UNISONActive is an unofficial blog produced by UNISON activists for UNISON activists. Bringing news, briefings and events from a progressive left perspective.

Saturday 14 May 2011

ver.di – 10 years on‏

The German trade union ver.di, which was formed in 1991 as a 3 million strong super union (public and private service industries), recently celebrated its 10th birthday. http://geschichte.verdi.de/chronik

ver.di, which has a formal partnership and reciprocal membership agreement with UNISON, has weathered a decade of economic restructuring and privatisation in Europe’s strongest economy. It has made significant membership losses and today has just over 2 million members.

ver.di’s membership decline has been mirrored across all German unions. A recent study by Heiner Dribbusch of the Institute of Economic and Social Research, highlighted the unique challenge faced by ver.di of ‘successfully adapting its organising and bargaining strategies to a large number of rather diverse service industries’: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2011/03/articles/de1103019i.htm?utm_source=EIRO&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS