German unions

Figures just published by the DGB, the main German union confederation, show that German unions have been able broadly to stabilise their membership, in spite of the impact of the recession.

Figures for the end of December 2009 show that at that point there were 6,265,000 members of unions in the DGB, only 1.7% down on the 6,371,500 recorded at the end of 2008. Two unions, the GEW, which organises teachers, and the police union GdP showed slight membership gains.

However, membership of IG Metall, which organises textile and woodworkers as well as those working in engineering, fell from 2,300,600 at the end of 2008 to 2,263,000 at the end of 2009. And Verdi, which organises service workers in both the public and private sectors saw its membership fall from 2,180,200 to 2,138,200.