2022 Works Council Election Vote for your works council—you’re welcome to do so by mail

From March through May, works council elections will be held at 11,000 companies within IG Metall’s jurisdiction. The 2022 works council election is important. Our future amid the transformation is at stake. For that, we need strong works councils. However, due to COVID-19, working from home, reduced hours —as well as illness or field work—many employees will not be at the workplace on election day and therefore will not be able to cast their ballots.
 

Apply for an absentee ballot in time

But you can also vote for the works council by mail. You can request a mail-in ballot by sending the election committee an informal email with your address, briefly explaining why you want to vote by mail.

You can find the election committee’s contact information on the election notice for the works council election, which is posted at your workplace, available on the intranet, or sent to you by email or regular mail.

If you don’t know who is on the election committee, write to your works council—asking them to forward your message to the election committee—or contact your local IG Metall office.

Please request the absentee ballot materials in a timely manner so that you can fill them out before Election Day and send them to the election committee by mail (unfortunately, email is not legally permitted). In certain cases, there is a legal deadline of three days before the election for submitting the request. However, due to the time it takes for mail to travel back and forth, you should send your request at least one week in advance.

You can then fill out your ballot materials immediately and send them off—even well before Election Day. Your absentee ballot must be received by the Election Committee before the polling place closes.

How to Vote by Mail

The following must be included in the absentee ballot materials (Section 24 of the Election Regulations):

1. The Election Notice
2. the lists of candidates
3. the ballot and the ballot envelope
4. a pre-printed declaration to be submitted by the voter, in which the voter must assure the election committee that the ballot has been marked in person, as well as
5. a larger prepaid envelope bearing the address of the election committee and, as the sender, the name and address of the eligible voter, as well as the notation “Written Vote.”
    

Voting by mail:

1. Filling Out the Ballot
2. Place the ballot in the envelope
3. Fill out the personal declaration
4. Place everything together in the reply envelope
5. Drop it in the mailbox in time and send it by mail

You can find instructions and a guide on how to fill out the absentee ballot materials, including a search for the nearest mailbox to send them from , on our works council election page at teamigmetall.de
 

The Election Committee may send out absentee ballot materials on its own initiative

You may also receive your absentee ballot materials from the election committee without having to request them. According to the Election Regulations, the election committee may decide on its own initiative to do so for certain parts of the company and employee groups—such as employees who are permanently working from home, on short-time work, in the field, or unable to work—and who are therefore unlikely to be able to vote at the workplace.

It’s important that you vote. If you want strong, well-trained, and well-connected works council members backed by a competent and supportive IG Metall, then vote for the candidates on the “Team IG Metall” slate.