information they are given
confidentially.
71. In order to fulfill its tasks, the works council in establishments with
economic aims has a right to demand that the employer report to the executive committee or, where such does not exist, to the works council itself, on all
the practices in the establishment directly affecting the employment or
activity of the workers. It also has the right to examine all wage and other
records relating to the realization of the existing wage agreement. Both
rights can be exercised only if they do not endanger the industrial or trade
secre.ts of the establishment, or if there are no other legal regulations to the
1:ontrary.

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In addition, the employer must make quarterly reports to the works council concerning the conditions in the establishment and in the trade as a whole,
with special emphasis on the accomplishments of the establishment and its
prospective labor requirements.
The members of the works councll are duty bound not to disclose any of the
information they are given conftdentially.
72. Beginning with January 1, 1921, the employers of all establishments
which are required by law to keep a complete accounting of their affairs, or
employing regularly not less than 300 wageworkers or 50 salaried employees,
must present and explain to the executive committee of the works council or,
where such does not exist, to the works councll itself, their yearly balance
sheets and an accounting of the losses or profits made during the completed
business year. This must be done not later than six months after the closing
of the business year and is to be regulated by a separate law especially issued
for this purpose.
The members of the executive committee or of the works council are duty
bound not to disclose any of the information they are given confidentially.
73. Articles 70 and 72 do not apply to such establishments as are mentioned
in article 67, in so far as their application is contradictory to the nature of
such establishments.
The National Government may relieve any other establishnept from the
requirements outlined in articles 70 and 72, if it is to the interests of the nation to do so.
·
Under such circumstances, however, the members of the executive committee, or, where such does not exist, of the works council, are entitled to send
temporary •delegates to the board of directors to represent the demands and
wishes of the workers relating to conditions of work or the organization of
the establishment. The board must then call a special meeting to discuss the
demands of the employees. At such meetings the delegates of the works council have a right to participate and also to vote.
74. If because of expansion, contraction, or closing dpwn of the establishment, or because of introduction of new technical appliances or new methods
of work, the laying off or dismissal of a large proportion of employees hecomes necessary, the employers are required to confer with their works councils some time before the dismissal takes place, on the ways and means of
accomplishing it without infl.icting unnecessary hardships upon the employees.
The works council may demand that this information be forwarded to the
central information bureau or to a designated labor exchange.
75. If the factory regulations have not been made part of the wage agreement the employer must present these regulations to the works council for
approval. In event of disagreement both parties may appeal to the board of
adjustment, which renders a final decision, except when the disagreement Is
concerned with hours of work.
The procedure is simllar in the case of any changes made in the factory
regulations.
76. In establishments with more than 100 employees the works council has
the right to arrange for special consultation hours to be held once .or more
than once a week for the purpose of receiving the complaints and wishes of
the employees. A special agreement with the employer is necessary if the
consultation hours are to be held during the regular hours of work.
77. In cases of investigation of industrial accidents by the employer, by the
industrial inspector, or any other official, a member of the works council must
be permitted to be present and take part in the investigation.
B. WAGEWOBXERS' CoUNCU. AND

SALABDm

EMPLOYEES' CoUNCU.

78. The duties of the group councils are :
(1) To see to it that all the legal regulations in favor of the employees, all
the important wage agreements, and all the decisions of the board of adjustment or any other agreed upon mediation agency are carried out in the establishment.
(2) To cooperate with the employers of establishments which have no wage
agreements, and in harmony with the economic organizations of the employees,
in the regulation of wages and other conditions of work, namely: In the determination of the task work or piece rates and in the preparation of the rules
according to which these rates are to be regulated ; in the introduction of new
methods of wage payments; in the determination of hours of work and espe-

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cially in the case of lengthening or shortening the regular hours ; in the regulation of vacations for the employees; and in considering the complaints concerning the teaching and the treatment of the apprentices in the establishment.
(3) To agree with the employer on factory rules affecting a single group
of employees, this to be done in accordance with the regulations of article 80
(to follow) and with the existing wage agreement.
( 4) To investigate the complaints of employees and to effect their redress
through conferences with the employer.
(5) In event of disagreements with the employer, to call upon the board
of adjustment or any other agreed upon mediation agency if the works council
refuses to do it.
(6) To take charge of the campaigns against accidents or dangers to the
health of the part:cular group of employees in the establishment; to assist the
industrial inspectors and other officials by means of inducements, advice, and
information, and to insist on the observation of the police regulations and the
safety devices in the establishment.
(7) To look after the wounded veterans and those Injured by accidents in
the establishment and, by means of advice or appeals to the employer and
fellow workers, to supply them with occupations fitting their strength and
capacities.
(8) To agree with the employer on rules for the employment of the particular group of workers, if such had not been incorporated in the wage agreement, in accordance with the regulations of articles 81 to 83, to follow.
(9) To cooperate with the employer in cases of dismissal, in accordance
with the regulations of articles 84 to 90, inclusive.
79. Articles 68 and 69 apply also to the wageworkers' and the salaried employees' councils.
80. Article 75 applies also in the event that the separate groups make agreements with the employer relating to separate factory regulations, as outlined
in paragraph 8, article 78.
The determinat:on of fines as provided in article 184b of the industrial code
is to be decided jointly by the employer and a group council. In event of disagreement the final decision is made by the board of adjustment.1
If the factory regulations had been issued prior to January 1, 1919, new
factory regulations must be agreed upon to be issued with:n three months after
this law goes into effect.•
81. The rules to be agreed upon in accordance with paragraph 8, article 78,
must contain the provision that the hiring of employees shall not be affected by
their polftlcal, military, religious, or trade-union activities, or by belonging or
not belonging to a political, military, religious, or uni-0n organization. No
discriminat'ons because of sex are to be permitted.
These regulations do not apply to the establishments mentioned in article 67,
as the nature of those establishments does not permit of their application.
Employment on legal grounds, or on the basis of a wage agreement, or of a
decision by the board of adjustment, must be given preference before these
rules.
.
Within these regulations the employment of a single employee is a matter of
management only and can be decided without the cooperation or the supervision of the group councils.
82. Should the rules agreed upon be violated, the group council has a right
to protest this violation within a period of 5 days after it becomes aware of
it, but not later than 14 days after the violation has taken place.
The reasons for the protest and the required proofs must be presented by
the council at the conference with the employer.
If no agreement is reached the group council may, within three days afte1
the termination of the conference, appeal to the board of adjustment• or to
any other agreed upon mediation agency.
The protest or the appeal to the board of adjustment by the group council
does not have the effect of delaying or recalling the act of employment.
83. The derisions of the board of adjustment are final. Before the final
decision is rendered the employee concerned must be given a hearing. If the
• Since Oct. 30, 1923, the place of the board of adjustment has been taken by the
labo1· court.
• Later changed t.o read " before Sep.t. 1, 1920."

