ABSTRACT
In December 2008, when the president of the trade union confederation ögb, Rudolf Hundstorfer, became the new Austrian minister for social affairs, the magazine Profil presented his career move as a “deliberate downgrade”. In Austria, the magazine argued, the head of a social partner organisation ranked higher than a minister (Profil 2009). Along similar lines, the general secretary of the Dutch trade union confederation fnv, Agnes Jongerius, was described in de Volkskrant as the “real” minister for social affairs of the Netherlands. In the words of the leader of the liberal party vvd Mark Rutte, who would later become Prime Minister, the actual minister in office was nothing more than her hulpsinterklaas, a look-alike dressed like Santa Claus who is not the real Santa Claus (de Volkskrant 2009). Finally, a Swiss trade unionist interviewed in September 2011 argued that the president of the business association Economiesuisse was “worth three ministers” in terms of his influence on policy decisions in Switzerland. Given that the Swiss federal government only counts seven ministries, it was clear who “called the tune” in this country (Le Temps 2011).
