30.05.2018 Ι 8.84 Euro per hour – the statutory minimum wage. So far, there are no more than 80 percent of the employees of the automotive supplier Boryszew in Prenzlau. They want to change that at last. Together with IG Metall, they are now fighting for a collective agreement. Today they have already put pressure on them with their second warning strike.
140 employees of the automotive supplier Boryszew in Prenzlau in the Uckermark district of Brandenburg have today given a warning strike for four hours in order to enforce a collective agreement. 80 percent of employees currently only receive the legal minimum wage of 8.84 euros an hour.
For the little money the employees produce in a new glossy hall monthly nearly one million shiny chrome plastic parts such as door handles and moldings, among others for VW, Audi and Daimler. For the new building of the hall, the Polish Boryszew Group has received 4 million euros in state subsidies – and the Brandenburg Future Prize 2017, also because of the “high appreciation of the employees” and the “due recognition of their achievements”.
Management refuses appreciation
8.84 euros an hour – this is the real “esteem” for the vast majority of employees, including many women. The “due recognition of their achievements” they now have to fight for themselves. In 2015, they elected a works council. More and more people joined IG Metall. In February, IG Metall Ostbrandenburg finally called on the management to negotiate.
“We want more money at last, we scrubbed all those years and broke our backs – and hoped that we would finally get decent salaries,” says Heike Lange. The 46-year-old started here in 2006 for 5.50 euros. She does not want to leave Prenzlau. She has her friends and her garden here. She is not afraid to stand here with her name. “It was time we got a works council and get a collective agreement.”
But the management does not want to know anything about a collective agreement. She rejects the trial with IG Metall. Even a first warning strike in early May, the management did not come to their senses.
“The employer knows very well that a collective agreement is nothing bad.Boryszew has six locations in the Federal Republic, some of which are bound by collective agreements – including collective bargaining with the IG Metall,” said Peter Ernsdorf, authorized representative of IG Metall Ostbrandenburg.
Solidarity from everywhere – VW’ler drive 400 kilometers to Prenzlau
But the employees can not be beaten. Their determination to quit work for four hours demonstrates their determination. And they receive support: Solidarity declarations come from politics – from the mayor of Prenzlau and from the state – and from other businesses nationwide.
A delegation from VW in Zwickau even traveled 400 kilometers to demonstrate their solidarity with their colleagues at their supplier. We know each other: The metalworkers of Boryszew were at the big rally at the beginning of last year at the beginning of the metal bargaining round in Chemnitz, out of pure solidarity.
The management had still tried to dissuade the employees from the warning strike. Via notices in the company, she offered that there should be wage increases without IG Metall. For Friday – on the Brückentag – she has invited the employees to a meeting.
The employees actually want to go there – but in red IG metal T-shirts. “We have a very self-confident workforce here, and we built this together over years,” says metalworker Peter Ernstdorf. “Employees are fully aware that the employer will not offer them anything reliable and that there is only security with a collective agreement”.