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board of adjustment finds that a violation of the rules had been committed
it must at the same time declare that the services of the employee concerned
be terminated as soon as the decision becomes effective. He must, however,
be given the required tlme notice. The decision makes for Justice between
the employer and the employees concerned.
84. Employees, when given a notice of discharge, may within five days after
receiving notice protest it before their respective group councils-(1) If there ls a justified suspicion that the notice resulted because of the
sex, or because of belonging or not belonging to a given political, rellglous,
military, or trade-union organization.
(2) If notice was given without stating the reasons.
(S) If the notice followed the refusal of the employee permanently to do
other work than for which he was hired.
( 4) If the notice was an unfair hardship inflicted upon the employee and
not justified eitl1er by his or her behavior when in service or by the conditions in the establishment.
If the employee was dismissed without the required time notice in accordance with the law justifying such dismissal, the protest may be made on
the ground that the application of the law to this case was not jtJ.stifl.able.
85. The right of protest ls not granted to the employees of the establishments mentioned in article 67, as it ls contradictory to the nature of such
establishments.
This right may not be used also- .
(1) In dismissals due to legal grounds or based upon a wage agreement or
a decision of the board of adjustment or any other agreed upon mediation
agency.
(2) In dismissals necessitated by complete or partial closing down of the
establishment.
86. The reasons for the protest and the required proofs must be presented
by the employee concerned to his group councn. If the councll finds the
protest justifiable, it must attempt to bring about an understanding with
the employer. If an understanding can not be reached within a week, the
group council or the employee concerned may within. additional three days
appeal to the board of adjustment.1
In the case of paragraph 2, article 84, the board of adjustment must defer
Its declslon, If a court decision on the case is pending, or one of the parties concerned moves the postponement in order to appeal to a court for a decision.
The decision of the board of adjustment must be rendered if within four weeks
after its postponement no court decision has taken place, or if the court denied
the employer the right to dismiss the employee concerned without a time
notice.
The protest against the dismissal and the appeal to the board of adjustment does not have any delaying effects upon the realization of the dismlssaL
87. The decisions of the board of adjustment are final.
If the board of adjustment approves the protest and the employer refuses
to reinstate the discharged employee, the board must decide upon the amount
of damages which the employer 1s to pay the employee concerned.
The amount of damages depends on the number of years the discharged
worker had been in the employment of the given establishment. It ls to
be set at one-twelfth of each year's earnings of the employee, but for not
more than sl:x: consecutive years. The economic situation of the employee
and the capacity of the employer must also be taken in consideration when
determining the amount of damages.' The decision makes for justice between the parties concerned.
Within three days after the decision goes Into effect, the employer must
notify the discharged worker, either orally or by mall, whether he chooses the
• Since Oct. 80, 1928, the place of the board of adjustment bas been taken by the
labor court.
• Due to the rapid depreciation of the mark and the resulting ridiculous sums paid as
damages to discharged employees, article 87 bas been revised by Inserting the following•
sentences:
(a) The separate amounts eamed during the previous years must be reduced to a basis
corre11P9ndlng to the wages and salaries tn vogue when the decision was rendered.
(b) Should tbe employer by means of litigation draw out tbe payment of damages as
decided by the board of adjustment, he is to be made responsible for the entire depre<·latlon the money bas undergone durinc the delay. (Relcnscesetzblatt, A.pr. 29, 1928, p.
258.)

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reinstatement or the payment of damages. Absence of such notice implies
the refusal of reinstatement.
88. In the case of reinstatement, the employer is required to pay to the
discharged employee the total sum of wages lost for the period between the
time of dismissal and the reinstatement. Article 2 of section 61.5 of the
Civil Code must also be applied. The employer is permitted to subtract
from the above sum the total amount the discharged employee had received
from the unemployment insurance fund of from the poor relief, and refund
it to the respective institutions.
89. The worker has the right to refuse to be reinstated if while the decision of the board was pending he secured for himself a new job. He must,
however, notify the employer of his intention, orally or by mail, not later
than eight days after the decision has been rendered. If he does not notify
the employer within the time, he loses the right to refuse the reinstatement. If
he refuses to be reinstated and notifies the employer accordingly, he is entitled
to a payment of wages for the time between his dismissal and the rendering
of the decision by the board. Article 2 of section 615 of the Civil Code must
also be applied.
90. If the time limits mentioned in articles 81 to 89 can not be observed
because of natural calamities or other unavoidable circumstances, they may be
counted anew from the moment a written note of such hindrance has been
made.
C. THE UNITED WORKS COUNCIL

91. If side by side with the individual works councils there exists also a
united works council, the rights and duties of the former extend only to the
particular establishments they represent.
The united works council has the right to deal with all cases affecting more
than one establishment or the entire enterprise.
D.

THE SHOP STEWARD

92. The shop steward has the same rights and duties given to the works
council and to the group councils in articles 66, 78 (paragraphs 1 to 7), 71,
and 77.
Articles 67 to 69, inclusive, also apply.
IV. SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES
93. The district economic council 1 is to decide in all disputes concernlng( 1) The need of organization, the kind and composition of the workers' representation in the sense of this law.
(2) The right of an employee to vote or become a candidate.
(3) The organization, rights, and business procedure of the workers' representation or the works assembly.
( 4) The necessary business expenses of the workers' representatives.
(5) Any difficulty in connection with the required elections.
94. If an enterprise extends beyond one economic district or is, because
of its nature, subject to State supervision, the State may appoint its own
economic council or any district economic council to decide the disputes mentioned in article 93. If the enterprise extends beyond the limits of a single
State the national economic council decides the disputes mentioned in article 93.
V. PROTECTION AND FINES
95. The employers or their representatives are forbidden to interfere with
the rights of the employees to elect their representatives ; with the rights
of the latter in performing their duties, or in any way to place the workers' representirtives at a disadvantage because of their office.
96. No notice of discharge can be given and no transfer of a workers' representative from one establishment to another can take place without the express
approval of all the members of the council concerned.
1 Since Oct. 30, 1923. the place of the board of adjustment bas been taken by the
labor court.

