Germany holds works council elections every four years, with the next round scheduled from 1 March to 31 May 2026. As candidate lists are now being submitted, early signs of tension are already surfacing. Zentrum, which calls itself the “alternative trade union”, has confirmed to the business newspaper Handelsblatt that it will submit its lists at five Volkswagen car manufacturing sites, including for the first time in western Germany. Only the Braunschweig site has been named so far. This is a
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As a Berlin correspondent for the French and Swiss press since the late 1990s, I cover a wide range of economic, political and social issues, with a particular focus on the German business and labour market. My areas of interest include co-determination, digitalisation, demographics and ESG/DEI policies.