German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management

They are never mandatory, however employees do have the right to form one if there are at least five employees who are eligible to vote (18+) and if at least three of those can be elected (>6 months with the company, broadly speaking no one in an important management role).

At least three employees have to take the initiative and call for an election and that can often be quite scary, to be honest. Because appalling rhetoric like here from N26 is not uncommon when that happens. Often these employers also try to (even pre-emptively) form their own unofficial employee council (like is the case here), however that has to be seen with a heavy dose of skepticism, since ultimate power of how such unofficial councils function and whether they can exist at all still rests with the employer. Unlike the Worker Councils they are not protected by the law.

Worker councils cannot be abolished by the employers, their rights cannot be taken away by the employer. The employer has not control over them. That’s their power.

That doesn’t really change that I’m currently still too scared to actually form one at the company I work for, even though I would very much like for it to exist. It still feels like painting a target on your back, even though Germany does not have at-will employment and you certainly cannot be fired or blocked or even just so much as reprimanded for wanting a form a Worker 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.

https://www.worker26.com/faq/

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.

This is patently false. I work at a medium-sized startup in Berlin, which is very international, with many of my colleagues speaking little German. We have recently created a Works Council (with support from the management) - and the council includes non-german speakers. It is certainly more work, as the work of the council involves a lot of german law - so training and documents need to be translated - however it is possible, and we have nothing even close to the resources of N26.

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