The legal line that decides whether management can act alone or must first win labour approval is under intense scrutiny. German law draws a sharp distinction between a genuine emergency – sudden danger or force majeure that leaves no time for consultation – and a mere urgent case, where the works council’s full codetermination rights remain intact. Bypassing them in an eilfall risks making company orders legally void. As a wave of job cuts, insolvencies and takeover battles hits German industry, that distinction is being tested in practice.
In Bremen, tension at the technology group Thermo Fisher has escalated. Management banned a planned meeting between the works council and local politicians. The background: production of mass spectrometers is to be shifted to
At the DHL hub in Leipzig, the union DPVKOM and parts of the workforce accuse management of covert job cuts. They say roughly 1,000 positions have disappeared since the start of 2024. DHL counters that the decline is due to natural turnover and falling parcel volumes. The works council describes the trend as a structured reduction process. Meanwhile in Krefeld, machinery builder Siempelkamp Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH has announced it will cut 127 jobs – about a third of the local workforce – citing a sluggish global market and heightened competition.
Two major retail chains, Hellweg and BayWa Bau- und Gartenmärkte, filed for insolvency in self-administration in mid-June. The joint impact: approximately 4,200 employees face an uncertain future.
The Commerzbank works council signalled resistance in mid-June to a potential takeover by Italy’s Unicredit. Representatives warned that existing staff agreements would lapse in the event of a merger. They declared they would hamper any planned synergy effects by withholding all constructive cooperation. At Volkswagen, the situation is also grave. According to media reports, a majority of the board now views the carmaker’s current position as existential and is demanding a radical strategic shift.
To reduce the chaos when a real crisis hits, companies increasingly turn to framework works agreements under Section 88 of the Works Constitution Act. These pre-prepared rulebooks cover likely emergency scenarios and can form part of the resilience planning required by Germany’s new KRITIS umbrella law. Instead of negotiating under time pressure, management can fall back on procedures already agreed with the works council.
European-level regulatory changes add another layer of tension. A draft regulation for a new digital corporate form called “EU Inc.” was presented in March 2026 and is scheduled for introduction in 2027. The Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, a labour-oriented research institute, warns that the structure could be used to sidestep parity codetermination in supervisory boards. A professional exchange on workforce adjustments in times of crisis is scheduled for late June, covering redundancies, mass layoff notifications and the balance of interests between employers and works councils.
