From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: LABOR/GERMANY: Eastern Germans join Trade Unions
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 05:51:14 GMT

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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) 

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