ABSTRACT
The German works council, or Betriebsrat, con tinues to attract considerable attention in the United States because of the precipitous and on going decline in unionism in the private sector, where just 9.8 percent of the workforce is cur rently unionized. The works council is seen by many U.S. observers as offering an alternative form of worker representation that meets the re quirements of equity (i.e., industrial democracy) and efficiency. Given these supposed attributes, it should come as no surprise to learn that some have seen it as forming the basis of a participa tion mandate.
