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List of trade unions in Germany

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This is a list of trade unions in Germany, which play an important part of German labour law and European labour law.

Trade union federations

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The Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, established 1949, is the most important union organisation. After many mergers it only now consists of 8 trade unions. It mediates inter-union disputes and organises member unions so they do not impede on each other's membership. It follows the Einheitsgewerkschaft [de] principle. In its substantive politics it is aligned mostly with the SPD. Members are not bound by DGB policies. The representation in the DGB is democratic, so in practice IG Metall and ver.di dominate the agenda and policy with the most members.

Individual unions

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There are 8 unions, following a long series of mergers, affiliated to the largest German trade union confederation, the Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB).

Name Est. Members Description Const. Website
Industriegewerkschaft Metall 1949 2,270,000 IG Metall 2012 igmetall.de
Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft 2001 2,040,000 Ver.di 2015 verdi.de
IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie 1997 660,000 IG BCE 2013 igbce.de
IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt 1996 281,000 IG BAU had 720,000 members in 1996. 2013 igbau.de
Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft 1948 272,000 GEW 2016[permanent dead link] gew.de
Eisenbahn- und Verkehrsgewerkschaft 2010 197,000 Formerly known as Transnet. 2016
Gewerkschaft Nahrung-Genuss-Gaststätten 1949 205,000 (2010) NGG 2014 ngg.net
Gewerkschaft der Polizei 1959 175,000 GdP 2014 www.gdp.de

There are 39 trade unions under the Deutsche Beamte Bund (dbb).

Name Est. Members Description Website
Deutsche Polizeigewerkschaft 1951 94.000
Komba Gewerkschaft 1920 80.000 komba.de
Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer 1867 34.000

There are 14 unions affiliated to the Christlicher Gewerkschaftsbund.[3]

There are a number of other, non-affiliated unions with a total of between 200,000 and 300,000 members.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "DGB-Mitgliederzahlen 2010-2019".
  2. ^ 2012 Constitution
  3. ^ "Einzelgewerkschaften - CGB".
  4. ^ See H Dribusch and P Birke, Trade Unions in Germany: Organisation, Environment, Challenges (2012)