Mitbestimmung und Leiharbeit

Although codetermination rights of works councils are limited in those companies employing workers in temporary employment, in practice they often substantially influence working conditions and payment levels for those workers. This is shown by a qualitative empirical study carried out in those metalworking enterprises whose employees are represented by IG Metall. The study shows that works councils deploy a variety of different strategies when dealing with the partially contradictory interests of permanent staff and those in precarious employment. In some companies temporary work does not present codetermination problems due to the relatively small number of staff in temporary employment. However, if management makes strategic use of temporary work, those employed in precarious employment may be excluded from the representation policies of the works councils, or only partially represented. Equal representation is an exception. Codetermination practices thus differ according to the managerial use of temporary employment as well as the historically developed ‘culture of bargaining’ between works councils and management.