In the post-war years, in response to the country’s Nazi past, the legislator gave the public authorities a rather limited role in industrial relations. The 1949 TVG guarantees trade unions, employer organisations and single employers autonomy in collective bargaining. In the case of a juridical dispute, the labour courts decide on the right of an organisation to conclude a collective agreement and on the validity of a collective agreement. The social partners may ask the labour minister to extend an agreement.

The Minimum Wage Act (Mindestlohngesetz, MiLoG) introduced the statutory minimum wage, which came into effect at the beginning of 2015. MiLoG also sets out that the labour minister appoints the chair of the Minimum Wage Commission from among peak-level social partner organisations. The Minimum Wage Commission recommends the level of the statutory minimum wage to the labour minister and the federal government takes the final decision on the statutory minimum wage adjustments. In 2022, the federal government suspended this procedure for the first time since its introduction in 2015 and set the statutory minimum wage at €12 per hour without any such recommendation from the Minimum Wage Commission.

The labour inspectorates in the 16 federal states (Länder) monitor occupational health and safety, while the Customs Service – a unit of the Federal Ministry of Finance – monitors compliance with the statutory minimum wage (MiLoG), the Posted Workers Act (Arbeitnehmerentsendegesetz, ArbEntG), the Temporary Agency Work Act (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz) and the Act Against Undeclared Work (Schwarzarbeitsbekämpfungsgesetz).

The concept of organisational representativeness is not covered in the German system. The alternative concept used in Germany is collective bargaining capacity (Tariffähigkeit). This concept has its basis in the GG (freedom of coalition) and the TVG and is governed by the rulings of the Federal Labour Court. Trade unions and employer organisations have the right to engage in collective bargaining if collective bargaining is designated as a statutory task (Article 2 of the TVG). Based on a ruling by the Federal Labour Court, the main indicators of collective bargaining capacity are organisational independence (of the opposite party and third parties), internal democracy and the organisational capacity (soziale Mächtigkeit) both to get the opposite party to join the bargaining table (for example through strikes) and to enforce the implementation of collective bargaining outcomes.

All employees in Germany have the right to join a trade union. However, some groups of employees are excluded from trade union representation for the following reasons.

• The collective bargaining partners determine the highest wage level they want to cover in collective bargaining. Employees earning more than the threshold of the agreed wage scale (Ni Angestellte) are not covered by the collective agreements.

• Self-employed workers are not covered by labour law and trade unions do not represent them in collective bargaining. However, self-employed workers can still be trade union members. The United Services Trade Union (Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, ver.di) organises and consults self-employed workers, particularly those working in the media and in the transport sector. The metalworkers’ union IG Metall has started organising digital platform workers.

• Trade unions may represent the interests of civil servants and judges before public authorities, but they cannot engage in collective bargaining on their behalf.

• Trade unions may not represent the interests of workers covered by Catholic Church law. This also holds for workers under Protestant Church law, although some church worker organisations have opted to be represented by ver.di in collective bargaining.

OECD figures indicate a slow decrease in union density and a tendency towards organisational fragmentation. Membership of the three-trade union peak-level organisations is slowly declining. Public service worker unions and occupational unions organised around sectoral professions have slightly increased their membership in recent years.