The Gewerkschaft der Polizei (GdP; en, Trade Union of the Police) is a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It represents 181,000 police employees, and is one of eight industrial affiliations of the

German Confederation of Trade Unions The German Trade Union Confederation (german: Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund; DGB) is an umbrella organisation (sometimes known as a national trade union center) for eight German trade unions, in total representing more than 6 million people ...

(DGB). The GdP is one of the three trade unions for police employees in Germany, the other two being the

Deutsche Polizeigewerkschaft The German Police Trade Union (german: Deutsche Polizeigewerkschaft, DPolG) is a trade union in Germany. Representing 94,000 police employees, it is the second largest union for police employees in Germany, following the Gewerkschaft der Polizei ...

- affiliated with the

German Civil Service Federation The German Civil Service Association (dbb beamtenbund und tarifunion) is a national trade union center in Germany. It has a membership of 1,250,000, and is affiliated with the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions The European C ...

- and the Bund Deutscher Kriminalbeamter, which is exclusively for members of the ''

Kriminalpolizei ''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany, the Kripo was the criminal polic ...

''. The Trade Union of the Police was founded on a federal level on 14 September 1950 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. It emerged from the ''Interessengemeinschaft der Polizeibeamtenbunde'' (''Pool of Police Officer Federations''), which had existed in the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

occupation zone Germany was already de facto military occupation, occupied by the Allies of World War II, Allies from the real German Instrument of Surrender, fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 Octo ...

and

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

to that point. It joined the German Confederation of Trade Unions on 1 April 1978. On a European level, the GdP was part of the

European Confederation of Police The European Confederation of Police (EuroCOP) is the umbrella organization umbrella organisation for 30 police unions and staff organisations in Europe. Representing the interests of over 250,000 police officers in 25 European countries, it was fo ...

(EuroCOP). The GdP resigned its EuroCOP Membership in 2016, after some differences about the GdP Leadership Personnel. The GdP is open to all employees of the police - including police officers,

customs Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...

agents of the

Bundeszollverwaltung The Bundeszollverwaltung (Federal Customs Service) is the customs service of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is also the executive and fiscal administrative unit of the federal government and part of the Federal Ministry of Finance. It was ...

(although

Ver.di (''Verdi'' (stylized as ''ver.di''; �vɛʁdiː; German: ''United Services Trade Union'') is a German trade union based in Berlin, Germany. It was established on 19 March 2001 as the result of a merger of five individual unions and is a memb ...

has a higher level of organisation in this group), administration workers, etc. It represents the job-related, social, economic, ecological, and cultural concerns of employees and former employees of the police. It especially seeks an improvement of their work and living conditions and of

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and

labor law Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...

. To achieve this, the organization takes part in social and political discussions.

Presidents

* Fritz Schulte (1950–55) * Fritz Preuß (1955–56) * Fritz Kehler (1956–58) * Werner Kuhlmann (1958–75) * Helmut Schirrmacher (1975–81) * Günter Schröder (1981–86) * Hermann Lutz (1981–86) * Norbert Spinrath (1998–2000) * Konrad Freiberg (2000–10) * Bernhard Witthaut (2010–13) * Oliver Malchow (as of 2013)

References

* ;Notes

External links

* {{Authority control German Trade Union Confederation European Confederation of Police Organisations based in Berlin Trade unions established in 1950