Autonomous South Tyrolean trade union federation
| Autonomous South Tyrolean Trade Union Federation (ASGB) |
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|---|---|
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| purpose | Trade union confederation |
| Chair: | Tony Tschenett |
| Establishment date: | 1964 |
| Seat : | Bolzano |
| Website: | www.asgb.org |
The Autonomous South Tyrolean Trade Union Federation (ASGB) is the trade union organization of the German and Ladin workers in South Tyrol . It was founded in 1964 by former members of the mostly Italian trade union CISL to enable workers of the German and Ladin ethnic groups to represent themselves independently.
Today the ASGB, with 27,000 members (2006), is the strongest trade union organization in South Tyrol . Like the Basque Eusko Langillen Alkartasuna, the Breton Sindikat laborien Breizh SLB and the Corsican Sindicatu de i travagliadori corsi STC, the ASGB is one of the ethnic unions in Europe.
Until 2009 the member of the state parliament and former tailor Georg Pardeller was chairman, who in 2009 handed over his office to Tony Tschenett .
history
In South Tyrol, a local branch of the Italian unified union CGIL , the Chamber of Labor, was established in 1945 , whose executive committee was based on the model of the Italian CGIL according to the political balance of power. However, the parity referred exclusively to membership of one of the political directions in the unified trade union, in no way to a representation according to ethnic groups: not one of the executive employees was German or came from South Tyrol itself. The lack of representation of the German workers and the strong party political Tensions within the South Tyrolean CGIL led to the break of the trade union unity in South Tyrol even before the union split at the state level.
The Christian workers' representatives and those close to the SVP founded the South Tyrolean Trade Union Federation (SGB) in 1948 , which - since it was unable to conclude collective agreements - joined the Christian Democratic, Italian trade union CISL in 1950 . Through the coupling of SGB and CISL - Unione Sindacale Altoatesina, German and Italian trade unionists were united, each management position in the committees was occupied equally by a representative of the SGB for the German ethnic group and a representative of the CISL for the Italian ethnic group. From 1957, however, the differences between the two ethnic groups became increasingly pronounced, which ultimately led to the revival of the original founding idea of the SGB as an ethnic union and the founding of the Autonomous South Tyrolean Trade Union Federation (ASGB). The path to a fourth trade union in South Tyrol alongside the Italian organizations CGIL, CISL and UIL must be seen in the light of the political events of that time and the specific ethnic situation.
The ethnic tensions of the 1950s had raised a strong national consciousness among the workers. It is telling that the demands of the South Tyrolean People's Party primarily concerned social issues, in which the disadvantage of the German and Ladin ethnic groups was believed to be felt most strongly. This and the nationalistic attitude of some Italian trade union officials practically challenged an ethnic union .
On September 11, 1964, three former trade union officials of the SGB / CISL, Franz Plaickner , Otto Gander and Alois Singer, founded the Autonomous South Tyrolean Trade Union Confederation in Merano.
The reaction of the other unions was hostile: Understandably, the relationship with the SGB / CISL, from which the founding members of the ASGB came, was extremely bad, but the CGIL also saw in a statement that the “unity of the working people” was endangered. More threatening than the verbal protests of the Italian trade union confederations, however, was their refusal to allow the ASGB to bargain collectively, which turned out to be a severe blow to the union's further development.
In the founding years there were close contacts to Austrian and German trade unionists, who gave the ASGB significant support.
While considerable successes were achieved early on in the establishment of the trade unions, the lack of legal recognition hindered union work considerably: it was not possible to set up an independent patronage, it was difficult to issue collective agreements in the German language, as the flow of information due to a lack of contact with a state union was cut off.
For this reason, were on the Austrian Trade Union Federation ÖGB contacts with the UIL made, which led the end of 1967 to an agreement on mutual assistance. The ASGB was now able to use all trade union rights under the umbrella of the UIL, which it had been denied until then, with the ASGB acting as the German section of the UIL in South Tyrol.
The provisional consolidation of the ASGB was also recognized by the CGIL , which partially gave up the resistance to the involvement of the ASGB, since now all the trade unions in South Tyrol had found their place within state confederations. The number of members of the ASGB rose sharply in the 1970s, as the Italian workers' statute of 1970 granted the unions within the companies extensive rights. The UIL did not share the spirit of optimism: in May 1976 the agreement with the ASGB was unilaterally terminated. The reason officially brought into the meeting that the ASGB had not adhered to the guidelines of the state UIL was refuted by the union itself in a letter in which they pointed to the establishment of a separate German section.
The legal equality of the Autonomous South Tyrolean Trade Union Confederation with the other trade union confederations active in South Tyrol was only achieved in 1978 with an implementation provision for the Autonomy Statute .
Today there is largely equal legal treatment of the four unions in South Tyrol.
swell
- ASGB (Hg) - The ASGB House (1997)
- by Ach - The ethnic unions of Italy, in: Europa Ethnica No. 3–4 / 2003.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tony Tschenett is the new chairman of the ASGB ( Memento from March 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
Web links
Coordinates: 46 ° 29 '59.7 " N , 11 ° 21' 24.3" E