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:

    People named John and Mary never divorce. For better or for worse, in madness and in saneness, they seem bound together for eternity by their rudimentary nomenclature. They may loathe and despise one another, quarrel, weep, and commit mayhem, but they are not free to divorce. Tom, Dick, and Harry can go to Reno on a whim, but nothing short of death can separate John and Mary.
    John Cheever (1912–1982)

    How much atonement is enough? The bombing must be allowed as at least part-payment: those of our young people who are concerned about the moral problem posed by the Allied air offensive should at least consider the moral problem that would have been posed if the German civilian population had not suffered at all.
    Clive James (b. 1939)

    The very hirelings of the press, whose trade it is to buoy up the spirits of the people ... have uttered falsehoods so long, they have played off so many tricks, that their budget seems, at last, to be quite empty.
    William Cobbett (1762–1835)

    The old ideals are dead as nails—nothing there. It seems to me there remains only this perfect union with a woman—sort of ultimate marriage—and there isn’t anything else.
    —D.H. (David Herbert)

    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)