Union left bloc

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The trade union left bloc in the ÖGB (GLB) is a recognized parliamentary group in the non-partisan Austrian trade union federation . The association was founded in 1952 by Gottlieb Fiala ( KPÖ ) as the successor to the communist parliamentary group in the ÖGB .

Self-image

In contrast to the party factions of the parliamentary parties, the ABG sees itself as a faction that is open to all people interested in militant trade union politics, regardless of their party affiliation.

The ABG sees itself exclusively committed to the interests of wage earners and therefore rejects any subordination to capital interests and government policy. He criticizes the social partnership policy, which is still being pursued by the ÖGB leadership, as well as a classification under the locational interests of capital and the policy of practical constraints .

The GLB has a broad understanding of the working class as all directly or indirectly wage earners. He endeavors to take account of the increasing development from normal employment to precarious employment . In the opinion of the GLB, the yardstick of trade union policy should therefore be all forms of gainful employment. The fight for equality between women and migrants is not a question of a distant future for the ABG, but a constantly topical task.

Content focus

The GLB sees the focus of its trade union work:

  • The expansion of the redistribution of social wealth through a corresponding tax policy and further expansion of the welfare state.
  • An active wage policy to increase mass purchasing power .
  • Rejection of the privatization of public property.
  • The reduction of working hours with full wage compensation.
  • Equal educational opportunities for everyone.
  • Equality between women and migrants.
  • A general public health service.
  • A secure pension plan for everyone.
  • Maintaining “normal” employment instead of precarious employment.

Structure and organization

The Austria-wide association “Union of the Left in the ÖGB and the AK” is divided into national groups and into groups in companies or regions. Furthermore, GLB member associations exist in individual trade unions, currently in the GPA-DJP , PRO-GE and Vida . It is also possible to create structures for women, pensioners, youth and migrants.

According to the statute, the highest body of the ABG is the federal conference. This elects a federal management - the executive body of which is federal coordination - and a federal control. The chairmen of the GLB were initially Gottlieb Fiala, from 1962 Otto Horn , from 1970 Anton Hofer , from 1989 Manfred Groß, from 2005 Karin Antlanger and from December 2010 Josef Stingl.

The GLB publishes the magazine “Die Arbeit” founded in 1949 and offers a comprehensive range of information on its website.

history

On April 13, 1945, the unified, non-partisan ÖGB was founded. The founding members included Johann Böhm ( SPÖ ), Lois Weinberger ( ÖVP ) and Gottlieb Fiala ( KPÖ ).

After the socialists in the ÖGB were grouped together to form special socialist factions in the summer of 1945 and the SPÖ tried to transfer the election result of the National Council election of November 25, 1945 proportionally to the occupation of the ÖGB committees, the communist trade unionists also strengthened their organization. In 1947 the first issue of the magazine “Die Arbeit” appeared.

With the increasing capitalist restoration, the protests also increased: A works council conference of Alpine Montan protested against the works council law passed by parliament . On May 5, 1947, 20,000 participants demonstrated in front of the Federal Chancellery against dearth of prices and supply shortages, and 114 Viennese businesses went on strike in May 1945 because of the poor food situation.

In 1950, ÖGB Vice President Gottlieb Fiala presented an immediate program “To secure full employment” and warned of a new wage and price pact . After the 4th wage and price pact was announced on September 23, 1950, there were spontaneous work stoppages and protests from the Steyr works and Voest in the US occupation zone, which triggered the October strikes with around 500,000 participants. However, a pan-Austrian works council conference with 2,417 participants in Vienna-Floridsdorf interrupted the dynamism of the strike movement, so that the presidium of this conference decided to end the strike on October 5th. As a result, over 4,000 left-wing trade unionists were dismissed or dismissed and numerous expulsions from the ÖGB as a result of the October strike.

In 1952 the faction of trade union unity (GE) was founded instead of the previous communist faction in the ÖGB. After the conclusion of the state treaty on May 15, 1955, on the initiative of the GE, strike meetings and demonstrations took place in the oil companies that had been administered by the Soviets against their extradition to Western oil companies. The collective agreement for the oil industry has been a socio-political pioneer for decades.

