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Conjunctures of eco-social partnership unionism : The German Trade Union Confederation’s climate policies over three decades

Trappmann, Vera ; Eversberg, Dennis and Schulz, Felix LU orcid (2024) In Industrielle Beziehungen 31(1). p.35-62
Abstract

The article analyses the climate policy of the German Trade Union Federation over the last 30 years. It defines a new form of eco social partnership unionism where unions use existing institutions to adapt to the challenges of climate change without embarking on more transformative avenues questioning the status quo. We show that unions climate policy has been subject to little change over the past three decades: German trade unions have fairly consistently been promoting a vision of what we call state-driven ecological modernisation, an affirmation of the given socio-economic order of German welfare state capitalism and calling upon the state to enable technological innovation to mitigate and adapt to climate change, protect national... (More)

The article analyses the climate policy of the German Trade Union Federation over the last 30 years. It defines a new form of eco social partnership unionism where unions use existing institutions to adapt to the challenges of climate change without embarking on more transformative avenues questioning the status quo. We show that unions climate policy has been subject to little change over the past three decades: German trade unions have fairly consistently been promoting a vision of what we call state-driven ecological modernisation, an affirmation of the given socio-economic order of German welfare state capitalism and calling upon the state to enable technological innovation to mitigate and adapt to climate change, protect national economies from green dumping, and ensure that workers negatively affected by climate action are compensated. In voicing this position, unions see themselves as a mouthpiece of their members, and they perceive these demands as dictated by the interests they represent.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
climate change, decarbonisation, energy policy. JEL: J50, J58, Q54, trade unions
in
Industrielle Beziehungen
volume
31
issue
1
pages
28 pages
publisher
Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH und Co KG
external identifiers
  • scopus:105007573854
ISSN
0943-2779
DOI
10.5771/0943-2779-2024-1-35
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2024, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH und Co KG. All rights reserved.
id
dcdfe101-cd86-4275-921b-c53a1b7dcf90
date added to LUP
2026-02-05 13:55:43
date last changed
2026-02-06 03:53:31
@article{dcdfe101-cd86-4275-921b-c53a1b7dcf90,
  abstract     = {{<p>The article analyses the climate policy of the German Trade Union Federation over the last 30 years. It defines a new form of eco social partnership unionism where unions use existing institutions to adapt to the challenges of climate change without embarking on more transformative avenues questioning the status quo. We show that unions climate policy has been subject to little change over the past three decades: German trade unions have fairly consistently been promoting a vision of what we call state-driven ecological modernisation, an affirmation of the given socio-economic order of German welfare state capitalism and calling upon the state to enable technological innovation to mitigate and adapt to climate change, protect national economies from green dumping, and ensure that workers negatively affected by climate action are compensated. In voicing this position, unions see themselves as a mouthpiece of their members, and they perceive these demands as dictated by the interests they represent.</p>}},
  author       = {{Trappmann, Vera and Eversberg, Dennis and Schulz, Felix}},
  issn         = {{0943-2779}},
  keywords     = {{climate change; decarbonisation; energy policy. JEL: J50; J58; Q54; trade unions}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{35--62}},
  publisher    = {{Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH und Co KG}},
  series       = {{Industrielle Beziehungen}},
  title        = {{Conjunctures of eco-social partnership unionism : The German Trade Union Confederation’s climate policies over three decades}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5771/0943-2779-2024-1-35}},
  doi          = {{10.5771/0943-2779-2024-1-35}},
  volume       = {{31}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}