 | This articleis inlist format but may read better asprose. You can help byconverting this article, if appropriate.Editing help is available.(March 2012) |
German Trade Union Confederation | |
Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund | |
 | |
| Predecessor | General German Trade Union Federation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 12 October 1949 |
| Headquarters | Berlin, Germany |
| Location |
|
| Members | 6.0 million |
Key people | Yasmin Fahimi (SPD), president |
| Affiliations | ITUC,ETUC,TUAC |
| Website | www.dgb.de |
TheGerman Trade Union Confederation (German:Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund; DGB) is anumbrella organisation (sometimes known as anational trade union center) for eight Germantrade unions, in total representing more than 6 million people (31 December 2011). It was founded inMunich on 12 October 1949.
The DGB coordinates joint demands and activities within the German trade union movement. It represents the member unions in contact with the government authorities, the political parties and the employers' organisations. However, the umbrella organisation is not directly involved incollective bargaining and does not conclude collective labour agreements.
Union delegates elect committees for 9 districts, 66 regions and the federal centre. The organisation holds a federal congress every four years. This assembly sets the framework for trade union policies and elects five Federal Executives. Together with the presidents of the member unions they constitute the DGB's executive committee. The members of the executive committee, together with the DGB regional presidents and 70 delegates from the unions, form a Federal Council which meets once a year to make decisions on national issues. The DGB also has a youth organisation, DGB-Jugend.
The DGB has its headquarters in Berlin. It is a member of theEuropean Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and theInternational Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
As first German confederation of unions at 14 March 1892 theGeneralkommission der Gewerkschaften Deutschlands was founded inHalberstadt. It represented 57 national and some local unions with approximate 300,000 people in total. After World War I unions had to reorganise. During a congress inNuremberg from 30 June until 5 July 1919 theAllgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (ADGB) was founded as an umbrella organisation of 52 unions with more than 3 million members. The ADGB may be seen as predecessor of today's DGB. Like today, there also existed a conservative counterpart of lesser importance.Curiously, this conservative organisation was namedDeutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB. On 2 May 1933 all trade unions weredissolved by theNazis.
After World War II German unions had to reorganize once again. Various regional and issue-specific unions formed under the Western occupations of Germany.[1]
On 9–11 February 1946 theFreier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (FDGB) was founded in Berlin as a confederation of 15 unions in theSoviet occupation zone.
On 23–25 April 1947 theDeutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB was founded inBielefeld as a confederation of 12 unions in theAllied-occupied Germany.
Foundations in theAmerican occupation zone:
24/25 August 1946: Freier Gewerkschaftsbund Hessen
30 August – 1 September 1946: Gewerkschaftsbund Württemberg-Baden
27–29 March 1947: Bayerischer Gewerkschaftsbund
Foundations in theFrench occupation zone:
15/16 February 1947: Gewerkschaftsbund Süd-Württemberg und Hohenzollern
1/2 March 1947: Badischer Gewerkschaftsbund
2 May 1947: Allgemeiner Gewerkschaftsbund Rheinland-Pfalz
On 12–14 October, the 7 umbrella organisation inWest Germany merged into the West German DGB as a confederation of 16 single trade unions.
| Allgemeiner Gewerkschaftsbund Rheinland-Pfalz | 232,117 | |
| Badischer Gewerkschaftsbund | 92,257 | |
| Bayerischer Gewerkschaftsbund | 815,161 | |
| DGB of theBritish zone | 2,885,036 | |
| Freier Gewerkschaftsbund Hessen | 397,008 | |
| Gewerkschaftsbund Süd-Württemberg und Hohenzollern | 75,502 | |
| Gewerkschaftsbund Württemberg-Baden | 464,905 | |
| Total | 4,961,986 |
In 1990, the members of the FDGB of theGerman Democratic Republic joined the members of the DGB. In recent years, many member unions of the DGB have merged, so today the DGB has only 8 members. This was seen as a progress by many unionists who hoped for stronger representation, while others claim that strong member unions like ver.di with its two million members have considerably weakened the DGB as a roof organization.[2]
In general, the influence of German trade unions has declined since 1990 and had to accept shrinking real incomes and a reform of the welfare system in 2004 ("Hartz IV laws"), which put additional pressure on wages. For some years, the DGB and its member unions have been campaigning for a minimum wage to be introduced in Germany. Well into the 1990s, they had rejected this idea because they got better results from their strong position in the German system of collective bargaining.[3]
| Members of DGB unions 2017[4] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Women | Men | In total | ||||
| IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (Construction, Agriculture, Environment) | IG BAU | 67,069 | 26.35% | 187,456 | 73.65% | 254,525 | 4.25% |
| IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie (Mining, Chemicals, Energy) | IG BCE | 137,012 | 21.49% | 500,611 | 78.51% | 637,623 | 10.64% |
| Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (Education and Science) | GEW | 199,529 | 71.71% | 78,714 | 28.29% | 278,243 | 4.64% |
| IG Metall (Metalworkers) | IGM | 406,893 | 17.98% | 1,855,768 | 82.02% | 2,262,661 | 37.74% |
| Gewerkschaft Nahrung-Genuss-Gaststätten (Food, Beverages and Catering) | NGG | 83,741 | 41.89% | 116,180 | 58.11% | 199,921 | 3.33% |
| Gewerkschaft der Polizei (Police) | GdP | 46,032 | 24.86% | 139,121 | 75.14% | 185,153 | 3.09% |
| Eisenbahn- und Verkehrsgewerkschaft (Railway Workers) | EVG | 41,204 | 21.69% | 148,771 | 78.31% | 189,975 | 3.17% |
| Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (United Services Union) | ver.di | 1,038,221 | 52.24% | 949,115 | 47.76% | 1,987,336 | 33.15% |
| DGB in total | DGB | 2,019,701 | 33.69% | 3,975,736 | 66.31% | 5,995,437 | 100.00% |
 | |||||||
| Union | Acronym | Year merged | Merged into |
|---|---|---|---|
| German Railwaymen's Federation | GdED | 2010 | EVG |
| Textile and Clothing Union | GTB | 1998 | IGM |
| Wood and Plastic Union | GHK | 2000 | IGM |
| Building and Construction Union | IG BSE | 1996 | IG BAU |
| Horticulture, Agriculture and Forestry Union | GGLF | 1996 | IG BAU |
| Union of Mining and Energy | IG BE | 1997 | IG BCE |
| Chemical, Paper and Ceramic Union | IG Chemie | 1997 | IG BCE |
| Leather Union | GL | 1997 | IG BCE |
| German Postal Union | DPG | 2001 | Ver.di |
| Trade, Banking and Insurance Union | HBV | 2001 | Ver.di |
| Public Services, Transport and Traffic Union | ÖTV | 2001 | Ver.di |
| Printing and Paper Union | DruPa | 1989 | IG Medien |
| Arts Union | Kunst | 1989 | IG Medien |
| Media Union | IG Medien | 2001 | Ver.di |
In 1978 the Gewerkschaft der Polizei (GdP, see above) joined the DGB as 17th union.
TheDeutsche Angestellten Gewerkschaft – DAG – was a large white collar trade union. Although the DAG in the British zone 1946 was a member of the DGB in the British zone, the West German DAG never joined the West German DGB as a single member union. In 2001 the DAG merged with four existing DGB unions to become the new DGB union Ver.di.
The railway unionVerkehrsgewerkschaft GDBA was a member of the other labour federation, theGerman Civil Service Federation. In 2010 the GDBA merged with existing DGB union TRANSNET to form the new DGB unionEVG.
