Addendum: Weakening the principle of unitary collective bargaining: What impact does the coexistence of several collective agreements have in a company?

Does the establishment of branch trade unions and the coexistence of several collective agreements in a company endanger the stability of labour relations in Germany? To supplement the articles in ifo Schnelldienst 9/2012, Wolfgang Schroeder, state secretary at the Ministry for Labour, Social Affairs, Women and Family Affairs of Brandenburg and professor at the University of Kassel, analyses the changes in the German collective-bargaining model. He sees no abrupt change in the model in which corporatism is being replaced by pluralism. Instead, in his opinion, the findings in the individual areas speak for a new mixture of ideal types of industry, vocational and company-oriented unions. Ultimately, it is not the branch trade unions but the organisational weakness of the labour unions and employer associations that is putting strains on the German collective-bargaining model.