Berlin is a city of migrants, and the subject of migrant labor organizing is vital to building a stronger working-class movement here. Drawing on a number of recorded conversations I had with Berliners dedicating their time and energy to the subject of migrant labor organizing, this series has two main goals: to introduce readers to Germany’s labor institutions and to provide examples of how migrant labor organizing is being addressed from a variety of perspectives. In part one of this series we took a look at some of the initiatives being pushed forward by two staff members of the trade union Ver.di, Daniel and Amanda. But in Germany, unions are not the only formal institution of workplace organizing. Betriebsräte (“Works Councils”) are composed of elected members of a workforce and are commonly viewed as a sort of “first step” towards the broader goal of unionization, though they are not directly tied to any trade union.
“The most interesting thing in Germany is this Betriebsrat system, and the pros and cons that come with it”, Robert Snyder tells me. Robert is an NGG shop steward (Vertrauensperson) who has been living in Berlin for ten years. He has worked extensively in the service and courier industries, where most of his peers and colleagues also possess a migrant background. Further, he has been involved in the founding of Betriebsräte at Flink, and Lieferando where he held a council seat. Aside from his years of practical experience, his insights are further bolstered by his research endeavors—his master’s thesis was concerned with the development of the German Works Council system. In this article we’ll draw on Robert’s experiences to explore the risks and rewards of Betriebsräte, their potential as an organizing tool in conjunction with trade unions, and the importance of migrant worker organizing.
Works Councils
In comparison to a unionization campaign, the establishment of a Betriebsrat is a much simpler process. “Anybody can just initiate this process, have an election, and get workers to pick someone who represents them”, says Rob. Under German law, any company with at least five employees of legal age must elect a works council if three of those employees (having worked at the company for a minimum of six months) decide to initiate an election. Once the process is underway, the employer cannot legally obstruct it and the council is granted certain rights in accordance with Germany’s Works Constitution Act. These rights include “co-determination”—the ability of the elected council members to negotiate over issues like work procedures, safety, and data protection.
I asked Robert about the role he has played building Betriebsräte at delivery companies in Berlin. He notes that despite the possibilities offered by Betriebsräte, proper organizing requires clarity on their limitations. Citing his work at Flink and Lieferando he explains: “It felt like organizing, because we were getting bigger and people were getting more excited”. However, despite genuine accomplishments—including generating a turnout of over 400 workers to a Betriebsrat election—he adds “we didn’t have a super majority […] we’re not building towards that next, bigger structure that can mobilize the super majority for a strike, or a campaign for a collective contract.”
Here we touch on one of the major points of caution that organizers should be aware of when working toward, around, or within a Betriebsrat. These councils have a tendency to divert the time and energy of the most motivated organizers in a workplace away from the overall goal of winning a collective bargaining agreement and towards the neverending day-to-day tasks of addressing grievances. “There’s so much bureaucratic work and little crises popping up […] that often takes you away from organizing”, Robert says. He warns that the constant putting out of fires risks one’s developing a “service mindset” which is reactive instead of proactive. To that end, he insists that organizing must start with oneself. “I did it all the time. I was dead, I was helping a ton of people, but we weren’t scaling.”
Then comes the subject of who sits on the Betriebsrat, and the risk that the councils end up composed of pro-management careerists who, knowingly or not, act as firefighters against the spark of the workforce’s pursuits. This is why it is important for organizers and Betriebsrat members to maintain a direct line to the rank-and-file and to normalize the holding of elections for the council’s limited seats when major changes are on the table.
“I’ve seen that most Betriebsräte I know are scared of elections”, Robert explains, noting that some members of the council might fear losing their relatively privileged positions of responsibility. Nonetheless, he adds “if you’re strong, you call an election anytime […] and all these people who are on the sidelines during this negotiation, now they’re directly involved—we’re telling them there’s this huge negotiation, the reason we are having a new election is because we need your mandate to do it”. Robert notes that the desire to keep one’s seat on the council provides some level of “inertia” which must be overcome. Of course, his emphasis on elections and ensuring that elected representatives obtain a mandate from the overall workforce is all part of the democratic process which is so vital to labor organizing—on both ethical and practical grounds.
The Councils, the Unions, or Both?
Unlike a trade union, the influence of these Betriebsräte is confined to the specific business in which they were elected rather than an entire industry or craft. Moreover, Betriebsräte do not possess the leverage or ability to negotiate economic issues such as wages. Despite these limitations, Robert sees value in Betriebsräte beyond their purely legal scope, describing them as a largely “untapped resource” often left to their own devices by union organizers. “I don’t think we’re getting all the benefits out of this two-part system”, he says, referring to the Betriebsräte and the trade unions.
Robert notes that Germany’s trade unions sometimes look at Betriebsräte with more fear and skepticism than any desire to engage. He points to the way in which arguments for unionization are commonly framed, which emphasize the limitations of the Betriebsrat compared to the union—namely, the ability to call a strike or negotiate wages. “I don’t like the narrative, it’s not a powerful narrative to me”, he explains, pointing to a common style of argument that frames the union as something which more or less supersedes the Betriebsrat, rather than insisting on the benefits of cooperation between the two institutions.
