Anton Benya

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anton Benya (born October 8, 1912 in Vienna ; † December 5, 2001 there ) was an Austrian trade unionist and politician ( SPÖ ).

Life

Benya attended elementary and community school in Vienna and began an apprenticeship as an electrical mechanic in 1926 . He joined the social democracy and became active in the free trade unions , which were banned in 1934 due to the Austro-fascist takeover after the civil war . Because of this now illegal activity, Benya was imprisoned twice (1934 and 1937). After the end of the war he became a functionary of the newly formed Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and joined the metal-mining-energy union in 1945 .

In 1948 he became one of the senior ÖGB secretaries, in 1959 Vice President and finally at the 5th ÖGB Congress (September 23-27, 1963 in Vienna ) President of the Federation of Trade Unions; he was elected unanimously on September 27, 1963. He held this influential office until the 11th ÖGB Congress (October 5-9 , 1987) and was - like his ÖVP opponents Erwin Altenburger and Rudolf Sallinger - an important advocate of social partnership , which is crucial for Austria's political and economic development was. Well known is the Benya formula for wage determination, named after Benya , according to which the wage increase should be based on inflation and productivity increases.

Between 1956 and 1986 Benya was a member of the National Council and from November 4, 1971 to December 17, 1986 the longest-serving First President of the National Council of the Republic of Austria. During this time he was, alongside Bruno Kreisky , who had led the SPÖ's sole government since 1970 , as the most important politician of the Socialist Party. As such, he tried - together with Kreisky - to achieve a reconciliation between the social democratic workers on the one hand and the Catholic Church on the other, in which the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Franz König , was very accommodating.

Benya was President of SK Rapid Wien from 1990 to 1993 and its Honorary President from 1993. With regard to this function, but also with regard to that of the long-standing President of the Supervisory Board of Konsum Austria , criticism of his economic management skills was occasionally voiced.

Anton Benya's grave at the central cemetery

In honor of Anton Benya, the Anton Benya Park in Wieden, administered by the Vienna Chamber of Labor , and the Anton Benya House in Arndtstrasse 65-67 ( Meidling ) were named. In 2017 was in Meidling on the southern runway near the Südwestfriedhof the Benyastraße named after him.

His many presidencies (including Rapid Wien, ÖGB, Nationalrat) earned him the nickname “the President”.

Anton Benya rests in a grave of honor in the Vienna Central Cemetery (group 32 C, number 58 A).

Awards

literature

  • Liselotte Douschan: Anton Benya. Austrian trade union and national council president. Böhlau, Vienna 2011. ISBN 978-3-205-78748-8 .
  • Heinz Kienzl (ed.), The time of Anton Benya. Vienna 2007.
  • Anton Benya: My way - memories. Vienna 1992.
  • Johannes Kunz (ed.): Anton Benya: Views of a National Council and trade union president. Vienna 1992.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arbeiterzeitung Wien, September 28, 1963, page 1, center.
  2. ↑ skrapid.at - Anton Benya: 100th birthday ( Memento from December 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Article dated October 11, 2012, accessed August 24, 2014.
  3. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Anton Benya .
  4. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF file; 6.59 MB).
  5. ↑ www.wu.ac.at , accessed March 8, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Benya, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian trade unionist and politician (SPÖ)
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH December 5, 2001
Place of death Vienna