The struggle of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) against Multinational Enterprises (MNE)
The paper outlines by which means DGB and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) tried to control the spread of MNE in the European Community (EC). The period of the paper stretches from the economic and monetary crisis at the beginning of the 1970s to the completion of the European Single Market in 1992. A time where the role of MNE was a continuous topic in the discussion about the European Company Law (ECL). The paper shows how the trade unions reacted to the phenomenon of MNE and argues that the regulation of MNE was the attempt to defend a social democratic version of the European model in an increasingly globalized world.
For DGB, Mitbestimmung (“co-determination”) was the appropriate way to constrain the influence of MNE. Mitbestimmung denotes the inclusion of workers’ representatives in the running of the economy. It was a fundamental principle of DGB since its beginnings after the Second World War. In DGB’s eyes, Mitbestimmung was a means to overcome the imbalance of power between capital and labour. This link explains why DGB attached such urgency to the rise of MNE at the end of the 1960s. Trade unions regarded MNE not only as economically significant but as politically and socially powerful.
The phenomenon of MNE called for a transnational response. Therefore, DGB promoted the idea of Mitbestimmung within ETUC and towards the European institutions, whereas business tried to avert all attempts to legally enact elements of workers’ representation within the EC.
The analysis of the struggle between these different interests and the trade unions’ strategy is based on sources from the archives of DGB and ETUC and shows the unions’ influence in the discussion about the role of MNE in the ECL.
