Delivering the goods? German industrial relations institutions during the COVID-19 crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused labor market disruptions at an unprecedented scale and is akin to a stress test for industrial relations institutions. Drawing on a large-scale (n = 6111) study of German employees, we empirically investigate whether and how the two institutions comprising Germany's dual system of employee representation-works councils and collective bargaining-have delivered on their protective potential and mitigated the impact of the pandemic on workers. We demonstrate that employees in representative environments fare better on a range of protective outcomes.