ABSTRACT
This allocation of roles is mirrored by a distinct allocation of rights and powers: works councils must represent workforce interests solely by peaceful means or, in the event of disagreement, through arbitration procedures established under statute law. They are subject to a legal injunction to maintain industrial peace and cooperate with the employer. In contrast, trade unions have a legal right to strike rooted in the German constitution, the Basic Law. In practice, there is an evident divergence between these formal provisions and the informal practice which characterises the reality of workplace industrial relations. Despite the unambiguous formal and legal separation between unions and works councils, which practise a cooperative
division of labour within this overall ‘contradictory unity’, there is usually close coordination between works councils and unions on the strategies to be pursued at workplace and sectoral level.