22477°-25--8

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No such approval is required(1) When the dismissal is based upon legal grounds, or upon a wage agreement, or upon a decision of the board of adjustment or any other agreed upon
agency.
(2) When the dismissal becomes necessary because of a complete shutdown
of the establishment.
(3) When the dismissal is made without a time notice on the basis of the law
Justifying such dismissal.
In the latter case a protest is permitted on the grounds that the application of the law was not justifiable. If a court or the board of adjustment approves the protest the employer must recall the dismissal. Article 89 also
applies.
97. If the council refuses t,o approve the dismissal of one of its members,
the employer may appeal to the board of adjustment 1 for an approval. This
must not be granted if any violation of the regulations of article 95 is connected with the dismissal. The member of the council must be kept in employment until after the decision of the board of adjustment has been rendered.
98. Articles 95 to 97, inclusive, apply also to the kinds of workers' representation mentioned in articles 62 and 63.
They apply also in the case of a shop steward, except that the place of
the council is taken by a majority of the employees in the establishment.
99. Employers or their representatives who act contrary of the regulations of
article 95 or 98 are to be punished by a fine of 2,000 marks, or by imprisonment.
Similar punishments are to be inflicted upon the employer or his representative for the violation of paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 23.
Similarly are to be punished the employers or their representatives who,
contrary to the requirements in articles 71 and 72, refuse t,o give the necessary
information to their works councils, t,o show them the wage and other records
relating w the carrying out of the wage agreement, and to make their yearly
financial reports in accordance with the legal requirements.
Whoever, in contravention of articles 71 and 72, for the purpose of deceiving
or causing damage to the employees, presents to the workers' representatives
false facts concerning the conditions or possessions of the enterprise, or suppresses the real and important facts from the workers' representatives is to
be punished by imprisonment for one year, by a fine of 1.0,000 marks, or both.
The punishment is to take place only upon the request of the workers' representatives. Withdrawn! of such request is permissible.
100. Whoever, without permission, discloses any of the information .given
confidentially to him as a workers' representative shall be punished with a fine
of 1.500 marks, or by imprisonment.
Whoever discloses such information with the intention of giving an advantage
to another perst>n or firm, or in order to cause damage to the establishment
shall be punished by imprisonment for a whole year. In addition, he ma~:
also be fined 3,000 marks. Under extenuating circumstances the fine may be
eliminated. All the advantages derived from the above information by tbe
guilty person shall also be confiscated.
The prosecution must take place only at the request of the employer. The
withdrawal of such request is permissible.
VI.

EXECUTION AND TEMPORARY REGULATIONS

101. The minister of labor, with the approval of the national economic council and a committee of 28 members of the Reichstag, is empowered to issue
special regulations concerning the execution of this law.
102. In the first elections, which are to take place not later than six weeks
after this law goe.s into effect, the place of the works council is to be taken
by the existing workers' committees. The wage workers' committee and the
salaried employees' committee shall decide upon an election committee.
If the workers' committees fail to do their duty, or if there are no workers'
committees in the establishment, the procedure must be as outlined in paragraph 2, article 23 of this law.
In the first election of a shop steward, the employer must appoint the oldest
employee in the establishment to act as the election manager (par. 2, art. 58).
1 Since Oct. 30, 1923, the place of the board of adjustment has been taken by the labor
court.

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103. Until the organization of district economic councils and the national
economic council, their place must be taken by other agencies designated by
the proper State or national authorities.
1.04. Simultaneously with this law the following changes shall become
effective:
I. Articles 7 to 14 of the decree of December 23, 1918 (Reichsgesetzblatt, p.
1456), concerning collective agreements and shop committees, are hereby repealed.
II. Article 19 of the above decree is to be read as follows :
" Special boards of adjustment are to be organized for the enterprises and
offices of the States and the nation. This is to be accomplished by means of
separate decrees issued by the proper State and national authorities."
III. Articles 20 and those following of the same decree are to be so changed
that wherever shop committees are mentioned their place is to be taken by
works councils, wageworkers' or salaried employees' councils, or by shop stewards, respectively.
IV. Paragraph 2, section 134a, and paragraph 3, section 134b of the Industrial
Code are to be so changed that the employer and the works council must
participate jointly in the preparation of the factory regulations, or any changes
in the same. The chairman of the works council is authorized to sign th9
factory regulations in the name of the council.
V. Sections 134d and 134h of the Industrial Code are repealed.
VI. Paragraph 1 of section 134c is to be read as follows :
"A duplicate copy of the factory regulations or of any appendix to the same
must be presented to the proper officials not later than three days after the
regulations or the changes have been agreed upon."
VII. Paragraph 1, section 13 of the decree of January 24, 1919 (Reichsgesetzblatt, p. 111), concerning the temporary working regulations in agriculture,
is to be read as follows :
"Establishments having a works council must issue working regulations,.
which must be exhibited in a conspicuous and accessible place."
VIII. ·wherever in other laws the name " shop committee " is mentioned it
must be replaced by works council, or wage workers' council, salaried employees' council, or shop steward, respectively:
105. If the law mentioned in article 72 of this law is not passed prior to
December 31, 1920, the employers concerned must present to their works
councils a financial statement and a balance sheet, as required by the Commercial Code.
106. This law goes into effect from the day of its announcement. Simultaneously all State works council laws become null and void.
All other works councils, shop committees, and workers' committees cease to
exist as soon as the first elections of works councils on the basis of this law
have taken place.

Appendix 11.-BALANCE SHEET LAW OF FEBRUARY 5,
1921
1. The balance sheet of a company, which must be presented to the works
council in accordance with article 72 of the works council law, must contain
all the component parts of the company's liabilities and assets as required by
the varions laws applying to ..such companies, and must be presented in such
a fashion that when examined alone, independently of other sources of information, it provides a complete abstract of the financial position of the undertaking. Such property of the owners as is not directly connected with the
undertaking must not be mentioned in the balance sheet.
2. The meaning and the connection among the various items shall be explained in a separate statement. The information must be based upon the
data taken from the balance sheet, the inventory, the amount of raw materials
on hand, the cash items, and the total expenses of producing and marketing
the final product. The submission of the actual vouchers is not compulsory.
All essential changes which took place during the past business year must be
·
mentioned in the report.
If the company has more than one establishment, the financial position of
each must be explained separately, provided the nature of the entire enterprise or of the individual establishments permits such separation of accounts.

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3. The right to demand the presentation and .an explanation of the company's yearly balance sheets is also granted to the united works councils, existing
side by side with the individual works councils.
4. Articles 1 to 3 of this law apply also to the presentation of the profit and
loss accounts as required in article 72 of the works council law.
5. The first presentation of the balance sheets and the profit and loss accounts must be for the business year ending on January 1, 1921.1
6. This law is to be effective as from February 1, 1921.

