It’s been a long legal battle seeing German Minister for Employment Andrea Nahles (SPD) with support from employers and the large trade unions, IG Metall (metals) and IG BCE (chemicals), pitted against several smaller corporatist trade unions and the larger Verdi union (Services), culminating now with the former winning out. On 11 July in a final ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court and two years after the extremely controversial single union law ‘Tarifeinheitsgesetz’ came into force, which was largely aimed at countering strike-friendly corporatist unions, the single union laws was declared to be in compliance in large part with Germany’s Constitution. Nonetheless the court did require the Federal Government to continue with improvements to the text by the end of 2018 that should better protect smaller corporatist union interests. The Employment Minister immediately welcomed the verdict as did Germany’s employers federation.
Curbing corporatist union power. In a case brought by several corporatist unions including the Vereingung Cockpit (aircraft pilots), the Independent Flight Attendants Organisation (UFO), the Marburger Bund (doctors), and the German Civil Service Federation (dbb), as well as the large services union Verdi, Karlsruhe’s Federal Court had to deliver a final ruling on one of Germany’s most widely disputed laws (c.f.
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