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An Interface Between the Works
Council and Company Management
Market demands and deadline pressure frequently
present challenges for the cooperation
between the works council and company
management. The right outcome can be
especially hard to achieve in times of economic
difficulty. The human resources department
takes on the role of a bridge during
the ensuing negotiations. It represents
the interests of company management before
the works council and informs the works
council of relevant changes, while the works
council, in accordance with the Works
Council Act, defends the codetermination
and collaboration rights of the company’s
employees.
The works council is an important partner
for MTU, critically engaged in the continuous
renewal of working conditions, which involves
everything from changes in collective
bargaining law to internal company agreements.
It serves the important function of
allowing employees to be heard. It is also a
mediator between the forces of continuity
and change at work within our company.
The works council and company management
generally agree on company goals, but
when it comes to specific plans and concrete
measures for achieving these goals,
opinions often differ. Intense discussions
and in-depth analyses of specialized
aspects of an issue are often necessary
before both sides can mutually present conclusive
solutions. Out of this process arises a
culture of reconciliation of conflicting interests.
Such a culture is essential to finding a
consensus that will satisfy all parties.
The goal of present cooperation, for both the
company and its employees, is to strike the
right balance between increasing flexibility
and tightening standards in a number of
areas. The important issue of work-life balance
demonstrates that measures making
working conditions more flexible can be in
the best interests of both the company and
its employees. As patterns and paths of life
cease to be determined by societal conventions,
employees desire greater freedom in
the arrangement of their private and family
spheres and the use of their free time. The
goal of the intensive negotiations is to reconcile
employees’ desires with the company’s
requirements and its possibilities, and
work out better solutions for both sides.
The works council elections to be held in
early 2010 present candidates, both incumbents
and challengers, with the task of
plainly formulating their positions and clearly
communicating what has been accomplished.
For the first time, four tickets are
campaigning for seats in the works council.
The trend towards greater fragmentation
apparent in contemporary politics is reflected
in employee representation within the
company. Only a unified works council can
represent and realize the interests of all
workers. Aside from the works council, the
speakers’ committee of the executive staff
is also up for reelection in 2010.
Focal Points 2008/2009
The negotiations of 2008 and 2009 succeeded
in addressing important issues with
transparent and reliable regulations. The
transition from the former pay scale to the
remuneration framework agreement ERA
(Entgelt-Rahmen-Abkommen) began in 2007
and was concluded in all three of MTU’s
locations in Germany by 2009. Necessary
additions were settled by means of company
agreements. The dissolution of the adjustment
fund, established in 2006 before the
introduction of ERA, was arranged for 2010
and regulated in a supplemental pay scale
agreement. The fund assets will be distributed
to all employees in accordance with
their just demands by means of a fixed formula.
Disbursement is scheduled for summer
2010. A further supplemental pay scale
agreement provided for the proposed twostage
pay raise to be simplified into a single
raise on March 1, 2009. In addition, employees
will be compensated in the future with
extra pay when they are required to perform
work tasks that go beyond the range of their
contractual duties.
Changes in the inflow of orders sometimes
affect unforeseeable shifts in the demand
for labor in certain product lines. In reaction
to the current rise in demand for a specific
aero engine type, a pilot project was introduced
to take advantage of unexploited
machine capacities by means of 18 shifts per
week. This model is to be tested over a period
of six months and should allow us to produce
competitively and in rhythm with the
order situation. Additionally, the pilot project
promises to give us further insight into the
use of new shift schedules.
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