THE RISE OF THE CONGLOMERATE UNION

This article discusses two cases, Germany and The Netherlands, whose s ystems of trade unionism have historically shared a number of characte ristics, in particular a commitment to industrial unionism. In both co untries a profound transformation of union organization is under way, affecting in particular the demarcation of union domains; the relation ships between unions with respect to their division of representationa l territory and organizational jurisdiction; and the relationship betw een unions and their peak associations. It does not appear that this p arallel transformation of union systems is a consequence of the growin g interdependence between industrial nations. To the extent that we ob serve identical developments in different countries, they seem to be c aused by identical endogenous factors resulting in convergence but in the absence of diffusion or other forms of mutual causation.