Giving workers a voice reduces populism, eases transitions, says foundation director

Allowing workers to engage with their company’s management and make a meaningful impact at the plant level has a multiplier effect that boosts democracy and Europe’s green and digital transitions according to the Hans-Böckler Foundation, which focuses on codetermination.

The managing director of the Hans-Böckler Foundation, Dr Claudia Bogedan, also said that strong models of codetermination may make workers more reluctant to gravitate toward right-wing parties.

Bogedan spoke with Euractiv on the sidelines of the Foundation’s event in Brussels, Workers’ voice: anticipating skills for tomorrow on 13 December.

She said research has shown that this effect comes when employees feel they can actively participate in decision-making processes at the corporate level and can actually have an influence on their future.

“If you have these things going together, then the people are also more open to change because they experience that they have the possibility to make a difference. And everywhere where we see that people experience this, we see that they are more willing to accept upcoming changes in the energy transition, digitalisation, and the reskilling coming with that,” Bogedan  said.

Another key factor, she added, is that such processes create trust, which she describes as a necessary instrument for democracy.

“So people who have work councils have greater trust in democratic institutions and this positive effect helps instill more confidence in facing all the challenges coming with the transition. Codetermination to strengthen workers’ voices will help us to cope with all the upcoming big challenges,” Bogedan said.

Asked how work councils can prevent right-wing populism from infiltrating them as they gain popularity, Bogedan admitted that therein lies the problem because, she explained, codetermination does not work like a checklist.

“It’s really like experience. And experience is something that needs a past, a present, and a future,” Bogedan said.

“It will take time and realness. You really have to mean it. Not by acting. You need to organise real participation,” she said.

One example of real participation was brought up during the conference by Korbinian Hitthaler, a member of one of the codetermination bodies of the company he works at, Voith.

Changing market conditions in his region meant that around 300 people could lose their job in the next five years.

“Business as usual would mean reducing the headcount,” said Hitthaler.

During his presentation, he explained that they had sat down with the company management and draftet a collective agreement.

They also created a plan to reduce the job cuts to 100 positions that would have endded up being phased out by demographic changes regardless of the market. The plan is for the parts of the business that will no longer be viable to be shifted and in the end, it was calculated that the remaining employees will end up working even more hours.

“We need strong work councils, we need strong employee systems, and also codetermination to bring this success to companies,” said the academic director of the Institute for Codetermination and Corporate Governance at the Hans-Böckler-Foundation, Dr Daniel Hay.

“Through Hitthaler we saw how it can work and that it can only work when management and workers get into action together with a plan,” he said.

Ann Branch, head of unit in DG Employment, told the event it was crucial for the EU’s competitiveness and green and digital transitions that in every economic sector people are given the required skills to implement the needed changes.

“Upskilling is for everyone. not just for blue-collar workers. We need to help individuals manage lifelong change. We need to help businesses on the one hand but also help people to adjust to the reality. There are too few adults in training every year. The EU has a target for 60% of adults in training every year but it’s currently at 36%,” she said.

Hay also lamented about companies particularly in Germany being set up as SE companies (Societas Europea in Latin), a type of public limited-liability company, which he said is being used to circumvent codetermination laws.

“We have to close those loopholes in this legislation. That’s the only way we can manage this problem,” he said.

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