On July 07, the day following Germany’s President, Joachim Gauck signed the controversial law on single trade unions the corporatist union GDL announced it would soon lodge a complaint against the law with the Federal Constitutional Court. Expected to come into force quite quickly, the law regulates the question of union competition within businesses. Going forward, if two unions arrange to sign different collective agreements for the same professional worker group (as is currently the situation in the GDL/ Deutsche Bahn dispute) then the agreement with the union that has the most members will be the one that applies. In the Deutsche Bahn case the minority train drivers union find itself de facto restricted as regards the right to strike and as such this is unconstitutional. Three other unions, Marburger Bund (doctors), DBB Beamtenbund (civil service), and the Deutscher Journalisten-Verband (journalists) have also announced their intention to lodge a complaint as soon as the law comes into force.
Restricting corporatist union power. Following Bundestag approval in May (c.f. article No.9089) the draft law that reestablishes single company trade unions (Tarifeinheitsgesetz) had just passed its final hurdle. On July 06 the country’s president Joachim Gauck signed the law and it comes into force once it is published in the Official Journal. This law reestablishes the principle of the single union (one company, one collective agreement), something that had been called into question in a ruli
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