Adidas vs. IG BCE. The Covid-19 pandemic along with the expansion of teleworking have not just made the work of works councils more complicated, trade unions have also met with a number of challenges, as the case of Adidas vs. IG BCE illustrates. Based on two Federal Labor Court rulings, which recognize both the right of physical access to the company premises for a trade union to contact employees in order to inform and/or recruit union membership (28/02/2006 – 1 AZR 460/04 – BAG 117, 137), and the right of a trade union to communicate electronically with employees, without informing the employer (20/01/2009, 1 AZR 515/08 – BAG), IG BCE asked Adidas to either provide the work e-mail addresses of its employees, or give the trade union access to a digital platform that could enable contact with the Adidas staff members.
Germany: social partners disagree over trade unions rights to virtual employee access
Amid the pandemic and with employees often working remotely, German trade unions have been voicing concern over no longer being able to reach employees, and an example of which recently occurred between the sports goods manufacturer Adidas and the IG BCE trade union. The law on company organization only provides for unions’ ‘physical’ access to company premises in order to contact employees. Furthermore, given data protection and security considerations, companies refuse to communicate employees’ professional addresses, which would otherwise enable unions to establish ‘virtual’ contact with these workers.
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