Verdi's total number of members decreased from 2.81 to 2.04 million between 2001 and 2014. One of the reasons behind this decrease is the union's competition with rival trade unions such as the physicians' union Marburger Bund and the pilots' association Vereinigung Cockpit. According to observers, Verdi is "comparatively good" at recruiting new members but is limited in its success when it comes to establishing loyalty among its members on a long-term basis. In fact, the battle against decreasing interest among employees and women in particular was already an issue even before the merger of the five individual unions in 2001. In 2003, member numbers dropped so low that Verdi was forced to let some of its own staff go. This was, however, also due to the fact that many structures were duplicated in the Verdi administration after the merger. In 2007, the National Congress instructed the Executive Board to take measures to stop or even reverse the dwindling member numbers. This led to the initiation of the "Chance 2011" (Opportunity 2011) campaign, which was continued in a similar form under the title of "Perspektive 2015" (Prospects for 2015) in 2012. As a result, Verdi representatives were able to refer to an "end to dwindling member numbers" in 2015, at least with regard to Germany's new federal states (from the former GDR). Today, it represents 200,000 employees in state and publicly-listed banks alone.Tom Sims and Michael Nienaber (March 12, 2019), Germany's Verdi union opposed to Deutsche-Commerzbank merger Reuters.
