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This article analyses events that trigger the establishment of a works council and the actor or agent who triggers it. The article extends previous research in two dimensions. First, it examines specific events that motivate workers to establish a works council, such as a change of owner, founding a spin-off, a firm acquisition or a radical restructuring. These events express protection against uncertainty as workers' primary motivation for establishing a works council. Second, the article analyses the actor or agent who triggers the establishment of a works council and shows that management is involved in one-third of all cases and has, in a minority of cases, motivated workers to establish a works council. Managerial involvement in the process of establishment reveals a positive managerial response to worker representation.

SummaryAlthough previous literature has found substantial differences between female and male workers in almost all labor market outcomes, the question of whether training participation differs between female and male part‐time workers has been neglected. This article provides a novel examination of whether the part‐time training gap is gender‐dependent. Using a Swiss dataset, we find that men engaged in part‐time employment suffer from a serious training disadvantage in comparison to men working full‐time and that this effect is not found for women. Thus, in countries where part‐time participation levels differ significantly between men and women, part‐time employment is a "bane" to men but not to women. Women, however, "pay the price" merely by virtue of being female.