Le strategie di rilancio organizzativo in Germania

Since some years now, the organizing model of American unions has been looked at as a promise for trade union renewal. However, this strategic orientation has been considered adequate just for those industrial relations systems in which trade unions can rely on scarce institutional supports and are strongly dependent on their membership base for exercising influence. Thus, the reception of the organizing model in Germany has been looked at with surprise. Why would strongly institutionalised German unions look at their American counterparts for inspiration? This paper argues that the answer to this question has to be searched for in the transformation of the German industrial relations system and in the growing awareness among unions of the importance of autonomous power resources in an increasingly hostile environment. Through the analysis of the organizing debate and the translation of this model into the praxis of two German trade unions, we will argue that these changes have made increasingly difficult for unions to exercise influence through the traditional channels and fostered a strategic reorientation.

Da qualche anno l’organizing model dei sindacati americani è visto anche in Germania, come un modello da imitare. Attraverso un’analisi del dibattito e della traduzione pratica del modello organizing in due organizzazioni sindacali tedesche, l’articolo sostiene che le trasformazioni del sistema di relazioni industriali tedesco e la consapevolezza maturata dalle organizzazioni sindacali della necessità, in un contesto sempre più ostile di rafforzare le proprie risorse autonome di potere, hanno spinto i sindacati tedeschi verso un rinnovamento strategico.