The international coordination of automotive workers has a great future for which we are all working
The demonstration was attended by 30 - 40 colleagues from Scaw-Metal, who are fighting for their jobs and with whom connections were established in advance in solidarity. The mayor of Vereeniging welcomed the conference in her speech.
A strong 10-member International Coordination Group (ICOG) was newly elected with members from South Africa, India, Philippines, Tunisia, Colombia, Germany and Brazil.
The conference was based on the proven "four pillars":
1) the democratically legitimized assembly of delegates with 5 votes for each country,
2) the eight thematic forums with a general discussion of questions on the program of struggle: *Struggle for jobs and environment, *Struggle for trade union unity, *Emergence of neo-imperialist countries, *Workers in struggle for global peace, against fascism and rightward development of the governments, *Women power, *Industry 4.0 and electromobility, *Xenophobia, racism, machism, migrants, *A society without exploitation and oppression is possible - societal perspectives of our struggle.
3) the six corporation forums on Daimler/Nissan/Renault, GM/PSA/Opel/Fiat, VW/Audi/Porsche/SEAT/MAN, Ford, Bosch/Suppliers and BMW with the discussion of the higher development of the cooperation of the workforces of a corporation and election of new corporate speakers,
4) the program for all participants with the country reports, the final discussion, the demonstration and the attractive cultural program.
All learned from the disputes and struggles against plant closures, the expansion of temporary work and limited employment contracts, against playing off the environment and jobs, but also against the rightward development and fascization of governments. Often these struggles must be fought with great severity against open oppression, as in South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Iran, Turkey, Brazil and Colombia. Against blackmail attempts by the auto companies, against division and demoralization, the workers have to cope with the petty-bourgeois social-chauvinist and petty-bourgeois anti-communist mode of thinking. The lively exchange of experiences was enriching for all.
The Assembly of Delegates decided on an international program of struggle, which was further improved with motions and is an important common guideline for the future. It contains the most important demands against the exploitation offensive, such as the 30-hour workweek with full wage compensation, against the division through temporary work, fixed-term contracts, service contracts and outsourcing, for better health protection, against political oppression and bullying, against the rightward development of governments, for a strategy debate on a societal and socialist alternative and joint days of struggle such as May Day. The program of struggle is characterized by a clear position to "strengthen the unity of the environmental and workers' movement", for "the continuous higher development of unity in trade unions as militant organizations", "for the liberation of women" and "against all anti-communist, anti-revolutionary and anti-anti-capitalist cheap propaganda".
There was an unfolding controversy about the attidude against anti-communist, anti-revolutionary and anti-anti-capitalist cheap propaganda. This cheap propaganda is used worldwide as a main method of the ruling class against the militant workers' and trade union movement. A clear majority held that the IAC must take a clear position against it. The program of struggle was then unanimously adopted with 7 abstentions.
The youth associations CYL from South Africa and REBELL from Germany, together with many international participants, organized an exciting cultural program. Fraternization also took place in the evenings in the lodge, where almost all participants were accommodated together.
A great achievement was the self-organization and self-financing of the entire conference. More than a hundred helpers had a lot to do in South Africa in the run-up to the conference: accommodation, food, transfers from the airport and the lodge to the hall, security, technical equipment, set-up in the hall, sanitation, and much more. A few weeks before the conference, the police had imposed dozens of conditions, which cost a lot of energy and money.
With the election of the new international coordination group, the mandate for the further building of the international automotive workers' coordination and the decision to prepare the 3rd International Automotive Workers' Conference in 2025 has been set.
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