- Confederation of German Trade Unions
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DGB 
Full name Confederation of German Trade Unions Native name Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund Founded October 1949 Members 7.0 million Country Germany Affiliation ITUC, ETUC, TUAC Key people Michael Sommer (SPD), president Office location Berlin, Germany Website www.dgb.de The Confederation of German Trade Unions (German: Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB) is an umbrella organisation (sometimes known as a national trade union center) for eight German trade unions, in total representing more than 7 million people (31 December 2004). It was founded in Munich, 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 in collective bargaining and does not conclude collective labour agreements.
Union delegates elect committees for 9 districts, 94 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 the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
Contents
History
Until 1933
As first German confederation of unions at 14 March 1892 the Generalkommission der Gewerkschaften Deutschlands was founded in Halberstadt. 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 in Nuremberg from 30 June until 5 July 1919 the Allgemeiner 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 named Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB. On 2 May 1933 all trade unions were dissolved by the Nazis.
1946–1949
After World War II German unions had to reorganise once again.
On 9–11 February 1946 the Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, FDGB was founded in Berlin as a confederation of 15 unions in the Soviet occupation zone.
On 23–25 April 1947 the Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB was founded in Bielefeld as a confederation of 12 unions in the Allied-occupied Germany.
Foundations in the American occupation zone:
24/25 August 1946: Freier Gewerkschaftsbund Hessen
30 August – 1 September 1946: Gewerkschaftsbund Württemberg-Baden
27–29 March 1947: Bayerischer GewerkschaftsbundFoundations in the French occupation zone:
15/16 February 1947: Gewerkschaftsbund Süd-Württemberg und Hohenzollern
1/2 March 1947: Badischer Gewerkschaftsbund
2 May 1947: Allgemeiner Gewerkschaftsbund Rheinland-PfalzOn 12–14 October, the 7 umbrella organisation in West Germany merged into the West German DGB as a confederation of 16 single trade unions.
Number of members, 30 June 1949:
- DGB of the British zone ................................................. 2,885,036
- Freier Gewerkschaftsbund Hessen .................................... 397,008
- Gewerkschaftsbund Württemberg-Baden .......................... 464,905
- Bayerischer Gewerkschaftsbund ....................................... 815,161
- Gewerkschaftsbund Süd-Württemberg und Hohenzollern ... 75,502
- Badischer Gewerkschaftsbund ............................................ 92,257
- Allgemeiner Gewerkschaftsbund Rheinland-Pfalz ............. 232,117
- Total...............................................................................4,961,986
Until today
In 1990 the members of the FDGB of the German Democratic Republic joined the members of the DGB.
Until today many single member unions of the DGB have merged, so recently the DGB only has 8 members.
Affiliates
Today
- IG BAU – IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (Construction, Agriculture, Environment) 314,568 members = 5.08%
- IG BCE – IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie (Mining, Chemicals, Energy) 675,606 members = 10.91%
- GEW – Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (Education and Science) 260,297 members = 4.20%
- IGM – IG Metall (Metalworkers) 2,239,588 members = 36.16%
- NGG – Gewerkschaft Nahrung-Genuss-Gaststätten (Food, Beverages and Catering) 205,646 members = 3.32%
- GdP – Gewerkschaft der Polizei (Police) 170,607 members = 2.75%
- EVG - Eisenbahn- und Verkehrsgewerkschaft (Railway Workers) 232,485 members = 3.75%
- ver.di – Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (United Services Union) 2,094,455 members = 33.82%
( DGB in total: 6,193,252 members = 100% // all values: 2010-12-31 )
1949
- GEW // still existing, see above
- NGG // still existing, see above
- GdED – Gewerkschaft der Eisenbahner Deutschlands // 2000 renamed to TRANSNET, 2010 unified to EVG, see above
- IGM // still existing, see above
- Gewerkschaft Textil und Bekleidung .................. since 1998 part of IGM
- Gewerkschaft Holz und Kunststoff .................... since 2000 part of IGM
- IG BSE – IG Bau-Steine-Erden ........................ since 1996 IG BAU, see above
- Gewerkschaft Gartenbau, Land- und Forstwirtschaft ... since 1996 IG BAU
- IG BE – IG Bergbau und Energie ...................... since 1997 IG BCE, see above
- IG Chemie, Papier, Keramik .......................... since 1997 IG BCE
- Gewerkschaft Leder .................................. since 1997 IG BCE
- DPG – Deutsche Postgewerkschaft ................................. since 2001 ver.di, see above
- HBV – Gewerkschaft Handel, Banken und Versicherungen ............ since 2001 ver.di
- ÖTV – Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr ... since 2001 ver.di
- IG Druck und Papier, "DruPa" .......... 1989 IG Medien .......... since 2001 ver.di
- IG Kunst, Kultur und Medien ........... 1989 IG Medien .......... since 2001 ver.di
Other unions
In 1978 the Gewerkschaft der Polizei (GdP, see above) joined the DGB as 17th union.
The Deutsche 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.
But in 2001 the DAG merged with four existing DGB unions to become the new DGB union ver.di.See also
- List of labor unions
References
- ICTUR et al.,, ed (2005). Trade Unions of the World (6th ed.). London, UK: John Harper Publishing. ISBN 0-9543811-5-7.
- F.Deppe/G.Fülberth/H.J.Harrer: Geschichte der deutschen Gewerkschaftsbewegung ISBN 3-7609-0290-1
External links
Categories:- German Confederation of Trade Unions
- National federations of trade unions
- Organisations based in Berlin
- 1949 establishments
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