In times of economic crisis, military build-up, welfare cutbacks, and an ongoing political shift to the right, a strong trade union movement is vital. One instance in which this is particularly true is the current debate over reshaping industry in a way that reduces its impact on the climate in a way that is socially just. In the export-dependent industries within IG Metall’s organizing sphere, the economic outlook is particularly grim: product sales are faltering, and instead of being addressed with future-oriented investment, the necessary social-ecological transformation is instead being exploited to justify job cuts and site relocations.

Transformation amidst Crisis

This has become particularly evident at Volkswagen. The company has made major management errors: it lags behind competitors in e-mobility, and instead of developing affordable cars, in recent years it has instead focused on vehicles aimed at higher-income earners, as these yielded short-term high profits and substantial dividends. In order to maintain these high returns for shareholders, the company announced plant closures and layoffs at the end of 2024.

The workforce responded with large demonstrations and warning strikes. Through such efforts, IG Metall succeeded in averting the threatened plant closures — albeit at the cost of wage concessions and job cuts.

The workforces in question are highly organized and have long fought for exemplary labour standards. In companies as large as VW, there are not only works councils but also trade union shop steward structures. This strength must now be harnessed in order that it be preserved it for the future. It is best to capitalize on this power before the situation in the plant becomes difficult and individual sites become dispensable to capital. As long as business is still running relatively well, employees are far better positioned to exert pressure through work stoppages, in line with the tenet that offence is the best defence.

Using Socially Conscious Collective Agreements to Move Out of a Defensive Stance

Even under challenging economic conditions, some collective bargaining disputes have yielded results that facilitated a transformation process with employee participation and simultaneously secured jobs and locations, at least for a certain period of time.

Rather than leaving it solely to works councils to negotiate the implementation of job cuts, the demand for a socially or future‑oriented collective agreement enables trade unions to wage battles on their terms, including work stoppages. Creative strike forms, such as solidarity strikes, also play a role — as seen in the case of a plant closure at the auto supplier GKN Driveline. The company had long sought to block a future-oriented works agreement before ultimately announcing the closure of the Mosel plant near Zwickau. When initial protests failed, the workforce at the Mosel plant launched an indefinite strike demanding a socially oriented agreement. They were supported by solidarity strikes at other sites. This enabled them to secure a good social collective agreement at Mosel and a framework collective agreement with job security until 2028 for the other sites. Struggle and resistance in workplaces thus proved worthwhile for employees, even in a recessionary environment.

Socio-ecological restructuring is, however, a society-wide task that must be addressed politically beyond the company level. Political pressure is essential here — pressure that IG Metall brought to the streets during a nationwide day of action on 15 March 2025, with large demonstrations in five cities involving approximately 81,000 participants. Instead of relaxing the “debt brake” solely for rearmament spending, policymakers must invest in securing good jobs, cushioning the social impact of structural change, and fostering an ecologically minded production that prioritizes buses and trains over ever more cars and e-mobility over combustion engines. The €500‑billion “Special Infrastructure Fund” could open up new opportunities for a more proactive form of trade union engagement. This would require a more democratic approach, both in the workplace and across the broader economy. Wherever public funds are deployed, democratic participation can only be achieved by negotiating for concessions — including, among other things, giving the workforce and society as a whole a greater say in decision-making processes.

Countering the Right in the Workplace and in Society

In the context of a global shift to the right, the rise of the AfD poses major challenges for German trade unions, which have a strong historical commitment to anti-fascism. In the workplace, this shift is resulting in culturalist divisions that stand in the way of uniting the workforce along class lines. In society as a whole, it reinforces a racism that threatens migrant workers both with and without a German passport. Although the AfD’s rearmament and tax‑cut programme is explicitly hostile to trade unions and employees, it is gaining traction in workplaces — especially in the industrial sector.

An ecological restructuring borne at the expense of employees will only further strengthen the AfD, and a failure to transform industry could even pave its way to the chancellorship. Instead, what is needed is a fighting workforce that brings its production expertise and strike power to the fore – and an awareness that this struggle involves society as a whole.

Against Austerity

The cuts to the public sector, partly driven by the underfunding of municipalities and federal states, are also a challenge that concerns us all. In Berlin, 3 billion euros are currently earmarked for cuts, primarily in the social and cultural sectors. Public sector trade unions and numerous initiatives showed resistance to these measures as early as late 2024.

