Miners' union in Mecklenburg
As miners' the totality of employed in a mine or in a mining area miners is called. The name Miners' Union comes from the name " dy knabschaft ", which has been known since the Middle Ages, for the workforce in a mining area. This name has been archived for the first time since 1426 as a name for the workforce in the Freiberg mining area in Saxony . [...] "In 1479 the workforces in Schneeberg and Annaberg in the Erzgebirge were referred to as miners' unions, and by the end of the 15th century the term had established itself in almost all German mining districts".
Only from 1900, in connection with the opening up of the potash and rock salt deposits at Jessenitz, was there a relevant legal regulation for the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin .
The "Bergordnung" of Mecklenburg
In the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, where lignite mining had been going on since 1817 , there was no legal regulation regulating this mining work until the potash and rock salt deposits at Jessenitz were opened up. It was only with the "Ordinance of June 22, 1900, concerning the operation and supervision of salt mining" ( Government Gazette No. 22 for the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin of June 26, 1900, see illustration opposite) that Duke Regent Johann Albrecht created a set of rules for the execution and supervision of this work, which is associated with many specific hazards. This so-called " Mecklenburg Mountain Regulations " was adapted to the mining conditions that were already modern at the time and cannot be compared with the much older mining regulations in other mining areas. This ordinance regulates the supervision of the mining authorities, mine operation, the protection of the earth's surface, the procedure in the event of hazards and violations, as well as the mine owner's liability for damages.
The Ministry of the Interior acted as the supervisory authority. According to Section 3, supervision extended to […] “1. the safety of the buildings, 2. the safety of the life and health of the workers, 3. the maintenance of good morals and decency through the establishment of the company, 4. the protection of the surface in the interests of personal safety and public transport, 5 . Protection against harmful effects of mining ". Required, inter alia, driving a bill book (§ 6), the guidance of the mining operation on the basis of an approved operation plan (§ 7), the preparation had been a pit image by an authorized Markscheider (§ 11) and the use of qualified persons as operation guides , Steiger and technical supervisors (§ 12).
The " Implementation Regulations of June 29, 1900 to the Sovereign Ordinance of June 22, 1900, Concerning the Operation and Supervision of Salt Mining " contained basic requirements for the pits as such (§§ 1–2), the mine operation (§§ 3–5), driving (Sections 6–8), funding (Sections 9–11), shooting (Sections 13–25), weather management (Sections 26–30), machines (Sections 31–34) but also for workers (§§ 35–39). Strangely enough, this legislation lacks a paragraph 12.
The Mecklenburg “Bergordnung” was later superseded by the “Berggesetz of March 2, 1922” ( RBl. For Mecklenburg-Schwerin, born in 1922 ; issued on March 30, 1922). This new mining law for the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, which had existed since 1919, was much more extensive with 116 paragraphs than the ordinance of June 22, 1900. It was of course still valid for the last years of operation of the Conow potash plant. If in this old ordinance on the scope of application it still says […] .. “for the exploration and extraction of rock salt and the salts that occur together with it, namely potash, magnesia and boron salts, and the salt deposits that are to be taken into operation ... "[sic], so contains Paragraph I of the Mining Act of 1922: [...]" Rock salt and all other salts, as well as bitumen in solid, liquid and gaseous state, in particular petroleum, natural gas, mountain wax (ozokerite), asphalt, as well as those because of them Bitumen usable minerals and rocks, fine hard coal , brown coal and graphite , brine , metals and their ores, sulfur , alum and vitriol ores as well as precious stones are excluded from the property owner's right of disposal. The property owner is also deemed to be the property owner in the sense of the law.
The beginning of the miners' union in Mecklenburg
The discovery of potash discoveries in Staßfurt stimulated the search for such salt deposits in Mecklenburg as well. Here, in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin , salt mining had meanwhile been nationalized by the “ State Ordinance of May 16, 1879 ”. Only the owner of the Jessenitz manor was exempt from this by a relevant decree. Already the first search drilling on his property found such potash salts at the end of 1882 . The Mecklenburgische Kalisalzwerke Jessenitz Aktiengesellschaft , which was founded in the meantime, began sinking a shaft on June 10, 1886 . After overcoming great difficulties in bringing the shaft down, after almost 15 years, the shaft was finally christened on October 18, 1900, in the presence of the Duke Regent Johann Albrecht von Mecklenburg-Schwerin .
The establishment of an independent miners' association in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was out of the question for capacitive / economic considerations. So one sought the connection to the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein, whose territorial sphere of activity already extended to the state border.
