Free German Trade Union Federation
Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund
PredecessorGeneral German Trade Union Federation
SuccessorGerman Trade Union Federation
Founded1946
Dissolved1990
Location
Members
9,600,000
PublicationTribüne
AffiliationsWFTU

The Free German Trade Union Federation (German: Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund or FDGB) was the sole national trade union centre of the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) which existed from 1946 to 1990. As a mass organisation of the GDR, nominally representing all workers, the FDGB was a constituent member of the National Front. The leaders of the FDGB were also senior members of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).

Structure

Harry Tisch, FDGB chairman from 1975 to 1989.

The bureaucratic union apparatus was a basic component and tool of the SED’s power structure, constructed on the same strictly centralist hierarchical model as all other major GDR organizations.

The smallest unit was a Kollektiv, which nearly all workers in any organisation belonged to, including state leaders and party functionaries. They recommended trustworthy people as the lowest FDGB functionaries and voted for them in open-list ballots. The higher positions ranged from "Departmental Union Leader" (Abteilungsgewerkschaftsleiter, AGL) to Leader of the "Central BGL" (Betriebsgewerkschaftsleitung - Company Union Leadership in combines); they were normally full-time and held by SED members with a history of toeing the party line, or in some cases bloc party members. Their jobs, like those of the FDGB district leaders, were assured until they retired as long as they did not stray from party policy.

The chairman of the FDGB was Herbert Warnke until his death on March 26, 1975, when he was replaced by Harry Tisch, a member of the SED’s Politburo, who kept the post until the political turnaround in 1989.

FDGB's cruise ship MS "Fritz Heckert" in Helsinki (May 1961).

Membership

Chairmen

Name Term Party
Hans Jendretzky1946 – 1948 SED
Herbert Warnke1948 – 1975 SED
Harry Tisch1975 – 1989 SED
Annelis Kimmel1989 – 1990 SED
Helga Mausch1990 NDPD

Officially, membership in the FDGB was voluntary, but unofficially it was hardly possible to develop a career without joining. In 1986, 98% of all workers and employees were organized in the FDGB, which had 9.6 million members. This meant that it was nominally one of the world’s largest trade unions. As well as improving members’ career chances, the FDGB also offered various "concessions".

Function

In the East German system, the FDGB was in charge of ideological control and conformity in companies, as well as social tasks such as hospital visits, presenting awards, giving gifts on special anniversaries, even extending as far as organizing health spas and the hard-to-get holiday bookings. The FDGB’s own holiday service was responsible for the latter.

Though formalized, the union held responsibility for setting work norms, through negotiating with management, protecting workers from management caprice, and enforcing GDR labor code and worker protections. There was a criticism that the union held too much power, e.g., it was a very lengthy and difficult process to fire a worker.

The single trade union was also very important as a source of new blood for the military. Using small benefits as an incentive, and if necessary gentle pressure, large numbers of workers and employees were recruited to what were known as "Combat Groups of the Working Class".

School

Georg-Waterstradt-Building, built c. 1952, at the trade union school

In spring 1946, the former ADGB Trade Union School in Bernau bei Berlin, which before Nazi rule had belonged to the Allgemeiner Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund (ADGB) (Federation of German Trade Unions), was given to the FDGB to use as a training centre. After some restoration work, the school opened in 1947 under the name FDGB-Bundesschule "Theodor Leipart" (Theodor Leipart FDGB Trade Union School). In January 1952 it was given degree awarding status and renamed Gewerkschaftshochschule "Fritz Heckert" (Fritz Heckert Trade Union College). In the early 1950s the FDGB considerably increased the size of the school, constructing new buildings on the site, in addition to those of the former ADGB school. [1][2] The original part of the school, completed in 1930, was a project of the Bauhaus design school and in 2017 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site the Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau.[3]

Short term two and four week training courses and longer term study were offered, including collective bargaining, social and economic policy, youth and women’s issues, employment law, business administration, history of the labour movement, etc. After 1952 two year courses, and later, from 1956, three year bachelor degree-equivalent courses were also taught. From 1958 correspondence courses were also offered, and from 1959 courses were run for foreign trade unionists. Over 15,000 East German and 5,000 foreign trade unionists were trained by the FDGB school between 1947 and 1990.[2]

The college closed in September 1990 just before German reunification.[2]

The buildings have been used by the Internat des Bildungszentrums der Handwerkskammer Berlin (Berlin Chamber of Skilled Crafts training school) since 2007.[4]

German reunification

In May 1990, shortly before German reunification, the FDGB was dissolved. Many former members did not join the West German (now German) unions, some, due to the lightning privatization of the GDR, simply because they had lost their jobs.

