At the Daimler plant in Stuttgart, right-wing candidates have expanded their influence in the works council election. Employees of a controversial list were also selected at other Mercedes plants.
Daimler plant in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim
Tuesday, 06.03.2018
19:52 clock
In the works council of the Mercedes parent plant in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim has again drafted a radical right-wing list. In the future, the list “Center Automobile” will have six representatives – two more than before, the works council of the plant announced on the basis of the provisional voting result. A large majority of mandates brought the labor union IG metal,
Employee representatives had before the election in the factory with about 22,000 employees shown concerned, “The works council strictly distances itself from all right-wing and neo-Nazi ideas,” it said in a statement.
With a turnout of 63.6 percent now accounted for 13.2 percent on the controversial center list, which sees itself as an “opposition union”. She came with about 1800 votes in second place. 75.7 percent of the vote was won by IG Metall, which now places 37 of the 47 works councils – three more than in the past.
Leading the list of centers is Oliver Hilburger, who has been working for Daimler for some time as a works council member. He and his colleagues used to play in bands of the far-right scene. According to Hilger’s online presence, Hilburger also spoke at a right-wing event Pegida in Dresden,
Zentrum claims to have the goal of fighting IG Metall. In other Mercedes plants, representatives of the list were able to win seats in the committees in works council elections. In Sindelfingen and Rastatt the list was the first time – with two or three representatives. (Read the interview with the sociologist Klaus Dörre here: “Why do workers choose so often right?“)
“We are watching the development closely,” he had said Daimler Group declared to the right works councils. “We stand by the free democratic basic order and expect of all coworkers that they live tolerance in their daily work.”