Gustav Kemper
The IG Metall trade union is trying to keep control over growing resistance among Siemens workers against the spin-off of the group’s Gas & Power energy division by organising small scale protests in Nuremberg and Berlin, thereby preventing a joint struggle of all the sites affected.
In June last year, the union approved Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser’s “Vision 2020+” programme, which proposed to spin off the company’s energy business as a separate entity under the name Gas & Power. An extraordinary shareholders general meeting in June 2020 will finalise the Gas & Power IPO.
Kaeser’s strategy is to transform Siemens into a holding company in which the various divisions are listed as independent companies. As a result, weaker divisions would no longer tarnish the corporation’s balance sheet. The profits of a stronger division, such as those already listed under the Healthineers medical sector, will then no longer be able to compensate for the possible losses of another.
In order to maximize the initial share price, the Siemens board is planning massive job cuts and cost savings. The conditions under which the spin-off will take place were negotiated on Monday and Tuesday in Munich between the company board and IG Metall representatives on the Works Council. In Germany alone, 1,400 jobs will go, of which about 500 are based in Berlin. At the same time, there will be speed ups and the level of exploitation significantly raised.
Instead of mobilizing the entire workforce against job losses, IG Metall has only organized small scale protests.
Last week, IG Metall had several hundred workers from the Siemens switch gear plant in Berlin-Spandau march to Jakob-Kaiser-Platz, a roundabout far away from any houses or shops. Only loyal works council members and politicians were allowed to trot out their tired phrases and meaningless statements of “solidarity.” Every critical voice on the part of the workers was suppressed, and even elected works council representatives were prohibited from speaking.
Regina Katerndahl, IG Metall Berlin deputy leader, invoked the “Radolfzell II” agreement, which had been negotiated between the board and the union in 2010. “We have to push that through,” she shouted out to the participants in the demonstration.
This agreement, which supposedly provided protection against dismissals, is not worth the paper on which it is written. In fact, the union leaders agreed to a clause in the agreement expressly stipulating that under certain conditions, “such a guarantee cannot be given.”
Several Siemens workers who participated in the protest talked to reporters from the WSWS and expressed their discontent. “Really, the union should have opposed the spin-off of the energy sector, which is driving forward workforce shrinkage and layoffs,” one mechanic said.
Another explained, “The spin-off was sold to us as if it would work out great, everything would be alright. Of course, we have no confidence in that, but we also do not have the opportunity to intervene in any major way, except in the demo.” The ultimate result of the spin-off would only be seen in three years, when the new company started and the protections against dismissal had expired, he said. In addition, it was completely unclear what will become of the plans for the new Siemens research campus, “Project Siemensstadt 2.0,” and what consequences that would have.
Karl, another participant in the demo, underlined why he had little faith in the union leadership. “The cardinal error was already made by the union when it agreed to divest the energy sector. That was precisely organized, it does not just happen with the wave of a hand, there must have been talks long before, and the works council just agreed.”
His colleague interjected saying that in face of globalization, it was necessary to organize international support. This led to a discussion about the fact that the IG Metall was not even calling for workers at all Siemens German locations to join forces, not to mention an international mobilization.
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