30.05.2018 Ι Fusion in the railway industry: Siemens Mobility and Alstom go together. A Europe-wide Day of Action today saw thousands of workers joining for collateral and guarantees for all sites in Europe. So far, the companies have made specific commitments only for the German and French locations.
Thousands of employees of Alstom and Siemens Mobility, the railway industry arm of Siemens, entered a job today on a European day of action for collateral. Some 9,000 employees were involved in Germany, including Berlin, Erlangen, Essen, Krefeld, Munich, Salzgitter and Wegberg-Wildenrath. Tomorrow will follow the employees of Siemens Mobility in Brunswick.
At the end of the year, the two railway technology manufacturers want to merge – and many employees continue to feel insecure. They fear that the announced synergies of the merger will eliminate jobs in Europe.
Concrete pledges for jobs and locations for up to four years have only been made in Germany and France so far. In Germany, IG Metall had already enforced a merger agreement at the end of last year.
Siemens employees in Krefeld during the European Action Day.
However, only about half of the approximately 40,000 employees of Siemens Mobility and Alstom in Europe work in Germany and France. The European unions therefore demand comparable collateral for all European locations.
For secure jobs and investments – politics demanded
At the day of action, IndustriAll, the umbrella organization of European industrial unions, has called. The unions call for Alstom and Siemens Mobility to begin negotiations on securing locations and jobs in all countries. The merged company should not be unilaterally oriented to the financial markets, but should have a clear long-term industrial orientation. Investments in research and development as well as in the qualification of employees are to be secured in the long term. In addition, the merger aims to safeguard workers’ rights to participation and participation.
At the end of May, the European Works Council of Siemens – the Siemens Europe Committee (SEC) – had demanded in a resolution “that the affected employees of the new company should not be fearing this merger, but jointly build the European champion for the world of mobility help.”
The SEC also sees the responsibility of the politicians in strengthening the European rail industry as a key industry against international competition in the long term.
“So far, there has been no clear commitment at all levels and industrial policy decisions for rail technology in Europe and Germany,” criticized Jürgen Kerner, principal cashier of IG Metall and member of the supervisory board of Siemens AG. “This attitude must change fundamentally, because the competition from the Far East is acting with strong political backing in the background.”
Now top discussions with the personnel management
The employee representatives now meet for top meetings with the personnel management of Alstom and Siemens. With the European Day of Action, the European workers want to send out a sign of solidarity: we stand for equal opportunities for all and we can not play off against each other.