Detlev W. Belling – författare

Although the works council enjoys far-reaching powers and the ability to exert tremendous influence, thus creating an indisputable danger of abuse of power, the employees and employers are scarcely protected from any breaches of duty it may commit. While the works council in Germany appears to have carte blanche to carry out its official duties, the powers of the unions in the United States of America have long since been limited by the duty of fair representation. In a state governed by the rule of lay, it must be possible to call anyone exercising power into account. Proceeding from this principle, the author develops a comprehensive system of legal protection on a civil law basis. Today, in light of the reform of the Works Constitution Act which was agreed upon in the German federal government's coalition agreement, this work is of great topical interest and represents an important contribution to questions of legal policy.

In the working world, the weal and woe of the largely defenseless individual is vested in the hands of the collective powers. The trust placed in these powers stands in stark contrast to the widespread distrust of the democratic constitutional state. While legal protection vis-a-vis the state has been extended in a very so­ phisticated and flexible manner, often to an extreme degree, the question of how the employee and the employer can be protected against breaches of duty on the part of the works council (Betriebsrat) under the German industrial govemance laws has yet to be resolved. This is a highly relevant issue of great social and po­ litical explosiveness. The question is how much latitude the collective powers should have to act according to their own discretion without being compelled to answer not only to the employees, but also to the employers as weIL In light ofthe legal protection that has been developed for the past hundred years and more, and particularly the continued expansion of the individual''s legal protection vis-a-vis the state powers since the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) entered into force, the control held by the intennediary powers, and thus also the works council, appears almost anachronistic. In the past ten years this deficiency in the legal protection provided under the industrial govemance laws has increasingly forced its way into the line ofvision ofthe Gennan labor law scholars.