The current round of collective bargaining in the public service sector could well result in the first major confrontation with a government potentially led by Friedrich Merz (CDU).  Even after three rounds of negotiations accompanied by warning strikes and demonstrations, public employer representatives have shown little willingness to negotiate. They declared the negotiations had failed and called for arbitration. Given the arbitrator they have nominated, Roland Koch (CDU) — the former Hesse Minister-President responsible for his state’s evasion of collective bargaining agreements during his tenure — trade unions cannot expect a favourable outcome

The strike conferences follow a specific approach: they address various facets of conflict- and participation-oriented trade union work, tying it in with current disputes. Practice takes centre stage.

Yet a substantial pay rise for the over 2.6 million public sector employees is urgently needed, as due to inflation, real wages, despite the relatively high increases that resulted from the 2023 agreement, remain at 2017 levels. This matters to the general public too, who rely on well-staffed kindergartens, citizen services, and functioning local transport. It is hard to find applicants for 500,000 unfilled positions if the jobs are poorly paid. Because of the employers’ hard stance, ver.di (the United Services Trade Union) may be forced into a major labour dispute. Preparations for the worst-case scenario have begun with the publication of a “letter of strength“ from ver.di and discussions in companies and workplaces.

Further social cuts are likely in light of the CDU’s proposed “Agenda 2030”, which primarily envisages tax cuts for high-income earners. Further repressive measures and cuts to Bürgergeld (citizen’s benefits) have already been announced. The scope for redistribution is also sharply constrained by massive rearmament plans, even if such spending is now exempt from the debt brake. There is a real concern that, despite the Infrastructure Special Fund, the austerity course will be maintained when it comes to investments relating to social‑ecological restructuring as well as social spending. It is essential that we discuss the role of trade unions in the current Zeitenwende (historic turning point) and their stance on rearmament.

Organizing Trade Union Resistance

Both in terms of collective bargaining and on the political stage, trade unions will be urgently needed in the the coming years conflicts concerning distribution. When the CDU uses language that harks back to the Schröder/Fischer government’s “Agenda 2010” from over 20 years ago, caution is warranted.  Back then, trade union resistance came late and with hesitation. The massive pressure on the unemployed and the expansion of precarious employment and low wages continue to weaken the unions to this day.  Since 2013, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s nationwide strike conferences have grown — with 1,550 participants in Bochum (2023) — into arguably Germany’s largest left-wing trade union gatherings in decades. These conferences have provided an opportunity to analyse the current situation collectively, foster cross-union dialogue, and launch societal alliances and protest actions.

Political campaigns in recent years have generated a wide range of ideas. For instance, the hospital-based movement exerted political pressure by setting ultimatums before state elections. Workers managed to win public support by engaging in intensive press work, reporting on their working conditions, and targeting their respective communities, and were thus able to achieve success. They used innovative organizing methods to engage large sections of the workforce. Directly including elected team delegates in collective bargaining efforts boosted the negotiating commission’s clout. Thanks to these campaign tactics and the close connection with the public, the hospital-based movement was able to secure relief and more staffing in many places.

Practical Analysis and Solidary Renewal

With their focus on trade union renewal, the strike conferences follow a specific approach: they address various facets of conflict- and participation-oriented trade union work, tying it in with current disputes. Practice takes centre stage. Drawing on experiential reports from trade union work and discussions with participants, trade unions forge strategies and forms of action through reflection and discussion. These strategies can either be applied as they are across other sectors and contexts or further developed and adapted. This process is enriched through the participation of academics researching trade unions, who bring analytical insight and themselves gain from practitioner dialogue and field access for further study.

The networking aspect of the strike conferences is also key: colleagues from individual sectors exchange ideas across regions, discuss concrete challenges, and can then later draw on newly forged contacts. The conferences thus offer trade union activists a space for networking and dialogue — as well as actionable ideas for addressing the challenges they encounter in their daily work. The focus on practical topics also enables the conferences to reach trade union members in the limited time that they have.

A key to the conferences’ success is that they do not take ideological and programmatic issues as their starting point. Rather, the daily challenges of trade union work and a widely shared desire for renewal, aimed at strengthening organizing power, takes centre stage. The focus is on how self-imposed goals can be realized. This makes the Streikkonferenzen accessible beyond traditional left-wing trade union circles, fostering a cross-union and cross-generational impact. Workers from different trade unions and age groups can engage in dialogue. Crucially, critical positions are voiced not in a sectarian or reactionary way, but in a spirit of solidarity and with the aim of bolstering the trade union movement. Over time, this approach has helped a trade union exploration and renewal movement to emerge around the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung — with the Streikkonferenz the central platform for exchange and networking in this regard.

