display
Schwerin (dpa / mv) - In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, 38 percent of all employees in companies with a works council.
That emerges from the answer of the state government to a small request of the parliamentary group of the left, which was published on New Years Day.
Works councils, which are supposed to ensure the co-determination of employees in the company, are mainly in larger companies.
An elected employee representative exists in nine percent of the companies in MV.
Works councils can be formed from five employees.
With the figures from 2019, which, according to the state government, come from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the northeast is close to the German average.
According to the union-affiliated Hans Boeckler Foundation, which also relies on data from the IAB, in 2018 42 percent of employees in western Germany and 35 percent in the east were employed in a company with a works council.
Accordingly, nine or ten percent of all companies had a works council.
The left in the Schwerin state parliament called for efforts by the state government for more works councils.
The union-political spokesman for the left-wing faction, Henning Foerster, called for the establishment of works councils in small and medium-sized companies to be made easier by law.
Initiators and works councils must be better protected.
"Works councils need more mandatory co-determination rights, for example in terms of staffing, further training or work organization," said Foerster.
display
In addition, from his point of view, it would make sense to pay more attention to the work of works councils in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
"A works council day MV, during which a works council prize is awarded to particularly committed and successful colleagues, could make an important contribution to this."
Small request