Hans Ziegenfuß

Hans Ziegenfuß (* 1942 ; † April 17, 2009 in Bremen ) was a German union leader .

The trained locksmith and shipbuilder was employed by the Bremen-based Großwerft AG Weser , where he was an active member of the IG Metall works council . He also sat on the supervisory board of Friedrich Krupp AG as a union representative . In the early 1980s, the shipyard ran into massive economic difficulties, so that bankruptcy threatened. Ziegenfuß organized mass demonstrations by the 2000 employees and on September 9, 1980 the works council resigned in protest against a concept presented by the board. Among other things, this provided for 500 layoffs and, according to Ziegenfuß, would have been the “beginning of the end”. With the realization it was hardly possible to continue the shipyard work and a further step towards closure was taken. The closure of the AG Weser on December 31, 1983, however, could no longer be averted and, under Ziegenfuss' leadership, the workers occupied the premises in September. On a strike meeting on September 23, 1983, two days before the state elections, he threw his SPD - party book demonstratively and media attention before the present President of the Senate and Mayor Hans Koschnick on the table and said:

"So that it is complete, I stuck the last stamps on beforehand, but I am hereby handing back my party book to you and resigning my seats."

- Obituary in the metal newspaper 6/2009, p. 29

With this campaign, Ziegenfuß gained nationwide notoriety, even if the federal executive committee of IG Metall in Frankfurt am Main sharply criticized him for the occupation. As a result, at a trade union congress in October there was considerable tension between a group of works councils with goat feet in their ranks and the board of directors.

Almost exactly five months later, he was again the focus of interest: On February 25, 1984, 173 Bremen trade unionists debated at the representatives' meeting. The authorized representative of IG Metall in the Hanseatic city of Arno Weinkauf , who had been in office for 16 years to date, had come under massive criticism and one of the delegates suggested Ziegenfuß as a candidate for re-election. Then, unexpectedly, the district manager Otto vom Steeg stepped in and reported that Ziegenfuß had not properly paid his royalties from his work at Krupp. This justified himself by pointing out that he had spent the money on works council work and package campaigns for the Polish population. The participants in the meeting reacted indignantly to the intervention of Steegs and condemned it in the strongest possible way. There was a fighting vote , which Ziegenfuß was able to win with 86 to 81 votes, so that he was appointed the new first representative of the union in Bremen. His former shipyard colleagues viewed the rise of Ziegenfuss in the union partly critically. They stated that his attempt to prevent Koschnick from being re-elected had failed and that, unlike them, he was being given a secure job. Soon afterwards, however, he switched to the district management of the union in Hanover . Up until his early retirement in 2004, he was primarily responsible for the steel industry and for a long time was deputy general works council chairman of IG Metall.

In 2009, Hans Ziegenfuß died at the age of 66 in the course of a heart operation .

Publications

• Hans Ziegenfuß (Ed.), Heiner Heseler (Ed.), Hans Jürgen Kröger (Ed.): "Whoever fights can lose, whoever does not fight has already lost" - diary of a company staffing . VSA-Verlag , Hamburg 1987, ISBN 3-87975-259-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Obituary in the metal newspaper . (PDF; 1.0 MB) Edition 6/2009, p. 29.
2. ↑ Helgard Kähne: "Quarrel about the winner". In: The time . No. 10, March 2, 1984.