Hensel's endorsement of a co-management of social affairs by worker elected councils at the enterprise level was close to the legal stipulations of the Mitbestimmungsgesetz of 1952, though Germany's trade unions eventually succeeded in undermining the efforts to limit trade-union influence to some extent by securing strong ties of individual works council members and the trade unions. Hensel instead aimed at constraining trade-union influence. He never referred to the concept of "co-determination" as such, and he counseled caution regarding the organization of joint labor-management committees that advise management on concrete business issues.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 960