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Comment by cat199 | Hacker News Reader

> This is absolutely why German unions are awesome

curious: What about this is specific to German unions?

In all my travels I've never seen quite a union as German unions. They have a seat at the board and are involved with decisions the board makes. This creates a drastically less antagonistic relationship between capital and labor.

Yes, and even in smaller org's (above 20) the employees are able to setup an employee council that helps management steer the company.

It's not something that can be rejected by management.

For someone from North America it can be a challenge to accept but does work quite well once you get over it.

Codetermination: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codetermination_in_Germany

1) Germany did not have a minimum wage until recently. They just enacted a minimum wage in 2015. Minimum wage erodes the strength and bargaining power of trade unions. Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Sweden do not have a minimum wage but have strong trade unions.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28140594

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080515/5-deve...

2) They have strong apprenticeship programs and vocational training.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprenticeship#Germany

3) Mittelstand - long-term, focused, and sustainable business culture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelstand

http://theconversation.com/the-secret-behind-germanys-thrivi...

>Minimum wage erodes the strength and bargaining power of trade unions.

Trade unions are almost always in favor of minimum wage and increases. E.g.

http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/Jobs-and-Economy/Wages-and-Inco...

Why Unions Exempt Themselves from Hard-Fought Minimum Wage Hikes

https://economics21.org/html/why-unions-exempt-themselves-ha...

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