Trappmann, V. orcid.org/0000-0002-7945-4536, Eversberg, D. and Schulz, F. (2025) German Trade Unions and Decarbonisation: A Transition to Green Growth, A‐Growth or Degrowth? Industrial Relations Journal. ISSN 0019-8692
Abstract
While the need for a transformation to tackle climate change is no longer contested, competing visions about the future have taken the front seat in political debates. Previous research on stakeholders in the European Parliament and the German Bundestag identified opposing views relating to green growth, degrowth and post-growth. In relation to trade unions, these have recently been discussed conceptually to some extent, but empirical work on the topic has hitherto been absent. Drawing on 25 semi-structured interviews with representatives of Germany's DGB trade unions, we find that, despite their strong support for a green growth narrative and official opposition to post-growth thought, the majority of interviewees sketched out concrete visions for a just future that in some respects aligns with post- or a-growth positions. In line with post-growth discourses, trade union officials described an economy that allows for ‘a good life’ and ‘good work’, based on principles of co-determination, secure and well-paid jobs ensured by collective bargaining, income, wealth and inheritance tax reform and a stronger, more active role of the state. Findings suggest that despite German labour unions’ shared opposition to the term post-growth or degrowth, there is significant overlap in terms of concrete goals and policy proposals.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Work and Employment Relation Division (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 16 May 2025 12:19 |
Last Modified: | 16 May 2025 12:19 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/irj.12467 |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:226668 |