German trade union implements wage cuts at Opel

[DainBramaged]

Last week the German trade union IG Metall (IGM), supported by the local works council, imposed a wage cut for workers at the Opel plant in Bochum. Opel is a European subsidiary of General Motors.

Opel had illegally refused to carry out a pay increase of 2.1 percent that was due to start February 1. Management then appealed to the trade union to ratify the withholding of the raise. IGM immediately signaled its readiness to agree, but was forced to hold a ballot following a storm of protest from its members.

During the vote many workers complained about “inconsistencies” and “manipulations”. According to some workers several hundred IGM members did not receive voting forms and were unable to vote. The counting of the ballot was repeatedly postponed.

Last week, IGM announced a slim “yes” vote, with 1,191 members voting for the pay cut and 961 against. In spite of the narrow victory and reports of voting irregularities, IGM official Oliver Burkhard claimed that “a majority of employees have voted for this contract”.

This is a lie. Of the 5,000 Opel Bochum workers approximately 4,500 are members of the IGM. Of these, only 2,133 participated in the vote, with IGM invalidating an additional 31 ballots. This means that only 26.4 percent of union members voted in favour of the deal. Nearly three-quarters of the union membership expressed their rejection of the pay cut or their disgust with IGM by either voting against the concessions or abstaining from the vote.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/opel-m01.shtml

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