Union of Mining and Energy

The Union of Mining and Energy (, IGBE) was a trade union in West Germany which existed from 1946 until 1997.

History In the early 20th-century, there were several miners' unions in Germany, the most important being the Union of Miners of Germany. All German unions were forcibly dissolved by the Nazis in 1933.

The union was founded in 1946, covering only the British Occupation Zone. From 1948, it began covering the mining industry in the whole of West Germany and adopted the name IG Bergbau. In 1960 the union added "and energy" to its name.

In 1990, the East German Wismut Industrial Union, representing uranium miners, merged into IGBE. By 1996, the union had 335,317 members, but 49% of these were not active - either retired or unemployed. In 1997, the union merged with the IG Chemie-Papier-Keramik, and Gewerkschaft Leder, to form the IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie.

Leadership Presidents 1946: August Schmidt 1953: Heinrich Imig 1956: Heinrich Gutermuth 1964: Walter Arendt 1969: Adolf Schmidt 1985: Heinz-Werner Meyer 1990: Hans Berger

Vice presidents 1946: Willy Agatz 1948: Heinrich Imig 1953: Heinrich Gutermuth 1956: Fritz Dahlmann 1964: Heinz Oskar Vetter 1969: Karl van Bark 1971: Helmut Gelhorn 1978: Hans Alker 1984: Heinz-Werner Meyer 1985: Walter Beer 1988: Hans Berger 1990: Klaus Südhofer

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