"A lot better than I thought it would be”

An employee summer party chat with Rector Lehnert about working with the LKU-led Betriebsrat

At the party, I took the opportunity to say a quick 'hello' to the rector while my colleagues from the English Department held my place in the food line. He was standing off to the side with a small group of people including Lore Breitenbach-Koller and Arne Bathke from the opposing party, DFU. After the initial pleasantries, the topic turned to the upcoming BR election, with all three suggesting it would be better if the LKU joined forces with the DFU rather than running against each other.

If we did that, I explained, the LKU would lose all credibility. From 2016-21 we had a one-party Betriebsrat under conservative control that accomplished absolutely nothing. Not a single workplace agreement was signed. Goose egg. In the last year and a half, however, the LKU-led Betriebsrat signed two into force and sent a third one on IT and data protection to the rector's desk. The contrast couldn’t be starker.

At that point, Rector Lehnert remarked that working with us was indeed "a lot better than I thought it would be." I’ll take that as a compliment.

We didn’t see eye to eye on a number of crucial issues, from conducting employee evaluations fairly to offering permanent contracts to long-serving employees affected by the most recent change to § 109 of the Universities Act. And we certainly fought our battles while we were negotiating the workplace agreement to allow more of the academic staff to work from home. Nonetheless, we managed to work together professionally and find compromises.

Still, I understand Rector Lehnert’s initial apprehension. If you are used to the previous chairperson of the conservative-led Betriebsrat and her deputy flattering you and bringing you expensive chocolates to meetings, then you are going to view a newly elected Betriebsrat with a solid Social Democratic majority with a certain foreboding.

But a Betriebsrat can’t kowtow to their employer; they won’t be respected and won’t be effective at the job they were elected to do.

An LKU-led Betriebsrat is one that is taken seriously by the whole university community. We’re not going to put out campaign literature promising you the moon. If elected again, we’re going to continue doing what we’ve done for the last year and a half: 

• offer competent advice in individual consultations;
• negotiate new workplace agreements that lead to lasting improvements for PLUS staff;
• work on long-term initiatives that go beyond our university, like FSG GÖDa "Outsourced Institutions", and the union push to reform the B1 salary schedule;
• keep you regularly informed about the work we do at this university