18.06.2018 Ι Who is ill, who flies. Anyone who complains flies. They are cheated out of working hours and holidays. But who asks too often, flies. Among the 1200 temporary workers of the rental company DEKRA in the Mercedes plant Rastatt prevails a climate of fear. IG Metall is now tackling the grievances together with DEKRA temporary workers.
Temporary worker Walter W. * had an operation on his foot, was on sick leave – and promptly received a notice from his lending company, DEKRA Arbeit GmbH, after two days. Now he is unemployed. He had feared it. For months he came with pain to work at the Mercedes assembly plant in Rastatt – until the paramedic sent him to the doctor.
Hardly any of the 1,200 temporary workers here dare to “celebrate ill”. “If you report sick, call the medical service of DEKRA half an hour later and ask yourself,” explains a temporary worker, who sprained her finger at work and penciled herself. “You feel treated like cattle.”
Many take holidays when they are ill, so as not to lose their already temporary job.
IG Metall knows that from over 200 personal talks. In a “lightning” campaign, about 50 secretaries of IG Metall Baden-Wuerttemberg came to shift shifts outside the factory gates for three days, offered office hours for temporary workers in the vicinity of the works and visited them at home.
Climate of fear – cheating on holidays and working hours
The conclusion of the talks with the temporary workers: The work even at Mercedes is great. Contract workers are well paid here – thanks to a collective agreement of IG Metall and a works agreement there are more than 20 euros per hour – and they are treated well by the Mercedes superiors. Unlike their HR managers at their own company DEKRA. Here is a climate of fear.
And they are often cheated: holidays and working hours simply disappear from one month to the next. The examination of the often completely opaque and confused statements and timesheets systematically revealed irregularities. The peak was 14 days of vacation, which were canceled for no apparent reason at once.
Who asks, receives partly grotesque reasons. In the probationary period, there is less holiday, they told a young skilled worker, who had already booked his vacation – and suddenly had too few holidays for it. DEKRA explained to another contract worker quite naturally that his extra hours had been charged with bank holidays.
Most temporary workers do not dare to ask. If you ask too much, you risk a warning or immediate termination.
At least there will be no extension of the fixed-term employment contracts at DEKRA. Again, the IG Metall secretaries found irregularities. Contract extensions, for example, were falsified or hushed up, for instance by being backward-dated, forcing temporary workers to be taken over indefinitely. DEKRA admitted almost 40 such cases after repeated pressure from IG Metall.
Everyone out in September – without a concrete commitment
The uncertain future – that is the biggest burden for DEKRA contract workers. In September, for all time is over. Mercedes is converting part of the production. After four to six months of unemployment, it should then continue – for most, said DEKRA the loan workers at meetings in early June.
Concrete commitments did not exist, reported temporary workers at the factory gates. After all, they should “keep the factory cards and shoes.” Something written would be better. They do not understand why they all have to go. Some of them do not work in the affected assembly hall at all.
The regular employees at Mercedes are upset about what happened at DEKRA. Almost all have temporary workers as direct colleagues in their groups. “They worked just as well and brought the numbers as we do,” reads Tor 5.1. Or, “What concerns me as a regular employee?” These are people, and that is not part of that. “
IG Metall demands respect for DEKRA employees
The scandal over the DEKRA contract workers at Mercedes in Rastatt had already been revealed in February for the first time. At a full-day warning strike by IG Metall at Mercedes, DEKRA workers came to the works council: DEKA wanted to deduct their holidays and hours for the warning strike.
In a first several days of “lightning” IG Metall has already held around 130 talks with temporary workers. IG Metall has now also invited the media for the second flash. For example, SWR TV was on Post in the news,
“We want to get DEKRA to create more transparency towards its employees and treat people respectfully,” explains Heiko Maßfeller, second authorized representative of IG Metall’s Gaggenau office. IG Metall has already had initial discussions with DEKRA. In fact, temporary workers reported that at least the bills have become more correct.
In addition, the IG Metall has achieved that Daimler wants to check the grievances at DEKRA in Rastatt. At Mercedes, a few years ago, the works council enforced minimum social standards for outsourcing to companies that also apply to DEKRA. Company management told SWR: “We condemn any disregard of our standards and will stop any abuse that we and our contractors experience.”
IG Metall does not want to rely on that alone. The aim of the second flash was also to recruit DEKRA employees as IG Metall members and active members in order to jointly implement improvements at DEKRA. On Saturday, there was already a first active meeting at IG Metall Gaggenau.
* (Name is known to editors)