Imagine: You work 12 hours a day, six days a week. Your boss decides everything – working hours, breaks, wages, dismissals. You have no say. If you complain, you’re out. That’s exactly what work looked like over 100 years ago. Workers were “industrial subjects” – they were supposed to function, follow orders, nothing else.
The Works Constitution Act and the Election Regulations governing your election in two months are the result of a long history. A history of struggles, setbacks, and progress. It’s worth knowing – because it explains why these laws exist and why they still matter today.
1920: The First Works Council Act – Won With Blood
That changed after the First World War. Germany had lived through the revolution of 1918, the empire had collapsed. Across the country, workers’ councils were forming, wanting to have a say in their workplaces. In factories, mines, shipyards – workers organised and demanded a voice.
The pressure on the new Weimar Republic was enormous. In spring 1919, hundreds of thousands went on strike in the Ruhr and central Germany. They wanted not just better wages, but co-determination: over working hours, hiring and dismissals, working conditions. The government had to respond.
On 4 February 1920, the first Works Council Act came into force. For the first time, employees (in workplaces with 20 or more people) were allowed to elect representatives who could co-determine wages, working hours, and social matters. The Act was even enshrined in the Weimar Constitution (Article 165): workers should “participate on an equal footing, together with employers, in regulating wages and working conditions and in the overall economic development of the productive forces.”
But the road there was bloody. For many in the labour movement, the Act didn’t go far enough. They wanted not just co-determination, but control – over workplaces, over the economy. On 13 January 1920, five days before the planned parliamentary vote, around 100,000 people demonstrated outside the Reichstag in Berlin. The demonstration was organised mainly by the USPD and KPD.
The Prussian police opened fire. 42 people died, 105 were injured. It was a massacre. Reich President Friedrich Ebert declared a state of emergency. Negotiations were broken off. Five days later, on 18 January 1920, the Act was nonetheless passed.
The Works Council Act turned “industrial subjects” into “industrial citizens” for the first time – people who could have a say in what their work looked like. It was a compromise: not as much power as the radicals wanted. But more rights than workers had ever had before.
1934: The Nazis Abolish Everything
Fourteen years later, it was over. On 20 January 1934, the National Socialists repealed the Works Council Act and replaced it with the “Law for the Regulation of National Labour.” The language revealed everything: Works Councils became “Councils of Trust,” employers became “plant leaders,” workers became “followers.” Co-determination? Not provided for. The Führer principle applied in workplaces too. Anyone who wanted to object risked the concentration camp or worse.
Only after the Second World War, in 1946, did the Allied Control Council Act once again permit works councils.
1952: The Difficult New Beginning – and a Bitter Defeat
After the war, the trade unions wanted to build on the Weimar tradition. They demanded strong works councils and genuine co-determination in companies – similar to the coal and steel industry, where since 1951 employee representatives sat alongside employers on equal terms in the supervisory board. They dreamed of a “new economic order,” a “new economic democracy.”
But the government under Konrad Adenauer had other plans. At the end of 1950, Labour Minister Anton Storch presented a meagre draft. Works councils’ co-determination rights remained limited to social matters. In economic affairs – investments, location decisions, strategic decisions – they had no say.
The trade unions protested. They organised demonstrations, warning strikes. To no avail. On 19 July 1952, the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG) was passed against the votes of the SPD and KPD. It was a defeat: the Act was weaker than the one from 1920, weaker than the Allied Control Council Act, weaker than what the trade unions considered necessary.
The disappointment was so great that DGB chairman Christian Fette was voted out of office that same year. But the trade unions did not give up. In the following years, they concluded collective agreements that gave works councils more rights than the Act provided – on working hours, holiday, pay.
1972: Willy Brandt Turns the Tables
Twenty years later, the roles were reversed. The SPD/FDP government under Chancellor Willy Brandt wanted to strengthen works councils. After the economic miracle years of the 1950s and 60s, the social climate had changed. The 1968 movement had raised new questions about democracy and co-determination – in workplaces too.
The DGB put forward an “Action Plan for Co-Determination.” In October 1970, the government presented a draft bill that met the wishes of the trade unions. This time, the employers protested – vehemently. A Bremen law professor spoke of the “unionisation of the economy,” even of “violation of the employer.”
Nevertheless, the Act was adopted by the Bundestag and Bundesrat in November 1971. It came into force on 19 January 1972. The most important changes:
On social matters:
- Co-determination on working hours was extended: not just the start and end, but also distribution across days of the week, overtime, short-time working
- Co-determination on performance-related pay (bonuses, piecework)
- New co-determination right on occupational health and safety
- Co-determination on technical devices for monitoring employee behaviour and performance (already a topic in 1972!)
