GERMAN TRADE UNION FEDERATION

German Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB), dominant union organization in Germany. The DGB was founded in Munich in 1949 and soon became the largest labour organization in West Germany, with 16 constituent unions. With the reunification of Germany in 1990, workers of the former East Germany were incorporated into the DGB. The DGB is primarily a blue-collar organization, but it also includes a large number of white-collar workers and civil servants. It has avoided ties with political parties, although on policy issues it has tended to support the Social Democrats. In 1991 the federation had a total membership of about 11,800,000 workers (including about 3,800,000 workers from eastern Germany), which constituted about one-third of the total German workforce.