Some speakers emphasised that the ineffectiveness of labour law was due to a structural factor in employment relations: subordination (Weiss, 2006). This was why, particularly when a country had a high unemployment rate, employees in a subordination relationship did not apply to the courts in case of problems with their employment contracts. At best, they applied to personnel representation bodies inside the company, or trade unions inside or outside the company The lack of resources and specialisation of regional labour inspection systems in Germany made it impossible to see them as a channel for redress, whereas in countries like France, besides applying norms, the labour inspectorate processed individual requests for information and advice, and even intervened informally in disputes with employers. These ‘‘individual requests’’ were becoming increasingly important due to the breakdown of internal staff representation mechanisms and the low levelof unionisation.