Günter Friedrichs

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Günter Friedrichs (* 1928 ; † 2012 ) was an early analyst of the social consequences of automation and for many years head of the automation department on the board of IG Metall .

Live and act

Friedrichs attended secondary school as the son of an official from Erfurt during the Second World War. In 1944 he became a gunner on a quadruplet anti-aircraft gun that was defending the Leuna nitrogen plant in Saxony against Allied bombers. After his release from captivity, he completed an apprenticeship in a Kassel grocery store. In 1952 he began studying economics at the University of Frankfurt am Main . After graduating with a degree in economics , he studied for a year at the University of Minnesota . In 1957 he was awarded a doctorate in Frankfurt am Main with a thesis on "Sales advertising, its technology, psychology and economics". rer. pole. PhD. He had been working part-time at IG Metall since 1954 before he became an employee of the union in 1956.

In 1957, at Otto Brenner's instigation, he was appointed head of the automation department. This department was "for a long time the only institution that systematically dealt with the alleged consequences of automation".

Under Friedrichs' leadership, IG Metall organized "automation congresses" lasting several days, which took place with international participation from scientists, politicians and practitioners of high standing:

  • 1st International Working Conference of IG Metall: July 3rd to 5th, 1963, Frankfurt am Main: Automation and employment in Germany and the USA ;
  • 2nd International Working Conference of IG Metall: March 16-19, 1965, Oberhausen: Automation - Risk and Opportunity ;
  • 3rd International Working Conference of IG Metall: March 5th to 8th, 1968, Oberhausen: Computers and Employees .

"Overall, the three IG Metall meetings met with a strong response and, due to their unusually strong international orientation, contributed to a cross-border exchange of ideas between trade union and political actors."

The contributions (including his own) and discussions were edited by Günter Friederichs in multi-volume publications at the European Publishing House.

Other selected fonts

  • Influence of the economic development and the level of employment by technical progress . In: Schmoller's yearbook for legislation, administration and economics . Volume 81 (1961), pp. 19-38.
  • Can automation in the USA be an example for Germany? Additional contribution in: Walter Buckingham : Automation and Society . 3rd edition, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1967, pp. 223-270.
  • (Ed.): Task future: quality of life. Contributions to the 4th International Working Conference of IG Metall, April 11-14, 1972 in Oberhausen. 8 volumes. European Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1972.
  • Adam Schaff and Günter Friedrichs: For better or for worse. Microelectronics and society. Report to the Club of Rome . Europa-Verlag, Vienna 1982.

Literature about Friedrichs

Georg Altmann: Active labor market policy. Origin and effect of a reform concept in the Federal Republic of Germany . Steiner Verlag 2004, pp. 67-69.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Der Spiegel, issue 14/1964.
  2. ^ Walter Buckingham: Automation and Society. 3rd edition, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1967, p. 282.
  3. ^ Georg Altmann: Active labor market policy. Origin and effect of a reform concept in the Federal Republic of Germany. Steiner Verlag 2004, p. 69.
personal data
SURNAME Friedrichs, Günter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German analyst on the social consequences of automation and long-time head of the automation department on the IG Metall board
DATE OF BIRTH 1928
DATE OF DEATH 2012