Die Degrowth-Bewegung und die Gewerkschaften

Economic growth – usually referring to the growth of gross domestic product – is commonly seen as the main cause of global ecological problems. Hence, growth criticism forms a core component of the civil-society’s degrowth- or post-growth movement. In this context, labour unions are not necessarily seen as co-actors. However, the focus on GDP reduction alone falls short. First, the GDP is an inadequate indicator to reach conclusions about the sustainability and the socio-ecological quality of the development in question. Second, shrinking and expansion are core components of the necessary transformation process. In this context the main objective must be to encourage developments that increase and preserve wealth under sustainable conditions. A democratic process which defines the conditions for such a development is a prerequisite for achieving this objective. Instead of the ambiguous und probably misleading name “degrowth”, the term socio-ecological transformation seems to be more adequate, at least for the time being.