The Sixth Trade Union Renewal Conference in Berlin

From 2 to 4 May 2025, the sixth Streikkonferenz will take place in Berlin under the title “Building Power against Hostile Headwinds”. The opening will take place at the Audimax of the Technische Universität Berlin (TU) on the evening of 2 May. Judging by the number of registrations so far, this year’s turnout is likely to be even larger than it was two years ago in Bochum.

To deprive right-wing ideology of its breeding ground, fundamental political and solidarity-based alternatives are needed from parties, movements, and not least from the trade unions.

Co-organizers include numerous trade union branches from Berlin and eastern Germany — such as ver.di’s Berlin state district delegation, IG Metall’s Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony district delegation, Berlin delegations of the Railway and Transport Union (EVG), the Education and Science Union (GEW), and IG BAU, as well as Berlin and eastern German branches of the Food, Beverages, and Catering Union (NGG). In addition, trade union‑affiliated institutions such as the Kooperationsstelle Wissenschaft und Arbeitswelt (KOOP, Co‑operation Centre for Science and Work) of the TU Berlin and the education network “Arbeit und Leben” are also involved.

From Bochum to Berlin: Resistance is Growing

The Streikkonferenz of 2023, held in Bochum under the title Gemeinsam in die Offensive (Together on the Offensive) was a reflection of the militant and quite successful collective bargaining rounds of the post-inflation years. Back then, many unions dared to take up their members’ demands and press for high wage increases. In these disputes, trade unions showed their fighting capabilities. There were massive strikes at the post office, in the public sector, in the confectionery industry, and beyond, with many innovations tested. Unions also saw significant membership gains — for ver.di, 2023 marked the best recruitment year since its 2001 founding.

Today, the mood has shifted, and the headwind is likely to blow harshly in unions’ faces under a government that will likely be led by Friedrich Merz (CDU). This is why disputes over the transformation of industry and resistance to austerity policies are the main topics of the conference.  Furthermore, it appears that a massive right‑wing storm is gathering, evidenced in events from the electoral successes of the AfD to Trump occupying the White House. Trade union responses to the rightward shift are thus another of the conference’s focal points.

Participatory and Proactive Trade Union Work against the Right

The sixth Streikkonferenz will open with a panel discussion on the rightward shift in workplaces and society. Workers from various unions will share perspectives on various causes for the current situation and strategies for resistance.

The workplace shift to the right will also tackled in several working groups — such as countering right-wing lists like “Zentrum Automobil” in works council elections, and strategies for handling right-wing attitudes and racist divisions in the workplace and sometimes within the union itself.

Because the conference is about renewal, we also intend to look at the major protests against the AfD and the rightward shift that has also been backed by trade unions, as well as inspiring campaigns that have occurred in companies. Notably, trade unionists were pivotal in Bündnis Widersetzen (Resistance Alliance), using civil disobedience to obstruct the AfD party conference in Riesa in January 2025. Meanwhile, workers at Zeiss in Jena took a stand against the AfD’s possible participation in government in Thuringia with actions at the workplace.

We also wish to explore whether there is a correlation between proactive trade union work and employees’ political attitudes. A study by the Otto‑Brenner‑Stiftung, which will be presented at the conference, suggests that workplace participation experiences foster democratic attitudes.

Another result of this study is that more co-determination in workplaces tends to weaken right-wing influence among staff. There’s reason to believe that people who fight together and see they can effect change are less prone to fall for the deeply worker-hostile AfD. Participation-oriented, proactive trade union work seems to go a long way towards immunizing people against right-wing attitudes.

A clear stance against the right is essential. To deprive right-wing ideology of its breeding ground, fundamental political and solidarity-based alternatives are needed from parties, movements, and not least from the trade unions. By founding the “Verein zur Erhaltung Demokratie” (Association for the Preservation of Democracy), IG Metall has laid a the groundwork for a bringing together of anti-fascist research, trade union expertise, and workplace engagement.

International Moments of Renewal

A new feature of this year’s strike conference is a series of events on international topics. We have invited members from global trade union federations, trade union activists from other countries, team members from the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s “Organizing for Power” programme, and Ukrainian workers who will report on trade union work under wartime conditions. We are particularly looking forward to the contribution of a United Auto Workers (UAW) representative.

