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Verdi overture - five unions agree to form Unified Service Sector Union

Germany
On 18-21 November 1999, five German service sector trade unions simultaneously held extraordinary congress in order to lay down the legal preconditions for the creation of a new merged Unified Service Sector Union (Vereinigte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, Verdi). The unions concerned are:

In November 1999, five German service sector trade unions agreed to merge and form Verdi, the United Service Sector Union, in spring 2001. Special congresses of all five unions adopted a joint framework paper which outlines the organisational structures of Verdi, which will be the world's largest single union.

On 18-21 November 1999, five German service sector trade unions simultaneously held extraordinary congress in order to lay down the legal preconditions for the creation of a new merged Unified Service Sector Union (Vereinigte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, Verdi). The unions concerned are:

  • the Public Services, Transport and Traffic Union (Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr, ÖTV);
  • the German White-Collar Workers' Union (Deutsche Angestellten-Gewerkschaft, DAG);
  • the Postal Workers' Union (Deutsche Postgewerkschaft, DPG);
  • the Commerce, Banking and Insurance Union (Gewerkschaft Handel Banken und Versicherungen, HBV); and
  • the Media Union (IG Medien).

At all the congresses, an overwhelming majority (more than 90%) of the union delegates voted in favour of the merger and adopted a joint framework paper outlining the basic structures of the new union, which will be affiliated to the German Federation of Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB). The official foundation of Verdi is planned for spring 2001. It will have around 3.2 million members (on current figures) representing more than 1,000 occupations.

Development of new unified service sector union

The second half of the 1990s have seen a period of reorganisation among German trade unions, including a wave of union mergers - such as the merger of the mining, chemicals and leather workers' unions to form the Mining, Chemicals and Energy Union (Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau, Chemie, Energie, IG BCE), or the former textiles workers' and woodworkers' unions joining the German Metalworkers Union (IG Metall) (DE9710233F).

In October 1997, the presidents of six service sector unions - including ÖTV, DAG, DPG, HBV and IG Medien, as well as the Teachers and Science Union (Gewerkschaft Erziehung Wissenschaft, GEW) - signed a joint declaration in which they expressed for the first time their common aim to reorganise union structures in the service sector. In February 1998, the six unions published a common "political platform" which contained a concrete plan and timetable for a merger (DE9803256N). In addition, the unions founded a joint coordination committee to prepare and accompany the restructuring process. In June 1998, the coordination committee presented a first "draft of a set of ideas" (Ideenskizze) for the organisational design of a new service sector union.

Although GEW abandoned the joint initiative in July 1998 (DE9807169N), the five other unions continued with the merger process and worked out a more sophisticated paper (Eckpunktepapier) which made more detailed proposals for the organisational structure of the new union. Published in February 1999, this paper became the major point of reference for the discussions within the unions. At their extraordinary congresses in November 1999, all five unions finally confirmed the paper as the principle framework for the new Verdi trade union.

Organisational structure of Verdi

According to the framework paper which has now been approved, Verdi will be a "matrix" organisation with a vertical and a horizontal structure - see table 1 below. The vertical structure will follow geographical lines, with a central organisation at national level, regional organisations at the level of the federal states and local district organisations. The horizontal structure will involve 13 "branch-level areas".

Table 1. Organisational structure of the new Verdi trade union
Geographical areas Branch-level areas
National level Regional level District level Financial services Energy service, waste disposal Health service, social work, welfare services and churches Social security services Education, science and research Public administration (federal level and level of the federal states) Public administration (municipal level) Art and culture, media, printing and paper industries, plus industry-related services and production Telecommunications Logistics and postal services Transport Commerce Special services
Special groups .
Young trade union members Older trade union members Unemployed trade union members Female trade union members .

In addition to the geographical and branch-level structures, there will be several structures for special groups of trade union members, such as young, older and unemployed members, as well as a special structure for female members dealing with women's issues and problems of equal opportunity.

Although the concrete distribution of rights and competencies between the different areas of Verdi is still under discussion within the merging unions, there is an agreement in principle that the branch-level areas should have a large degree of autonomy regarding the determination of their own internal structures, including the use of financial resources and personnel policy. The branch-level areas will be responsible for dealing with the companies and establishments within their branches and for supporting works councils and trade union representatives within those companies.

Furthermore, the branch-level areas will also be responsible for collective bargaining in their sectors. The branch-level areas will establish their own collective bargaining committees which will autonomously draw up their bargaining demands and decide on the conclusion of collective agreements. In order to maintain the more centralised bargaining structure in public services, Verdi will set up a more widespread bargaining commission composed of representatives of several branch-level areas.

It is also planned to work out some basic guidelines on collective bargaining policy which should be binding for the whole of Verdi. If the conclusion of a collective agreement breaches these guidelines, the national level should have the power of veto, though the details of this have still to be elaborated. Finally, there will be a single strike fund for the whole Verdi organisation, which will be administered at national level. The national executive board will also make the final decisions on strikes or industrial action.

Political aims of Verdi

According to the service sector unions' first political platform, drawn up in February 1998, the reasons for their merger are manifold (DE9803256N). Verdi's aims are:

  • a concentration of trade union resources against the background of falling membership and growing financial problems;
  • better adaptation to, and influence on, structural changes in the economy, including the organisation of newly developing branches;
  • the avoidance of damaging competition between unions; and
  • better regional and local trade union representation.

