The German Trade Union Confederation (german: Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund; DGB) is an
umbrella organisation
An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...
(sometimes known as a
national trade union center
A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...
) for eight German
trade unions, in total representing more than 6 million people (31 December 2011). 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
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...
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 the
European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the
International Trade Union Confederation
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); german: Internationaler Gewerkschaftsbund (IGB), link=no; es, Confederación Sindical Internacional (CSI), link=no. is the world's largest trade union federation.
History
The federation w ...
(ITUC).
History
Until 1933
As first German confederation of unions at 14 March 1892 the ''Generalkommission der Gewerkschaften Deutschlands'' was founded in
Halberstadt
Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bombi ...
. 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
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
from 30 June until 5 July 1919 the ''
Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund
The General German Trade Union Federation (german: Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, ADGB) was a confederation of German trade unions in Germany founded during the Weimar Republic. It was founded in 1919 and was initially powerful enough to ...
'' (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
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...
.
1946–1949
After World War II German unions had to reorganize once again. Various regional and issue-specific unions formed under the Western occupations of Germany.
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
Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Fra ...
.
Foundations in the
American occupation zone
Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Fr ...
:
24/25 August 1946: Freier Gewerkschaftsbund Hessen
30 August – 1 September 1946: Gewerkschaftsbund Württemberg-Baden
27–29 March 1947: Bayerischer Gewerkschaftsbund
Foundations 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-Pfalz
On 12–14 October, the 7 umbrella organisation in
West Germany merged into the West German DGB as a confederation of 16 single trade unions.
Reunification – Present
In 1990, the members of the FDGB of the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**G ...
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.
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.
[See also Hemmer 2009.]
Affiliates
Today
Former affiliates
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. In 2001 the DAG merged with four existing DGB unions to become the new DGB union Ver.di.
The railway union
Verkehrsgewerkschaft GDBA was a member of the other labour federation, the
German Civil Service Federation
The German Civil Service Association (dbb beamtenbund und tarifunion) is a national trade union center
A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every co ...
. In 2010 the GDBA merged with existing DGB union TRANSNET to form the new DGB union
EVG.
Presidents
:1949:
Hans Böckler
:1951:
Christian Fette
:1952:
Walter Freitag
:1956:
Willi Richter
:1962:
Ludwig Rosenberg
:1969:
Heinz Oskar Vetter
Heinz Oskar Vetter (21 October 1917 – 18 October 1990) was a German trade union leader and politician.
Born in Bochum, Vetter completed an apprenticeship as a locksmith, before becoming a machinist at a coal mine. He served in the Luftwaf ...
:1982:
Ernst Breit
Ernst Breit (20 August 1924 – 22 February 2013) was a German trade union leader.
Born in Rickelshof, Breit joined the Reichspost as a trainee inspector in 1941, but the following year was conscripted into the army. He later became a priso ...
:1990:
Heinz-Werner Meyer
:1994:
Dieter Schulte
Dieter Schulte (13 January 1940 – 3 September 2022)[Michael Sommer
Michael Sommer (born 15 January 1952) is a German trade unionist leader. He served for 12 years as the chairman of the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB).
Early life and career
Born in Büderich, now part of Meerbusch, North Rhine-Wes ...](_blank)
:2014:
Reiner Hoffmann
Structure
districts with regions
*
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
: 4 regions
*
Bayern
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total la ...
: 14 regions
*
Berlin/
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 squar ...
: 4 regions
*
Hessen/
Thüringen
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
: 6 regions
*
Niedersachsen
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
/
Bremen
Bremen ( Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state con ...
/
Sachsen-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
: 10 regions
* Nord (Niedersachsen/Bremen/Sachsen-Anhalt): 7 regions
*
Nordrhein-Westfalen
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabi ...
: 11 regions
*
Sachsen
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
: 4 regions
* West (
Rheinland-Pfalz
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
/
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
): 6 regions
See also
*
List of labor unions
*
Hans Böckler - first president of the confederation
Literature
*
* F.Deppe/G.Fülberth/H.J.Harrer: Geschichte der deutschen Gewerkschaftsbewegung
* http://www.dgb.de/uber-uns/dgb-heute/
External links
Official site in GermanOfficial site in English
References
{{Authority control
National trade union centers of Germany
Organisations based in Berlin
1949 establishments in West Germany
Trade unions established in 1949