steiger

A Steiger (literally "climber") is the title of a mining foreman or mine manager, used in German-speaking Europe and Poland. He bears responsibility for part of the mine and the people subordinated to him. The name is derived from the former role of a Steiger, who continually had to climb into and out of the pit. The Steiger is celebrated in a very popular German mining song the so-called Steigerlied (Glückauf, Glückauf; der Steiger kommt …).