4 ms·

“All that said, unions should also be sector-wide not worksite based.” That’s how it works in Germany and it’s much better than the per company unions in the U

“All that said, unions should also be sector-wide not worksite based.” That’s how it works in Germany and it’s much better than the per company unions in the US. Workers also have a seat on the board of directors by law which also helps balancing things a little. The capitalists and CEOs still make plenty of money within that arrangement, companies are competitive on the world market so it seems to work.

BuckRogers 5y ago
Aye. My friends in Germany (well, Austria at least) tell me there are no shortage of jobs in Alemannia either. Stifling the economy hasn't happened. I definitely have looked to them for inspiration there. As well as Spain and Italy for their gov't funding of worker cooperatives. Which I think is probably an even better answer to a balanced system, but I'm afraid too many people don't have the mind or focus to make worker co-ops work well on the whole. Definitely a few ideas from Europe though that if they're all embraced, will make a significant difference.
- MandieD 5y ago
  Corporate IT departments are still hiring like mad in northern Bavaria. It's nothing like SV or even quite as good as big US metro area IT money, but it's not bad - 30 days vacation is the norm (thank you, IG Metall!), on top of a ludicrous public holiday schedule (thank you, Catholic Church, I guess...) and frankly ridiculous sick leave policy (thank you, German government).
MandieD 5y ago
There's the "Works Council" (Betriebsrat) that in big companies is basically an employee-elected parliament, with various party-like factions running. For my employer's last Betriebsrat election, IG Metall (the union that represents my company's sector) ran a slate of candidates, along with other "parties" that emphasized somewhat different approaches - one campaigned on a platform of more flexible home office rules (pre-Covid). The Betriebsrat approves major HR policies, like how long open positions need to be advertised internally before they can be advertised outside the company, or approving non-shift Sunday or night work hours (kind of a pain, but also a protection against abuse), as well as employee data privacy matters, such as whether MS Teams presence status can be visible to people outside of the company. Their cooperation is also necessary to fire permanent employees for cause after their 6 month trial period is over. This is a mixed blessing - it means that there are some useless people who can drag things out for ages, but also means that a PIP is more than a bum-covering exercise for management. If you're having an issue, and don't feel like your boss is hearing you, you can go to a Betriebsrat member instead of HR (especially if it's an issue with HR), and there are enough of them that it's likely that you know one of them, or a colleague does.

BuckRogers 5y ago

Aye. My friends in Germany (well, Austria at least) tell me there are no shortage of jobs in Alemannia either. Stifling the economy hasn't happened. I definitely have looked to them for inspiration there. As well as Spain and Italy for their gov't funding of worker cooperatives. Which I think is probably an even better answer to a balanced system, but I'm afraid too many people don't have the mind or focus to make worker co-ops work well on the whole. Definitely a few ideas from Europe though that if they're all embraced, will make a significant difference.

MandieD 5y ago
Corporate IT departments are still hiring like mad in northern Bavaria. It's nothing like SV or even quite as good as big US metro area IT money, but it's not bad - 30 days vacation is the norm (thank you, IG Metall!), on top of a ludicrous public holiday schedule (thank you, Catholic Church, I guess...) and frankly ridiculous sick leave policy (thank you, German government).

MandieD 5y ago

There's the "Works Council" (Betriebsrat) that in big companies is basically an employee-elected parliament, with various party-like factions running. For my employer's last Betriebsrat election, IG Metall (the union that represents my company's sector) ran a slate of candidates, along with other "parties" that emphasized somewhat different approaches - one campaigned on a platform of more flexible home office rules (pre-Covid). The Betriebsrat approves major HR policies, like how long open positions need to be advertised internally before they can be advertised outside the company, or approving non-shift Sunday or night work hours (kind of a pain, but also a protection against abuse), as well as employee data privacy matters, such as whether MS Teams presence status can be visible to people outside of the company. Their cooperation is also necessary to fire permanent employees for cause after their 6 month trial period is over. This is a mixed blessing - it means that there are some useless people who can drag things out for ages, but also means that a PIP is more than a bum-covering exercise for management. If you're having an issue, and don't feel like your boss is hearing you, you can go to a Betriebsrat member instead of HR (especially if it's an issue with HR), and there are enough of them that it's likely that you know one of them, or a colleague does.