Appendix 111.-LAW CONCERNING SENDING MEMBERS
OF WORKS COUNCILS TO BOARDS OF DIRECTORS, FEBRUARY 15, 1922
1. By a board of directors (A.ufsichtsrat) as mentioned in article 70 of the
works council law is meant all bodies which are designated with this name
in the Commercial Code, the law concerning companies with limited responsibility, the law concerning cooperatives with economic aims, the law dealing
with private insurance agencies, and the law concerning the mining industry.
2. If the company has more than one works council, or a united works
council, the sending of the workers' representatives to the board of directors
is to be regulated by the following rules :
3. With the exceptions mentioned in this and in the works council law, the
workers' representatives on the board of directors are to be subject to the
same legal requirements as the other members of the board.
4. Two members of the works council are to be elected to the board of
directors, if at the time of election the board consists of more than three
members, and if both groups of employees, the wageworkers and the salaried
employees, are represented in the works council.
Two substitute members are also to be elected at the same time to replace
the two real members who might for one reason or another withdraw from
the board or from the works council.
5. The workers' representatives on the board of directors are to be elected
by the entire membership of the one or many works councils existing in the
enterprise.
Any member of the works council who has been in the employ of the company for at least 011.e year and who in the last two years before election had
not been recalled on the grounds of article 39 of the works council law may
be elected to the board of directors. The one-year employment requirement
may be set aside if the elective body does not have four times as many candidates as are required to be elected.
6. The elections are to be kept secret and are to be decided by a simple
majority. If two members are to be elected, the minority group is entitled to
send one member, if it has at least two representatives in the elective body.
In such cases each group of employees elects its own members.
Reelection is permissible.
All other details concerning the elections are to be determined by the minister of labor.
7. Membership In the board of directors ends automatically with the termination of membership in the works council.
8. The place of the resigned member ls to be taken by a substitute member.
If there are no substitute members, new elections must take place.
9. Articles 1 to 8, inclusive, apply also to companies which have been organ.
lzed but not yet registered.
10. The law is to be applied also to such workers' representation as is mentioned in article 62 of the works couneil law, provided the representation exists
for only one company and consists of the employees of that company.
11. This law is to be effpctive as of February 1, 1922. The first elections are
to take place three months after this law goes into effect.
1

Later corrected to Jan. 31, 1921.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

BIBLIOGRAPHY
AUFH.A.USEB,

Das Gesetz fiber Betriebsrii.te. Berlin, 1922.
BRANDT, H.

Betriebsrlitegesetz nebst Betriebsbilanzgesetz.
BRAUER,

Berlin, 1922.

Das Betriebsr!itegesetz und Die Gewerkschaften. Jena, 1920.
BRAUN-MULLER.

Die Gewerkschaften, Volume 1. Berlin, 1921.
DERSCH, H.

Das Betriebsrlitegesetz vom 4, February, 1920. Berlin, 1922.
Das Aufsichtsratsgesetz. Mannheim, 1922.
ERKELENZ,

Unternehmer und Arbeitnehmer in der Neuen Wirtschaft. Berlin, 1921.
ERsTER Reichskongress der Betriebsrlite Deutschlands, October 5-7, 1920, BeL'lin.
Protokoll der Verhandlungen.
FEIG UND SITZLER.

Betriebsrlitegesetz, Betriebsbilanzgesetz und Aufsichtsratsgesetz.

Berlin,

1922.
FLATOW, G.

Kommentar. zum Betrlebsriltegesetz. Berlin, 1923.
Grundzfige des Schlichtungswesens. Berlin, 1923.
Betriebsvereinbar~g und Arbeitsordnung. Berlin, 1923.
FLATOW UND IOACHIM.

Die Schlichtungsverordnung vom 30, October, 1923. Berlin, 1924.
FREESE,

Die Konstitutionelle Fabrik. Berlin, 1922.
GERMANY.

Statistisches Reichsamt. Berichte der Gewerbe-Aufslchtsbeamten nnd
Bergbehorden. Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Wurttemberg, 1920, 1921,
and 1922.
HOl!:1'11GER-SCHULTZ-WEHBLE.

Jahrbuch des Arbeitsrechts. Berlin, vol. 1, 1920; vol. 2, 1921; vol. 3, 1922.
W.

KASKEL,

Das Neue Arbeitsrecht.

Berlin, 1921.

KOCH, H.

Arbeiterausschfisse. Duisburg, 1007.
KoRSCH, K.

Arbeitsrecht fiir Betriebsrll.te. Berlin, 1922.
E.
Aus der Praxis des Sch1ichtungswesens. Duisburg, 1923.
NoRPEL, C.
Aus der Betriebsrilte Praxis, vols. 1 and 2. Berlin, 1922.
Betriebsriitegesetz und Gewerbe- und Kaufmannsgerichte.

MEHLICH,

PETERMAN,

Berlin, 1922.

Lehrbuch fiir Betriebsrilte. Leipzig, -1920.
J.
Die Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbewegung. Altenburg, 1922.

REINDL,
ItOMER,

Die Entwic.k:lung des Riitegedankens in Deutschland. Jena, 1920.
SCHUMACHER, M.
Tarifvertr!ige und Schlichtungswesen. Berlin, 1921.
SEIDEL, R.

Betriebsrilte und Gewerkscbaften. Berlin, 1920.
Die Betrlebsriltescbule. Berlin, 1924.
SERING,

Arbeiterausscbfisse, Verein fiir Soziale Politik, Berlin, 1891.
STROBEL, H.
Die Deutsche Revolution. Berlin, 1923.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

113

114

WORKS COUNCIL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY

UNITED CHRISTIAN UNIONS.
Leitfaden fiir Betriebsratsmitglieder. Berlin, 1922.
WECK, R.
Handbuch fiir Betriebsrlite. Berlin, 1921.
WINSCHUH, J.
Betriebsrat oder Gewerkschaften? Essen, 1922.
Praktische Werkspolitik. Berlin, 1923.
WOLDT, R.
Betriebsriiteschulung. Jena, 1922.
Wirtschaftllche Schulungsarbeit und Gewerkschaftliches Fiihrertum.
Leipzig, 1922.
Ingenieur und Arbeiter. Leipzig, 1923.
ZWING, K.
Gewerkschaftliche Probleme. Berlin, 1921.
Die Geschichte der Deutschen Freien Gewerkschaften. Jena, 1922.

YEAR BOOKS AND PERIODICALS
DER ALLGEMEINE DEUTSCHE GEWERKBCHAFTB BUND, Berlin, 1923.
DEB ABBEITGEBEB, bimonthly, Berlin, current.
ABBEITBRECHT, monthly, Miinchen, current.
DER ·BETRIEBBRAT, monthly, Berlin, ceased publication in 1920.
DIE BETRIEBBRATEPOBT, monthly, Essen, current.
BETBIBSRA.TEZEITSCHBIFT, bimonthly, Stuttgart, current.
BETRIEBSRATEZEITUNG, monthly, Berlin, ceased publication in 1923.
DER DEUTSCHE HOLZABBEITER-VEBBAND--1922, Berlin, 1923.
•
DEB DEUTSCHE METALLARBEITEB-VEBBAND--1922, Stuttgart, 1923.
GEWEBBE- UND KAUFMANNSGEBICHT, monthly, Berlin, current.
GEWERKSCHAFTS,.ZEITUNG, weekly, Berlin, current.
KoRRESPONDENZBLATT, weekly, Berlin, ceased publication in 1:)23. Now
Gewerkschafts-Zeitung.
MERKBLA.TTEB FUB DIE BETBIEBS- UND BEAMTENRATE DER REICHSBAHN, monthly.
Berlin, current.
MlTTEILUNGSBLATT DEB SCHLICHTUNGB-AUBSCHUSSES GROSS-BERLIN, monthly,
Berlin, ceased in 1923.
NEUE ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ARBEITSRECHT, monthly, Berlin, current.
DAS ScHLICHTUNGBWESEN, monthly, Stuttgart, current.
SOZIALE PRAXIS, weekly, Berlin, current.
WIRTSCHAFTLICHE SELBSTVERWALTUNG, monthly, Berlin, current.
DIE ZUKUNFT DEB ARBEIT, Nos. 2-3, Jena, 1923.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

