I'll also point out that the German system is set up so that the unions have a vested interest in the well-being of their employers, unlike the US system which deliberately pits them against each other (and heavily favors the former).
While I'll simply point out that, embedded in the state (and way too removed from their prospective members, way too undemocratic, much weaker than they were, in ways quite resembling the American experience) as German unions are, I do not recall them ever winning the "closed shop" in [either pre-33 Reich or post-45 West] Germany.
