The Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-Union (FAU) is an anarcho-syndicalist union in Germany, and a part of the International Workers Association (IWA). Fellow Worker (FW) Chris from Hamburg and I were elected by the IWW’s German Language Area Membership Regional Organizing Committee (GLAMROC) to represent the IWW International Solidarity Committee at the annual FAU conference held this past June in Germany.

The FAU was founded in 1977 and has syndicates in almost every larger city in Germany. The FAU follows the same principles of syndicalism and grassroots democracy as the IWW, favoring direct action and struggles for a future without wage labor. Due to this, the IWW and FAU have in general a friendly relationship to each other. For example, we have some dual-carders and this past July, members of the FAU supported the European Work People’s College with a workshop on their strike experiences in Dresden (see “Work People’s College Europe: A Huge Success,” September 2014 IW, page 1).

The FAU conference went for three days and members from almost every FAU branch attended. Besides us, there were guests from the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) of Spain, the Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (SAC) from Sweden, Confédération nationale du travail France (CNT-F), the Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI) from Italy and an anarchosyndicalist initiative from Croatia. We were welcomed warmly by everyone and all international guests did not have to pay for food or accommodation.

I would like to mention three things we found remarkable about this congress and the work of the FAU in general:

First, all guests were allowed to attend all meetings, the workshop and the final referendum (decisions affecting the FAU as a whole are made once a year during the congress). This form of transparency gave us deep insight not only into internal structures of the FAU but also into the political factions and discussions. Especially interesting was the intense debate about leaving the IWA, which has tried to restrict the FAU’s cooperation with other unions over the last few years. Although the motion failed in the end, the FAU members decided to go on with their international work as they think it is necessary and to take the risk of being excluded from the IWA.

Secondly, the FAU has internal structures that work very well. Without going into much detail, we were impressed not only by how well-attended the congress was, but also by the massive turnout in referendum (every syndicate turned in their votes). Also, in Berlin the FAU is particularly strong and has a relatively big “foreigners section,” which tries to support foreign workers by giving advice on work and social rights.

Third, in general the FAU looks for closer cooperation with the IWW—both at an international level, but especially with the GLAMROC section there is great interest in the IWW Organizer Trainings, in the work of our Anti-Patriarchy Committee, and in the coordination of working together, and learning from each other regarding organizing in specific sectors (health care being one of them). At least FW Chris and I think cooperation would in fact be fruitful, especially in learning more about the FAU’s well-working inner structures. At the writing of this article, two IWW members from GLAMROC planned on attending the next regional conference of the FAU as well!

Transcribed by Juan Conatz