Germany: Ver.di union got nearly 111,000 new members in 2009

Membership drop stopped in 3 areas. Even though its overall size decreased, Verdi’s evaluation is more than positive. Indeed, it presents 2008 and 2009 as the best years in terms of size since the union was created in 2001. Like in 2008, the number of new members from the active population increased again in 2009 – 0.5% this time. Thus, the number of employed workers went from about 70% in 2001 to 75% today. Even though the balance between those who left (153,000) and those who came (111,000) is negative in 2009, it is the “second lowest decrease” since 2001. With 2.13 million members, Ver.di, which represents employees in over 1,000 trades, is still the second largest union in Germany after the IG-Metall. Ver.di, suffering like most unions of a member outflow, managed to reverse the trend and increased the net number of members in three areas: Health, Education/Science/Research and home service.
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ployed workers went from about 70% in 2001 to 75% today. Even though the balance between those who left (153,000) and those who came (111,000) is negative in 2009, it is the “second lowest decrease” since 2001. With 2.13 million members, Ver.di, which represents employees in over 1,000 trades, is still the second largest union in Germany after the IG-Metall. Ver.di, suffering like most unions of a member outflow, managed to reverse the trend and increased the net number of members in three area

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