FDGB

The Free German Trade Union Federation, in German Freier Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund (FDGB), was an East German organisation that existed between 1946 and 1990. It was part of the National Front and had representatives in the Volkskammer.

On paper the FDGB was the umbrella organization for about fifteen individual trade unions (e.g. IG Metall, IG Transport etc.), but, in reality, most members did not even realise that was the case. Only a handwritten note on the last page of the standard red membership booklet mentioned the individual trade union they belonged to.

FDGB was a member of the World Federation of Trade Unions.

The bureaucratic union apparatus was a basic component and tool of the SED’s power structure, constructed on the same strictly centralist hierarchical model as all other major GDR organizations.

The smallest unit was a Kollektiv, which nearly all workers in any organisation belonged to, including state leaders and party functionaries. They recommended trustworthy people as the lowest FDGB functionaries and voted for them in open-list ballots. The higher positions ranged from "Departmental Union Leader" (Abteilungsgewerkschaftsleiter, AGL) to Leader of the "Central BGL" (Betriebsgewerkschaftsleitung - Company Union Leadership in combines); they were normally full-time and held by SED members with a history of toeing the party line, or in some cases bloc party members. Their jobs, like those of the FDGB district leaders, were assured until they retired as long as they did not stray from party policy.

The chairman of the FDGB was Herbert Warnke until his death on March 26, 1975 when he was replaced by Harry Tisch, a member of the SED’s Politburo, who kept the post until the political turnaround in 1989.

Officially, membership in the FDGB was voluntary, but unofficially it was hardly possible to develop a career without joining. In 1986, 98% of all workers and employees were organized in the FDGB, which had 9.6 million members. This meant that it was nominally one of the world’s largest trade unions. As well as improving members’ career chances, the FDGB also offered various "concessions".

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