No three-way merger of Comedia, Geko and Vpod: too few synergies
The merger of the media union Comedia, the communications union Geko and the Association of Public Service Employees Vpod is not to be pursued further. At its meeting on Friday, March 13, the project management decided to submit a proposal to the responsible decision-making bodies of the three unions to discontinue the merger project.
The merger of the media union Comedia, the communications union Geko and the Association of Public Service Employees Vpod is not to be pursued further. At its meeting on Friday, March 13, the project management decided to submit a proposal to the responsible decision-making bodies of the three unions to discontinue the merger project.
Comedia, Geko and Vpod launched the idea of a merger in their organizations with a project outline at the end of February 2008. The preliminary examination that has since been carried out has now revealed that the structures and needs of the three trade unions, with a total of around 85,000 members, are too different.
as the three unions announced in a communiqué.
Geko (postal services, telecommunications) and Comedia (graphic arts industry, press and electronic media, book trade) are primarily active in sectors with nationally active companies or nationally or supra-regionally oriented collective employment agreements. They therefore require an organization geared towards centralized movement and negotiation management, which is primarily oriented towards sectors. The trade union Vpod (public services, health, social and education services), on the other hand, mainly organizes the staff of regional or local employers who are active across sectors, which requires different organizational principles in terms of movement and negotiation management. Based on these facts, both the project committee and the relevant project management came to the conclusion that the proposed three-way merger would not achieve the necessary and desired synergies to strengthen the movement, the press release continues.
The relevant committees of the three unions will now make a final decision on the application. Where there are points of contact and intersection, the three unions want to continue and intensify cooperation in trade union action and movement on a case-by-case basis. The managements of Geko and Comedia have also agreed to further examine the merger of their organizations and to submit the option of a two-way merger to their management bodies.
Comedia, Geko and Vpod launched the idea of a merger in their organizations with a project outline at the end of February 2008. The preliminary examination that has since been carried out has now revealed that the structures and needs of the three trade unions, with a total of around 85,000 members, are too different.
as the three unions announced in a communiqué.
Geko (postal services, telecommunications) and Comedia (graphic arts industry, press and electronic media, book trade) are primarily active in sectors with nationally active companies or nationally or supra-regionally oriented collective employment agreements. They therefore require an organization geared towards centralized movement and negotiation management, which is primarily oriented towards sectors. The trade union Vpod (public services, health, social and education services), on the other hand, mainly organizes the staff of regional or local employers who are active across sectors, which requires different organizational principles in terms of movement and negotiation management. Based on these facts, both the project committee and the relevant project management came to the conclusion that the proposed three-way merger would not achieve the necessary and desired synergies to strengthen the movement, the press release continues.
The relevant committees of the three unions will now make a final decision on the application. Where there are points of contact and intersection, the three unions want to continue and intensify cooperation in trade union action and movement on a case-by-case basis. The managements of Geko and Comedia have also agreed to further examine the merger of their organizations and to submit the option of a two-way merger to their management bodies.
