Alternatively, the chair of the conciliation committee appointed by both parties may sign the document in the event of a failed negotiation.
The signing works council and individual employees mentioned in the scope can also enforce the terms of the works agreement, for example going to labour court if the employer does not comply with it.
[citation needed] §77 of the Works Constitution Act specifies that works agreements cannot deal with matters, primarily dealt through collective bargaining, i.e., wage increases.
§87(2) specifies in the event of a failed negotiation for the 14 enforceable topics covered in §87(1), a conciliation committee can provide an award in the form of a works agreement.
[1]: 40 The Hans Boeckler Foundation has a non public database of 17,000 works agreements (Im Archiv Betriebliche Vereinbarungen, 'In the archive of works agreements'), the largest such collection.
[5]: 297 A 2006 survey commissioned by the Economic and Social Research Institute [de] (WSI) interviewed members of 2,000 works councils and their corresponding 283 central works councils.