The General German Civil Service Federation (, ADB) was a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representing

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

s in Germany. In 1922, the

German Civil Service Federation The German Civil Service Association () is a national trade union centre in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the ...

(DBB) opposed a strike by railway workers. In protest, the federation's more left-wing affiliates left and on 8 June founded the "General German Civil Service Federation". The new federation soon negotiated a partnership agreement with the

General German Trade Union Federation The General German Trade Union Federation (, ADGB) was a confederation of German trade unions in Germany founded during the Weimar Republic. It was founded in 1919 and was initially powerful enough to organize a general strike in 1920 against a rig ...

, and the

AfA-Bund The General Federation of Free Employees (, AfA-Bund) was an amalgamation of various socialist-oriented trade unions of technical and administrative employees in the Weimar Republic. It was one of the founding members of the Iron Front on 16 Decem ...

. It also worked closely with the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD), but because some SPD supporters remained part of the DBB, the SPD only recognised the new federation in 1930. The federation was led by Albert Falkenberg and published the journal ''Mitteilungsblatt der Gewerkschaflichen Beamtenzentrale''. From 1925, it was affiliated to the International Federation of Civil Servants. Membership of the federation was initially 350,000 but, due to reductions of the size of the German civil service, by 1932, it was down to 171,000. Once a Nazi government was elected, the federation anticipated that it would be banned, and so pre-empted this by dissolving, on 6 April 1933.{{cite book , last1=Potthoff , first1=Heinrich , title=Freie Gewerkschaften 1918-1933 , date=1987 , publisher=Droste As of 1928, the following unions were affiliated to the ADB, some only in respect of part of their membership: * Central Union of Employees * Central Union of Machinists and Stokers * General German Postal Union * German Musicians' Union * General Union of German Bank Employees * German Foremen's Union * German Workers' Union * National Union of German Administrative Officials * National Union of German Municipal Officials * Union of Administrative Officials * Union of German Judicial and Criminal Justice Officials * Union of German Professional Firefighters * Union of German Teachers * Union of Municipal and State Workers * Union of Prison, Criminal Police, and Educational Officials * Union of Saxon State Officials * Union of Technical Employees and Officials * Union of Thuringian Police Officers * United Union of German Railway Workers

References

Organizations based in the Weimar Republic Trade unions disestablished in 1933 Trade unions established in 1922 1922 establishments in Germany Defunct trade unions of Germany Civil service trade unions