HN 2: The British and their Works

2.3
Works council in the deficit economy
At the instigation of Social Democrats and Communists a provisional
works council for the Volkswagen plant was formed in
July 1945, expressly referred to until December 1946 as the
"Betriebsvertretung" (factory representation). The head of this
body was the future mayor of Wolfsburg, Karl Hieber, who had
chaired the works committee of a company in Mannheim for
several years before the war and who now assumed an advisory
role for the first VW works council. Although the British military
government in Hanover had authorised the founding of the
provisional employee representation, it did not grant the committee
any rights of co-determination. The works council was
permitted to concern itself with the care of former political
prisoners, but could not exert any influence on personnel
decisions or the distribution of heavy workers’ cards.
Nevertheless, the British officers on site soon realised the value
of an institution like this for settling differences between
factory management and workers and reducing the potential
for conflict among a diverse, amorphous workforce. 117 An
employee representation also appealed to Ivan Hirst’s sense of
democracy and co-operative style of leadership, which fostered
direct, candid contact with employees via "open door arrangements"
and revealed a marked need for consensus. 118
Major Ivan Hirst therefore supported the election of a nonparty-political,
democratically authorised factory representation,
and dissolved the old one in October 1945. The candidates
were required to maintain silence in regard to their party and
union membership, and to refrain from making overtly political
statements. Under such restrictions, for example a socialdemocratic
candidate was described for campaign purposes as
an "expert of calibre and discrimination" whose concern was for
the welfare of all humanity. With the same members, the provisional
factory representation became a democratically elected
factory representation in November 1945. It adopted a set of
internal rules and regulations, which was essentially restricted
to the social care of the workforce. The activity of the works
council was strictly regulated by the British factory management
with an imposed constitution. The agenda for the works
council meetings had to be submitted to Hirst for approval, and
the British were entitled to be present at the factory meetings.
At the council meetings, discussions about politics and the
management of the factory were forbidden. The employee
representatives were permitted no rights of co-determination
at this time; even in internal social matters, initially there were
only rights of discussion and information. 119
In the first two factory representation bodies the disputes
between social democrats and communists were not especially
noticeable, or at least no major conflicts are on record. By contrast,
the election of the works council chairman in December
1946 culminated in ructions. The KPD (Communist Party) felt
boosted by the result of the works council elections, as it filled
almost half of the seats. It challenged the social democrats’
claim to leadership, and entered its candidate Erwin Blöhm to
fight the SPD candidate Otto Peter. The first ballot resulted in a
draw, but the second finally saw Peter elected. The communists
thereupon disputed the proper conduct of the election, and
boycotted the next works council meeting in protest. However,
48 49
WORKS COUNCIL IN THE DEFICIT ECONOMY