Umweltbildung und Umweltberatung fuer Betriebsraete in mittleren und kleinen Handelsunternehmen. Machbarkeitsstudie Abschlussbericht

SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: F02B956 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDeutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, Osnabrueck (Germany)DEGerman

Social movement unionism and social partnership in Germany: The case of Hamburg’s hospitals

This paper traces the emergence of social movement unionism in Hamburg, Germany, as labor’s channels of influence have broken down and economic pressures have intensified. Trade unionists have responded to the privatization of the municipal hospitals by mobilizing members and building coalitions around issues beyond their members’ immediate interests, including democracy and public service quality. Although the loss of union influence has facilitated social movement unionism in much of West Germany, economic crisis has had a demobilizing effect in the east

From social conflict to social dialogue: Counter-mobilization on the European waterfront

Can trade unions organize internationally and ensure common standards of employment to prevent capital flight, social dumping and an international ‘race-to-the-bottom’? The experience of European dockworkers suggests that trade unions need to frame domestic conflicts in a global context and respond to foreign or international pressures within domestic politics before they can shift the scale of contention from the national to the European level. The campaigns against proposed Port Services Directives demonstrate that if social actors can project their domestic claims vertically onto international institutions and/or foreign actors they can divert the course of EU policy-making. In particular, if they can co-operate with other social actors through horizontal networks across different countries with similar claims, they can use both conflict and dialogue to protect their interests

Union Formation through Merger: The Case of Ver.di in Germany

This article is concerned with the recent merger of five German unions to form the new multi-industry union, ver.di. Its focus is on the effects of the merger and on developments in the post-merger phase. The article explores the various internal problems of the new union, concentrating on those that flow from the adoption of a matrix form of organisation. It deals also with the external relations of ver.di, with other unions and with the central organisation of German trade unions, the DGB. Central conclusions here are that the creation of ver.di is likely to exacerbate competition amongst German unions and further erode the position of the peak association. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2005.