As far as I know, the somewhat uniquely German thing about works councils is the power they have and how strongly protected their creation is. But honestly, it’s often hard to keep track of what rights are EU given and which ones are local.

Aren't workers coucils the Betriebsrat?

Unions are more like political parties and workers coucil are more like parts of the government you can get elected to.

You are almost completely right, I deleted that part from my comment. Turns out, it’s very important to distinguish between Workers' council [0] and Works council [1] :D

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_council

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_council

lol, good to know.

Thanks for the heads up :D

the special thing about German works council (Betriebsrat) is that for companies above a specific size 50% of board seats go to people elected by the council. Not the owners.

Someone writes a longer comment to share interesting information. You personally attack them, why? Is this leading to more understanding in the world? On top you try to make Germans look clueless. What for? Is this what HN is for?

Honestly I don't think that was the effect of the comment. The comment seemed to show that every country is a little bit the same - we all think we have our unique problems and our unique institutions, but in reality we're all humans and thinks are a bit the same everywhere.

I think they could have expressed their observations in a nicer way. I don't think you need to collapse into ontological angst either.