The industrial union for construction, agriculture and the environment (IG bau) has almost 250 members.000 members, one of the largest individual unions in the german federation of trade unions (DGB). This year, it looks back on 150 years of history. A festive event of the district association of upper franconia took place in the hall of the butcher's shop albert in eggolsheim to mark the occasion. The union also honored those who have played a part in the history of IG bau. A total of 79 jubilarians from the bamberg and forchheim district associations were honored for decades of membership. "There is now no one left who was a founding member, in view of the year in which the general german bricklayers' association was founded in 1869, from which the IG bau grew, regional manager hans beer noted to the amusement of the fest guests.
A member for 70 years
But with anastasius neukam from stegaurach a union member was present, who can look back on 70 years of membership and received an honorary certificate for it. The 84-year-old joined IG bau in 1949 at the age of 14. It was then called gewerkschaft bau-steine-erden, which was renamed industriegewerkschaft bau-steine-erden two years later in 1951 and has been IG bau since 1996. Neukam learned the trade of a roofer, then worked in trench construction and later as a construction manager for the company hollein in bamberg.
Creation of the vacation fund
"In the year he joined, a significant achievement was introduced with the creation of the vacation fund", the regional manager looked back at the history of the union. This was the first step towards mitigating the effects of seasonal and weather-related work stoppages, explained beer. He made an excursion from the origins of the construction union to the present day. "Eight-hour day, bad weather pay, regular accommodation – these standards were unimaginable on construction sites 150 years ago", district chairman gerald nicklas clarified the situation in the grounding period. "Since the founding of the general german bricklayers' association in 1869, the predecessor organization of IG bau, a great deal has happened in the construction industry. But even if excavators, cranes and tablets make work easier, the question of fair wages and good working conditions is just as important today as it was in the past", nicklas said. For the district chairman, one thing is certain: "without strong trade unions, the rights of employees in the region would be in a much worse state."
IG bau oberfranken, to which the two district associations of bamberg and forchheim belong, represents the interests of around 12.000 construction workers and 5400 cleaners. It also looks after employees in agriculture and forestry, the roofing trade and the painting trade, among others. At the ceremony with the member honors, waldemar kaiser, chairman of the district of forchheim, welcomed the deputy district administrator of forchheim, otto siebenhaar, and the mayor of forchheim, uwe kirschstein (SPD), as well as the regional manager of the DGB, mathias eckhardt, as guests of honor.
The honors
From the district of forchheim, baptist fischer from willersdorf, paul pfeiffer from forchheim and josef wendler from dormitz received honorary certificates for 65 years of membership. Ludwig hofmann (pinzberg), werner nitschka (gobweinstein) and heinrich reinhart (ebermannstadt) were honored for 60 years of service with IG bau. Peter guttler (pretzfeld), willi hanke (leutenbach) as well as karl hummer and oswald zwierlein (both heroldsbach) have been members for 50 years. Georg brutting (gobweinstein), erich gruner (kleinsendelbach), willibald hummer and hans martin reck (both heroldsbach) were honored for 40 years of loyalty. Jurgen dinkel (forchheim), thomas giese (effeltrich), dieter giese (hausen) and vinzenz gotz (gobweinstein) were honored for 25 years.
