Labour unions and right-wing populism in Germany

Abstract

10 | International Union Rights | 27/1-27/2 FOCUS | RIGHT-WING POPULISM, TRADE UNIONS, AND FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS Labour unions and right-wing populism in Germany The first step in dealing with right-wing populism in the world of work is to acknowledge that even workers are not immune to right-wing social populist demagogy. Workers also adopt right-wing thinking and vote for right-wing parties in elections. In Germany, 15 percent of labour union members voted for Alternative für Deutschland (AfD, English: Alternative for Germany) in the federal elections (2017), while in the eastern German states the figure was 22 percent. Right-wing parties are trying to get influence in all parts of society, and accordingly are also focusing on the world of work. In doing so, they are attacking labour union work: they accuse the unions of cooperating too closely with employers at the expense of workers. The increase in votes and power of right-wing parties is a problem for labour unions. However, if other associations, organisations, companies and parties had taken the same consistent stance and commitment against right-wing extremism as the labour unions, right-wing extremism would not have disappeared, but it would certainly not have been as strong. Shop stewards, works councils and labour unions make a decisive contribution to balancing interests in companies and keeping a culture of respect and recognition alive. The labour union confrontation with right-wing extremism is a conflict of interpretation and meaning, and it is a communicative confrontation how to reach people and persuasiveness are at stake. Social Populist Ideology of the AfD Within the AfD, it is above all the openly völkisch (fascist) wing around Björn Höcke that is pushing a social-populist demagogy to attract workers for the AfD. Real social grievances are being addressed and workers should believe that ‘social patriotism’ (Björn Höcke) from the right might help against social inequality. The originally dominant ‘neo (national) liberal’ orientation of AfD is thus called into question by an openly nationalist tendency within the party. In the course of this reorientation, the social question has become more important within AfD in recent years. Other ‘new-right’ actors around the ethnicauthoritarian network One Percent for Our Country are also trying to gain a foothold at the company level. In the works council elections in 2018, they tried to create a social basis in the companies by winning seats on works council committees. Even though this campaign was only modestly successful, as expected, the number of extreme right-wing works councils increased. In almost all state elections in recent years and in the 2017 federal elections, AfD was able to achieve above-average electoral success among labour union members and especially among workers. The party wants to consolidate and expand this success in cooperation with other extreme right actors presenting themselves as ‘advocates of the workers and the socially weak’. The agitation is carried out with right-wing social-populist demagogy and national ‘anti-capitalism’ directed against labour unions, capital and globalisation. The labour unions of the DGB are the central opponents. Although the successes of the extreme right so far have remained very manageable, the right-wing works councils and the development of a specific right-wing approach to workers are a new challenge for the DGB and its affiliated unions. The AfD: From neo (national) liberal welfare cuts to national social policy? The AfD began as a party with a neo (national) liberal core in the spirit of German ordo-liberalism in terms of economic and social policy. Its implementation would have called into question central achievements of the labour movement, would have sharpened essential areas of the welfare state and would have considerably worsened the initial situation of dependent employees in the struggle between capital and labour over the distribution of produced values. However, the changes in the 2017 federal election platform compared to 2016 already showed the party’s search for a combination of neo(national)liberal / ordoliberal welfare state cuts with the social-populist support necessary for parts of its electorate. In particular, the inner-party current of the openly völkisch-nationalist wing tends towards...