Have Labor Unions outlived their usefulness in the modern business working environment?

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics - Personnel and Organisation, grade: 1,7, Berlin School of Economics, language: English, abstract: 'Unionized power is organizational power, which is based on the number of members. The number of members has a demand on the legit representation of the working population. Preservation and extension of this power are orientated on the interest of every labor union. ' Labor Unions in Germany are documenting an ever declining number of members. Although, Labor Unions are performing the 'most considerable form of organized interest on the labor market' Labor unions are more and more endangered by the decreasing number of members and recruiting deficit. Some experts even believe that labor unions will not exist anymore in the future. One question, of course is, if labor unions really have outlived their usefulness in the modern business work environment. Remembering headlines in newspapers like: 'New Year - new resistance' or 'The protest will continue' I think that labor unions are still important. Especially in the modern business work environment where the competition in different sectors is very fierce and where management tries to safe costs, and working power, in order to increase the company's profits. This thesis was written to demonstrate that Labor Unions are still important in our modern business work environment. Therefore the following act was chosen: To get an insight how Labor Unions in Germany were established, the part 'History of Labor Unions in Germany' gives a first insight. Afterwards the role of Labor Unions in Germany will be investigated and then a comparison from different countries. In the main part the arguments that Labor Unions have not outlived their usefulness in the modern business working environment and the arguments that Labor Unions have outlived their usefulness in the modern business working environment will be shown. Last but not least my personal opinion about this topic will be shown in the last part 'Conclusion'. But first of all I would like to explain what Labor Unions are.