This recorded commission intervention concerns the second paragraph of § 23. Lederer sets aside the fundamental question raised by Rathenau and treats the first paragraph as effectively settled. His purpose is to mediate between two competing proposals:
Hingegen stehen sich beim zweiten Absatz einander gegenüber der Antrag des Herrn Wissell, den Absatz zu streichen, und der Antrag des Herrn Werner, ihn beizubehalten.
English translation: On the second paragraph, however, Mr Wissell’s motion to delete the paragraph and Mr Werner’s motion to retain it stand opposed.
Lederer proposes requiring management to consult the works committee about avoiding hardship when operational expansion, contraction, or closure necessitates hiring or dismissing substantial numbers of workers. His compromise distinguishes the authority to determine employment changes from participation in their implementation:
Der Zweck dieser Abänderung würde sein, daß nicht Art und Umfang der Einstellungen und Entlassungen mit dem Betriebsausschuß diskutiert wird, da diese ja durch den Beschluß des Reichskohlenrats, in dem die Arbeiter sitzen, präjudiziert sind.
English translation: The purpose of this amendment would be that the nature and extent of hiring and dismissals would not be discussed with the works committee, since these are already predetermined by the decision of the Reich Coal Council, on which the workers sit.
Worker representation on the Reich Coal Council supplies Lederer’s reason for not reopening those decisions locally. The works committee nevertheless retains a consequential role: management must implement the changes in agreement with it to prevent hardship. The intervention thus allocates distinct responsibilities to central decision-making and workplace participation. Its significance lies in this precise institutional compromise: decisions about the scale of employment changes remain binding, while their practical consequences become a matter of negotiated protection for affected workers.
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