SERIES OF BULLETINS PUBLISHm BY THE BUREAU OF WOR STATISTICS
[ rite publication al ,,.. IIRRlllll _, apecial report. an,I of tlae 1,iaomldy l,alletia IDU ducontinaed in Jaly, 1912, an,I since t6af time a 6alletin liaa 6eea pablialted at irre,-lar infer.
oals. Bacla nam6er contains matter deooted to oe ol a aeries ol •eaeral sal,jects. rlaae
l,alletins are nam6ered couecatioely, 6e,auam, witlt No. 101, an,I ■P to No. 236 thy also
carry comecatioe mrml,en rmder eacla series. Bqirmi,w witla No. 231 tlae serial naml,ering

liaa l,en discontinaed. A list ol th uries ia iioea l,elow. Una each ia •ro•,ed all tlae
6alletins wlaicla coatain material relllfing to tlw ,al,jec:t ■laffer of tlaat uries. A list of tu
reports ar,d l,alletins ol th Bareaa iaaed prier to Jaly 1, 1912, will l,e laraisud on applica•
tion. rite l,alletins marlred tliaa * are o■t ol print.]

Wholesale Priees.
*BuJ. 114. Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1912.
Bul. 149. Wholesnle prices, 1890 to 1918.
*Bui. 178. Index numbers of wholesale prices ln the United States and foreign
countries.
*Bui. 181. Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1914.
*Bui. 200. Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1915.
•Bui. 226. Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1916.
Bui. 269. Wholesale prices. 1890 to 1919.
Bui. 284. Index numbers of wholesale prices ln the United States and foreign
countries. [Revision of Bulletin No. 178.)
Bui. 296. Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1920.
Bul. 820. Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1921.
Bui. 885. Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1922.
Bui. 867. Wholesale price■, 1890 to 1923. [In press.]
Retail Prley and Cost of Livtns.
*Bul. 105. Retail pi-ices, 1890 to 1911 : Part I.
Retail prices, 1890 to 1911 : Part II-General tables.
•Bul. 100. Retail prices. 1890 to June, 1912: Part I.
Retail prices, 1890 to June, 1912 : Part II-General tables.
Bui. 108. Retail prices, 1890 to August, 1912.
Bul. 110. Retail prices, 1890 to October, 1912.
Bui. 113. Retail prices, 1890 to December, 1912.
Bui. 115. Retail prices, 1890 to February, 1918.
•Bui. 121. Sugar prices, from refiner to consumer.
Bui. 12li. Retall prices 1890 to Aprll, 1918.
*Bui. 180. Wheat and flour prices, from farmer to consumer.
Bui. 182. Retail prices, 1890 to June. 1913.
Bui. 186. Retail prices, 1890 to August, 1918.
*Bui. 188. Retall prices, 1890 to October, 1913.
•Bui. 140. Retail prices, 1890 to December, 1913.
Bui. 156. Retail prices, 1907 to December, 1914.
Bui. 164. Butter prices, from producer to consumer.
Bui. 170. Foreign food prices as affected by the war.
•Bui. 184. R!!tail prices, 1907 to June, 1915.
Bui. 197. Retall prices, 1907 to December, 1915.
Bui. 228. Retail prices, 1907 to December. 1916.
Bui. 270. Retall prices, 1918 to December, 1919.
Bui. 300. Retall prices, 1913 to December, 1920.
Bui. 315. Retail prices, 1918 to 1921.
Bui. 334. Retail prices, 1918 to 1922.
Bui. 857. Coat of llvlng In the United States.
Bui. 366. Retall prices, 1913 to December, 1928. [In press.]
Bul. 869. The use of cost-of-living ftgu1·ea in wage adjustments. [In press.)
Waires and Roura of Lalior,
Bul.116. Hours, earnings, and duration of employment of wage-earning women
in selected industries in the Diatrict of Columbia.
•But. 118. Ten-hour maximum working-day for women and loung persons.
Bui. 119. Working hours of women in the pea canneries o Wisconsin.
•Bui. 128. Wages and hours of labor in the cotton, woolen, and silk industries,
1890 to 1912.
•Bul. 129. Wages and hours of labor in the lumber, miUwork, and furniture indnatrles, 1890 to 1912.
•But.181. Union scale of wages snd hours of labor, 1907 to 1912.
•Bul. 184. Wages and hours of labor in the boot and shoe and hosiery and knit goods
industries, 1890 to 1912.
•Bui. 135. Wages and hours of Jaber in the cigar and clothing industries, 1:911 and
1912.
Bul. 137. Wages and hours of labor ln the bulldlug and repairing of steam railroad
cars, 1890 to 1912.
Bui. 143. Union scale of wages and hours of labor, May 15, 1918.

*Supply exhausted.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

(I)

Wqea and Boan of Labor-Continued.
•Bui. 146. Wages and regularity of employment and standardization of piece rates

in the dress and waist industry of New York City.
•Bul. 147. Wages and regularity of employment In the cloak, suit, and skirt Industry.
*Bul. 150. Wages and hours of labor in the cotton, woolen, and silk industries, 1907
to 1913.
BuL 151. Wages and hours of labor In the iron and steel industry in the United
States, 1907 to 1912.
Bui. 153. Wages and hours of labor in the lumber, mlllwork, and furniture industries, 1907 to 1913.
*BuL 1114. Wages and hours of labor In the boot and shoe and hosiery and underwear
·
Industries, 1907 to 1913.
Bui. 160. Hours1 earnings, and conditions of labor of women in Indiana mercantile
estaollshments and garment factories.
Bui. 161. Wages and hours of labor in the clothing and cigar Industries, 1911 to
1913.

Bui. 163. Wages and hours of labor In the building and repairing of steam railroad
cars, 1907 to 1913.
Bui. 108. Wages and hours of labor In the Iron and steel industry, 1907 to 1913.
•Bui. 171. Union scale of wages and hours of labor, May 1, 1914.
Bui, 177. Wages and hours of labor In the hosiery and underwear industry, 1907
to 1914.
.
Bul 178. Wage.s and hours of labor In the boot and shoe Industry, 1907 to 1914.
•Bui. 187. Wages and hours of labor In the men's clothing Industry, 1911 to 1914.
•Bul. 190. Wages and hours of labor In the cotton, woolen, and silk Industries, 1907
to 1914.
*Bui. 194. Union scale of wages and hours of labor, May 1, 1911S.
Bui. 204. Street railway employment In the United States.
Bui. 214. Union scale of wages and hours of labor, May 15, 1916.
Bui. 218. Wages and hours of _labor in the Iron and steel industry, 1907 to 1915.
Bul. 221. Hours, fatigue, and health In British munition factories.
Bul. 225. Wages and hours of labor In the lumber, mlllwerk, and fnmiture industries, 1915.
Bui. 232. Wages and hours of labor In the boot and shoe Industry, 1907 to 1916.
Bul. 238. Wages and hours of labor In woolen and worsted goods manufacturing,
1916.

