Before it got too embarrassing, the unions made it: Yasmin Fahimi became the new head of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). The federal board nominated the candidate on Wednesday after a month-long stalemate. From May onwards, a woman should be at the head of the umbrella organization of German trade unions for the first time.
Fahimi was most recently active as an SPD politician. In 2014 she became general secretary of the party, later state secretary in the Ministry of Labour. She has been in the Bundestag since 2017, where she tends to belong to the left wing of the party. From 1998 to 2014, the qualified chemist held various positions at the Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union (IG BCE). The 54-year-old is to be elected to the new post at the DGB Congress at the end of May.
“Fahimi has political experience and at the same time worked for a union for a long time,” according to the employee representatives. “It provides the right answers to the ecological and digital transformation of the economy.”
The decision for Fahimi was preceded by months of tug-of-war. It has long been clear that Reiner Hoffmann will give up the post of DGB boss in May – “then I’ll be shortly before my 67th birthday and I’ll retire,” Hoffmann told the SZ in 2021. However, the DGB trade unions could not agree on a successor for many months.
The first favorite was Christiane Benner, the deputy chairwoman of IG Metall. According to many observers, that would have worked: According to the unwritten union laws, the metallers have the right to propose this time after the last two DGB bosses came from the other major unions: Michael Sommer (2002-2014) from Verdi, his successor Reiner Hoffmann from the Chemical union IG BCE.
In addition, it was widely heard that it was finally time for a woman to head the umbrella organization. But Benner took himself out of the game; her place is in IG Metall, she said Stuttgart newspaper. It is considered a poorly kept secret that the 53-year-old would rather inherit from IG Metall boss Jörg Hofmann if he leaves office in autumn 2023 – if necessary also via a campaign candidacy against one of the influential regional heads of the union like Roman Zitzelsberger.
Another candidate was not in sight for a long time, which is also due to the fact that the executive bodies of most DGB trade unions are still dominated by men. In the fall, the name Anja Piel finally appeared, who is already a board member of the DGB – and the name Irene Schulz, a relatively unknown IG Metall board member. There was an objection to Piel that the former Green Party politician had not yet gained enough experience with the unions. She only moved to the DGB in 2020.
After the appointment of a woman to the top did not come to fruition, Michael Vassiliadis made himself available for the post. The head of the third-largest mining, chemical and energy union (IG BCE) did it “out of responsibility,” as he says, in order to fill the post appropriately. He had only been confirmed at the head of IG BCE last autumn. But the services union Verdi blocked the appointment of the politically moderate Vassiliadis, who is said to be too little left-wing. Ironic volte: The new candidate Yasmin Fahimi is his partner.
The head of the DGB is often referred to as “Germany’s top trade unionist,” but that’s wrong. Trade unions primarily conduct collective bargaining, the umbrella organization DGB does not. Above all, it is the mouthpiece of its eight member unions, who should pool their interests and represent them with power to the outside world. That’s why power-conscious workers’ representatives like Christiane Benner often prefer to head for an individual trade union.
The DGB boss speaks for almost six million members of the individual unions. However, their number has been declining for many years – as has the number of people who are paid according to tariffs in Germany. Despite numerous committed statements, even the outgoing DGB boss Hoffmann could not change anything. There is also criticism of Hoffmann from the individual trade unions. One influential union leader complains that the trade union federation must be much more present in public and in politics. Now it’s up to Yasmin Fahimi to show how she wants to do it.