The institutionalized class struggle eroded particularly in the sphere of collective bargaining, as many companies left the employers’ associations and generally became more aggressive in negotiations and labor disputes. Trade unions for their part refrained from forcing employers back into collective bargaining through strikes. Instead, the unions attempted to shore up their losses and prevent further erosion by clearing the way for company-level deviations from sectoral standards in the mid-1990s. The resulting contracts, which retained corporatist institutions in exchange for significant wage and working conditions concessions by organized labor, allowed business owners to implement further wage reductions particularly in sectors already plagued by low pay. Unions adopted this strategy in order to protect their strongholds in the face of a seemingly unstoppable onslaught. One could even argue that this strategic retreat is part of the reason why German unions in select industries remain so strong to this day despite significant overall losses. Ultimately, however, the decentralization of collective bargaining created large pools of low-wage labor complementing and reinforcing the country’s core productive industries, while lowering overall wage costs. The dynamic also causes friction between workers across industries and sectors and weakens organized labor’s hand over the long term, as capital successfully carves out zones of heightened exploitation largely outside of the unions’ organizational reach that in turn ensure the stability of the core economy.