Gutenberg Association

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The Gutenberg-Bund was a German Christian trade union in the graphics industry.

history

The federal government was formed in 1893 out of disappointment over the course of the lost strike in the printing industry in 1891/1892 (“nine-hour battle”). The strike completely ruined the relief funds of the free trade union printer association, which was until now one of the richest trade unions in Germany. As a result of the strike, the collective bargaining community across the empire broke up between the employers' side (principals) and the unionized book printers. On September 3 and 4, 1893, opposition printers and typesetters met on a “non-association day” to launch the Gutenberg Association. The local focus of the organization was in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesia.

The members came from the bourgeois-liberal milieu and rejected socialist transformational ideas. They accused the free trade union federation of German book printers of having given up the course of party-political neutrality it had taken so far and of having allied itself too closely with German social democracy . " Der Typograph ", which was founded in 1892 by Stuttgart "association opponents ", acted as the association body .

The focus of the founding congress was on building up our own support funds. A neutrality passus in the statute should, however, prevent the coffers from being misused for strike purposes. Thus the Gutenberg-Bund did not initially have the character of a trade union, but can only be viewed as a support association. The main demand was the restoration of the old collective bargaining community. Only trained printers could become members.

In 1896, the free trade union association of German book printers and the employers' side returned to the system of nationwide collective bargaining agreements, without the Gutenberg Association being allowed to participate in the regulatory bodies with equal representation (collective bargaining committee, collective bargaining office, collective bargaining courts, etc.). The collective bargaining in the printing industry in 1901 and 1907 further worsened the framework conditions. From 1907 z. B. tariff-compliant printing companies only employ members of the Association of German Book Printers. The Gutenberg Association lost membership and influence. In the association, voices increased to join a “real” union. After a strike vote among the members, the Federation joined the general association of Christian trade unions. This shifted the focus of the organization to the Rhenish-Westphalian industrial area.

It was not until the World War that the Gutenberg Bund received full trade union recognition. From autumn 1917 the socialist / social democratic and Christian trade unions worked together in the “ People's League for Freedom and Fatherland ”. After that, the Gutenberg Association was accepted as an equal member in the collective bargaining committee and collective bargaining office after the barriers to the Christian association had been loosened before the outbreak of war. The typographer acted as the second official mouthpiece for the social partners.

During the Weimar Republic , the small Christian and the large free trade union organization grew closer and worked closely together on collective bargaining issues. The Gutenberg-Bund rejected offers of unions, however, on the grounds that the class struggle represented by the free trade unions was incompatible with Christianity.

Membership numbers

  • 1894: 1,240 members
  • 1900: 3,152 members
  • 1913: 3,440 members
  • 1930: 4,200 members

The membership figures show that the Gutenberg Bund was only a threat to the free trade union association in its founding phase . When in 1896 the Association of German Book Printers returned to the "neutrality course" and to the collective bargaining agreement, which it exclusively maintained as a German free trade union organization, with its membership figures (1930: 90,389 members) it did not need to fear a split-off union. The Gutenberg Association was only able to organize 5% of those employed in the profession and only had a few strongholds in the Catholic milieu.

Chairperson

The Gutenberg Association was banned after the National Socialist seizure of power . Some of its members - such as the Berlin Senator Eduard Bernoth - played a prominent role in the re-establishment of the CDU and the establishment of a unified German trade union in western Germany after 1945 .

Literature (selection)

  • 25 years of the Gutenbergbund. Historical review of the 25th anniversary of the Gutenberg Association . Publishing house of the Gutenberg Association, Berlin 1919.
  • The Gutenberg Association. Brief history of its union development with special reference to the struggles of the organization . Publication of the Gutenberg Association, Berlin 1906.
  • Gutenberg Association. Christian Union of German Printers. Berlin . Publication of the Gutenberg Association, Berlin 1927.
  • The Gutenberg Association. Association of German Book Printers (affiliated to the general association of Christian trade unions). His career and his struggles for participation in the collective bargaining community of German book printers . Publication of the Gutenberg Association, Berlin 1908.
  • The organizational and tariff history of the Gutenbergbund. The career of a German yellow union. At the same time a contribution to the collective bargaining development in the German printing industry since 1892 . Eichler, Leipzig 1907.
  • Bernhard Otte: Gutenberg Association . In: International Concise Dictionary of Trade Unions . tape 1 , 1931, p. 740 .

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