In contrast with the first pieces of information that were spread by the German media and then corrected at a later time, the members of the DGB that met in Berlin did not categorically reject the draft of 13 May to establish a law to restore the principle of “exclusivity of collective agreements” (Tarifeinheit: one business, one collective agreement), but they have implemented strict conditions for the law. They have created a motion that says they refuse all laws that have the goal to limit the right to strike, or to question the principle of the autonomy of bargaining between social partners. This was included in the Fundamental law. At the moment the government is negotiating about a law to restore the union unity. During the speech Andrea Nahles (SPD) gave at the DGB congress shortly after the motion was accepted, not a word was said on the subject.
Survival of the fittest. The day after the ruling of 23 June 2010 of the Federal Labour Court, which contradicted the principle “one enterprise, one collective agreement” that had been in use for several years in German businesses (dispatch no. 100511), the DGB and the Federation of German employers (BDA) were eager to join the federal government.
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