Free German Trade Union Federation

The Free German Trade Union Federation, in German Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (FDGB), was the trade union federation in East Germany. It was part of the National Front and had representatives in the Volkskammer.

On paper the FDGB, a member of the World Federation of Trade Unions, was actually the umbrella organization for about 15 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.

Read more about Free German Trade Union Federation:  Structure, Membership, Function, German Reunification

Famous quotes containing the words free, german, trade, union and/or federation:

    Miracles are like jokes. They relieve our tension suddenly by setting us free from the chain of cause and effect.
    Gerald Branan (1894–1987)

    Many of our German friends before the war would come as our guest to hunt wild pig. I refused to invite Goering. I could not tolerate his killing a wild pig— seemed too much like brother against brother.
    Joseph L. Mankiewicz, U.S. director, screenwriter. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Countess (Danielle Darrieux)

    No king on earth is as safe in his job as a Trade Union official. There is only one thing that can get him sacked; and that is drink. Not even that, as long as he doesn’t actually fall down.
    George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

    In externals we advance with lightening express speed, in modes of thought and sympathy we lumber on in stage-coach fashion.
    Frances E. Willard 1839–1898, U.S. president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union 1879-1891, author, activist. The Woman’s Magazine, pp. 137-40 (January 1887)

    Women realize that we are living in an ungoverned world. At heart we are all pacifists. We should love to talk it over with the war-makers, but they would not understand. Words are so inadequate, and we realize that the hatred must kill itself; so we give our men gladly, unselfishly, proudly, patriotically, since the world chooses to settle its disputes in the old barbarous way.
    —General Federation Of Women’s Clubs (GFWC)