The uncertainty for the Neue Halberg casting continues

D The striking employees of the automotive supplier Neue Halberg Guss have chosen big words on Thursday to support the further negotiations on a social wage agreement for their company with protests. When around 600 employees from Saarbrücken and Leipzig gathered at the Opernturm in Frankfurt at noon, they carried several banners: “Where justice becomes injustice, resistance becomes a duty”, stated on a banner, on another article 14 of the German Basic Law “Ownership Committed.” The engine block and crankshaft factory staff doubts that its owner, the Prevent Group, is aware of this duty, and has been out of action for four weeks now.

Martin Gropp

The strike continues, as negotiations between employee representatives and the management failed again on Thursday. The words of the union IG metal According to him, the discussions have nurtured the workers’ doubts rather than dispelled them. The climate between management and employee representatives was further burdened, said Uwe Schütz, the negotiator of IG Metall. “It seems to be only us, who strive for a quick solution of the conflict, the employer has contributed to today’s nothing.” The New Halberg casting regret that the negotiations have been terminated, said a company spokesman meanwhile.

The strike goes into the money

There is not yet a new trial date. Both sides will see each other again this Friday. Then the labor court Frankfurt negotiates the company’s application for a preliminary injunction against IG Metall. The employer wants to end the strike by court decision, because this sharpens the already precarious situation of the New Halberg casting. As can be seen from court documents, escape the company every single strike day a good 1 million euros in sales.

Since the beginning of the year, the Neue Halberg Guss belongs to Prevent , a group of auto suppliers, behind which the Bosnian-German entrepreneurial family Hastor stands. The car industry is watching this family very critically, having fought two consecutive years with Volkswagen for follow-up orders. As the dispute escalated, VW had to partially stop production. In the case of the New Halberg casting, the automaker reappears now. VW had reduced its purchase volume, the management of the Neue Halberg Guss increased then the prices ten times and said that they had to close the Leipzig site with 700 employees at the end of next year. At the headquarters in Saarbrücken could be omitted because of missing orders 300 of the approximately 1500 jobs.

With chants and placards, the employees give vent to their displeasure.


After these plans became known, the workers entered the indefinite dispute. Employees are calling for a social wage agreement to provide severance pay to employees who lose their jobs. A company should ensure that these employees are further qualified. Several were negotiated – without result. The demands of the union are priceless, the company argued. The union, in turn, were not enough to submit previously submitted offers. After canceled appointments and new reciprocal allegations, the parties at least resumed discussions on Thursday, in which the management presented a new offer.

Union criticizes offer

In the event that the workers had ended their strike on Monday, it saw, among other things, a severance payment equal to 40 percent of the last gross monthly wage multiplied by the years of service. In coordination with the Federal Employment Agency, a transfer agency should be set up for employees who lose their jobs. And the company wanted to commit itself to waive operational layoffs in Saarbrücken this year and next – unless other customers cancel orders.

After the end of the talks, the union sharply criticized the offer. In a previous round of negotiations, the company had offered a severance payment of 60 percent of the monthly salary per year of service. That the previous offer has now been reduced, he could hardly explain, said union representative Schütz.