| Full name | Confederation of German Trade Unions |
|---|---|
| Native name | Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund |
| Founded | October 1949 |
| Members | 7.0 million |
| Country | Germany |
| Affiliation | ITUC, ETUC, TUAC |
| Key people | Michael Sommer (SPD), president |
| Office location | Berlin, Germany |
| Website | www.dgb.de |
The Confederation of German Trade Unions (German: Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB) is an umbrella organisation (sometimes known as a national trade union center) for eight German trade unions, in total representing more than 7 million people (31 December 2004). It was founded in Munich, 12 October 1949.
The DGB coordinates joint demands and activities within the German trade union movement. It represents the member unions in contact with the government authorities, the political parties and the employers' organisations. However, the umbrella organisation is not directly involved in collective bargaining and does not conclude collective labour agreements.
Union delegates elect committees for 9 districts, 94 regions and the federal centre. The organisation holds a federal congress every four years. This assembly sets the framework for trade union policies and elects five Federal Executives. Together with the presidents of the member unions they constitute the DGB's executive committee. The members of the executive committee, together with the DGB regional presidents and 70 delegates from the unions, form a Federal Council which meets once a year to make decisions on national issues. The DGB also has a youth organisation, DGB-Jugend.
The DGB has its headquarters in Berlin. It is a member of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
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As first German confederation of unions at 14 March 1892 the Generalkommission der Gewerkschaften Deutschlands was founded in Halberstadt. It represented 57 national and some local unions with approximate 300,000 people in total. After World War I unions had to reorganise. During a congress in Nuremberg from 30 June until 5 July 1919 the Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (ADGB) was founded as an umbrella organisation of 52 unions with more than 3 million members. The ADGB may be seen as predecessor of today's DGB. Like today, there also existed a conservative counterpart of lesser importance. Curiously, this conservative organisation was named Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB. On 2 May 1933 all trade unions were dissolved by the Nazis.
After World War II German unions had to reorganise once again.
On 9–11 February 1946 the Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, FDGB was founded in Berlin as a confederation of 15 unions in the Soviet occupation zone.
On 23–25 April 1947 the Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB was founded in Bielefeld as a confederation of 12 unions in the Allied-occupied Germany.
Foundations in the American occupation zone:
24/25 August 1946: Freier Gewerkschaftsbund Hessen
30 August – 1 September 1946: Gewerkschaftsbund Württemberg-Baden
27–29 March 1947: Bayerischer Gewerkschaftsbund
Foundations in the French occupation zone:
15/16 February 1947: Gewerkschaftsbund Süd-Württemberg und Hohenzollern
1/2 March 1947: Badischer Gewerkschaftsbund
2 May 1947: Allgemeiner Gewerkschaftsbund Rheinland-Pfalz
On 12–14 October, the 7 umbrella organisation in West Germany merged into the West German DGB as a confederation of 16 single trade unions.
Number of members, 30 June 1949:
In 1990 the members of the FDGB of the German Democratic Republic joined the members of the DGB.
Until today many single member unions of the DGB have merged, so recently the DGB only has 8 members.
( DGB in total: 6,193,252 members = 100% // all values: 2010-12-31 )
In 1978 the Gewerkschaft der Polizei (GdP, see above) joined the DGB as 17th union.
The Deutsche Angestellten Gewerkschaft – DAG – was a large white collar trade union.
Although the DAG in the British zone 1946 was a member of the DGB in the British zone, the West German DAG never joined the West German DGB as a single member union.
But in 2001 the DAG merged with four existing DGB unions to become the new DGB union ver.di.