Tag: IG Metall

What’s a Works Council?

 

It’s not a “workers’ council.” The word “works” here means “factory” or “facility.” In English we use the word in names like the Bath Iron Works, a big shipbuilding facility in Maine.

Works councils were established in Germany through a 1920 law, specifically as an alternative to the workers’ councils that had sprung up in many factories after World War I. Workers attempted to take direct democratic control of the plants through the workers’ councils, on their way to a revolution that would take over the government. That uprising was thwarted.

The works councils, then, were the German government’s attempt at pacifying militant workers. There were mass demonstrations by workers who opposed the works councils law, charging it would hinder workers’ independent organization. Forty-two were killed by police and a state of emergency was declared, but the law went into effect.

The works councils were abolished by the Nazis but reinstated after World War II under the military government of the United States and its allies. Continue reading “What’s a Works Council?”

Labor Notes Auto Workers Try a New Angle at Volkswagen

Auto Workers Try a New Angle at Volkswagen

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VW workers staged a several-hour “warning strike” in Zwickau, Germany, on May 13, demanding a 5.5 percent raise. German plants have a dual representation system with both a union, which can strike, and a works council, which is pledged not to. The United Auto Workers have asked VW to agree to a similar set-up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Photo: I. Pastierovic/IG Metall.

The United Auto Workers, so long frustrated in their attempts to organize foreign-owned auto plants in the U.S., may have found a different way in.

When Volkswagen began building its VW Passat in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2011, and union organizers began talking with workers, UAW President Bob King also sought help from the metalworkers union in Germany, IG Metall. Continue reading “Labor Notes Auto Workers Try a New Angle at Volkswagen”

USA: Stop Siemens union-busting

ActNOW -A LabourStart campaign

USA: Stop Siemens union-busting

In partnership with the United Steelworkers, representing 1.2 million active and retired members in North America.

Siemens, the global engineering giant, likes to say it’s a socially responsible company. It even just signed an agreement with labour organizations committing to respect workers’ rights around the globe. So what does Siemens do within days after signing this agreement? It launches a vicious union busting campaign. In Maryland, USA, Siemens has hired a top-dollar anti-union consultant and waged a campaign that’s included intimidation, surveillance, threats involving termination, and prohibiting Siemens employees from even talking about the union. The workers at Siemens in Maryland are fighting back. They’re seeking to organize with the United Steelworkers and are reaching out to unions around the world for support. Continue reading “USA: Stop Siemens union-busting”

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