The Confederation of German Employers' Associations or BDA (German: ''Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände'') is the umbrella organization for German employers' associations. It represents

interest group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...

s in the areas of

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

, the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

, banking, commerce, transport,

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

and agriculture. In 1977, Ex SS officer and head of BDA, Hanns Martin Schleyer, was murdered by the

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (, ; RAF ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang ( ), was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970 and active until 1998, considered a terrorist organisat ...

, a far-left German militant group. The seat of the BDA is in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(until 1999:

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

History

The

employers' organisation An employers' organization or employers' association is a collective organization of manufacturers, retailers, or other employers of wage labor. Employers' organizations seek to coordinate the behavior of their member companies in matters of mutua ...

were formed in response to the

trade unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. The German Book Printers' Association was founded as early as 1869 as the first and oldest employers' association. In April 1904, the main office of the German employers' associations was founded with its headquarters in Berlin and in 1913 the "Federation of German Employers' Associations" was established. This was the result of a merger of two rival umbrella organisations, the Hauptstelle deutscher Arbeitgeberverbände (founded in 1904 to represent heavy industry employers) and the Verein deutscher Arbeitgeberverbände (founded in 1904 to represent employers in the manufacturing industry). By 1920, companies with 8 million employees were already organised in employers' associations. After the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

seized power, the employers' organisations disbanded under pressure from the National Socialists. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, employers' organisations remained banned in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

and the GDR. In the western sectors, they continued the traditions of the time before 1933. In 1947, the Employers' Association of the Western Zone was formed, which became the Central Secretariat of the Employers of the United Economic Area in 1948. Even before the Basic Law came into force, the constitutive meeting of the social policy working group of the employers' associations of the united economic area, based in Wiesbaden, was held in January 1949 by representatives of 23 specialised and eight interdisciplinary employers' associations. After the associations in the former

French occupation zone The French occupation zone in Germany (, ) was one of the Allied-occupied areas in Germany after World War II. Background In the aftermath of the Second World War, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin met at the Yalta C ...

had also joined at the end of 1949, the name "Confederation of German Employers' Associations" was adopted in November 1950. With the establishment of association structures based on the West German model in the new federal states in 1990, the BDA established itself as an all-German employers' association. In 1999, the BDA followed the government's move to Berlin and relocated to the Spree. There it shares the Haus der Deutschen Wirtschaft at Breite Straße 29 with the

Federation of German Industries The Federation of German Industries ( (BDI)) is the umbrella organization of German industry and industry-related service providers in the legal form of a registered association. It represents 39 industry associations and more than 100,000 compan ...

and the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce.

Organisation

German employers' organisations are brought together under the umbrella of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations. Its members are 14 interdisciplinary state associations (joint state associations between

and

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

as well as

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

) with respective interdisciplinary regional associations, as well as 49 federal umbrella organisations with respective state and regional trade associations from the fields of

, services,

finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

crafts A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

and

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. In total, around one million companies are indirect members of the BDA. These employ around 70 per cent of all employees. However, the largest employer in Germany, the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

, is not a member of the employers' organisations. The BDA is a registered association in accordance with Section 21 of the German Civil Code (BGB). As a professional association with the purpose of representing the interests of employers in our pluralistic society, it is committed to the common good and is therefore tax-exempt. The most important bodies are the General Assembly of Members, the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, the Executive Board, the committees and the Walter Raymond Foundation. The General Assembly, which takes place annually, elects the President for a two-year term, the Executive Committee and members of the Board of Directors and is responsible for the budget and the membership fee regulations. The Executive Board admits new members, sets up committees and makes unanimous collective bargaining policy recommendations. It determines the fundamental policy decisions. The Executive Committee acts within the framework set by the Executive Board and is the central decision-making body. It consists of the President, eight Vice Presidents including the Treasurer and 38 other members and represents the entire spectrum of the German economy. The President and Vice-Presidents form the legal board of the BDA in accordance with Section 26 of the German Civil Code (BGB). The Chief Executive is appointed by the Executive Board on the recommendation of the President. The Chief Executive Officer and two members of the Executive Board manage the day-to-day business in close consultation with the President. In addition, there are 75 committees and working groups that deal with specialised issues, including four joint committees with the Federation of German Industries. Their proposals and opinions form the basis for the decisions of the Executive Board and the Executive Committee. At European level, there is Businesseurope (formerly the Union des Confédérations de l'Industrie et des Employeurs d'Europe). Internationally, the BDA is represented in the International Organisation of Employers.

References

External links

English website of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations
Labor in Germany Employers' organizations Organisations based in Berlin Advocacy groups in Germany Lobbying in Germany {{Germany-org-stub