Industrial Relations
A good leadership team communicates in a proactive and constructive fashion with all stakeholders which includes the works councils. And provided the works councils are considered a constructive body then you will have a good chance that colleagues who are constructive in their approach will put themselves up for election for becoming a works council member. They will have a good chance of becoming elected provided the company culture and the organizational climate is being seen as positive by the majority of the employees.
But maybe you have some very pragmatic issues at hand you need to have addressed.
What do you consult with your local works council what with the central works council and what with the european works council? And in what order? Do you have any room to maneuver? What is the responsibility of the union versus the works council? How do you handle a challenging change initiative with the works council in a way that you achieve the your objectives, meet the timeline, create winners on both sides or at least avoid generating a feeling of losing out?
Or your organization grows and you need a european works council.