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The history of early unions in Germany is btw quite interesting, especially in Weimar and before WW I, if I'm not mistaken. It is not so long ago that workers h
by onli 13y ago
The history of early unions in Germany is btw quite interesting, especially in Weimar and before WW I, if I'm not mistaken. It is not so long ago that workers had to seriously strike to achieve any improvements of unimaginable horrible work conditions. And it is not so long ago that the german army was used to end those strikes using lethal force.
Especially the Ruhrgebiet has quite some stories of that regard. It shines an interesting light on the history of the german social democrats and their relationship to the communist party, given both their interest in the approval of the workers, and is a - mildly put - embarrassing comparison to the state of the modern SPD and its political vision (its Gestaltungswille).
Might be a bit OT for non-germans, but most countries - apart from the USA, afaik - should have a similar part of their history.
- yk 13y agoActually the US had a rather strong worker movement, it just played out quite differently than in Europe. So in the US the unions did quite often manage to get a corporate pension plan, while the European ones did get a government pensions. Similar with health care and many work place regulations.
- mjn 13y agoThe U.S. labor movement did used to be stronger than it is now, but it was never really that strong. At the peak in the 1950s, about 35% of workers worked in unionized workplaces. That's a very low figure for Europe, where typically 70%+ of workers work in unionized workplaces (here in Denmark it is 80-90%).