Christian Trade Unionists Group
The parliamentary group of Christian trade unionists ( FCG for short ) is a parliamentary group within the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions (ÖGB).
history
Forerunners of the trade unions
Already in the Middle Ages, associations of employees were formed in order to jointly represent their interests vis-à-vis employers as well as state and clerical authorities. Associations were formed as early as the Middle Ages, whose task it was to represent the rights of journeymen vis-à-vis the masters. These legally established associations arose from church journeyman's brotherhoods that, in addition to religious tasks, also carried out charitable activities. These journeyman brotherhoods supported impoverished or sick journeyman in an emergency. This solidarity of the members prevented the development of a journeyman proletariat, which would have worsened the social situation of the journeymen as a whole through wage dumping .
Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the religious character of these brotherhoods took a back seat, so that towards the end of the 15th century, the “trade union” activity shaped these bodies. Between 1411 and 1489, the brotherhoods of baker's servants, journeyman tailors, shoemakers, journeyman locksmiths and stoners were founded in Vienna . These brotherhoods were built on the model of the guilds . They had their own statutes, elected board members and collected membership fees and fines. With this money, they provided support to migliders in need. In order to assert their interests in the best possible way, they strived for exclusivity and had the character of a compulsory membership. For example, journeymen who did not want to join were ostracized . In order to assert their interests, measures were often used that are still common today, such as strikes and declarations of disrepute . Both journeymen and masters who had offended the interests of the brotherhoods were punished with such declarations of disrepute. A “scolded” journeyman could no longer find a job, a “scolded” master couldn't find any journeymen who wanted to work for him.
The 17th and 18th centuries, with the rise of the absolutist monarchy, brought the authorities to predominate over the journeyman's associations. The brotherhoods gradually lost their rights. However, the arguments about this sometimes took on harsh forms. During the strike of the Viennese cobblers in 1712, bloody street riots broke out, which ended with the execution of some strikers.
Few brotherhoods existed over the centuries, but often had to give up their union activities. The organizations took on the tasks of supporting widows and orphans of journeymen. However, some of these groups formed the basis of some of the union groups that still exist today.
Development from 1852
In 1852 Adolph Kolping was invited to the Danube metropolis by the Vienna Catholic Association . There he laid the foundation stone for the development of the Kolping system in Austria. It was the first forerunner of the Christian social workers' associations that were formed later. The Kolping Family Vienna already comprised 700 journeymen as members in 1853.
organization
The organization, which is traditionally related to the ÖAAB (partial organization of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) ), organizes, according to its self-image, those members of the ÖGB who want to do trade union work according to the principles of Christian social teaching . The FCG understands Christian social doctrine as "the principles of Catholic social doctrine and Protestant social ethics, as well as the views of the Christian churches on social and social reform (e.g. pastoral letters)".
In addition to the federal parliamentary group, the FCG is divided into regional parliamentary groups, departments for youth, women and pensioners and parliamentary groups in the individual sub-unions. The current federal chairman of the FCG is ÖGB vice-president and GÖD chairman Norbert Schnedl . The deputies of the chair re-elected in 2018 are Monika Gabriel, Susanne Dittrich-Allerstorfer, Iris Seewald, Bettina Zopf, Thomas Buder, Wolfgang Pischinger, Peter Maschat and Thomas Rack. The current general secretary of the Christian Union is Andreas Gjecaj. In the FCG-Jugend , Thomas Rack was confirmed as federal chairman at the Bundestag in 2019, while Desislava Manolova, Sascha Krikler, Kevin übergger, Marcel Mikysek and Robert György were elected as deputy chairmen. In its lead proposal, the youth organization spoke out in favor of more climate and environmental protection, among other things, calling for a strengthening of our local markets and regional products, the protection of our agriculture and economy or the introduction of a quality and regionality bonus and production compensation. The FCG women are headed by Monika Gabriel and the FCG retirees are currently managed by Kurt Kumhofer.
Traditionally, the FCG is particularly strong in the public service union (GÖD), the union of private employees, printing, journalism, paper (GPA-djp) and the union of post and telecommunications employees (GPF). While she is the chairman of the GÖD, she is responsible for the important control function in the ÖGB and in the individual trade unions. The FCG is currently represented with 30 mandates on the federal board of the ÖGB.
literature
- Foundation for the maintenance of the tradition of the Christian labor movement Vienna (ed.): The Christian trade unions in Austria. Europaverlag, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-203-50538-X .
Web links
- fcg.at - official homepage
Individual evidence
- ^ Foundation for the maintenance of the tradition of the Christian labor movement Vienna (ed.): The Christian trade unions in Austria. Europaverlag, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-203-50538-X , p. 13 f.
- ↑ OTS from the Christian trade unionist faction; [1] Retrieved October 15, 2019.
- ↑ FCG homepage of the Christian trade unionist faction; [2] Retrieved October 23, 2018.
- ^ ÖGB website from the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions; [3] accessed on November 21, 2019.