In an "additional ordinance of August 16, 1904 to Section 20 of the ordinance of June 22, 1900, concerning the operation and supervision of salt mining" ( Government Gazette No. 30 for the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin of August 23, 1904, see figure opposite) the contract between the board of the Mecklenburgische Kalisalzwerke Jessenitz stock corporation and the board of the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein received the sovereign confirmation of the now ruling Grand Duke Friedrich Franz . Only then did a miners' union establish itself in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin as a form of solidarity between the mine operator and his employees. The Jessenitz mine was thus a so-called " association work " of the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein.
In the contract between the board of directors of the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein and the Aktiengesellschaft Mecklenburgische Kalisalzwerke Jessenitz it says in § 1 u. a. [...] "The Jessenitz salt mine belonging to the Mecklenburgische Kalisalzwerke Jessenitz corporation joins the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein as an association ".
The draft contract available in the archives corresponds in all points literally to the contract that the “Glück auf” Sondershausen potash plant had already concluded with the board of the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein on October 30, 1895.
[...] “From the time of joining, the owner, civil servant and worker of this plant have all rights and obligations as with any other plant belonging to the Halberstadt Knappschaftsvereine. As a result, members of the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein (Section 3 of the Statute) are all workers of the Jessenitz salt mine, which is owned by the Mecklenburgische Kalisalzwerke Jessenitz, regardless of nationality, age and gender. All works officials are entitled to membership ... The statute of the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein applies to the works ”. The Jessenitz salt mine as such joined the Halberstadt liability fund with immediate effect (Section 9 of the Statute).
With the accession, all civil servants and workers employed here were from the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein against Illness in accordance with the Reich Health Insurance Act (" Reich Law on the Health Insurance of Workers of June 15, 1883 as amended by the Act of April 10, 1892 ") and the Miners' Union Statute insured. This insurance also included disability, widows and orphans insurance. The insurance against industrial accidents was provided by the Knappschafts-Berufsgenossenschaft. The disability and old age insurance arranged in the “ Invalidenversicherungsgesetz for the German Reich of July 13, 1899 ” was arranged by the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein at the Norddeutsche Knappschafts-Pensionskasse in Halle a. S.
For example, on the Jessenitz mine in III. Quarter 1908 a total of 392 miners laid out . The average wage of a miner per shift worked was 3.26 marks (after deduction of 21 Pfg. Of miners' union and health insurance contributions). The average quarterly wage of a buddy during this period was 243.60 marks; on the other hand in the first quarter of 1909 even 294 marks. Of course, the miner's and health insurance contributions increased by 8 Pfg. To 29 Pfg.
With the "Announcement of May 18, 1912, regarding the invalidity and survivors' insurance of the members of the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein living in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin" ( RBl. For Mecklenburg-Schwerin, born 1912; issued on May 22, 1912 ), these insurance procedures were introduced (Application, appraisal, etc.) - in coordination with the Royal Upper Mining Office in Halle - withdrawn from the locally responsible insurance offices and transferred to the board of the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein.
An overview of the miners' funds existing in 1900 and the form in which industrial accidents were to be reported by the mine operator can be seen in the figures below.
The miners' trade agreements for the potash and rock salt works in Lübenheen and Conow
Another additional ordinance of October 20, 1913 to Section 20 of the ordinance of June 22, 1900, relating to the operation and supervision of salt mining; Here the union of Friedrich Franz Lübenheen joins the Halberstädter Knappschafts-Verein
Another additional ordinance of October 20, 1913 to Section 20 of the ordinance of June 22, 1900, relating to the operation and supervision of salt mining; here the Conow union joins the Halberstädter Knappschafts-Verein
With a contract dated October 30, 1905 / November 17, 1905, the Mecklenburg trade union Friedrich Franz zu Lübenheen, operator of the potash and rock salt mine Lübenheen , also joined the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein as an association. Here too, with the legal validity of the contract (the grand ducal approval was granted on February 28, 1906; see RBl. No. 10 of March 13, 1906 ), all works officials and workers employed here were fully insured (disability, widows and orphans insurance, insurance against Industrial accidents, disability and old age insurance). The insurer was the Knappschafts-Berufsgenossenschaft. The disability and old-age insurance arranged in the Reich Law of July 13th took place with the North German Knappschafts-Pensionskasse Halle.
