Metalworkers Union (GDR)

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The industrial trade union metal ( IG Metall ) was the largest single trade union in the Free German Trade Union Confederation (FDGB) of the GDR . The IG was a member of the International Federation of Workers' Unions in the Metal Industry (IVG Metall) in the World Trade Union Confederation .

The role of IG Metall in the GDR

The relationship of the FDGB to its individual unions such as IG Metall differed significantly from that of the DGB to its individual unions such as IG Metall . While the DGB is set up as a weak umbrella organization and the actual trade union work and power lies in the individual unions, the FDGB was structured centrally. There were member unions such as IG Metall, but they did not play a major role in the union organization.

In addition to the implementation of the principle of democratic centralism , it was above all the different functions of unions in East and West: the main task of the union was to ensure that the plan was fulfilled. IG Metall was not an employee representation vis-à-vis the management, as there was no official opposition between management and workforce in the GDR. This also eliminated the need for a structure that was oriented towards the economic sectors .

founding

IG Metall was founded as IG 12 of the FDGB in the SBZ at the Central Delegate Conference (ZDK) on 13/14. June 1946. IG Metall was the single union with the largest number of members in the FDGB. In June 1946 it had 421,558 members (15.3% of the FDGB membership). In January 1989 there were 1,819,356 members (18.9% of the FDGB membership).

IG Metallurgy

In July 1951, the employees of the metallurgical companies were separated from IG Metall and IG Bergbau and outsourced to IG Metallurgie. These changes only lasted until 1958. The members of IG Metallurgie were transferred back to IG Metall, which until the 5th ZDK 1959 was called IG Metall / Metallurgie.

After the turn

During the fall of the Wall , IG Metall's livelihood collapsed. The chairman of IG Metall Gerhard Nennstiel resigned after allegations of having financed the construction of his own home with funds from an FDJ initiative. Under his successor Hartwig Bugiel , the union oriented itself towards the West German IG Metall. On December 6, 1989, the two unions signed a cooperation agreement. In a joint declaration of February 27, 1990, a joint working committee on statute and organizational questions was set up.

However, this path did not lead to a merger of IG Metall East and West. Instead, IG Metall West decided to re-establish free trade unions in the metalworking companies of the GDR.

The extraordinary central delegate conference of IG Metall on 5./6. October 1990 at Bogensee finally decided to dissolve IG Metall on December 31, 1990. The members were asked to join IG Metall in the DGB. About 900,000 members responded to this call. Even if these were only half of the members of the GDR era, the level of organization of IG Metall in the new federal states was significantly higher than in the west.

Conflict over wealth

The dispute over the assets of parties and associations of the GDR occupied IG Metall Ost for 20 years after the fall of the Wall. According to the mandate of the freely elected People's Chamber , the parties and mass organizations should keep the property acquired under the rule of law and have to pay off the (by far predominant) rest; however, a demarcation proved difficult. In 1997, after a settlement, an amount equivalent to 14 million euros was transferred from the disputed assets of the Otto Brenner Foundation .

On December 31, 2008, 2.5 million euros of the assets of IG Metall Ost were paid to the now all-German IG Metall.

Central Delegate Conferences

  • 1st Central Delegate Conference 13./14. June 1946 in Berlin
  • 2nd Central Delegate Conference 22./23. October 1947 in Berlin
  • 3rd Central Delegate Conference 4. – 7. August 1950 in Magdeburg
  • Extraordinary ZDK 12./13. December 1950 in Leipzig
  • 4th Central Delegates Conference 28. – 30. April 1955 in Leipzig
  • 5th Central Delegates Conference September 30th - October 2nd, 1959 in Leipzig
  • 6th Central Delegate Conference September 21/22, 1963 in Berlin
  • 7th Central Delegate Conference 30./31. March 1968 in Karl-Marx-Stadt
  • 8th Central Delegate Conference 13./14. May 1972 in Dresden
  • 9th Central Delegate Conference 16./17. April 1977 in Brandenburg
  • 10th Central Delegate Conference 27./28. March 1982 in Karl-Marx-Stadt
  • 11th Central Delegate Conference 21./22. March 1987 in Gera
  • 12th Central Delegate Conference 8./9. April 1990 at Bogensee
  • Extraordinary Central Delegate Conference 5./6. October 1990 at the Bogensee

Chairperson

Sources / web links