Smallest trade union seeks to merge with larger organisation

In May 2008, the highest governing body of the Arts, Media, Sports and Liberal Professions Union (KMSfB) decided to merge with an ‘appropriate partner union’ in order to secure membership services and a support structure. As a result, talks have been initiated with the Municipal Workers’ Union and, in particular, the Union of Public Employees. The plan to merge is a response to significant membership losses and financial instability of Austria’s smallest trade union.

On 19 May 2008, the highest governing body (Präsidium) of Austria’s smallest trade union, the Arts, Media, Sports and Liberal Professions Union (Gewerkschaft Kunst, Medien, Sport, freie Berufe, KMSfB), resolved to change its strategic orientation. Instead of seeking a far-reaching ‘cooperation’ with another trade union, as decided in 2006, the trade union now aims to merge with an ‘appropriate partner trade union’. According to the KMSfB leadership, a reformulation of the trade union’s strategic orientation has become inevitable in order to secure an effective union representation on behalf of its members in the future.

Membership domain and structure

KMSfB is a rather heterogeneous trade union, organising different employee groups, such as artists, professional sportspersons and employees in the so-called liberal professions. Due to its diverse representation, the trade union is structured into sections according to occupation and on a regional basis with provincial subunits in each of Austria’s federal states (Länder). In addition, cross-sectional departments have been set up for women, young employees and retirees, as well as a department providing free legal advice and support to union members in labour law issues. Despite this pronounced differentiation in terms of structure, KMSfB organises no more than about 9,600 employees.

In recent years, the trade union’s membership has been declining significantly, not least because of the secession of most of the unionised print journalists in 2001, who left KMSfB for the then Printing, Journalism and Paper Union (Gewerkschaft Druck, Journalismus, Papier, DJP; now GPA-DJP following the merger with the Union of Salaried Employees (Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten, GPA (AT0603029I)). This splitting-off in terms of membership resulted from tensions between the then journalists’ section within KMSfB and the union’s leadership over how to deal with freelance work (see also EIRO study on Industrial relations in the print media sector).

Reasons for planned merger

KMSfB has long refused to give up its organisational autonomy. However, in light of both the continuing membership decline and sharpening financial weakness, the trade union leadership has realised the need to merge the organisation with a stronger union, in order to secure membership services and a support structure. The financial crisis experienced by KMSfB has been exacerbated in the wake of the revelations of the scandal at the Bank for Employment and Commerce (Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft AG, BAWAG) (AT0604019I) and the involvement of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) in such proceedings (AT0605029I). This financial debacle eventually forced ÖGB to sell all of its shares in BAWAG, such that membership dues paid by a sharply declining number of members have remained the only source of revenue for ÖGB and its affiliates (AT0704029I). Therefore, all of the trade unions, particularly the smaller ones, are currently compelled to effectively streamline and economise on their operations, which means – in the case of the latter unions – seeking merger solutions. In fact, KMSfB’s current merger plans mark the preliminary end of a series of union restructuring processes since 2006.

Prospective partner organisation

In recent years, KMSfB sought to establish close cooperations with one or more other trade unions for the purpose of maintaining membership services, which is particularly difficult for such a small and diverse trade union. However, an ambitious consolidation programme failed, since it was difficult for KMSfB to find assets on which to economise. Moreover, none of the other ÖGB affiliates have proved willing to closely cooperate with KMSfB, as they fear increased expenditure without gaining any benefits in return. As a result, the KMSfB leadership has put forward the planned merger project with a financially strong partner union.

In light of this, KMSfB has entered talks with the Municipal Employees’ Union (Gewerkschaft der Gemeindebediensteten, GdG) and the Union of Public Employees (Gewerkschaft Öffentlicher Dienst, GÖD). In particular, the latter trade union, whose membership domain includes certain categories of artists employed by public institutions, has announced its willingness to acquire KMSfB. However, in the case of a GÖD-KMSfB merger, it is unlikely that the current organisational structure of the latter trade union will be maintained. Rather, it is expected that GÖD will incorporate KMSfB into its existing structure, in order to avert additional organisational expenditure.

Georg Adam, Department of Industrial Sociology, University of Vienna