Free Workers' Union
The Free Workers' Union (German: Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-Union or Freie ArbeiterInnen-Union; abbreviated FAU) is an anarcho-syndicalist union in Germany and Switzerland. History The FAU sees itself in the tradition of the Free Workers' Union of Germany (German: Freie Arbeiter Union Deutschlands; FAUD), the largest anarcho-syndicalist union in Germany until it disbanded as a formal organization in 1933 to avoid repression by the National Socialist regime which had come into power that year. The FAU was founded in 1977, and grew consistently through the 1990s. Now, the FAU consists of just under 40 groups, organized locally and by branch of trade. It rejects hierarchical organizations and political representation and believes in the concept of federalism; most decisions are made by the local unions. The purpose of the federalist organization is to coordinate strikes, campaigns and actions, and for communication. It has 800 to 1000 members, organized in the various local unions. The FAU publishes the bimonthly anarcho-syndicalist newspaper Direkte Aktion and pamphlets on current and historical topics. Because it supports the classical concept of the abolition of the wage system, the FAU was monitored until 2011 by the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution). The FAU was disaffiliated by the International Workers' Association in 2016, and became one of the founding members of the International Confederation of Labour (ICL) in 2018. Labor disputes Delivery industry and gig economy The FAU is now also used as a form of representation and organisation by workers in the gig economy, such as workers in online food delivery services. At the end of 2016, the FAU, together with a number of other unions, launched an international network of delivery workers. In Berlin, the FAU founded a special section called "Deliverunion" in mid-2017, in which drivers of the companies Deliveroo and Foodora, among others, organised themselves. Drivers of various services also subsequently organised themselves in other cities such as Leipzig, Dresden and Hamburg. In June 2017, FAU demonstrators unloaded scrap bicycles in front of Deliveroo's Berlin headquarters in this context to protest against the working conditions of the company's bike messengers. In Leipzig, FAU 2020 was in a prolonged dispute with the company Durstexpress. In 2021, the FAU Berlin supported a widely publicised wildcat strike by workers at the delivery service Gorillas with solidarity actions, FAU unions in Leipzig and Magdeburg were involved in various conflicts with Domino's Pizza. In 2022, the FAU Dresden announced that it was currently supporting members of the delivery service Flink in conflicts. The FAU repeatedly emphasises that migrants in particular are specifically recruited for companies in the sector and that dependencies, poor knowledge of the legal situation and language barriers are used there for the systematic violation of labour rights. Further industrial action in migrant sectors In 2014, members of the "Foreigner Section" of the FAU Berlin started an industrial action under the slogan "Mall of Shame" against contractors and subcontractors who were in charge of the Mall of Berlin construction project. Specifically, this