·
Più di 5000 lavoratori
della fabbrica Forest Volkswagen a Bruxelles sono in sciopero da venerdì, hanno
inoltre occupato parti della fabbrica per non permettere alle auto finite di
essere trasportate fuori da essa e per fermare ogni smantellamento delle
macchine.
·
I dirigenti della VW
infatti hanno deciso di trasferire l’intera produzione del loro modello Golf
dalla fabbrica di Bruxelles alla Germania come parte di un pacchetto di tagli
estensivi. La motivazione è stata quella della “ottimizzazione” delle capacità.
Come
risultato, 4000 dei 5400 lavoratori rischiano di perdere il loro lavoro.
·
I
lavoratori hanno reagito alla notizia bloccando la strada principale nel quartiere
periferico Vorst di Bruxelles per ore con barricate infuocate. I
sindacati hanno chiamato dei picchetti a disporsi intorno alla fabbrica
·
La
precondizione principale alla decisione di trasferimento è stato l’aumento
delle ore di lavoro – da 28,8 a 33 ore a settimana senza totale compenso
salariale – concordato dall’IG Metall per i lavoratori tedeschi VW. In cambio i
dirigenti della VW hanno promesso di aumentare le capacità di produzione nelle
loro fabbriche tedesche.
·
Il
dirigente della VW Jung afferma che l’azienda deve far fronte all’enorme
sovracapacità dell’Europa occidentale, dove il mercato automobilistico è in
larga parte saturo, ciò spiega l’estesa ristrutturazione della VW nella sua
fabbrica tedesca. Un’ importante componente in questo senso è il taglio di
20000 posti di lavoro in Germania, che sono stati effettuati già in larga
parte.
·
Martedì
il sindacato cattolico CSC (Confederazione dei Sindacati Cattolici) ha
pubblicato un rapporto nel suo sito dove si afferma che il costo del lavoro è già
stato tagliato del 5,63 % e sarà abbassato ancora del 10,7% entro Luglio 2007:
per questo la società non può giustificare i tagli con l’alto costo del lavoro.
·
Negli
ultimi 10 anni 3000 lavoratori sono stati licenziati nella Renault belga e
nello stesso periodo GM a Anversa ne ha licenziati 4000.
·
Mercoledì
dai 1200 ai 1500 lavoratori dei servizi pubblici hanno scioperato in Belgio
chiedendo un aumento di salario di 20 euro, dove molti di loro non raggiungono
i 1000 euro al mese.
·
Il
sindacato delle ferrovie SIC (Sindacato indipendente dei Ferrovieri) sta
portando avanti uno sciopero nella stazione principale di Anversa, con 2 terzi
dei treni coinvolti. I ferrovieri stanno protestando contro un nuovo programma
che peggiorerà le condizioni di lavoro.
·
Inoltre,
i controllori e i tecnici di volo hanno scioperato mercoledì per un’ora a Liegi
e Charleroi per protestare contro le cattive condizioni di lavoro. Kraft Foods
Belgium (1700 lavoratori) vuole infatti tagliare la forza lavoro di 93 posti e
portare la produzione in Francia e Germania.
Strike and occupation at
Volkswagen works in Belgium
By Helmut Arens
23 November 2006
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More than 5,000 workers at the Forest Volkswagen factory in Brussels have
been on strike since last Friday. The workers also occupied parts of the
factory at the start of the week in order to prevent finished cars from being
transported out of the plant and to stop any dismantling of machines. On Wednesday morning the workers
held a mass meeting at the main factory gate to decide on further action.
There has been speculation
over the future of the Volkswagen factory in Brussels for many months and rumours of
plans for job cuts were repeatedly dismissed by the company management in Wolfsburg, Germany. Then last Friday it was announced that VW management had to
decided to shift the entire production of its Volkswagen Golf model from its Brussels factory
back to Germany as part of a package of extensive cuts. The move was aimed at
“optimizing” capacities
by dividing production of the Golf model between the German works in Wolfsburg and Mosel in the state of Saxony.
On Wednesday a speaker for
the company declared that the measure was the only way of standing up to the
pressure of international competition. As a result, 4,000 of the total 5,400 workforce in Brussels are
threatened with the loss of their jobs. Apart from the Golf model only relatively few of the smaller
Volkswagen Polo are produced at the factory.
Volkswagen workers in Brussels reacted angrily to the announcement and on Friday night blocked the
major road in the Brussels suburb of Vorst for several hours with burning barricades. It is expected that the
protest actions will continue throughout this week. On Monday trade unions
called for pickets to set up around the factory.
When a company
representative tried to address and appease workers by holding out the prospect
of increasing production of the Polo model—which is currently produced in the
Spanish town of Pamplona—workers reacted with disbelief and rejection.
