Opinion polls published in February 2003 indicate that the German public increasingly believes that trade unions have a major influence on government policies, and that many people would like to see this influence reduced. Furthermore, a majority of respondents to a poll expect the current federal government to be unable to implement reforms against the will of the unions.
A key challenge for German trade unions is their persistent loss of members (DE0302201N) - less than one-fifth of all people in active employment are now members of unions. Nonetheless, the influence of trade unions in society is much greater. In particular, one third of the members of the federal parliament (Bundestag) are also members of the German Federation of Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB). Of the 251 representatives of the Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschland, SPD) in the Bundestag, 186 are members of a trade union. According to assessments of trade union power by respondents in a public opinion poll conducted by the Institute for Public Opinion Research Allensbach (Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, IFD) in January 2003 and published in February, this strong link between unions and members of the senior coalition party in the current 'red-Green' government is thought to have repercussions for government policies.
According to the IFD poll, the population believes that the influence of trade unions has risen in recent years. While 58% of all those questioned in 2003 stated that trade union influence is currently either very large or large, in a similar 1999 poll only 31% believed that this was the case. The 1999 poll found that 56% thought that the influence of trade unions on government policies was rather small, but in 2003 this figure has fallen to 32% - see table 1 below.
Table 1. 'Is the current influence of trade unions on government policies large/very large or rather low/insignificant?
| . | Influence |
| Year | Low/insignificant | Large/very large |
| 1999 | 56% | 31% |
| 2003 | 32% | 58% |
Source: IFD 2003. Note: Survey involved 2,129 interviewees in November 1999 and 1,079 interviewees in January 2003.
In 2003, 42% of respondents want unions to have less influence on government policies, and only 28% would like to see unions have a greater influence than at present on government policies. In 1999, the respective figures were 21% and 49% - see table 2 below.
Table 2. 'Should trade unions have a greater or lesser influence on government policies?'
| . | Influence |
| Year | More | Less |
| 1999 | 49% | 21% |
| 2003 | 28% | 42% |
Source: IFD 2003. Note: Survey involved 2,129 interviewees in November 1999 and 1,079 interviewees in January 2003.
However, a majority of the population appears to believe that the power of trade unions to influence the policies of the federal government will remain great. According to a representative poll conducted among 1,000 interviewees in February 2003 by the Emnid Institute (TNS Emnid) for public opinion research, 68% do not expect the Federal Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, to force through reforms against the will of the trade unions. Only 27% of the those asked expect Mr Schröder to do so.