Ultimately, the Conow union, with a contract dated May 28, 1913 / May 21, 1913 - operator of the Conow potash and rock salt mine - joined the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein as an association. The grand ducal approval was published on October 20, 1913 (see RBl. No. 47 of October 27, 1913 ; see illustration opposite). The immediate entry of both mines into the Halberstadt liability fund was contractually obligatory.
In addition to the miners 'funds, there were also so-called “ workers' support funds” in the Mecklenburg salt mines . Their income and expenses were kept separate from the other works coffers and the income from fines that were incurred in the event of violations of the works' work regulations flowed into it. , The non-down in wage calculation paid pennies came (comparable to the other places formerly used rifle fund ), uncollected wages and interest income of these cash funds. The purpose of these relief funds was to support employees in need or their relatives within the framework of the available funds.
The statute of the Halberstadt Knappschaftsverein
Statute of the Halberstädter Knappschafts-Verein from 1891
Table for miners' disability benefits
Report of an accident at the Jessenitz potash and rock salt mine to the Knappschafts-Berufsgenossenschaft Halle
Final certificate for reporting an accident at the Jessenitz potash and rock salt mine to the Knappschafts-Berufsgenossenschaft Halle
In the statute of the "Halberstädter Knappschafts-Verein zu Halberstadt" from 1891 it was regulated, among other things, that the permanent members were to be granted:
[...] "a) sickness support, consisting of a free cure (here in the sense of free medical treatment), medicine and sick pay"
b) "in the event of death, a death grant and widow and orphan support for the widow and legitimate children or children of equal importance" and
c) "In the event of permanent incapacity to work, a disability benefit".
Temporarily employed members (so-called “unrelated”) had to expect extensive support. This included the same service as previously described under a); in the event of death, a death benefit and in the event of an industrial accident, a disability or widow's and orphan's benefit.
The miners had no free choice of the spa, the necessary medicines and the doctor to be treated. The fund gave this to the members in each individual case. A co-payment obligation, as is customary today, was not incumbent on the needy fund members. If someone placed in a hospital still had relatives whose maintenance he had previously earned from his wages, they would receive half of the sick pay. In cases of great need, this amount could also be increased to the full amount of sick pay. However, anyone who refused to be placed in such a health facility, which was ordered by the miners' doctor and decided by the board of directors, or who withdrew from treatment there, lost all rights for himself and his relatives. Free treatment and medicines were granted for a maximum of six months.
In the event of illness, members employed by the association's plants (such as here in Mecklenburg) had to report to their plant administration or to the responsible miner's elder themselves or through a reliable person as sick and the health certificate issued to them by their (family) doctor to the responsible miner's doctor have it sent.
Residents outside a “Kursprengels” (= district / area) were only entitled to a cure and medication if they tried to get treatment at the home of the miners' doctor. The author of this article has not yet been able to find out whether there was even a resident miners' surgeon in Mecklenburg. However, the miners' union statute stipulated that [...] "If they [are meant the employees of an association] because their place of residence is far from that of the miner's doctor, it is impossible for them to claim sickness benefits ..."; they were granted, so to speak, an allowance for necessary travel costs (Section 41 (1) of the Statute).
According to Section 45 of the Statute, an insured person does not receive sick pay if he has contracted the illness “intentionally or through culpable involvement in fights or brawling, through being drunk or through sexual debauchery, and if, according to the attending physician's testimony, it has been more than three consecutive days Were able to do their professional work, respectively from the 4th day of illness. after the cessation of wage payments to half of the average daily wage of their class for each working day, but at least half of the local daily wage ”(Section 45 (1) of the Statute).
In the case of "verifiable simulation, performance of work, or removal from the house without medical permission, visits to inns and public amusements", the miners' board could do this with a fine i. Punish H. up to 5 marks (Section 49, Paragraph 3 of the Statute).
Sick pay was only paid on the basis of a certificate from the works administration, the miner's elder and the miner's doctor. This certificate had to expressly state: [...] "a) the illness b) the beginning and duration of the same c) that the illness was not caused deliberately or through culpable involvement in brawls or brawls, through drunkenness or sexual evasions and, d) that it Caused incapacity for work in the specified time. Sick pay is only paid for the period specified under b) “[sic] (Section 48 of the status).
The daily sick pay for all members of the fund was between 0.75 marks (for wage class II) and up to 2.00 marks (for wage class IVc). Sickness benefit was granted until the patient was able to work again if this occurred within six months. If the incapacity for work occurred as a result of an industrial accident, sick pay was paid until the end of the 13th calendar week. If the incapacity for work persists, the provisions of Section 5 of the Accident Insurance Act of July 6, 1884 apply. Half-disabled people who were still employed with light work in the association's work received half of the sick pay of their wage class in the event of illness, to which they belonged when they became disabled, but at least half of the local daily wage.
