[arez]

It never mandatory to have a Betriebsrat in Germany even with 100k employees you could not have one. You can however start one already with 5 full-time employees. Companies tend to have one around 50+ employees because before that it rarely makes sense

[amalgamated_inc]

So it's not mandatory if somehow all employees decided not to form one, but if any of them wanted to, it's mandatory to let them and presumably support them/listen to them in some way?

[wirrbel]

Basically it’s not mandatory in the sense that you will not be fined as a company if you do not have one. However, employees can make a motion to elect a Betriebsrat (works council) in a given location. Then, if 3 locations have a local Betriebsrat the Gesamtbetriebsrat can be formed which is regularly elected across the whole German staff. Grocery chains like Lidl and Aldi have prevented the formation of a Betriebsrat by employing union busting style measures (intimidating or firing staff, etc).

Iirc teslas giga fab does not have an elected Betriebsrat.

Since many American companies incorporate in Germany for their German branches, they can also face Betriebsrats elections.

Overall I do think a Betriebsrat is a net positive for a company. It’s not always as profit oriented as an executive but it has a long term interest in the company as opposed to executives who just think in quarter years and about keeping shareholders happy.

[Vespasian]

Tesla does have a Betriebsrat if I recall correctly.

It was formed very early meaning before most of the Frontline employees were hired .

There was criticism at the time that it was filled with people loyal to management rather than workers

[wirrbel]

Ah smart Trick by Tesla then, elections every 7 years iirc so Tesla managed to avert a strong works council for the first years

[amalgamated_inc]

lol ok that's pretty advanced :) if you can't bust 'em, you can't join 'em, at least lace them with cronies for the first couple years.

[amalgamated_inc]

Thanks for the explainer!

As always with Germans, the answer is "it's really complicated" lol