In 1957, the GE issued a memorandum on the situation in the Austrian electrical industry, and a GE works council conference in 1958 called for the weekly working time to be reduced to 45 hours. In 1966 and 1967, the GE played an important role in the fight against the closure of the Rax works , which resulted in occupations and solidarity strikes.

In 1970, the GE rejected the admission of the politically far-right FPÖ to the ÖGB federal board. In 1972, the GLB, together with other organizations, collected 90,000 signatures for a social tax reform and was significantly involved in protest demonstrations by employees of the ÖBB and the nitrogen works against the increasing price increases for the Chamber of Labor in Linz. A 17-day workers' strike at Böhler Ybbstal for more wages and democracy, in which the ABG played a key role, was a acid test for the ÖGB.

In 1974, an extraordinary federal conference of the GE decided to change the name to the Union Left Bloc (GLB) as a result of a dispute that had been going on for several years in the wake of a party crisis in the KPÖ, in connection with which some proponents had appropriated the name GE under association law . The previous GE acted as a left-wing, non-party faction, which later became the faction of independent trade unionists (UG).

In 1976 an Austrian vehicle conference of the GLB took place. With a demonstration in Vienna in 1977 a committee of GLB and other organizations handed over 100,000 signatures for social tax reform.

In 1979 the 7th Federal Conference of the ABG adopted the basic program “Austria on the threshold of the eighties” and “Principles for an active wage policy”. In 1986, the GLB fully supported the demonstration by 40,000 people in Linz and 15,000 people in Leoben for the preservation of the nationalized and public economy, in the same year the GLB collected 50,000 signatures for social tax reform. In 1986 the GLB collected 50,000 signatures for social tax reform.

In 1987, the GLB was co-organizer of a demonstration with 40,000 participants against unemployment, social cuts and education freeze. The 9th Federal Conference of the GLB decided on the basic program "For militant unions - With the GLB into the 90s".

The GLB is one of the Eurosceptics . In the referendum on joining the EU in 1994, the ÖGB was one of the most massive supporters, while the ABG was against joining.

In 2003, the largest protest and strike movement in decades was directed against the government's pension reform with a demonstration of more than 100,000 in Vienna and a strike day with over a million participants . The ABG dealt with the collection of a value added tax for pension financing.

The GLB has a special role in Styria, since its positions contradict those of the nationwide GLB in some points and instead correspond to those of the KPÖ-Styria. This comes from the strong nutritional relationships between the GLB and the KPÖ and the internal party conflict in the KPÖ .

elections

In the elections to the Chamber of Labor , the trade union left bloc and its predecessors have consistently stood in all elections that have taken place since 1949, although not always in all federal states.

Since 2014, the GLB has been running in Styria under the list name "Union Left Bloc - KPÖ" with the abbreviation "GLB-KPÖ".

year be right percent Mandates
1949 87,756 9.69 56
1954 94.045 9.90 58
1959 64,237 6.58 40
1964 69,949 6.65 37
1969 26,360 2.54 11
1974 29,299 2.38 10
1979 13,898 1.16 4th
1984 17,281 1.36 5
1989 16,555 1.71 4th
1994 8,888 1.13 1
2000 9,031 0.78 2
2004 9,245 0.78 2
2009 9,972 0.87 3
2014 14,750 1.35 8th

Web links

literature

  • Ernst Epler : The big strike. Stern publishing house. Vienna 1965, DNB 451130138 .
  • Ernst Wimmer: On the situation of the working class in Austria. KPÖ, Vienna 1973.
  • Eva Priester: The big strike. Vienna 1977. (1986, DNB 948008105 )
  • Ernst Wimmer : Social partnership from a Marxist point of view. Globus publishing house. Vienna 1979, DNB 995185026 .
  • Josef Ehmer: The Austrian trade unions in the restoration period 1945-1961. Marxist Studies. Frankfurt am Main 1985.
  • Rudolf Streiter: Austria's communist trade unionist in the 2nd republic. ÖGB publishing house. Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-7035-0370-X .