On personnel matters:
- Consultation right on workforce planning
- Co-determination over selection criteria for hiring, transfers, and dismissals
For works councils themselves:
- Right to paid release and training
- Trade unions gained right of access to workplaces
- Trade unions were permitted to initiate works council elections
The reform worked. In the following decades, a culture of cooperation developed between works councils and employers – not always without conflict, but constructive. The oil crises of the 1970s, mass redundancies, structural change – all of this was managed with social plans and frameworks for balancing interests. Works councils became more professional. Conflicts were resolved “in a pragmatic and rational way without class-struggle excess,” as a researcher later put it.
2001: The End of Class Distinctions
After 1972, there were only minor adjustments for a long time. But in 2001 came a more significant reform that was above all symbolically important:
The distinction between “workers” and “white-collar employees” was abolished. Until then, works councils had to be elected by group – so many seats for manual workers, so many for white-collar employees. This reflected a class society that had long ceased to exist. From 2001, everyone was simply an “employee.”
Other important changes:
- Gender quota: The minority gender must be represented on the Works Council at least in proportion to its numerical share (for Works Councils with 3 or more members)
- Agency workers may vote (after three months’ deployment at the workplace)
- Simplified election procedure for small establishments (up to 50 employees), to make it easier to establish works councils
2021: The Works Council Modernisation Act – For Your World of Work
And then came 2021 – in the middle of the COVID pandemic – the Works Council Modernisation Act. The background: fewer and fewer workplaces had a works council at all. In 2019, it was only 9% in western Germany, 10% in eastern Germany. Only 41% of employees in the West and 36% in the East were represented by a Works Council.
Why? The world of work had changed. More precarious employment, more micro-enterprises, more digital work. And: employers often tried to prevent the founding of works councils – through intimidation, through dismissals.
The new Act was meant to change that. The key points – particularly relevant for you:
Voting becomes easier:
- Voting age lowered to 16 years (previously 18)
- Simplified election procedure now up to 100 employees (previously only up to 50)
- Fewer supporting signatures needed for election nominations
Digital world of work:
- Works council meetings may take place by video or telephone (but in-person meetings take precedence)
- Electronic signatures for works agreements are possible
Co-determination on AI and algorithms:
- If artificial intelligence is used (e.g. algorithms that distribute shifts or plan routes), the Works Council has co-determination rights
- This also applies when AI assists with personnel selection
Co-determination on mobile working:
- New co-determination right on determining the location and time of mobile working (§ 87 para. 1 no. 14 BetrVG)
- Relevant for everyone who works not in an office, but on the road or from home
Better protection for founders:
- Those who want to found a Works Council have better dismissal protection – and indeed before the official invitation to the election meeting
- The number of protected persons was increased from 3 to 6
The Election Regulations: The Rulebook for the Election
The Election Regulations (WO) are the technical rulebook that organises the election itself. They were issued in 2001 (in parallel with the major BetrVG reform) and last updated in 2021.
They specify:
- Who may vote? (All employees from age 16)
- Who may be elected? (All employees from age 18 who have been at the workplace for at least 6 months)
- How is the election conducted? (Individual vote or list vote, depending on workplace size)
- What does the Election Committee do? (Compile the Voter List, issue the Election Notice, count votes, etc.)
- What deadlines apply?
- How does Postal Voting work?
Without the Election Regulations, nobody would know how to actually elect a Works Council. They are, so to speak, the instruction manual for your election.
In 2021, the Election Regulations were updated to implement the Works Council Modernisation Act – for example, with rules for video meetings of the Election Committee.
Why This Still Matters Today
The problems of that time have not disappeared – they just look different.
Back then, the factory owner stood with a stopwatch beside the machine and decided who was too slow. Today, an algorithm decides which driver gets which route, who gets a good or bad rating, who gets shifts next week and who doesn’t.
Back then, workers could be fired because their face didn’t suit the boss. Today, employees in the gig economy can lose their accounts because an automated system has detected an “anomaly” – without any human looking at it.
The question has remained the same: Who has a say? Who shapes working conditions?
The Works Constitution Act says: not just the platform, not just the algorithm, not just management. But also those who do the work.
In Two Months, It’s Your Turn
People before you – in Weimar, in 1952, in 1972 – fought for your right to vote. Some risked their lives for it. You no longer have to do that. You just have to go and vote. That is their achievement: that co-determination is today a right, not a risk. The best respect we can pay them is to use this right.
Further information:
Works Constitution Act (BetrVG) in the current version: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betrvg/
Election Regulations (WO) in the current version: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betrvgdv1wo/