Basic Law, Article 9, para. 3

The right to form associations to safeguard and improve working and economic conditions shall be guaranteed to every individual and to every occupation or profession...

NRW State Constitution, Art. 26

In accordance with the shared responsibility and contributions of both businesses and workers towards the economy, the state shall recognise and guarantee the right of workers to co-determine the economic and social order.

The photograph depicts a common scene at collective bargaining negotiations between the union IG Metall Köln-Leverkusen and the employer association kölnmetall. Here we see the chief negotiators from their respective negotiating commissions vying for a new collective bargaining agreement.