Fabrikarbeiter, Gewerkschaften und Funktionäre im „entwickelten“ Sozialismus. Die Aushandlung von Arbeiterinteressen am Beispiel des bulgarischen Stahlwerks „Kremikovci“
Workers in the Enterprise, Trade Unions and Functionaries in the “Developed” Socialism. Protect the Interests of Workers in the Example of the Steel Plant “Kremikovci”

Summary/Abstract: This study focuses on the place and role of the socialist trade unions in labour life of employees in the largest metallurgical enterprise in Bulgaria. The strategies and practices of workers’ “Kremikovci” in relation to the protection of their rights and interests, legally and through the use of social capital are analysed. Material collected shows that the brigades are at the center of conflict resolution during the manufacturing process as well as in the GDR. Brigade members initiated strikes, generally related with their dissatisfaction with loss of pay. Another strategy was to seek assistance from their fellow villagers to resolve conflicts against high-ranking members of the Communist Party and dissatisfaction with workplace conditions. Actually helping people who came from the same village was a way to deal with the transition from traditional to civil society in Bulgaria at the junction of the 19th and 20th centuries.

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