are not allowed to dismiss works council members. Works councils may establish
committees to fulfil their function.
It must be added that in addition to the works councils, a second tier of co-determination
exists by way of the obligatory establishment of a Board of Supervisors (Raad van
Commissarissen) in the so-called ‘structured’ companies and in public or private limited
companies with at least 100 employees and a subscribed capital of at least 25 million
guilders (12 million euro). The Board of Supervisors among others controls the policy of
management, appoints and dismisses the board of directors, approves the balance sheet
and account of profits and losses. The works council on its turn may also nominate or
object to the appointment of candidates to the supervisory board, though the nomination
of candidates of the supervisory board takes place via co-optation (Van der Heijden and
De Gier, 1996).25
5.2 The role of labour unions in firm-LEVEL representation in road
haulage and at KLM
In enterprises in road haulage, the existence of works councils is restricted to the larger
companies. In small and medium sized enterprises the practice of co-determination is
restricted to the informal meetings where work organisation and work planning are being
discussed (werkoverleg). In the larger companies some works councils are consulted
about both organisational aspects and financial and competitive issues such as the choice
of fuel and the selection of tires for the lorries. However, interview partners argue that
merely social issues such as the restaurant, additional hours, and labour conditions are
being dealt with. In general, truck driver are employed on the road and appear not to be
participating closely to the co-determination practice. When they exist, works council
members are trained and prepared to fulfil their tasks.
At KLM there is one central-level works’ council, which has delegated a number of its
competencies to approximately 15 ‘group committees’ at company division level. The
works’ council is consulted on a monthly basis on all legally required issues. Main topics
such as the airline alliance formation and investment plans are widely discussed and via
the works’ council KLM informs its employees about its strategic plans. KLM also
invests in the training of works’ council members; the quality of works council members
is perceived as sufficient.
KLM describes its works council as ‘over-institutionalised’; workers’ support for works
council would be rather modest due to a lack of a clear profile. Notwithstanding in 2000
the works council presented an alternative model to the Baseline-reorganisation plan of
the management. In general, the competencies of the works’ council are constrained by
the strong position of the trade unions. For example, the unions discuss working time,
although according to the revised 1996 Act on Working Time this may be delegated to
the works’ council as well. As regards working time, at KLM the works’ council is only
The Social-economic Council and the Cabinet have recently proposed to change the system of cooptation, and to
grant more rights to the works councils and shareholders in the nomination procedure.
30