On Friday May 22 a large majority of the German Bundestag adopted the “Tarifeinheitsgesetz”, known as the ‘single union’ law. The law looks to clarify union competition and representation within businesses. Going forward any specific professional category will no longer be able to benefit from competing collective agreements that have been negotiated by different trade unions. In the event of any dispute the majority union agreement will hold sway. This new law that comes into force on July 01 effectively limits the right to strike as well as the right to freedom of association for those workers affiliated to small corporatist unions, as well as in the services sector where unions are less developed. In contrast however for the big industrial unions and for the coalition government, this new law represents a call for increased union cooperation and delivers more autonomy for the social partners during collective negotiations. Several small unions have announced their intention to challenge the new law as soon as possible in the Federal Constitutional Court.
Systematically re-establishing the single union in German businesses. On Friday May 22 the Bundestag comfortably voted to adopt the draft law on the single business union as developed by Andrea Nahles the Social Democrat Minister for Employment and Social Affair (c.f. article No. 8564). With the vote the parliament completes a process started back in 2010 when a legal decision legitimized union competition within businesses. At the time the judgment accepted that employees belonging to the same professional category could be represented in the same company by two different unions and above all be covered by different collective agreements.
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