The UAW in the US demonstrates the momentum trade union renewal can generate.  An industrial union previously characterized by corruption and cronyism was taken over and successfully rebuilt by a proactive movement with a focus on participation and confrontation. In 2023, the UAW secured wage increases of around 30 percent at the three major US car manufacturers (GM, Stellantis, Ford) through so‑called “stand‑up strikes”. It negotiated simultaneously with the three companies and, whenever negotiations stalled, additional plants were called to strike. With the strategic deployment of massive organizing resources, all major car manufacturers — including their plants in the union-hostile US South and in Germany — are to be systematically mobilized to strike by 2028. It has already achieved initial success at the Volkswagen plant in Alabama.

We hope the conference will once again serve as a platform for exchange and networking aimed at trade union renewal — and offer a compelling outlook on the challenges posed by the new political landscape.

In this, the UAW is following a clear plan: all its collective agreements are being synchronized to expire on 30 April 2028, so that from 1 May of the same year a near-generalized, strike‑like confrontation can begin through a process of reduced working hours. The UAW is by no means preparing for this fight all by itself — rather, it is trying to win over other unions so that they also let their collective bargaining agreements expire on 1 May 2028 in their respective sectors, thereby mobilizing worker power for a reduction in working hours on a broad front. Furthermore, the UAW wants to win over other key players, such as the climate movement, so that they may jointly lead this dispute as a struggle for society as a whole. We believe that the UAW’s strategic and long-term approach can also provide a source of inspiration for German trade unionists.

However, international dialogue can also be helpful in terms of organizing and outreach — especially with respect to union‑hostile companies such as Amazon or Tesla. We are offering practical seminars and panels on the methods detailed in the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s worldwide Organizing for Power programme, which has seen almost 50,000 trade unionists and activists from more than 110 countries participate since 2019. Since trade union resistance must be at least as globalized as capital evidently already is, we have invited representatives from international union federations to share their experiences of transnational organizing and trade union work. We hope the conference will thus also act as a forum for international exchange and networking.

Departures and New Beginnings

Although the right-wing headwind may be fierce, there are many moments of renewal and reawakening in the trade union struggle worth noting. We intend to make these visible at the Streikkonferenz and give full-time and voluntary workers the opportunity to speak about their experiences. In addition to the main themes of the rightward shift, economic transformation, and austerity, the conference programme offers a broad range of topics that seek to reflect the multifaceted nature  trade union work focused on renewal — from strategic organizing and rebuilding shop steward structures to opening up new perspectives on collective bargaining and new strike forms, there will be space for all aspects of power-building to be discussed.

We want to take a close look at the issue of participation, including the increased involvement of employees in collective bargaining over recent years. In this vein, Ver.di has collected testimonials from team delegates in hospitals, collective bargaining ambassadors in the public sector, and employees at Lufthansa or BVG in order to get a sense of their perspective. New approaches such as the targeted use of production power in low‑wage areas or the fight against outsourcing will also be addressed. We will discuss issues such as the reduction of working hours, feminist trade union work, trade union renewal in eastern Germany, historical struggles, and peace policy. As ever, we will continue to raise the possibility of forging social alliances within the context of collective bargaining struggles, as exemplified by the alliance between ver.di and the climate movement in the recent bargaining round for local transport. We want to draw inspiration from breakthroughs such as those achieved by the TVStud movement of student employees at universities. Moreover, we will also engage with “tough issues” such as trade union work at Amazon or Tesla and strategies against union busting without losing sight of what has been learnt on construction sites, in the food industry, or in retail.

The conference’s offerings will also be provided via a wide variety of formats — from thematic seminars and practical workshops to working groups and networking sessions. Various organizing approaches will not only be discussed in theory, but also practised. To this end, we have invited team members from the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s Organizing for Power international programme to provide an overview of the organizing methods developed by Jane McAlevey.

We hope the conference will once again serve as a platform for exchange and networking aimed at trade union renewal — and offer a compelling outlook on the challenges posed by the new political landscape. Because in the face of recession, rearmament, and further tax breaks for capital, it seems all the more important to analyse successful experiences, and all the more necessary to continue the efforts for renewal: so that trade union resistance can be built and expanded despite the headwind and the Zeitenwende we find ourselves in.

Fanny Zeise and Florian Wilde are trade union policy advisers at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and have been organizing the strike conferences since 2013.

This article is an expanded and updated version of a piece published in the journal Sozialismus3/2025. Translated by Diego Otero and Ryan Eyers for Gegensatz Translation Collective.

Veröffentlicht: https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/53261