Employment, working conditions and company organisation : regulations via company agreements

Securing employment, improving working conditions and changes in company organisation are important issues for workforce representatives in all the countries of Europe. In recent years, works councils in Germany have concluded a large number of agreements with management on these issues. Thus - by using the scope they have for exercising co-determination rights - they have managed to improve social standards for employees.The Hans Böckler Foundation - the German Trade Union Federation's research, advisory and training foundation - has evaluated more than 1,500 company agreements from all sectors of industry. This brochure presents a summary of the results of the project on the following issues: securing employment, tele-working, further training, environmental protection, group work, flexible working time, performance-related pay and outsourcing.The agreements came into being under the prevailing conditions for the activities of workforce representatives in Germany, but they should nevertheless be of interest to workforce representatives in other parts of Europe, for these face similar problems, and European Works Councils are also concerned to find common solutions to the issues involved.