During the 1990s, almost all German trade unions have been faced with a sharp decline in membership (DE9908113F). From 1991 to 1998, the five Verdi unions lost an average of about 26% of their members - see table 2 below. Since the losses in membership have created growing organisational and financial problems, the unions hope that the merger will create substantial positive "synergy effects" and will better guarantee the overall existence of trade union representation structures.

Table 2: Membership of the five Verdi unions (1991-1998)
1991 1998 Change 1991-8
Total 4,316,909 3,193,684 - 26%
ÖTV 2,138,316 1,582,776 - 26%
DAG 584,775 480,225 - 18%
DPG 611,969 474,094 - 23%
HBV 737,075 471,933 - 36%
IG Medien 244,774 184,656 - 25%

Source: DGB, DAG.

A further major reason for the merger lies in the ongoing structural changes in the economy, which have broken down the traditional sectoral demarcations and thereby brought into question the traditional structure of Germany's industrial trade unionism. As a result there is growing competition between the unions to organise employees in newly emerging sectors, while at the same time there are several new branches with (nearly) no trade union representation at all. Therefore, it is the prime aim of the Verdi union to avoid damaging union competition and to develop joint strategies for the organisation of new sectors and groups of employees.

In February 1999, the coordination committee of the five Verdi unions published a first "programmatic paper" (Programmatisches Positionspapier), which should become the basis for the discussion on a new basic programme for Verdi. According to this paper, "the future of German trade unionism will be decided in the service sector," since the continuing structural changes mark a fundamental transformation from an industry to a service society. It is the fundamental aim of Verdi to participate in an active shaping of this transformation process in order to develop a forward-looking private and public services sector which is not primarily drive by the interests of profit, but by the interests of the overall public benefit. Therefore, the paper calls for a new trade union reform policy which - among other priorities - should include:

  • a basic U-turn in economic and social policy in order to break the "global hegemony" of neo-liberalism;
  • an active employment policy for high-"quality and" ecologically-sustainable growth;
  • an international re-regulation of world markets, in particular global financial markets;
  • a more just distribution of wealth and income;
  • a redistribution of work through all forms of working time reduction and new arrangements between "paid" and "non-paid" work;
  • better social security catering for non-continuous working life, since "atypical" employment is becoming increasingly typical;
  • equal opportunities and overcoming the division of labour according to sex;
  • the extension of a qualified service sector providing human-oriented services, which rejects the notion of services as involving low-wage jobs; and
  • an "active" state and innovative public services.

On 15 November 1999, the presidents of the five unions adopted a joint declaration "for employment and social justice" (Für Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit) in which they state their main topical political demands, such as:

  • the defence of collective bargaining autonomy in public services (DE9910218N);
  • better legislation to stabilise the branch-level collective bargaining system - for example, the introduction of a right for unions to bring cases against companies accused of contravening collective agreements (DE9908214F); and
  • defence of the current legislation on shop-opening hours (Ladenschlussgesetz);

Commentary

The merger of five unions in a new unified service sector union has been described as "the largest reorganisation project in the history of German trade unions" (by Professor Berndt Keller of Konstanz University). When Verdi is finally established in spring 2001 it will create the biggest single trade union in the world. However, all the unions involved clearly accept that size alone will not simply solve the unions' problems: it will neither automatically increase or even stabilise the level of membership, nor automatically solve the problem of union competition.

Regarding the membership issue there is, on the contrary, a clear threat that some groups of members could leave Verdi if they do not find an adequate representation of their specific interests within the new union or if they simply lose their old trade union milieu.

The problem of union competition has an internal and an external dimension.

First, the existing competition between the five service sector unions might continue within Verdi, since some of the current union structures could be reproduced within the new branch-level areas. In addition, many of the trade unionists involved reportedly still have some resentments, feeling that the whole merger process will be dominated by ÖTV which will account for Verdi's membership.

Second, there will be continuing competition between Verdi and other trade unions, in particular in the area of industry-related services, which is also partly organised by IG Metall and IG BCE. For example, both of these unions have already signed collective agreements in telecommunications, which is also claimed as a bargaining area by the Verdi unions. An unsolved problem is also the integration of DAG, which has members not only in services but also various industries. At its recent congress, DAG demanded that, for example, its 30,000 or so members in metalworking must find a place within Verdi. Against this background, the president of IG Medien, Detlef Hensche, stated that the creation of Verdi was only a second-best solution and that he preferred to see a reorganisation of the whole DGB, to which all the Verdi unions except the currently independent DAG are affiliated.

Whether or not the creation of Verdi will restrengthen the position of German trade unions will finally also depend on the political project of the new unified service sector union. There is some criticism within the unions that the merger so far has been mainly driven by organisational and not by political questions. The latter is all the more interesting, since Verdi will involve unions with rather different political traditions and strategies. (Thorsten Schulten, Institut for Economic and Social Research (WSI))

Further reading: "Neustrukturierung der Interessenvertretung im Dienstleistungsbereich. Eine Gedankenskizze zu Verdi", Berndt Keller, in Gewerkschaftliche Monatshefte No. 10 (1999), pp. 609-624. (A summary of this document is also available in Frankfurter Rundschau, 17 November 1999)

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