Exploring the Boundaries of Co-determination

The results of the structural change in the economy and in the working environment also reveal the “discontinuities, fractures, and erosions” (Schmierl 2001: 7) of industrial relations and their counterpart: the extension of “co-determination-free zones”. This problem is emphasized by the Commission on Co-determination (Kommission Mitbestimmung 1998): it observed a dramatic rise in areas without employee representation from 50.6 per cent (1984) to 60.5 per cent (1994/96) of all employees in the private sector. The current data on co-determination in companies do not provide any reasons for painting a more optimistic picture: 1. The number of companies and employees being covered by co-determination at the supervisory board level has been declining in the last couple of years (Abel/Ittermann 2001: 11 ff.). 2. The data of works council elections in 1998 show a downward trend in those companies which have works councils and in the number of works councillors as well as a decline of works councillors who are members of unions affiliated to the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). 3. The current data of the company panel of the Institute for