Siemens and unions



Siemens AG employs 311,000 employees globally as of 2022. Historically, Siemens supported and illegally financed the anti-union Works Council lists from Arbeitsgemeinschaft Unabhängiger Betriebsangehöriger. More recently, the IG Metall has won the majority of Works Council seats. In the European Union, employees are represented on the Siemens Europe Committee.

European Works Council Siemens
The 37 member European Works Council of Siemens AG is internally known as the Siemens Europe Committee (SEC). The SEC was formed in 1995 under 'voluntary basis', the same year the EU directive 94/45/EC was ratified.

Global coordination
The International Metalworkers' Federation organised a "Siemens World Council" meeting with trade union and employee representatives of all Siemens locations in either 1991 or 1993. In 2015, IG Metall international coordinator Dirk Linder facilitated the "Siemens Global Union Network".

Germany
Siemens AG employs 170,000 workers in Germany. The union density is estimated to be a low 2 to 6 percent of employees, but the Works Council seats are dominated by IG Metall union members.

Supervisory board
Siemens AG has a 20 member supervisory board, with 10 members representing management and 10 representing employees. The employee side includes 3 IG Metall trade unionists and 7 Siemens employees who are members of the European and Group Works Council as well as the Central Works Councils of Siemens AG, Siemens Mobility and Siemens Healthcare.

Works Councils
As of 2016, Siemens AG employees in Germany elected 95 different Works Councils, one for each factory plant (Betrieb). The Works Councils formally coordinate through a 58 member Central Works Council. This Central Works Council, along with the other Central Works Councils (e.g Siemens Mobility and Siemens Healthcare) of the Siemens Group coordinate through a Group Works Council. The Group Works Council and employee representatives from other Siemens countries form a 37 member European Works Council which is known internally as the Siemens Europe Committee (SEC). The SEC was formed in 1995 under a 'voluntary basis', the same year the EU directive 94/45/EC was ratified.

Management friendly influence
According to the Labor Monthly Review, since 1920, Siemens president Carl Friedrich von Siemens promoted the yellow union movement through the organization "National Federation of German Unions" (German: Nationalverband Deutscher Gewerkschaften) in companies like Siemens and Krupp, in order to win representation in works councils and to  'resist bolshevization' of German life.

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Unabhängiger Betriebsangehöriger (English: Working Group of Independent Company Employees; AUB) was founded in the Siemens birth location Erlangen, Germany in 1974 as the Aktionsgemeinschaft Unabhängiger Betriebsräte (English: Action Group of Independent Works Councils). In 1985 it became a professional association and was renamed in 1986 to its present name. AUB illegally received over 30 million Euros from Siemens through its chairman Wilhelm Schelsky. Its primary opponent is the IG Metall trade union. AUB runs its own list of candidates in Works Council elections and promotes company collective agreements over regional collective agreements.

Network Cooperation Initiative
The Network Cooperation Initiative (NCI) was founded in August 2002, as a self organised peer group for high-tech Siemens employees in the Munich plant. Formally independent of the existing Works Councils and IG Metall, during the mass layoff negotiations, NCI worked closely with the formers. NCI also ran its own list nominations during the Works Council elections in 2004 and 2006, forming a coalition with the IG Metall lists against the pro-management Arbeitsgemeinschaft Unabhängiger Betriebsangehöriger list. The Relationship between IG Metall and NCI soured due to institutional mistrust and internal competition.

United States
Siemens employs 60,000 workers in the United States as of 2014. A fraction of the workforce, 3,200 employees are covered under 14 collective bargaining agreements negotiated by IBEW, IUE-CWA, Steelworkers, IAM, UAW and Teamsters. The largest portion consisting of IBEW's 800 members.

External

 * IG Metall and Siemens portal (English)