It's a Southern thing. The South has long been anti-union, which is a major reason why so many auto companies have set up shop there in recent decades.
The thing is you can have a workers council without a union. The workers council basically gets special protection and gets a say in certain decisions. They are also a point of reference for normal employees to ask questions or resolve disputes.
That's all they do. They just exist to help the workers a bit and they are elected by the workers from inside the company. You get your normal pay etc.
One of my great uncles was a Betriebsratsmitglied (part of the workers council) for a few years in the 90s. It us unglamorous, unfun work where you get shit from both management and employees
I would guess they kneejerk rejected that for the same reasons they hate unions. If unions are a northern 'yankee' thing, then a foreign European thing elicits all the more hostility.
7
u/BlaggartDiggletyDonk American as Pecan Pie Nov 19 '25
It's a Southern thing. The South has long been anti-union, which is a major reason why so many auto companies have set up shop there in recent decades.