Ordoliberal enterprise co-management aimed to constrain union influence, unlike union demands

Evidence

Hensel’s endorsement of a co-management of social affairs by worker elected councils at the enterprise level was close to the legal stipulations of the Mitbestimmungsgesetz of 1952, though Germany’s trade unions eventually succeeded in undermining the efforts to limit trade-union influence to some extent by securing strong ties of individual works council members and the trade unions. Hensel instead aimed at constraining trade-union influence. He never referred to the concept of “co-determination” as such, and he counseled caution regarding the organization of joint labor-management committees that advise management on concrete business issues. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 960

Categorization

• XREF: Precursor relationship to the 1952 Mitbestimmungsgesetz links this to later postwar German industrial relations historiography. — connects to: German unions demanded co-determination beyond the enterprise, at sector and macro levels — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 960; Ordoliberals sought to regulate labor-capital conflict at the enterprise level — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 960; Capitalist rationalization attempts to co-opt worker militancy through co-operative management schemes (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Ordoliberals sought to regulate labor-capital conflict at the enterprise level #corroborates (0.78) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 960
• Trade unions can be co-opted to contain working-class opposition #corroborates (0.75)
• Capitalist rationalization attempts to co-opt worker militancy through co-operative management schemes #complicates (0.72)