Disability benefits were granted to all members of the Knappschaftskasse in the event of accidents at work that were not intentionally caused, as well as under other certain conditions, such as in the case of permanent incapacity for work beyond the period in which the sickness benefit was drawn. But only if this incapacity to work was not at fault. The disability allowance for an "unrelenting" accident at work was 18 marks a month. In the case of “permanent” employees, it was staggered according to seniority and wage class of the disabled person.
The so-called death allowance to settle the funeral costs was between 30 marks (for wage class II) and 80 marks (for wage class IVc).
The miners' higher insurance offices
On the basis of §§ 63 Paragraph 1 No. 2, 64, 65 and 113 of the Reich Insurance Code , on July 1, 1912, the North German Knappschafts-Pensionskasse in Halle was established for 13 Knappschaftsvereine - including the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein in Halberstadt - for their employees Disability and survivors insurance, a special upper insurance office under the name "Knappschafts-Oberversicherungsamt", abbreviated KOVA , established with seat in Halle ad Saale. This office was attached to the Oberbergamt Halle. It had the task of taking care of all the business related to disability and survivors' insurance that was incumbent on the upper insurance offices according to the Reich Insurance Code.
| Miners Upper Insurance Office in: | The district of the Miners' Insurance Office extends to: |
|---|---|
| Bonn | Aachen, Niederrheinische and Brühler Knappschaft |
| Dortmund | Ruhr and Siegerland miners' union |
| Clausthal | Hanoverian and Thuringian Knappschaft |
| Halle (Saale) | Halberstädter, Mansfelder, Hallesche and Brandenburg miners |
| Wroclaw | Lower Silesian and Upper Silesian Miners' Union |
| Munich | South German miners' union |
| Freiberg | Saxon Knappschaft |
| Darmstadt | Giessener Knappschaft |
This concerned the claims of those employees and their surviving dependents who had the last job that gave rise to the insurance in a company subject to the KOVA (for more information , see). On the basis of Section 163 (2) of the Reichsknappschaftsgesetz of June 23, 1923 ( RGBl.IS 431 ), the miners' upper insurance offices listed opposite, named with their districts, also had to perform the tasks of a higher judicial authority and decision-making authority for insurance benefits under the Reichsknappschaftsgesetz.
The intended assignment of the Mecklenburg “contract works” of the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein to the Oberversicherungsamt Halle, which is to be founded, is evidenced by a letter from the Royal Higher Mining Office Halle to the Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Ministry of the Interior of January 5, 1912, which states: […] “The Minister for Trade and commerce intends to set up a special upper insurance office for the district of our upper mining office in accordance with § 63 of the Reich Insurance Code, which is to be attached to the local upper mining office ... It is envisaged that the responsibility of the special upper insurance office will be transferred to the local miners 'associations belonging to the North German miners' pension funds District ". In its reply of March 28, 1912, the Mecklenburg Ministry of the Interior declared […]. "His willingness to transfer the disputes from the accident, invalidity and survivors' insurance jointly with Prussia to a special upper insurance office to be affiliated with the local mining office, so that the local potash mines belonging to the Halberstädter Knappschaftsverein at Lübheen and Jessenitz come into consideration".
The pension fund
With the Disability Insurance Act of July 13, 1899 , which replaced the Act on Disability and Old Age Insurance of June 22, 1889 ( RGbl. Vol. 1889 No. 13 , pages 97-144, comprising a total of 162 paragraphs), an adjustment of the Statute of the pension fund required. This new version came into force on January 1, 1900 together with the Invalidity Insurance Act.
According to Section 1 of this Act, all persons over the age of sixteen who are employed as workers, "assistants", journeymen, apprentices or servants for wages or salaries were subject to insurance. Furthermore, company officials as well as sales assistants and apprentices (excluding the assistants and apprentices employed in pharmacies) who receive wages or salaries but whose regular annual wages or salaries do not exceed two thousand marks, as well as the persons employed for wages or salaries in the crew of German sea vessels and inland waterway vehicles.
According to Section 9, the right to a disability or old-age pension was the subject of the insurance. The insured person who was permanently unable to work received a disability pension regardless of age. An incapacity to work caused by an accident justified the entitlement to a disability pension insofar as a pension is not to be paid according to the provisions of the Reich Laws on Accident Insurance.
