2026 Works Council Election Vote for the Works Council—Make Team IG Metall Strong

Works council electionsare now coming up at thousands of companies. All employees at the company are eligible to vote—regardless of their nationality. Through their works councils, employees have a say in their company’s decisions. The works council has co-determination rights regarding issues such as health, continuing education, and transfers, and must be consulted in the event of layoffs.

Works councils are more important now than ever: Many companies are in crisis, cutting jobs, relocating, or closing down. With a works council, jobs are significantly more secure; there are fewer layoffs, fairer rules for leaving the company, and higher severance payments. Without a works council, there isn’t even a social plan.

However, the works council may not call for a strike to exert pressure in negotiations.
 

Stronger as part of the IG Metall team

With IG Metall behind them —as part of the IG Metall team —workers and their works councils are stronger!IG Metall offers works councils training and support from experts at 145 local offices and 7 training centers. Every year, around 25,000 works council members participate in IG Metall seminars to gain the skills they need for their work, for example in labor law and economics.

With IG Metall, organized employees can secure collective bargaining agreements, even through strikes if necessary. In companies with a works council and a union that has collective bargaining agreements, wages are 14.2 percent higher, according to the Institute of German Economy (iw)—which is funded by employers’ associations. This also includes collective bargaining agreements on the future, transformation, job security, and social provisions, through which employees, together with IG Metall, can secure measures such as investments, employee co-determination, the exclusion of layoffs for operational reasons, and significantly higher severance pay in the event of downsizing.

And employees, their works councils, and IG Metall often succeed in preventing layoffs and plant closures.

Jobs and the Future Secured at Brose

The 70-year-old facility of automotive supplier Brose in Würzburg was slated for closure, with 1,400 employees set to lose their jobs. But the works council, together with IG Metall, organized resistance. They demonstrated, collected signatures, and applied pressure through the media. And the works council proposed solutions to make the facility even more profitable.

Brose employees and citizens demonstrate in Würzburg to save the site.

One year later, the closure has been called off, and the site is secured under a collective bargaining agreement through 2030. Existing operations are being relocated back to the site. And they are collaborating with the Fraunhofer Institute on products for the aerospace industry—all initiated by the employees. The first satellites are scheduled to be completed this fall.

“We couldn’t have done this without IG Metall,” emphasizes Yves Weinberger, works council chair at Brose in Würzburg. “No matter how strong the works council is, if you don’t have a strong partner, you’ve lost.”
 

Job Cuts and Outsourcing at Syntegon Prevented

Syntegon, a machinery manufacturer in Crailsheim that formerly belonged to Bosch, was sold to a financial investor who wanted to cut jobs and outsource work. But the works council stood its ground, organized information sessions on the company grounds, and, together with IG Metall, staged a so-called “early-closing protest.”

In the end, they succeeded: All jobs will be preserved. There is a job security guarantee and a bonus for IG Metall members, enshrined in a forward-looking collective bargaining agreement. And business at Syntegon is booming—in part due to the surge in demand for the new weight-loss injections produced by Syntegon machines. With a reduced workforce, they could never have met the high demand.

“A works council can make all the difference,” says Syntegon works council member Thomas Beckenbauer. “But every works council is only as strong as the workforce makes it.”
 

MAN Salzgitter’s Location and Future Secured

At MAN Truck & Bus in Salzgitter, corporate management had planned to relocate operations and lay off up to 1,300 of the 2,161 employees starting in January 2027. But that plan is off the table. Production of truck components at MAN Truck & Bus in Salzgitter will remain. Jobs are secured through at least 2035.

In addition, following difficult negotiations—and with pressure from protests—employees, the works council, and IG Metall secured investments and a say in the transformation process. Experts, skilled workers, and managers have already developed numerous proposals for optimizations and new products.

“No one is losing their job. Furthermore, employees do not have to make any concessions under the collective bargaining agreement—that’s an important signal,” explains Andrea Deiana, deputy works council chair and head of the IG Metall shop stewards at MAN in Salzgitter. “Without a strong IG Metall standing alongside the workforce, our plant would be nothing more than an empty shell—without production and without people.”

More about MAN Truck & Bus Salzgitter

Works Council and IG Metall—a Strong Team

IG Metall, the shop stewards, the works council, and the employees form a strong team in every situation.

• Together, we make jobs fairer and safer. We ensure career prospects and secure fair pay.
• We advocate for better working conditions: from occupational safety and health to work-life balance to the development of age-friendly workplaces.
• IG Metall equips works councils to handle all key legal and economic issues. We can also tackle workplace innovations together—whether in work processes, resource efficiency, or work-time models.
• IG Metall provides newly elected works councils and newly established works council committees with advice and support—we equip works councils with the skills they need to do their jobs.
• Always there: IG Metall advises the works council when it wants to negotiate a company agreement, is in conflict with the employer, or needs to enforce claims under a collective bargaining agreement.
• Well-connected: IG Metall enables works councils to exchange ideas with other employee representative bodies.