Embraces the spirit of free enterprise

Germany has a social market economy, meaning that she embraces the spirit of
free enterprise, but tempered with controls and other administrative legal
measures designed to prevent large economic participants from seriously
damaging other interests. Laws against unfair competition, including the
antitrust provisions, and for the protection of the environment, as well as those
protecting employees, all illustrate this latter point. In general, the work force is
highly motivated, and highly trained and disciplined. The strong and well-
established trade union movement usually keeps to established bargaining
procedures and, over the years, has achieved an impressive degree of protection
for employees.

As a result, cases of serious industrial unrest are rare although
there are a few instances of demarcation disputes (conflicts between rival
employee representations, rather than between labour and management),
especially in the passenger transport sector.