Former SPD secretary general and SPD executive board member Yasmin Fahimi has been elected DGB chairwoman by the DGB executive board. That an SPD member becomes chair of the DGB (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund /german federation of trade unions) is nothing new, but is tradition in the leadership of the unions. The party card is obligatory for a union boss. The final decision, which can be considered a formality, will follow in May at the DGB national congress. The party book enables a high function in the union and a high function in the union enables greater influence in politics. In Fahimi's case, one can see very well how this worked. For example, she managed to become secretary general for a short time and later became state secretary in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs thanks to her party colleague Andrea Nahles.
As a member of the SPD's federal executive committee, she was deeply involved in drafting the coalition agreement and, among other things, negotiated the attack on the 8-hour work day in her Labor working group. That Fahimi now heads the German unions is helpful to the current federal government's plans to quell opposition to anti-worker policies. Through Fahimi, the SPD can channel workers' anger in ways that are comfortable for it. The SPD already used this tactic under Schröder to push through Agenda 2021. SPD officials who lead the unions make the "compromises" and implement their party's policies.
Accordingly, there has already been a lot of resentment among the union base that the party and union careerist Fahimi has been put in charge. She has no ties to the workers and is known for implementing her party's policies. A side effect of this tactic is that workers are turning away from unions. It's a vicious cycle the SPD is leading there. With every measure it pushes through, the unions lose prestige and members. In this way, however, they can do even less and the attacks on the working class can be pushed through even more easily.
