Austria: union membership stable after 20 years down

Stabilization is almost established.  The Austrian Trade Union Confederation says a ‘turn’ was made in 2011.  After seeing its size shrink for 20 years, the ÖGB only experienced a 0.4 percent decline last year, i.e. 5,233 fewer members, for a total of 1,205,878 members.  This is almost the same as in 2006, when the BAWAG bank collapsed and led to an in-depth reform of Austrian unions and to 63,400 members leaving.  The detailed analysis of the evolution of the size of the ÖGB’s 7 sectoral unions gives a better idea of the situation in the sectors, obviously, and of union strategies’ impact as well. 
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e Austrian Trade Union Confederation says a ‘turn’ was made in 2011. After seeing its size shrink for 20 years, the ÖGB only experienced a 0.4 percent decline last year, i.e. 5,233 fewer members, for a total of 1,205,878 members. This is almost the same as in 2006, when the BAWAG bank collapsed and led to an in-depth reform of Austrian unions and to 63,400 members leaving. The detailed analysis of the evolution of the size of the ÖGB’s 7 sectoral unions gives a better idea of the situation i

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