The Staff Council for Academic Employees did not take part in the call for the warning strike and the University Action Day. We would like to explain why this is the case below. The work of the staff councils is regulated by the Staff Representation Act for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (LPVG NRW). Section 2 (2) of this law refers to the so-called duty to maintain peace:
"Management and staff council must refrain from doing anything that is likely to impair the work and peace in the university. In particular, the representatives management and staff may not take actions of labour dispute against each other."
The annotated version of the LPVG NRW by Neubert et al. (Neubert, Sandfort , Lorenz, Vellemann, Ollmann, LPVG, 14 revised edition 2021) specifies:
"The staff council as a body may not support even a legal strike. When engaging in trade union activities in connection with a strike, the individual staff council member must ensure that any relationship with the staff council office is avoided."
Staff council members employed under collective agreements may of course also take part in strikes; this is a fundamental right and left to each individual.
We hope that we have sufficiently explained our restraint in the collective bargaining disputes with this explanation and are of course available to answer any questions you may have.
Best regards
Your PRwiss team