“When Betriebsräte are used well, they are the elected representatives of a workplace… it’s a snapshot of who has the trust of their colleagues”, he says. “That is an incredible resource for a union, [the workers] already elected a group in whom they’ve placed their trust to make changes […] you have an army there”. In other words, much of the work that unions and union organizers must undertake, from the identification of organic leaders in the early days of a campaign to the handling of grievances later on, is already largely built into the form and function of the Betriebsräte. To that end, Robert sees these councils as having the potential to fill the role of a sort of “national shop steward system”.
When working in tandem with trade unions, Betriebsräte also have the potential to facilitate worker-to-worker organizing in a more streamlined and grassroots manner. Citing the successful unionization campaigns of Starbucks workers in the United States, Robert notes that “the reason it spread so quickly is because it was worker-to-worker organizing—they didn’t have to go through the union bureaucracy channels, because that’s a bottleneck”. Extensive bureaucracies are arguably both necessary and inevitable to the functionality of any type of organization operating on the scale of Germany’s massive industrial unions. Of course, those same elements that keep the unions functioning also serve to stifle or impede effective organizing campaigns, especially in places which deviate from “normal” circumstances—like the legal status of migrant workers or the precarious sectors of “gig economy” work.
The missed potential of the Betriebsräte, then, is precisely that they are not systematically used as a way to alleviate such bottlenecks, providing a bridge between workers and union leadership. Moreover, there are legal boundaries on the ability of Betriebsräte of different workplaces to strategize directly with each other, something which would facilitate worker-to-worker organizing and make communication more efficient. However, trade unions could be used to circumvent these limitations, as Robert explains to me: “They are the ones who are allowed to put [Betriebsräte] in contact with each other, but I feel this sense of control”. Robert posits that the hesitancy by union leadership to work more intimately with Betriebsräte might stem from a fear of allowing internal competition to fester within the labor movement. The effective implementation of these various tools at the disposal of Germany’s labor movement, and their use in relation to each other, remains a key challenge for workers and organizers going forward.
Getting migrant workers involved
Having obtained a better understanding of Germany’s Betriebsrat system from someone with both practical and academic experience, I asked Robert about the role of migrant workers in Berlin’s labor movement. He notes that Berlin is “a bit of a transient city” where people often arrive with an expectation that they will be moving on to somewhere or something else within a few years. This can be a challenge for organizers having their first conversations with workers about the importance of building a mass movement. “You have that first conversation and people are a bit disengaged, because that’s a problem for the future, and then we lose time”.
Robert notes that while many transiting through Berlin do of course go on to pursue their ambitions, many remain stuck at their initial place of employment for years. This should come as no surprise given Germany’s stagnating economy, cutbacks on social programs, and overall austerity policies which continue to expand. The opportunities that once made Berlin a hub for artists, intellectuals, students, and all manner of creative-types have narrowed as more and more are now compelled to compete over less and less. Robert notes that “there is a lot of interest from our migrant colleagues now to organize” but at the same time “we’re all moving, organizations change, names change, jobs change” resulting in and reflecting a level of instability that is characteristic of life in Berlin.
Again emphasizing the importance of an effective narrative, Robert also highlights the use of labor organizing as a way to provide a network and sense of community for newly-arrived workers. Many see their working conditions as purely temporary and shy away from unions as “too political” or unworthy of the investment. Therefore, focusing purely on politics and long-term goals often isn’t a winning message, says Robert. “It needs to be like ‘you’re new to this country, you want to hustle, you want to get somewhere? With us is where you will get somewhere’—that needs to be the offer” he posits. “People want to make contacts, people want to network” and so labor organizers need to become that network, sincerely and effectively offering a space, structure, and community that others see value in.
Robert notes that many migrant workers arrive on limited visas, without a community to rely on, and without easy access to money. These factors combine to encourage a serious aversion to risk in an already unstable environment. “I think people see something like the Betriebsrat, they see that it’s a risk, even if it would bring benefits to them in the future, and they just assess that they can’t take that risk”, says Robert, adding that “Germans have more of a capacity to take risk in a workplace—even if it’s at the same job”. It is imperative that those living securely in Germany take the initiative to support migrant workers and further the goals of the labor movement.
Turning to the importance of language and communication in effective organizing work, Robert notes that the German language barrier can pose a challenge for many migrant workers seeking to access certain resources, especially in the event that an issue must be taken before a court. Union organizers and labor activists absolutely must develop a familiarity with German to effectively pursue their goals. At the same time, it is also untrue that any one substitute, such as English, could be sufficient to organize the diverse communities who make Berlin what it is. “A lot of migrants speak German—a lot of migrants don’t like to speak English”, Robert says, “speaking German is essential for organizing in Germany”.
In fact, Robert attributes the development of his own German skills to the necessity of his organizing work. “From Monday to Friday, literally I became fluent in German […] I was on the cusp, and I broke through it within a week”. He recalls how the urgency he felt to communicate the importance of an organizing campaign to other migrant workers pushed him over the language barrier. “You just have to want to communicate something, like: I have to tell you this, there’s no way around it, I’m not taking out my phone, we need to look each other in the eyes and talk about why this is important”.
Labor organizing is never easy, but it is necessary if workers are ever to build the kind of power necessary to truly influence economic and political decision-making. By understanding Germany’s formal labor institutions, and the importance of incorporating migrant workers into them, the working-class can position itself to affect real and lasting change. I ended the conversation by asking Robert what motivates him to continue his work:
“What motivates me is always being in a place where I can be my best self, where I can be my best organizer, because you feel better, you’re capable of so much—a group is capable of so much if you’re in that flow, and everyone has to find a flow state.”
