Bochum Works Council Survey

Description of company and characterization of the job of the works council
from the view of works council members.
Topics:
1. general company information:
structure of the company (concern affiliation, independence, owner company);
company age;
existence of quality circles;
profit-center organization of company;
proportion of trainees and proportion of employees;
proportion of skilled workers;
individual trade unions represented in the company;
degree of trade union organization in the company;
union wage agreement binding for the company.
2. technology and work organization:
existence of a production area and work areas separated from each other;
individual production or mass production in the company;
company technologically equiped with NC or CNC machines;
organization of the company in teams;
characterization of cooperation of company management and teams;
co-determination beyond that compulsory or in the wage agreement;
judgement on cooperation with company management
in technical and organizational changes;
judgement on information exchange with company management.
3. working hours:
existence of regular overtime at work;
pay or time off for overtime;
establishing of divergence from core working hours
by employees or company management;
time period for leisure time compensation;
company agreement about model of working hours;
employment guarantee with introduction of models of working hours.
4. works council:
age of works council in company;
number of works council members and proportion of union members;
works council chairman and further works council members
released from work duties;
weekly effort of works council members not released;
personnel changes in the works council in recent time;
participation of employees in the last works council election;
most important topics of the works council in the last few months;
technical and personnel equipment of the works council;
regular company assemblies at work;
existence of economic committee and company internal agreements;
type of company internal agreements since last works council election;
proceedings before arbitration board or a labor court;
reasons for legal conflicts.
5. contacts beyond the company:
works council members in industry-wide task forces;
use of counseling facilities outside of the company by the works council;
regular cooperation with trade unions and type of support received;
assessment of the future of industry-wide wage agreement;
participation of works council in common initiatives of trade unions and
employer associations;
assessment of significance of these initiatives.
Demography:
company size class;
state.