The insured person who had reached the age of seventy received an old-age pension without the need for proof of incapacity for work. The waiting period (according to § 15) was five contribution years for the disability pension; thirty contribution years for old-age pensions. The local, company (factory), building and guild health insurance funds, the miners' insurance funds as well as the community health insurance and institutions of a similar type under state law were considered to be health insurance funds within the meaning of this law. The North German Knappschafts Pensionskasse took a special position among the approved fund institutions in that it was exempt from the right of review by the Reich Insurance Office . It was on a par with a state insurance company and its management was only under the supervision of the Royal Upper Mining Office in Halle. The persons insured in this fund received the disability and old age pensions stipulated in the statute of the Halberstädter Knappschaftskasse (according to § 31 of the statute).
In 1900, 21 miners' associations belonged to the pension fund (see table on the right). For comparison: In 1896 there were 73 miners' associations in Prussia alone; in 1741 they comprised mining, smelting and salt works with a total of 444,767 miners' union members. What is interesting in this statistic is the information that in 1896 there were a total of 884 fatal accidents in the miners' districts. The organizational structure of the pension fund was divided into commissioner, board of directors, supervisory board, general assembly and arbitration tribunals.
literature
- Albert Caron: The reform of the miners 'union and general workers' insurance . Berlin 1882.
- Günter Horn : The eldest miners in the central German mining regions . Bochum 2000.
- Ulrich Lauf : The Knappschaft . Asgard-Verlag Hippe, Sankt Augustin 1994.
- Christoph Bartels (Ed.): Occupational risk and social security . Contributions to the conference "Past and future of social security systems using the example of the Federal Miners' Union and its successors" Bochum 2010.
- Adolf Arndt; Kuno Frankenstein (ed.): Handbook and textbook of political science in separate volumes . First Department of Economics. XI. Volume mining and mining policy. Published by CL Hirschfeld, Leipzig 1894.
- “ Der Kompass ”, organ of the Knappschafts-Berufsgenossenschaft for the German Reich, No. 6, thirteenth year, Berlin, March 20, 1898.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andrea Riedel: Knappschaft - what is that? April 2, 2009, accessed March 10, 2013 .
- ↑ a b c State Main Archives Schwerin, holdings signature 5.12-3 / 1, Mecklenburgisch-Schwerin Ministry of the Interior , pages unnumbered.
- ↑ State Main Archive Schwerin, inventory signature 5.12-3 / 18, Mecklenburg-Schwerinsches Bergamt, No. 8 , " Files concerning the contractual legal relationship of Mecklenburg miners, 1901-1925 ", pages unnumbered.
- ↑ The Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, overview. Retrieved January 13, 2013 .
- ↑ a b c d e State Main Archives Schwerin, inventory signature 5.12-3 / 1, Mecklenburg-Schwerin Ministry of the Interior, No. 13292 , "Acta concerning the introduction of the miners' obligation for the potash mines in Jessenitz and Lübheen, Conow, the same lignite mine Conow, 1898– 1934 ”, pages unnumbered.
- ↑ Landeshauptarchiv Schwerin, inventory signature 5.12-3 / 1, Mecklenburg-Schwerin Ministry of the Interior, No. 13292 , "Files relating to the evidence of miners' wages on the part of the Jessenitz and Lübenheen potash works, 1908–1909", pages unnumbered.
- ↑ State Main Archive Schwerin, inventory signature 5.12-3 / 18, Mecklenburg-Schwerinsches Bergamt, No. 13292 , "Files regarding the contractual legal relationship of Mecklenburg miners, 1901–1925", pages unnumbered.
- ↑ Saskia Knörr, dissertation, Law Faculty of the University of Regensburg: The emergence of an independent social jurisdiction with special consideration of Bavaria. (PDF; 2.3 MB) July 9, 2007, accessed March 13, 2013 .
- ↑ a b State Main Archive Schwerin, inventory signature 5.12-3 / 1, Mecklenburg-Schwerin Ministry of the Interior, No. 13296 , "Acta concerning the transfer of the tasks of the Upper Insurance Office for the mines in Lübheen and Jessenitz to the Upper Insurance Mining Office established at the Upper Mining Office in Halle, 1912– 1924 ”, pages unnumbered.
- ↑ Law on Disability and Old Age Insurance. Retrieved March 13, 2013 .
- ^ North German Knappschafts Pensionskasse - archive holdings in Dessau in the German Digital Library
- ↑ Norddeutsche Knappschafts-Pensionskasse - archive inventory in Magdeburg in the German Digital Library