“They are trying to play off one workforce against the other,” one Belgian
trade unionist told the press.
Although VW management is
currently ruling out a full closure of the factory in Brussels, many workers are convinced that
such a move is entirely possible.
The German industrial and
engineering union IG Metall and the works council in VW’s main headquarters in Wolfsburg have played a particularly
despicable role in these developments. The most important precondition for the decision by
management to switch production of the Golf model from Belgium to Germany has
been the extension of working hours—from 28.8 to 33 hours per week, without
full wage compensation—agreed by the IG Metall for German Volkswagen workers.
In exchange, VW management promised to increase production capacities in its
German factories. The
consequences of this deal are now being felt by workers in Belgium.
There can be no credence
given to the claim made by works council chairman Bernd Osterloh, who is also
chairman of the European company works councils, that the announcement over the
future of the Brussels factory came to him as a complete surprise.
Osterloh tried to justify himself in a press release, stating, “It was never
the intention—and this was also discussed with the executive committee—to raise
working times in west German factories at the expense of plants in other
locations.” The aim was rather “to fairly distribute market chances and risks
within the framework of our international work.” According to the Financial
Times Germany, Belgian union representatives have accused the German
trade union of betraying workers in other European plants.
The extent to which the
works council in Wolfsburg has been literally bought off by Volkswagen
management has become clear in the course of the past few months. In addition
to his regular salary the former head of the works council, Klaus Volkert,
received a bonus and an additional special bonus amounting to €693,000 per
year—nearly €60,000 a month! Luxury trips were also organized for a number of
members of the works council, including visits to brothels. Klaus Volkert was arrested
in Germany a few days ago. According to press reports he
is being held on charges of obstructing legal investigations into the payments
made at Volkswagen.
It is clear from the
arrogance displayed by company management that it is fully aware it has the
works council in its pocket. Volkswagen
executive Reinhard Jung stressed that the transfer of production to Germany would not mean an end to
rationalization measures at German plants. Volkswagen, he said, must react to the enormous
overcapacity that exists in Western
Europe, where the automobile market has been largely
saturated. “For this reason Volkswagen introduced an extensive restructuring
program at its German works. An important component is the dismantling of up to
20,000 jobs in Germany, which has already largely taken place. Further optimizations are planned in Germany,” Jung stated.
Although workers are being
affected at all VW plants, the European works council refuses to organize a
common struggle and instead seeks to pit one plant or location against the
other.
The anger of many workers is therefore directed not only against the
Volkswagen management but also against the works council representatives. They have expressed their concern
and outrage in a number of statements made to the Belgian media. Workers have described the
catastrophic effects that the loss of so many jobs would have for a region
already hard hit by unemployment. The bitter response from one worker
was, “Nothing has happened since Friday. We do not see why we should not recommence
work.”
On Tuesday, the Christian trade union CSC (Confédération
of the Syndicats Chrétiens) posted a report on its web site headlined “Social
disaster at VW in Forest,” which stated in part, “Labour costs had already been
cut by 5.63 percent and were due to be further lowered by around 10.7 percent
by July 1, 2007. Thus the company cannot claim that labour costs were a reason
(for the production cuts at the factory), the same applies to productivity and
flexibility.”
Workers from a number of
auto subsidiary firms such as Meritor, Johnsson Control, Alcoa, as well as Automotive Park have joined in the demonstrations
in front of the VW factory gates. The loss of production of the Golf model
threatens all of these companies with the loss of thousands of jobs.
During the course of the past 10 years 3,000 workers have been made
redundant at Renault in Belgium, and during the same period General Motors (OPEL) in Antwerp cut
back its staff by around 4,000 workers.
Social relations are
currently very tense throughout Belgium. On Wednesday, 1,200 to 1,500 public service workers
demonstrated outside the Treasury in Belgium. The
workers—mainly from social service offices and hospitals—were demanding wage
increases of €20. Most of them currently earn less than €1,000 per month.
The railway workers union SIC (Syndicat Indéependant pour Cheminots) is
carrying out strike action at the main station in Antwerp. Two
thirds of all trains have been hit by the strike since Monday. The railway
workers are protesting against new working schedules, which the SNCB (Belgian
Railways) is planning to introduce in the middle of December. The new schedules
are bound up with worsened working conditions. It is quite possible that other depots will
join the action in solidarity.
In addition, air traffic controllers and technicians struck yesterday
for one hour in Liège and Charleroi (Wallonia), in order to protest against bad working conditions. Kraft Foods
Belgium (1,700 workers) is seeking to cut its workforce by 93 jobs and shift production
to France and Germany.
Against this background of
broad social conflicts the Belgium government, Volkswagen management
and the trade unions are doing everything they can to keep the strike at
Volkswagen under control and prevent the dispute from erupting into a major
social confrontation.