Concerted Action (Economy)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The concerted action describes a process of coordinating interests between different economic policy actors in order to achieve a better overall result in the medium or long term while ignoring diverging short-term or subordinate objectives.

Social democratic economic policy after 1967

With the fall of Ludwig Erhard , economic liberalism in the Federal Republic was initially discredited and politics was temporarily more oriented towards Keynesian ideas that had long been practiced in the United States and other countries. This was first expressed in the attempt to global control of aggregate demand. In Germany, such ideas of the SPD flowed into the Stability and Growth Act passed in May 1967 , according to which the federal and state governments “have to observe the requirements of macroeconomic equilibrium in their economic and financial policy measures” (§ 1) and the federal government in the “case the endangerment of one of the goals of § 1 [...] provides orientation data for a simultaneous coordinated behavior (concerted action) of the local authorities , unions and employers' associations to achieve the goals of § 1 ”(§ 3). Contrary to Keynesian logic, however, it left the Bundesbank's autonomy of action completely untouched.

Should instead a vote ( consultation ) of macroeconomic -related behavior government, caused by successive rounds of talks authorities, trade unions and the Bundesbank between. The aim was to achieve a high level of employment, price stability and adequate economic growth. Economics Minister Karl Schiller spoke of the “table of social reason”. On February 14, 1967 , a corresponding informal round of talks met for the first time.

Despite some initial success, the Concerted Action did not consolidate into a permanent corporatist institution. For the employers' associations and the Bundesbank it remained a non-binding discussion forum in which the central associations exchanged their assessments of the overall economic situation. For the unions, with their rather decentralized structure of individual unions and their comparatively low level of organization in the Federal Republic of Germany, collective bargaining autonomy was at stake. They also feared a restriction of their room for maneuver to represent the economic interests of their members. In the first few years the trade unions felt compelled to restrain wages and the Bundesbank returned to a less restrictive monetary policy . However, after the dissatisfaction of the employees had manifested itself in two waves of wildcat strikes (September 1969 and 1973), the concerted action lost its importance in the 1970s and ended entirely in 1977/78. Because of a constitutional complaint filed by several employers' associations against the Codetermination Act of 1976, the trade unions initially temporarily suspended their participation in 1977; At the DGB Congress in 1978, the provisional rejection became a definitive one.

In the healthcare system

The concerted action in health care (beginning in 1977) aimed at cost containment in health care. Representatives from the state and from the health sector (pharmaceutical companies, medical associations, hospitals, health insurance companies, but not the patients) sat down at a table under the direction of the Federal Minister of Health in order to contain the explosion in health care costs.

Since the reform of the health care system in 1992, the importance of the concerted action in the health care system has decreased significantly; with the health care reform of 2003 it was abolished.

Alliance for Work

After the failure of the concerted action at the end of the 1970s, an attempt was made under the red-green coalition in 1999 to revive the corporatist coordination between the state, employers' associations and trade unions under the name "Alliance for Work", but this did not succeed and in February / March 2003 was declared a final failure.

Alliance Future of Industry / Network Future of Industry

In November 2014, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Sigmar Gabriel , the President of the Federation of German Industries, Ullrich Grillo and the then 1st Chairman of the Metalworkers Union called for the formation of an alliance for the future of industry. On March 3, 2015, nine industrial associations, three trade unions and the DGB as well as the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs formed the “Future of Industry” alliance. This “Future of Industry” alliance consists of a total of 15 partners. In addition to the three initiators, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), the Federal Association of German Industry e. V. (BDI) and the metal industry union (IG Metall) these are the Association of the Chemical Industry (VCI), the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), the Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineering (VDMA), the Central Association of the Electrical and Electronics Industry ( ZVEI), the Main Association of the German Construction Industry (HDB), the Federal Association of German Employers 'Associations (BDA), Gesamtmetall, the Federal Chemical Employers' Association (BAVC) and, on the trade union side, the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB), the Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union (IG BCE) , the industrial union building-agrar-environment (IG BAU) and the union food-enjoyment-restaurants (NGG).

The aim of this joint, concerted action is to meet the triad of politics, business associations and trade unions, concrete agreements and priority measures in order to strengthen the industrial competitiveness in Germany. The alliance partners set out goals and tasks in a joint declaration. Initially, five working groups are to develop recommendations for action on the core issues of industrial policy. When the alliance was founded, it was also agreed to develop an annually updated work program in the future. At the second meeting of the alliance on October 13, 2015, the work program 2015–2016 for the alliance and network was approved. It is entitled: "For a modern and sustainable industrial policy in Germany".

The industrial unions and industrial associations involved in the “Future of Industry” alliance decided to form a joint “Future of Industry” network that will coordinate the work of the alliance, implement its resolutions and develop suggestions for the further work of the alliance. The network was founded as an association on October 1st, 2015.

literature

  • Hermann Adam: The concerted action in the Federal Republic (= WSI study on economic and social research , volume 21). Bund, Cologne 1972.
  • Andrea Rehling: Conflict strategy and search for consensus in times of crisis. From the Central Working Group to Concerted Action . Nomos, Baden-Baden 2011.
  • Andrea Rehling: The concerted action in the field of tension of the 1970s: the birth of the “Model Germany” and the end of modern corporatism . In: Knut Andresen u. a. (Ed.): After the structural break? Change in industrial relations and working world (s) since the 1970s . Dietz, Bonn 2011, pp. 65–86.
  • Michael Ruck: The Republic of Round Tables: Concerted Actions, Alliances and Consensus Rounds . In: André Kaiser, Thomas Zittel (Ed.): Theory of democracy and the development of democracy. Festschrift for Peter Graf Kielmansegg . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-531-14118-X , pp. 333–356.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz W. Scharpf : Social Democratic Crisis Policy in Europe. 2nd Edition. Campus, 1987, ISBN 3-593-33791-6 , pp. 153 ff.
  2. ^ Klaus Schubert, Martina Klein: Das Politiklexikon. 4th, updated Edition. Dietz, Bonn 2006.
  3. ↑ Law to promote the stability and growth of the economy .
  4. ↑ Walther Müller-Jentsch: Structural change in industrial relationships . VS, Wiesbaden 2007, p. 70.
  5. ↑ Thilo Fehmel: Conflicts about the conflict framework . The control of collective bargaining autonomy , 1st edition 2010, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden, ISBN 978-3-531-17227-9 , p. 201.
  6. ↑ spiegel.de, accessed on February 2, 2011.