leaflet on works council elections at medion/muelheim
text in german
hotlines-special edition on the start of the works council [=Betriebsrat] elections at Medion on the 21.10.2000
Last Friday we have handed out a leaflet on the situation in call centers - among them Medion - and today we are back here. You could gather from the leaflet that we are not from the union. We support the attempts of call center agents and other workers to self-organise and we oppose the unionist politics of representation.
One day after we handed out the leaflet the union hbv [Gewerkschaft Handel, Banken, Versicherungen - commerce, banking, insurance) has also given out a leaflet, asking for works council elections. Due to our daily experiences at Quelle, Deutsche Bank 24 and Citibank, where works councils exist, we do not think much of that.
How does it go with a works council? Unsatisfied workers can go to its office, grumble a little about problems at work and then return to their work place. With the feeling that someone will deal with their problem. So everybody is satisfied: the members of the works council, because they have offered their help to a collegue; the boss, because he does not have to deal with a gang of angry workers but with the works council, which is bound to keep the company peace. And maybe the worker, too, because she or he can also moan about the works council now, when her or his problems persist!?
You can read in the first leaflet that the situation at Medion does not differ form that of, for instance, Quelle or Citibank, although there is a works council there. The function of a works council is to keep the company peace. Therefore it signs a company agreement [= Betriebsvereinbarung] with the management - and takes care that the workers keep to it. The works council is the buffer zone between workers and management. And even when the works council presents itself militant, in most cases it is just good enough for selling changes for the worse to the workers which the boss on his own could not push through. At Opel Bochum, for instance, the works council agreed to extra shifts and the prolongation of limited contracts, after the workers at the conveyor belts had striked against that!
Everyday at Medion we have learned tricks to make our life easier. We still find a remedy against every work instruction. But if we want more, we have to push that through ourselves. It does not help to complain to the teamleaders or supervisors, to harass or collect signatures against other workers, to start intrigues or to have a works council. We have to take our things in our own hands. Our strength depends on the fact, whether we are able to react to the stress at work and mean management measures quickly and in the appropriate way. We, the workers, can develope that strength every day.
Don't let the union take the piss out of you!
Workers, organise your own assembly!
[You can find more reports on Medion/Muelheim under reports].
top of the page