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"I have always done my work with joy, no matter where I was, at the workbench, as a workers councillor, as secretary in the ÖGB, as chairman of the metal and miners, as president of the ÖGB or as president of the National Council," said Anton Benya on the occasion of his retirement in 1987.
He himself would never have expected to hold the position of "union shop steward" and "works council of the nation" for so long. He laid the foundation for this back in the late 1920s as a shop steward.
He joined the apprentice section of the metalworkers' association and became an apprentice shop steward in the company. After completing his apprenticeship, he lost his job during the economic crisis of the interwar period. After a few months of unemployment, he found employment at the Ingelen company, where he was elected to the works council on December 21, 1933. He was only 21 years old.
"No Wild Actions" in February 1934
The young Benya took up his activities as a works council member in difficult times. In March 1933, the Austrofascists had taken advantage of the crisis in the rules of procedure to shut down parliament. Less than a year later, on February 9, 1934, Benya took part in a works council meeting at which the course of action against the authoritarian government was discussed.
The resolution was "no wildcat actions." Strikes would have to be conducted centrally and work would only be allowed to stop if there was a definite call for it. Things turned out quite differently: on February 12, 1934, workers took up arms, and the government responded with the federal army and well-armed police.
Benya in prison
On February 12, 1934, Benya went to the meeting place of the Social Democratic Wehrbund, the Republican Schutzbund, and learned that the police had sealed off the armories, thus any resistance was impossible. On February 17, 1934, the fighting ended. The winners, the fascist regime, cracked down: The free trade unions were dissolved and their assets confiscated, 21 leaders were executed and thousands arrested - including Anton Benya.
The accusation was that as a member of the Republican Protection League he had taken part in the February struggles. He remained in custody until April 5, 1934. By then, the decree was already in force that stripped all Social Democratic store stewards of their mandates - including Benya.
“Elect as store stewards only those colleagues who have remained true to their free trade union convictions and who fight with us for the workers' rights to freedom.” - Slogan of the illegal free trade unions (1934-1938)
Freedom rights of the workers
Hardly released from prison, he joined the now illegally operating free trade union and its "irreconcilable struggle against fascism." The movement achieved that in 1936 works council elections were held. These were not free elections; the candidates were selected in agreement with the Austrofascist "Fatherland Front" party and had to be members of the united trade union organized by the Estates.
The slogan of the illegal trade unions was: "Elect as store stewards only those colleagues who have remained true to their free trade unionism and fight with us for the freedom rights of the workers." One of the elected store stewards was Anton Benya. However, he was only able to stand by the workers at Ingelen for a few weeks, because on February 9, 1937, he was arrested again.
This time the charge was high treason. The facts were that he had collected membership dues for the illegal free trade unions. The proceedings were dropped three weeks before Hiltler entered Austria. Benya was released on February 18, 1938.
Resistance
At the beginning of April 1938, Benya had to watch as many trade unionists were once again arrested and deported to concentration camps by the Nazis. He found work again at Ingelen and was classified as indispensable, so he could not be drafted into the Wehrmacht.
The National Socialists offered him representation in the company. He refused to cooperate with the Nazis and was thus not a works council member for the first time in his working life.workbench
Insert Photo: workbench (see folder)
Caption: Anton Benya at the workbench of the Ingelen company (war years) © ÖGB
End of the war
During the war, parts of the company were relocated to Tyrol and Benya had to change his place of residence. After the end of the war, he and some colleagues made their way across the zonal borders to Vienna: The Ingelen company was still standing and the old colleagues greeted Benya with the sentence: "Anton, we waited for your return with the works council election." He was once again elected chairman of the works council.
Insert Photo: women
Caption:Women© ÖGB
“I was a brash works councilor at the time, for whom the pace at which union demands were met was naturally much too slow.” (Anton Benya)
The brash works council
Times were hard, electricity and gas kept failing, there was hardly any food, clothing or heating material, and only those with money or barter goods could buy on the black market. "I was a brash store steward at the time, for whom the pace at which union demands were met was naturally much too slow," Benya wrote in his book My Way.
Insert Photo: Central Executive Committee (see folder)
Caption: Central Executive Committee of the Metal and Mining Trade Union (1949) © PRO-GE
Stone by stone
Karl Maisel, then chairman of the metalworkers and Minister of Social Affairs, told Benya, "If things are going too slowly for you, go to the ÖGB and see that things are done right there!" Benya transferred full-time to the trade union federation as secretary on May 1, 1948.
“Unlike others, I take a stone out of the wall once there, once there. And then when I run against it, it falls.” (Anton Benya)
He quickly learned that it was not easy to push through union demands, but he was a good negotiator. He revealed his secret in an interview with the Kurier in 1987: "Unlike others, I take a stone out of the wall once here, once there. And then when I run up against it, it falls."
Benya formula
He used this tactic in all his functions, including as chairman of the Metal and Mining Workers' Union (1959-1977). In 1962, collective bargaining stalled. Some 210,000 workers went on strike for the abolition of women's wages in the collective agreements and were successful. Benya, however, was still no friend of strikes. He preferred to negotiate collective agreement wages on the basis of the so-called Benya formula:
A wage settlement should compensate for the inflation of the last twelve months and secure a share of the increased labor productivity for employees' incomes.
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Caption: Anton Benya speaks at youth congress (1963) © Kammler/ÖGB-Archiv
"Works Council of the Nation”
At the 5th Trade Union Congress in 1963, the delegates elected Benya as ÖGB President. For 24 years he was at the head of the trade union movement, between 1971 and 1986 he was also First President of the National Council; now he was the "works councilor of the nation" or, as one magazine wrote, the "helmsman who steers the ship of state with great experience".
“No high-pressure politics, no lightning victories, no defeat of the enemy, but slow, systematic adjustment, step by step.” (Anton Benya)
The direction was clear: reduction of working hours, full employment, qualification of skilled workers, humanization of the working world, better working conditions and more say in the company. He himself described his policy as follows: "No high-pressure policy, no lightning victories, no defeat of the opponent, but slow, systematic adjustment, step by step."
Insert photo: farewell speech (see folder)
Caption: ÖGB President Anton Benya during his farewell speech at the ÖGB Federal Congress (1987) © ÖGB
The farewell
At the 11th ÖGB Federal Congress in 1987, Anton Benya stepped down as ÖGB president. In his farewell speech he said, "Let us remain as we are, people with faults, people with merits, all together trade unionists serving the labor movement." He remained connected to the labor movement after his retirement, attending meetings and events.
He gave his last speech on July 5, 2001, at Heldenplatz in Vienna, at an ÖGB demonstration - namely, when he saw his life's work threatened.
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Caption: Anton Benya speaks at the demonstration for democracy (2001) Ulrich/ÖGB © ÖGB
We are coming again!
Around 50,000 people protested against the pension reform planned by the black-blue government and against the end of self-determination for the insured in the health insurance funds. Benya reminded in his speech: "What is being done now already happened 70 years ago (note: he was referring to Austrofascism). Night fell over Austria. At that time we said, we will come again. And we have come again. Today, as then, it is true: we will come again."
His last journey
On December 5, 2001, the "works councilor of the nation" Anton Benya died. He never forgot his roots as a worker and as a works councilor and demonstrated handshake quality during all his functions. Anton Benya's name is forever linked with the Austrian trade union movement.