If a startup refuses a worker’s council this way and someone already tries to establish it, that’s a good sign to look for employment somewhere else.
"The alternative to the Works Council should have a representation of employees who are not only based in Germany, but also all other countries, including Brazil and the United States" and
"That said, if the N26 team feels that they want to organize the feedback culture in Germany differently via a works council, N26 will of course respect and support this, as well as any step in the formation of an electoral board."
The article says the initial dissent from the management was due to Covid19 concerns and inclusion of international employees. It may well be that N26 is just trying to safe face, but if we take the statements as honest, they at least give the impression that the management is not in principle against a worker's council.
Here's the arrangement from the Worker's Council to address the concern
>>> How do you ensure the health and safety of participants of the Electoral Board meeting given COVID19?
> Our Health & Safety concept has been drawn up in collaboration with legal experts.
> The venue we selected accommodates up to 500 people with proper physical distancing. N26 Operations GmbH has less than 500 employees, so even if all of them decide to participate, the meeting can go ahead. N26 GmbH has more employees than 500; however, with holidays, illness and travels, we anticipate that not all of them will come to the Electoral Board meeting. In the (very unlikely) event that 500 or more people turn up, the meeting will have to be postponed.
> The contact details of each participant will be collected and kept for the time required by law.
> At the entrance, we will check the identity of each participant to ensure that no unauthorized or external people can enter. On the 13th of August, only employees of N26 Operations GmbH can enter. On the 14th of August, only employees of N26 GmbH can enter.
> If you experience symptoms of a cold, flue and/or COVID19, or you were told to quarantine, please do not come to the meeting! After the Electoral Board is set up, you will still be able to vote for the delegates for the Working Council.
Edit - A real time update
https://twitter.com/worker291/status/1294210928234373120?s=2...
> UPDATE: Someone has called the police to check the safety measures of the meeting. They found no issue and have left the premises.
The following offences shall be punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine, or both:
1. interfering with an election to the works council, the youth and trainee delegation, the ship’s committee, the fleet works council or the representative bodies of the employees referred to in section 3 (1), clause 1 to 3 or 5, or influencing such elections by inflicting or threatening reprisals or granting or promising incentives
Their actions speak different words
My translation of the relevant paragraphs:
The elected body stood "against almost all values we believe in at N26", it [the e-mail] says. And: "Drive: It makes us slower. Simplicity: It makes our cooperation more compley and hirarchical. Integrity: It undermines a culture of trust and could lead to a hightend level of confrontation. Excellence: It is not an up-to-date instrument of employee mangment and limits personal career development and influence."
Morover, according to the e-mails argumentation, a work council would lead to a two-class society for employees, because it is responsible only for German employees. A world-wide "Employee Representation Board" is named as an alternative proposal.
Back to me: Proposing a not-legally-a-work-council is a standard trick of German union busters. The real point is, of course, that the alternative board doesn't have the rights and protections of a real one. Also, looking at their Kununu reviews (I think that is a cultural equivalent of Glassdoor, though the focus is more on soft factors than money) they actually seem like the kind of work-place one would urgently want to found a work council at. So nah, not much chance of that being at all about genuine care for non-German employees.
In English: startup, the: Early stage company with allegedly high growth potential offering equity instead of cash, based on the idea that will be a good deal if it really takes off.
In German: Startup, das: Small tech-company, usually Berlin-based, hipster culture, offering coolness and alleged skill development instead of cash, also fruit baskets and tabletop football.
Of course the glamour of a German Startup is heavily based on equivocation between those two concepts.
Not really. I joined a 200-300 person startup that had a successful exit. On average, I made the same annually as I would have at one of the bigcos. With extra risk.