Bui. 239. Wages and hours of labor In cotton-goods manufacturing and finishing,
1916.

Bul. 245. Union scale of wages and hours of labor, May 15 1917.
Bul. 252. Wages and hours of labor in the slaughtering and meat-packbtg industry,
1917.

Bul. 259 U11ion scale of wages and hours of labor, May llS, 1918.
Bul. 260. Wages and hours of labor in the boot and shoe industry, 1907 to 1918.
Bul. 261. Wuges and hours of labor in woolen and worsted goods manufacturing,
1918.

Bul. 262. Wages and hours of labor In cotton-goods manufacturing and finishing,
1918.

Bui. 265. Industrial survey In selected industries In the United States, 1919.
Prellminary report.
Union scale of wages and hours of labor, May 15, 1919.
Wages and hours of labor in the boot and shoe industry, 1907 to 1920.
Hours and earnings in anthracite and bituminous coal mining.
Union scale of wages and hours of labor, May 15, 1920.
Wages and hours of labor in cotton-goods manufacturing, 1920.
Wnges and hours of labor in woolen and worsted goods manufal'turing,

Bui. 274.
Bui. 278.
Bul. 279.
Bul. 286.
Bul. 288.
8ul. 289.

1920.

Bul. 294. Wages and hours of labor In the slaughtering and meat-packing Industry
In 1921.
Bul. 297. Wages an<l boors of labor In the petroleum in<lustry.
Bui. 802. Union scale of wagPs JLnd boors of lnbor, :May 15, 1921.
Bui. 305. Wages and hours or labor In the Iron and steel Industry, 1907 to 1920.
Bul. 316. Hours and eamings In anthracite and bituminous coftl minlng-antbra.cite, January, 1922; bituminous, winter of 1921-22.
Bui. 317. Wages and hours of labor 1n lumber manufacturing, 1921.
·
Bul. 324. Wages and hours of labor In the boot and shoe Industry, 1907 to 1922.
Bul 325. Union scale of wagee and houril of labor, May 15, 1922.
Bul. 327. Wftites and hours of labor In woolen and worsted goods manufacturing.
Bui. 828.
Bui. 3211.
Bui. 345.
Bui. 848.
Bul. 858.
Bui. 354.
Bul. 356.
Bui. 358.
Bui. 860.
Bui. 362.
Bul. 363.
Bui. 365.
Bui. 371.

1922.

Wages and hours of labor In hosiery and underwear Industry, 1922..
Wa!l,'es and hours of labor In men's clothing industry. 1022.
Wages and hours in cotton-goods manufacturing, 1922.
Wages and hours of labor In the automobile Industry, 1922.
Wages and hours of labor In the Iron and steel industry, 1907 to 1922.
Union scale of wages and hours of labor, May llS, 1923.
Productivity costs in the common-brick induRtry;
Wages and hours of labor in the automoblle-tlre industry, 1928.
Time and labor costs in manufacturing 100 pairs of shoes.
Wages 8Jld hours of labor In foundries and machine shops, 1923.
Wages and hours of labor In lumber manufacturing, 1928.
'
Wages and hours of labor in the paper and pulp industry.
Wages and hours of labor In cotton-goods manufacturing. 1924; [In
press.]

• Supply exhausted.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

(II)

Waires and Hours of Labor-Continued.

Bui. 373. Wages and hours of labor in the slaughtering and meat-packing industry,
1923. [In preBB.]
Bui. 374. Wages and hom·s of labor in the boot and shoe industry, ·1907 to 1924,
[In press.]
Bul. 376. Wages and hours of labor in the hosiery and underwear industry. 1907
to 1924. [ In press.]
Bui. 377, Wages and hours of labor in woolen and worsted goods manufacturing,
1924. [In press.]
Bul. 381. Wages and hours of labor in the iron and steel industl'3:, 1907 to 1924.
[In press,]
Employment and Unemployment.
•Bui. 109. Statistics of unemployment and the work of employment offices.
• Bul. 116. Hours, earnings, and duration of employment of wage-earning women in
selected industries in the District of Columbia.
Bul.172. Unemployment in New York City, N. Y.
•Bul. 182. Unemployment among women in department and other retail stores of
Boston, Mass.
•Bul. 183. Regularity of employment in the women's ready-to-wear garment industries.
Bui. 192. Proceedings of the American Association of Public Employment Offices.
•Bui. 195, Unemployment in the United States.
Bui. 1116. Proceedings of the Employment Managers' Conference held at Minneapolis,
Minn., January, 1916.
Bui. 202. Proceedings of the conference of Employment Managers' Association of
Bostou, Mass., held May 10, 1916.
Bui. 206. The British system of labor exchanges.
Bui. 220. Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Asso<'lation
of Publlc Employment Offices, Buffalo. N. Y., July 20 and 21, 1916.
Bui. 223. Employment of women and juvenill's in Great Britain duriug th,• wnr .
.•Bui. 227. l'roceedings of the Employment Managers' Conference. Philadelphia, Pa.,
April 2 and 3, 1917.
Bui. 235. Employment system of the Lake Carriers' Association.
Bui. 241. Public employment offices in the United Stutes.
Bul. 247. Proceedings of Employment Managers' Conference, Rochester, N. Y.,
May 9-11, 1918.
Bui. 310. Industrial unemployment: A statistical study of its extent and causes.
Bul. 311. Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Meeting of· the International Association of Public Employment Services, Buffalo, N. Y., September. 7-9,
19:!l.

Bui. 337. Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the International Association of Public Employment Services, Washington, D. C., September
11-13, 1022.
Bui. 355, Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the International Association of Public Employment Services, September 4-7, 1923.
Women in Industry.
Bui. 116. Hours, earnings, and duration of employment of wage-earning women in
selected industries in the District of Columbia.
•Bul.117. Prohibition of night work of young persons.
•Bui. 118. Ten-hour maximum working-day for women and young persons.
Bui. 119. Working hours of women in the pea canneries of Wisconsin.
•Bui. 122. Employment of women in power lau~drie& in Milwaukee.
Bui. 160. Hours, earnings, and conditions ot labor of women in Indiana mercantile
establishments and garment factories.
•Bul.167. Minimum-wage legislation in the United States and for<.'ign countries.
•Bui. 175. Summary of the report on condition of woman and child wage earners in
the United States.
•Bui. 176. Effect of minimum-wage determinations in Oregon.
•Bui. 180. '.rhe boot and shoe industry in Massachusetts as a vocation for women.
•Bui. 182. Unemployment among women in department and other retail stores of
Boston, Mass.
Bui. 193. Dressmaking as a trade for women in Massachusetts.
Bul. 215. Industrial experience of trade-school girls in Massachusetts.
Bui. 217. Effect of workmen's compensation laws in diminishing the necessity of
industrial employment of women and children.
Rul. 223. Employment of women and juveniles in Great Britain during the war.
Bui. 253. Women in the lead industries.
Workmen's Insurance and Compen1ation (ineludinir laws relatinir thereto).

