Democracy and Religion

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The degree of worker representation which exists at present in Western Europe and Britain falls clearly into the category of participation. This is true even in West Germany where co-determination was introduced by the Western occupation powers soon after the Second World War. Although workers in the coal, iron, and steel industries won the right to 50 per cent representation on their supervisory boards in, 1951, and 1976 legislation provides for employee representation on supervisory boards to be raised from one-third to a half in all companies with over 2,000 workers, the initiative has remained in practice with the smaller management board of directors (because of the two-tier board structure in German industry which restricts the legal powers of the supervisory board). The right of coal, iron and steelworkers' representatives on the board to approve the appointment of the Labour Director of the inner management group-sometimes cited as the most effective form of worker representation in these industries-was not extended to other companies under the 1976 law. Even the Bullock Report, which was responsive to trade-union demands, pulled back from advocating 50 per cent trade-union representation on British (single-tier) boards of directors by allowing for a third group chosen jointly by shareholder and employee representatives.