The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1913. TRADE UNIONISM IN GERMANY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 47, 25 October 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1913. TRADE UNIONISM IN GERMANY.

The animal report of the General Com- 1 Imittee oi the Trade Unions of Ger-I many gives an interesting review of the trade union movement in that country. In 1891, tlie first year after; tlie fall of the Socialist Laws, the trade! union movement of Germany only counted 277,059 members, fn the year 1912 tlie aggregate membership amounted to 2,530,390, nearly Ten! limes as many as twenty years ago.] At the head of the trade unions stands the Union of Metal Workers, with a membership of 535 / ,905; then follow the huilding trades with 335,500, the' transport workers with 215,9 IS, wood workers with 192,015, textile workers with 140,217, miners with 117.875 members, and s:> on. Tlie distinguishing feature of the German trade' unions is their great concentration according lo industry in contradistinction; to craft J While in Britain the 3,000,-1 nun worker- who were organised in trade unions in 1911 were split up in-' to 1.1 GS separate organisations, in

Germany the 2,320,986 organised workera in that year were united in ol large unions. During 1912 the smiths joined the Metal Workers' Union, the plasterers joined the Building Trades, and the cigarette sorters and "label slickers" joined the Tobacco Workers, with the result thai the number of trade unions was reduced to fortyeight. And all these large organisations are federated in the Central Committee, which is an important lmdv, with considerable powers of control and management, and which issues an excellent weekly organ, manages the biennial congress, publishes'reports and undertakes any simi-i lar function. With regard to tne finances of the forty-eight trade unions, i their aggregate income during the year,amounted to over £4,000,000, or 31s «)d per head; their expenditure exceeded £3,000,000, or 24s 2d per head; and the accumulated funds amounted to an aggregate of £4,400,000, or nearly 32s per head. These

figures are stated to compare quitefavorably with the corresponding figures of British trade unionism. An! interesting feature of German trade; unionism is the growing participation; of women in the movement. In 1912; the number of women belonging to trade unions amounted to 216,462 and, formed 8.6 per cent, of the total membership. This, too, considering the long traditions of the German Hausfrau, compares unfavorably with the conditions in Great Britain, where the number of females belonging to trade union organisations was at the end of 1911 only 272,858. Altogether tiie number of workers organised in trade unions was over three millions in 1912, and was about equal to the aggregate membership of British trade unions at the end of 1911.