•Bui. 101.
Bui. 102.
Bui. 103.
Bui. 107.
•Bui. 126.
•Bui. 155.
•Bui. 185.
Bul. 203.
Bui. 210.

Care of tuberculous wage earners in Germany.
British National Insurance Act, 1911,
.
Sickness and accident insurance law of Switzerland.
Law relating to insurance of salaried employees in Germany.
Workmen's compensation laws of the United States and foreign countries.
Compensation for accidents to employees of the United States.
Compensation legislation of 1914 and 1915.
Workmen's compensation laws of the United States and foreign countries.
Proceedings of the Third Annual Meeting of the International Association
of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions.
Bui. 212. Proceedings of the conference on social insurance called by the Interna•
tlonal Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions.

•Supply exhausted.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

(Ill)

Workmen'• Insurance and Compensation-Continued.

Bui. 217. Elfect of workmen·s compensation law& In diminishing the necessity of
Industrial emplo1ment of women and children.
Bui. 240. Comparison of workmen's compensation laws of the United States.
-Bui. 243. Workmen's compensation legislation in the United States and foreign
countries.
Bui. 248. Proceedings of the Fourth .Annual Meeting of the International Association of Ind1;istrlal Accident Boards and Commissions.
Bui. 264. Proceedings of the Fifth .Annual Meeting of the International A11sociation
of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions.
BuJ. 272. Workmen's compensation legislation of the United States and Canada,
1919.
•Bui. 273. Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Meeting of the International Association
of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions.
Bui. 2'1G. Comparj.son of workmen's compensation laws of the United States I\Dd
Canada.
Bui. 281. Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Meeting of the International Assoclatlen oi -Yndustrial Accident Boards and Commissions.
Bui. 801. Comparison of workmen's compensation insurance aiid administration.
Bui. 304. Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting of the International Associatien of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions.
Bui. 312. National Health In~urance In Great Britain, 1911 to 1920.
Bui. 882. Workmen's compensation legislation of the United States and Canada,
1920 to 1922.
Bui. 888. Proceedings of the Ninth .Annual Meeting of the International Association
·
ot Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions.
Bui. 859. Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the International Association
of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions.
Bui. 8'19. Comparison of workmen's compensation laws of the United States as of
January 1, 1925.
Jndu■trlal

Aeddenta and IITarlene.

•Bui. 104. Lead poisoning In potteries, tile works, and porcelain enameled sanitary
ware tactories.
Bui 120. Hygiene of the painters' trade.
•Bui. 127. Dangers to workers from dust and fumes, and methods of protection.
•Bui. 141. Lead poisoning in the smelting and refining of lead.
•Bui. 1G7. Industrial accident statlstiea.
Bui. 165. Lead poisoning in the manufacture of storage batteries.
•Bui. 179. Industrial poisons used in the rubber industry.
Bui. 188. Report of British departmental committee on the danger in the use of
lead in the painting of buildings.
•Bui. 201. Report of committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost of the
International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commls111.ons.. lLimlted edition.)
Bnl. 2011. .Anthrnx as an occupational disease.
Bui. 207. Cavses of death by occupation.
Bui. 209. Hyltlene of the printing trades.
•Bui. 216. Accldsts and nccldellt prevention in machine building.
Bui. 219. Indtlstrlal_ poisons used or produced in the manufncturc of explosives.
Bui. 221. Hours, fattgUe, and health In British munition factories.
Rn!. 280. Industrial efficiency and fatigue In British munition factories.
Bui. !31. Mortality from respiratory dlseases In dusty trades.
•Bui. 284. Safety movement in the iron and steel industry, 1007 to 1917.
Bui. 236. El!ect of the air hammer on the hands of stonecutters.
Bui. 251. Preventable death in the cotton manufacturing Industry.
Bui. 258. Women In the lead Industries.
But 256. Accldents and accident prevention In machine building. Revision of
Bui. 216.
Bui. 267. Anthrax as an occupational disease. [Revised.)
Bui. 276. Standardization of industrial accident statistics.
Bui. 280. Industrial poisoning in making coal-tar dyes and dye intermediates.
Bui. 291. Carbon monoxide poisoning.
Bui. 293. The problem of dust phthlsls in the granite-stone industry.
Bui. 298. Causes nnd prevention of accidents In the iron and steel Industry, 1910
to 1919.
Bui. 306. Occupation hazards and diagnostic signs: A guide to impairment to be
looli:ed for in hazardous occupations.
Bui. 889. Statistics of Industrial accidents in the United States.
Cendllatlon and Arbitration (lncladinc strikes and lockoatll).
•Bui. 124. Conciliation and arbitration In the building trades of Greater New York.
•Bui. 138. Report of the industrial council of the British Board of Trade on its
inquiry into industrial agreements.
Bui. 189. Michigan copper district strike.
Bul.144. Industrial court of the cloak, suit, and skirt industry of New York City.
Bui. 145. Conclllatlo~ arbitration, and sanitation in the dress and waist Industry
of New iork City.
Bui. 191. Collective bargalnlng in the anthracite coal Industry.
•Bui. 1118. Collective sreements in the men's clothing industry.
Bui. 283. Operation o the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act of Canada.
Bui. 303. Use of Federal power in settlement of railway labor disputes.
Bui. 841. Trade agreement in the silk-ribbon Industry of New York City.
•Supply exhausted.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

(IV)

Labor Laws of the United Stat. (lndadlnc dedslons of eoarts relatlnar to labor).