Affiliates

The following unions were affiliated to the FDGB:

UnionAbbreviationFormedLeftFateMembership (1964)[5]
German Postal UnionDPG19901990DissolvedN/A
Industrial Union of Chemicals, Glass and CeramicsIG CGK19461990Merged into Chemical, Paper and Ceramic Union130,365
Industrial Union of ClothingIG Bekleidung19461950Merged into IG TBLN/A
Industrial Union of ConstructionIG Bau19461950Merged into IG Bau-HolzN/A
Industrial Union of Construction and WoodIG Bau-Holz19501990Dissolved ?
Industrial Union of EnergyIG Energie19491958Merged into IG EPTN/A
Industrial Union of Energy, Post and TransportIG EPT19581963Split into IG PF, IG TuN, IG Bergbau-EnergieN/A
Industrial Union of Food, Luxuries and HospitalityIG NGG19461958Merged into Gew. HandelN/A
Industrial Union of LeatherIG Leder19461950Merged into IG TBLN/A
Industrial Union of the Local EconomyIG ÖW19551958DissolvedN/A
Industrial Union of MetalIG Metall19461990Dissolved1,000,000
Industrial Union of MetallurgyIG Metallurgie19511958Merged into IG MetallN/A
Industrial Union of Mining and EnergyIG Bergbau-Energie19461990Dissolved375,000
Industrial Union of Post and TelecommunicationsIG PF19461958Merged into IG EPTN/A
Industrial Union of Printing and PaperIG DuP19461990Dissolved ?
Industrial Union of RailwaysIG Eisenbahn19461963Merged into IG TuNN/A
Industrial Union of TextilesIG Textil19461950Merged into IG TBLN/A
Industrial Union of Textiles, Clothing and LeatherIG TBL19501990Dissolved650,000
Industrial Union of Trade and TransportIG Handel und Transport19461949Split into Gew. Handel and IG TransportN/A
Industrial Union of TransportIG Transport19901990DissolvedN/A
Industrial Union of Transport and CommunicationIG TuN19631990Split into GdE, IG Transport and DPG600,000
Industrial Union of WoodIG Holz19461950Merged into IG Bau-HolzN/A
Union of Academic ResearchGew. W19531990Dissolved ?
Union of Administration, Banking and FinanceVBV19461958Merged into Sta-Ge-FiN/A
Union of Army MembersGdAA19901990DissolvedN/A
Union of ArtGew. Kunst19491990Merged into Media Union60,000
Union of Art and LiteratureGew. Kunst und Schrifttum19451950DissolvedN/A
Union of Civilian Workers of the NVA19731990DissolvedN/A
Union of Education and TrainingUuE19461990Dissolved280,000
Union of EmployeesGdA19461949Split into Gew. Handel and VBVN/A
Union of Employees of State Organs and the Communal EconomyMSK19611990Dissolved500,000
Union of the German Press19501953DisaffiliatedN/A
Union of Government Administration, Healthcare and FinanceSta-Ge-Fi19581961Split into Gew. Gusundheitswesen and MSKN/A
Union of HealthcareGew. Gesundheitswesen19491958Merged into Sta-Ge-FiN/A
Union of HealthcareGew. Gesundheitswesen19611990Dissolved250,000
Union of Land, Food and ForestsGew. Land, Nahrungsgüter und Forst19461990Dissolved315,578
Union of the PoliceGdVP19901990DissolvedN/A
Union of Railway WorkersGdE19901990DissolvedN/A
Union of TradeGew. Handel19491990Dissolved800,000
Union of TransportIG Transport19491958Merged into IG EPTN/A
Union of TransportIG Transport19901990DissolvedN/A
Wismut Industrial UnionIG W19501990Merged into Union of Mining and Energy ?

Media related to Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund at Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. ↑ Richter, Wolfgang (12 April 2002) Fünftes Leben für Bauhaus-Denkmal in Neues Deutschland. Retrieved 25 April 2019
  2. 1 2 3 History. Bauhaus trade union school. Retrieved 23 November 2018
  3. ↑ "Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau". UNESCO. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  4. ↑ Internat der Handwerkskammer Berlin in Bernau Archived 2016-11-05 at the Wayback Machine (Photos with German text). Retrieved 21 October 2016
  5. ↑ Wirtz, W. Willard (1965). Directory of Labor Organizations, Europe. Washington DC: United States Bureau of International Labor Affairs. pp. 11.1–11.7.
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