Let's hear again from the floor at Opel Antwerp
We will try over and over again to find out about our struggles. Opel Antwerp workers are once again back on the job after their June 13 to June 15, 2007 work stoppage. Together, we can go slow and grow this GM Workers Blog - arm in arm, one by one, hand in hand, step by step, piece by piece, until we are done.
Solidarity with Antwerp!
Everyone knows its been hard to communicate across different languages recently. We get frustrated and discouraged because of the lack of participation from other bloggers. But it's still early days here, and like any new product launch, we all know how to bear up and deal with the baby steps and growing pains inherent in getting the product out the door. We can all work together to manufacture a well oiled, smooth running, greased lightning GM Workers Blog that is accessible to all autoworkers worldwide.
Right now many of us have been waiting to hear from Opel production workers at Antwerp about their recent mid June stoppage. The three news items below talk about:
1. the strike at Opel Antwerp beginning,
2. the strike called off and the the Opel Antwerp plant restarting,
3. the Opel Antwerp plant resuming regular production
I can assure you that, for most of us around the world, shutting down an auto plant without being in a legal strike position is a VERY. VERY, BIG DEAL indeed. In fact, for most autoworkers, the idea of a shop floor initiated shutdown is simply incomprehensible.
We also need to know more about how the rank and file members at Opel Antwerp decide amongst themselves when they will not show up for work. How do you determine that NOW is the TIME FOR ACTION? In other plants, it's never the right time for action, but always the right time to talk the bloddy thing to death. In many other hard hit plants, workers are so scared, they are petrified with fear and cannot 'MOVE' to defend themselves in any way. They have watched their elected officials climb upon the stage, pound their fist on the podium, and call for action. But to no avail. Most autoworkers remain on the job, waiting for inspiration from the 'labor gods' to find them. There are very few slow-downs, walkouts, or fightbacks.
But there you all are at Opel Antwerp. You don't have a celebrity rebel leader calling the shots. You don't have flashy television ads, or radio promotions, or billboard messages telling workers to stay home. You stand up for yourselves. You stick together. And to top it off, you send your representation out with a list of terms to negotiate, and berate them when they come back with a short load. This is the something that we must learn about. Tell us how you are able to function as a leaderless group that 'MOVES' on its own, achieving positive results in light of the circumstances autoworkers face worldwide. This is the labor 'MOVEMENT' we need to now about now.
Please tell us more!
John Martyn
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1. Workers down tools at Belgian Opel plant
Friday, June 15, 2007
Turkish Daily News
BRUSSELS - Agence France-Presse
Workers at the Opel auto plant in northern Belgium, which faces a restructuring plan and subsequent job losses, have gone on an unofficial strike, management at the factory in Antwerp said Thursday.
"There is no production. It isn't an official strike but it is a work stoppage," Opel spokeswoman Nathalie Van Impe told AFP.
The night shift didn't turn up for work on Wednesday evening and the morning crew followed suit on Thursday morning.
General Motors announced last month that it was to axe almost 1,900 jobs at the Opel factory.
The company had previously said that it would shed 1,400 jobs as part of a shake-up of production for the next generation of the group's Opel Astra model from 2010.
It cited a lack of demand as the reason for its plans.
The jobs will be shed by mid-2008, while temporary jobs will go by July this year, it said.
The original announcement in April of job losses resulted in strikes at General Motors plants in several European countries in support of their Antwerp colleagues.
The new generation of Astra models will be built at four European sites – Bochum in Germany, Ellesmere Port in Britain, Trollhattan in Sweden and Gliwice in Poland.
The Antwerp workers are "asking questions and they are not getting any answers" from the management, a union official at the plant told AFP.
The factory was paralyzed by strike action for several days following the April 17 announcement of the restructuring plan, but work was eventually resumed after management afforded some concessions.
© 2005 Dogan Daily News Inc. www.turkishdailynews.com.tr
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2. Belgium's GM Opel plant set for weekend restart
UPDATE 1
Fri Jun 15, 2007 11:43AM EDT
Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.
BRUSSELS, June 15 (Reuters) - Production at General Motors' (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Opel plant in Antwerp was set to restart at the weekend after renewed industrial action over restructuring, union officials said on Friday.
A strike began on Wednesday and the production line was not operating on Friday after management failed to reassure workers over the future of the plant.
A union official said maintenance employees would resume work for the shift starting on Friday night with a view to reaching full production by Sunday.
"We have a meeting with management early tomorrow. The workers want clarification," he said.
Some 2,200 jobs, including those of temporary workers, are set to go at the plant, the company said at the end of May, far more than originally envisaged.
GM Europe announced in April that 1,400 jobs, about a third of the workforce, would be axed this year as demand for Opel's top-selling Astra declined and since the company did not plan to build the next generation Astra in Belgium.
Workers went on strike shortly after that announcement but narrowly voted in May to return to work after the company offered to produce two new vehicles there, with production of some 120,00 vehicles.
The Belgian plant had been producing about 220,00 Astras.
GM's decision not to produce the next generation Astra in Belgium was another blow to the country's auto industry after Volkswagen AG'S (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) decision last year to reduce the workforce at its factory in Brussels.
((Reporting by Julien Ponthus and Philip Blenkinsop, editing by Will Waterman and Greg Mahlich; Reuters Messaging: julien.ponthus.reuters.com@reuters.net; tel +32 2 287 6812; fax +32 2 230 7710; e-mail: julien.ponthus@reuters.com))
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3. GM's Opel workers end strike plant in Antwerp
06.18.07, 8:07 AM ET
AFX News Limited
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Workers at General Motor Corp's Opel car plant in Antwerp started work again on Sunday evening, ending the strike which had been running since last Wednesday, the factory's management said.
'The factory is running. Work began normally at 10.00 pm (CET) after the usual weekend break, and the morning shift took over at 6.00 am,' Opel spokeswoman Nathalie Van Impe told Agence France-Presse.
She added that dialogue with trade unions was 'constructive'.
Opel parent General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ) said in April that it has to scrap 1,900 jobs and lay off 400 temporary staff as a result of restructuring at its Opel plant in Antwerp, Belgium.
frances.robinson@thomson.com
fr/lce
COPYRIGHT
Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
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