Role of Trade Unions in a Market Economy

The relationship of the West German trade unions to their political and, in particular, to their economic environment has been difficult and obscure for a long time. To be sure, the workers’ and employees’ unions have behaved pragmatically, especially over wage policy. The fundamental questions, however, of how unions should adapt to the economic and political order of the Federal Republic of Germany in the second half of this century, of the role they should aspire to and of the part they should play in shaping the economic system, have so far remained unanswered. This is in spite of the fact that, through their wage policies, unions exert a profound influence on the economic system. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.