[MandieD]

We also have very effective unions in a lot of sectors, particularly manufacturing. They're usually one of the main factions in a Betriebsrat, so do a lot of negotiating long before problems rise to the level of a strike.

We employees vote for our Betriebsrat members, and in very large firms like mine, the candidates organize themselves into faction lists (kind of like parties), and it works basically like electoral politics do in the national and state parliaments. At my company, our Betriebsrat elections are every four years. You can go to the Betriebsrat, either individual members or the council as a whole, with things Americans would (reluctantly) go to HR for.

The top members of a large company Betriebsrat (but not all - our Betriebsrat is way too large for that) are then part of the board of directors during their elected term.

A former IT colleague of mine is currently serving as a full-time Betriebsrat member after years of being involved, still receiving his full salary; he will go back to working in IT again at the end of the current term. Another colleague is a lower-ranking member (different faction, too) and just gets a certain number of paid hours per month to do Betriebsrat stuff.

[garbagecoder]

There were many similarities to this in the US. Employment lawsuits are a constant drag on business, but this is the future they chose. Where a labor contract existed, dispute resolution was often easier similar to the way you said and can be a lot more likely to stay out of the courts. Businesses do not want to hear this. They'd rather avoid the slow drag of the union and risk never hitting the landmine of an employment lawsuit, until they do. Now there are very few unions left, especially in the private sector.