NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5784

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From: [e-mail] (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: LABOR/GERMANY: Eastern Germans join Trade Unions
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Topic 193       IPS:Germany: East Germans join trad
hrcoord apc.labour       9:53 am  Aug  6, 1992
From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: IPS:Germany: East Germans join trade
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/* Written 12:09 am  Aug  6, 1992 by newsdesk in
cdp:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: GERMANY: Eastern Germans join trade unions as jobs
disappear

an inter press service feature

by ramesh jaura

bonn, aug 3 (ips) -- the ranks of the german trade unions in the
western part of the unified country have been steadily swelling as
two out of every five jobs in the former east germany are being
abolished, reports reveal.

nearly four million eastern germans have joined western trade
unions, says the cologne-based institute of german economy in one
of two just released reports.

the other report however shows that since the social, economic and
monetary union of germany in july 1990, two out of every five jobs
have been abolished in the eastern part of the country.

in the agricultural and industrial sectors, two-thirds of the
labour force have been left jobless. the agriculture industry now
employs between 200,000 and 300,000 persons.

last march one million people were employed in the industrial
sector in eastern germany -- less than half the number in the
corresponding period last year.

the report does not make any link between a rise of nearly 50
percent in trade union membership -- which was up to 13.75 million
at the end of last year -- and the job losses.

however, a spokesperson of the german confederation of trade
unions (dgb) said that growing unemployment had prompted those
''not yet out of jobs'' to enroll in trade unions.

according to one of the two reports by the institute, some 1.3
million eastern germans are already without a job, and another two
million are in jobs subsidised by the state to give them time to
retrain in new trades with better chances of employment later.

''as more and more people are rendered out of job, they realise
that we are there to help them in case of need -- looking after
their interests vis a vis the employers,'' added the spokesperson
who did not wish to be named.

''it has not been easy for them to take to union membership,
particularly in view of disappointment experienced at the hands of
the leadership of the confederation of east german trade union
(fdgb),'' he added.

the fdgb had a close connection with the ruling socialist unity
(communist) party (sed) in the now defunct gdr. the fdgb claimed
9.6 million members in a total population of 16.7 million in early
1989; by contrast its former west german equivalent counted about
9.6 million members -- but in a population of nearly 60 million.
(more/ips)

germany: eastern germans join trade unions as jobs disappear(2-e)

germany: eastern germans (2)

''this indicates that in the west there was no compulsion to join
trade unions,'' the union spokesperson argued.

the dgb and fdgb merged with each other within a few months of
reunification. sed members voluntarily stepped down from their
offices, or were forced to do so. the ordinary members were given
a free choice to enroll themselves as members afresh or stay out.

the main beneficiary of the membership boom among eastern germans
are the unions affiliated to the predominant dgb; their membership
swelled from about 7.94 million at the end of 1990 to 11.8 million
towards the close of 1991.

however the smaller west german union of government officers (dbb)
increased its membership by about 250,000 taking the total to 1.05
million.

the white-collar workers' union dag registered a hike of 15
percent to 585,000 and the christian trade union (cgb) witnessed
an upswing of 2.7 percent from the 'new federal states' carved out
of the former gdr, taking its membership to 311,000.

the largest beneficiary among the unions affiliated to the dgb was
the gardening, agriculture and forestry workers' union: its
membership increased threefold from 44,054 to 134,980, adding
members of the former gdr's agricultural cooperatives to its
books.

also the teachers' union gew virtually doubled its membership from
189,155 to 359,852. the second largest union, oetv, representing
the public sector workers, registered an increase of 70 percent
from about 1.25 million to about 2.14 million.

the seventh largest german union, the railway workers', saw its
membership rise from 312,353 at the end of 1990 to 527,478 at the
end of last year. equally a 70 percent hike was recorded in the
case of the fourth largest construction workers' union ig bau-
steine-erde -- from 462,751 to 776,781.
(end/ips/la/raj/rj/cpg/92)