*Bui. 111.
•Bui. 112.
•Bui. 148.
•Bui. 152.
•Bui. 166.
•Bui. 169.
•Bui. 186.
•Bui. 189.
Bui. 211.
•Bui. 213.
Bui. 224.
Bui. 229.
•Bui. 244.
Bnl. 246.
•Bui. 257,
Bui. 238.
Bui. 277.
Bui. 283.
Bui. 290.
Bui. 292.
Bui. 808.
Bui. 309.
Jlul. :l:.!1.
Bui. 822.
Bui. 880.
Dul. 848.
Bui. 844.
Bui. 870.
Foreign Labor

Labor legislation of 1912.
Decisions of the courts and opinions alfectlng labor, 1912.
Labor laws of the United States, with decisione of courts relating thereto.
Decisions of courts and opinions affecting labor, 1918.
Labor legislation of 1914.
Decisions of courts alfectlng labor, 1914.
Labor legislation of 19111.
Declalons of courts affecting labor, 19111.
Labor laws and their administration in the Paclflc States.
Labor legl!llatlon of 1016.
Decisions of courts alfectlng labor, 1916.
Wage-payment legislation In the United States.
Labor legislation ot 1917.
Decisions of courts nlfectlng lllbor, 1917,
Labor legislation of 1918.
Decisions of courts and opinions affecting labor, 1918.
Labor legislation of 1919.
Minimum-wage legislation In the United States.
Declslons of courts and opinions affecting labor, 1919-1920.
Labor legislation of 1920.
Labor legislation of 1921.
Decisions of courts and opinions aft'ecting labor, 1921.
LRhor law!' that have b<>cn decl11.r1-d uncon,Ututlonal.
Kansas Court of Industrial Relations.
Labor legislation of 1922.
Laws providing for bureaus of labor statistics, etc.
Decisions of courts and opinions affecting labor, 1922.
Labor laws of the Un'ted States with decisions of courts relating thereto.
[In press.]
Law■,

•Bui. 142. Administration of labor laws and factory Inspection In certain European
countries.
Vocational Education.

Bui. 145. O>nciliatloJ!t arbitration, and sanitation In the dress and waist industry
of New zork City.
Wages and regularity of employment In the cloak, suit, and skirt industry.
Short-unit coursee for wage eu.rn.-r~. 11nd a factory school experiment.
Vocational education survey of Richr.1ond, Va.
Vocational education survey of Minneapolis, Minn.
Adult working-class education (Great Britain and the United States).

•Bui. 147.
•Bui. 159.
•Bul. 162.
Bui. 100.
Bui. 271.

Labor as Affeeted by the War.

Foreign food prices as affected by the war.
Industrial poisons used or produced In the manufacture of exploslvea.
Hours, fatigue, and health In British munition factories.
Welfare work In British munition factories.
Employment of women and juveniles in Great Britain during the war.
Industrial efficiency and fatigue in British munition factories.
Industrial unrest in Great Britain.
Industrial health and efficiency. Final report of British Health of Munition Workers Committee.
Bul. 21111. J"olnt Industrial councils In Great Britain.
Bui. 288. History of the Shipbuilding Labor Adjustment Board. 1917 to 1919.
Bul. 287, National War Labor Board.

Bul. 170.
Bul. 219.
Bui. 221.
Bul. 222.
Bui. 228.
Bui. 280.
Bui. 2117.
Bul. 249.

Safeey Coch,a.

Bui. 881.
Bul. 886.
Dul. 888.
Bui. 850.
Bul. l.l51.
Bui. 864.
Bul. 875.
Bui. 878.
Bul. 882.

Code of lighting factories, mills, anu other work places.
Safety code for the protection of Industrial workers In foundries.
Safety code for the use, care and protection of abrasive wheels,
Rules governing the approval of headllghtlng devices for motor vehicle&.
Safety code for the construction, care, and use of ladders.
Safety code for mechanical power-transmission apparatus.
Safety code for laundry machinery and operations.
Safety code for woodworki~g plants.
Code of lighting school bulldlngs.

Miscellaneous Series.

•Bul.117.
*Bul. 118.
•Bui. 128.
•Bui. 158.
•Bui. lli9.
•Bui. 167.
Bul.170.
*BuI.174.
Bui. 208.
Bui. 222.
Bui. 242.

Prohlbltlon ot night work of young persons.
Ten-hour maximum working day for women and young persons.
Employers' welfare work.
Goverument aid to home owning and housing et working people In foreign
countries.
Short-unit courses for wage earners and a factory school experiment.
Minimum-wage legislation In the United States and foreign countries.
Foreign food prices as nlfected by the war.
Subject Index of the publications of the United States Bureau of Labor
Statistics up to May_ 1 1915.
Profit sharing In the United States.
Welfare work In British munition factorle&
Food situation 1n central Europe, 1917.

•supply exhausted.

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(V)

lllaeellaneou Series--Contlnucd.
*Bui. 250. Welfare work for employees In Industrial establishments in the United
States.
Bui. 254. International labor legislation and the society of nations.
Bui. 263. Housing by einployera 1n the United States.
Bui. 266. Proceedings of Seventh Annual Convention o1 the Association of Govern•
mental Labor Officials of the United. States and Canada.
Bui. 268. Historical survey of International action alfectlng labor.
Bui. 271. Adult .working-claS8 education In Great Brlt(lin and the United States.
Bui. 282. Mutual relief associations among Government employees in Washington,
D. O.
Bui. 295. Building operations in representative cities in 1920.
Bui. 299. Personnel research agencies : A guide to organfzed research in employment
·
management, Industrial relations, training, and working conditions.
Bui. 307. Proceedings of the Eig~th Annual Convention of the Association of
Governmental Labor Officials of the United States and Canada.
Bui. 813. Consumers' coopl!ratlve societies in the United States in 1920.
Bui. 814. Cooperative credit societies in America and foreign countries.
Bui. 318. Bu1ldJng permits In the principal cities of the United States In 1921.
Bui. 319. The Bureau of Labor Statistics: Its history, activities. and organization.
Bui. 828. Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Convention of the Association of Gov•
ernmental Labor Officials of the United States and Canada.
Bui. 326. Methods of procuring and computing statistical information of the Bureau
of l,abor Statistics.
.
Bui. 340. Ohlnese migrations, with special reference to labor conditions.
Bui. 842. International Seamen's Union of America : A study of Its history and
problems.
Bui. 346. Humanity in government.
Bui. 347. Building permits in the principal cities of the United States in 1922.
Bul. 349. Industrial relations in the West Coast lumber Industry.
Bui. 352. Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Convention of the Association of Governmental Labor Officials of the United States and Canada.
Bui. 361. Labor relations In the Fairmont (W. Va.) bituminous coal fteld.
Bui. 368. Building permits in the principal cities of the United States in 1923.
Bui. 372. Convict labor in 1923. [In press.]
Bui. 380. Post-war labor conditions In Germany. [In press.]

SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS ISSUED BY THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Deacription of oceapaUom, prepared for the United Stete. Employment Service, 1918-19.
Boots and shoes\ harness and saddlery, and tanning.
Cane-sugar refimng and ftour milling.
Coal and water gas, paint and varnish, paper, printing trades, and -rubber goods.
Electrical manutactui1ng, distribution, and malntenance.
Glass.
Hotels and restaurants.
Logging camps and sawmills.
Medicinal manufacturing.
Metal working, building and general construction, railroad transportation. and
shipbnildlng.
Mines and mining.
Office employees.
Slaughtering and meat packing.
Street railways.
•Textiles and clothing.
•Water transportation.

•Suppl7 shaustecl.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

(VI)

Full text of Works Council Movement in Germany : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 383

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