superrific
Legend of ZZL
- Messages
- 8,778
It's not "fair enough." The Wrambling Wreck over here is just making stuff up, again.
1. The largest German trade union is larger per capita than the largest American union. At one point this century, the largest umbrella trade union organization in Germany represented 84% of all union members. Wikipedia says now that the DGB "only" represents 68% of unionized workers in Germany. That is way higher than any comparable organization here. For more details:
2. American unions WERE subject to antitrust scrutiny and even prosecution in the early days. In fact, the Clayton Act of 1914 included a provision to exempt unions from antitrust, as antitrust issues had been used to defeat the basic idea of unionization prior to that. Congress then expanded those protections in the Norris-Laguardia Act of 1932, which is why sports collective bargaining agreements can exist (except for baseball, which doesn't need it because stupidity).
3 The reason that unions have more effectiveness in Germany is that they have more power. Bargaining happens on a regional and industry basis. That is, employers form their own associations, and the union reps and the employer reps sit down and bargain over wages. They don't have to recruit members -- and certainly don't have to engage in the drag-down, bare-knuckles fighting of American organization efforts -- because all workers are covered in sectoral bargaining. There are no right-to-work laws. In fact, there's no such thing as "at-will" employment.
4. The basic shape of the labor system in Germany is shared across other European countries. There are differences, but no European country uses competition between unions as part of their industrial policy. The reason is that it just doesn't make sense. Unions, like electric utilities, are natural monopolies.
I encourage anyone who is interested to read the link I provided above
