14th British-German Trade Union Forum

The annual conference aims at strengthening the dialogue between German and British trade unions and to foster mutual understanding. This year’s forum discussed how the “deregulation-dogma” pursued by the European Commission could be tackled. The participants exchanged their national and European experiences. Further topics of discussion were the upcoming EU-referendum in the UK and the trade union’s positions on TTIP.

The British trade unions would like to see a strengthening of social Europe and favour the continued membership of the UK in the European Union. They are, however, concerned that a further watering-down of social and worker’s rights will be part of David Cameron’s re-negotiation package, which would make it hard for the unions to support such deal.

The discussion around TTIP and its fierce criticism has been going on within the German unions for quite a while and has recently grown stronger within the British trade unions. The colleagues discussed conditions for a more positive stance towards the agreement and how the trade unions could communicate their concerns more effectively.