(en) Germany, Media - What's up with the left union Free
Workers' [FAU-IAA] Union about? INTERVIEW: DANIEL HERBSTREIT (de)
[machine translation]
"Just let the bulbs disappear" ---- Officials there are not with them and sabotage in the
labor dispute can be found okay. ---- ZEIT ONLINE: Mr. Kuhnt, woman Ergazina you describe
themselves as anarcho-syndicalists and engage in outdoor workers 'and Workers' Union (FAU)
, a left union. What are the goals this union? ---- Stefan Kuhnt: We are committed to the
Berlin syndicate and make grassroots trade union work on libertarian basis. For us, the
members decide what they committed to, not any officials. And we combine with an
anti-capitalist perspective. ---- ZEIT ONLINE: What does that mean? ---- Kuhnt: In the
short term we want to be like all the unions for higher wages and better working
conditions. In the medium term we want to make the concept of a union militant base
acceptable again, that's self-evident in countries such as France, Italy and Spain. And in
the long term, our goal is to abolish capitalism and replace it with a caring, liberal,
grassroots social order. But for our daily work the first does not matter much.
ZEIT ONLINE: What makes your base union of conventional unions such as IG Metall or ver.di?
Tinet Ergazina: We do not see ourselves as a service provider. Our users determine what
they want and how to achieve that.
Kuhnt: Big unions often how companies think that because they have to maintain a large
apparatus. Often it is worth it for the just not to get involved in smaller labor disputes.
ZEIT ONLINE: The FAU Berlin has been involved in the dispute over the construction of the
Mall of Berlin, were cheated as Romanian workers out of their wages.
Kuhnt: This is a typical example of our work. The workers had initially contacted the
Berlin consulting office for posted workers of the DGB. But more than a few letters to the
responsible company is not came out of it. That should not be a reproach to the consulting
firm, which makes respectable job, but it is just a consulting office with four employees
and not designed to run large trade union action - certainly not for workers, of which the
DGB will never see money.
The construction workers are then come to us. We made actions. The subject came up in the
media, the Left Party has taken it and carried up to the Bundestag. And the FAU has
submitted jointly with the construction workers brought against the companies responsible.
In the media reports but emerged primarily on the DGB.
STEFAN KUHNT AND TINET ERGAZINA
Stefan Kuhnt, 26, is studying sports science at the Humboldt University Berlin. Tinet
Ergazina, 34, works as a freelance graphic designer. Both are active members in the
outdoor workers Union in Berlin.
ZEIT ONLINE: Do you mind that?
Kuhnt: Yes and no. Of course it's stupid, but it is also nothing, which is why I could not
sleep at night.
ZEIT ONLINE: The DGB accuses you of not being a real union. Do you lack the collective
capacity?
Kuhnt: That's not true. Unlike sector unions we close as General Syndicate from any sector
contracts, but only house collective agreements.
ZEIT ONLINE: In the tradition of anarcho-syndicalism sabotage is a legitimate tool in the
labor dispute. If you also?
Ergazina: Sabotage may already be a small action, for example by allowing the bulbs
disappear in a labor dispute in a restaurant kitchen, so that no food can be prepared.
ZEIT ONLINE: How closely the FAU is part of leftist structures and networks?
Kuhnt: The FAU Berlin attaches great importance to their independence, so we have no real
involvement in left alliances or any scene left politics.
ZEIT ONLINE: 2011 plunged the FAU on a report of the secret service. As it is, the
commitment to workers' interests had ostensibly and purely ideologically motivated.
Kuhnt: That's bullshit and it is also quite arrogant. But honestly, the protection of the
constitution is a particularly reliable and trustworthy institution?
ZEIT ONLINE: Are the fear of contact with anarcho-syndicalist unions in Germany
particularly large?
Kuhnt: In France there are, for example, a more liberal labor and the right to strike,
although this will change slowly. As already can strike two people. There is also a wider
trade union landscape and culture. This is also in Spain and especially in Italy so, where
for a long time very different types of anti-capitalist trade unions exist.
ZEIT ONLINE: Since the financial and economic crisis critique of capitalism is popular
again. But anarcho-syndicalist positions hardly penetrate before the public. Why is that?
Ergazina: Maybe the fact that we operate more union work and less idea policy.
Kuhnt: I think a union critique of capitalism is more consistent than a purely political,
as it puts where capitalism is taking place, namely in their daily work.
