In Germany, works councils constitute the second important pillar of the in- dustrial relations system and provide workers with the opportunity of employee representation at the establishment level. 5 The participation rights are laid down under the German Works Constitution Act (Betriebsverfassungsgesetz) and include consultation, co-determination and information rights, which generally increase in scope the larger the establishment becomes. For example, Section 106 of the Works Constitution Act obliges plants with more than 100 employees to set up a so-called economic committee in order to provide works councils with all relevant information about their business conditions. According to Section 100, employers with more than 1,000 employees are more formally obliged to.
