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International Newsletter General Motors / Stellantis No. 21 - September 2021
Dear colleagues! Our last information letter in March got a very good international response, with feedback from Germany, Italy, Australia, Morocco, France, Poland and Mexico. Two Italian websites published it, and it was more widely distributed in Brazil and Mexico. In Australia, it was reprinted along with a foreword in which laid-off auto workers tell how they took their wealth of experience in the labor struggle into their new jobs.
Declaration of solidarity against the mass dismissals at GKN in Campi Bisenzio (Florence) in Italy
Dear colleagues We stand in solidarity with your justified struggle against the closure of the GKN Driveline plant in Campi Bisenzio (Florence). It is about the loss of 500 jobs, including temporary workers, and its massive impact on families and infrastructure in Florence. This cannot be accepted.
Solidarity to the workers at GM Silao Mexico
2 September 2021 Dear colleagues at the GM plant in Silao, Mexico, We would like to extend our warmest congratulations and respect for your clear rejection of the anti-worker, company-union agreement and the resistance to the intimidation and threats! It is a powerful signal for workers in Mexico and around the world. We are very happy to hear that you have organized under an independent union SINTTIA born from the Generando Movimientos workers movement in Silao to fight for your first real contract. We congratulate you as well for making history by electing Sister Alejandra Morales Reynoso the first female president of a union in Mexico.
Call for the International Day of Struggle against Fascism and War!
The competition for influence and supremacy in the world between the leading imperialist powers USA, China, Russia and the EU is visibly increasing. Proxy wars like in Syria, Libya, Ukraine or in the Sahel zone can become a direct military clash of the imperialist great powers. The danger of a third world war is increasing dramatically. Many people are rightly concerned about this. The victory of the Islamist-fascist Taliban in Afghanistan increases the suffering of the people. And many governments are worried above all about refugees not coming to their country. On September 1, 1939, Hitler's fascism in Germany unleashed World War II with the invasion of Poland, which is why this day became a day of struggle against fascism and war:
Solidarity and greeting address to the International Day of Action and Protest on August 26, 2021 against the massive anti-communist repression, persecution and murder of trade union and political activists in the Philippines.
The International Coordination Group of International Automotive Workers Coordination discussed the situation in the Philippines at its online meeting on August 15, 2021 and adopted a statement of solidarity with the struggle in the Philippines. We note with concern that more and more targeted arrests and killings of militant trade unionists, political activists and human rights defenders by the fascist Duterte regime aim to break the Filipino people's will for freedom. This also affects activists of our International Automotive Workers' Coordination in the Philippines. This fascist terror is built on an anti-communist agitation with de facto assurance of impunity for the murderers. We protest strongly against this and demand the prosecution, international outlawing and condemnation of this fascist state terror.
Complete success for Stefan Engel and the MLPD 'Potential danger' classification struck down
3 August 2021 The proceedings in the lawsuit of Stefan Engel against the Free State of Thuringia ended today before the Second Chamber of Meiningen Administrative Court with a complete success. The court ruled that the “potential danger” letter of 15 May 2018 against Stefan Engel was unlawful. The Free State of Thuringia must pay the full court costs. “This verdict is at the same time a major success for the movement 'Don't give anticommunism a chance!'” says Gabi Fechtner, MLPD Chairwoman.
General Motors I. pvt. Ltd. Talegon,Pune, Maharastra,India.
General Motors I pvt. Ltd. processed for sell to Great Wall Motors, China. But due to geopolitical issue the agreement is pending. And process is not completed. Company management continually pressurised the union workers for VSS (Voluntarily Separation Scheme). All the employees in this company are young and they have needed to do job. Due to housing loan and child education they are in financial crises. Union and workers demanded company to continue their job even with Great Wall Motors or any other company who taken the plant. But company cannot understand the real problem. And pressurized to accept VSS.
General Motors India illegally retrench 1,086 workers
28 July, 2021 General Motors, at its Talegaon plant near Pune, India, retrenched all 1,086 unionized workers on 12 July, after they did not accept the voluntary separation scheme (VSS) offered by the company. General Motors is in the process selling its Pune plant to Great Wall Motors, a Chinese company.
Statement of Solidarity with Stefan Engel
Stefan Engel, an internationally recognized workers' leader and Marxist-Leninist theorist, is facing trial on August 3, 2021, in his home country of Germany. He is facing charges of being a "jeopardizer" by the right-wing Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer, two intelligence service chiefs and a police director.
Philippines, MWAP: PPL urgently needed as new Covid variants drive surge in cases
30 July 2021: The Metal Workers Alliance of the Philippines (MWAP) called on Congress to immediately legislate a paid pandemic leave amid rising cases of Covid 19 cases in Metro Manila and other cities due to the Delta variant.
Netherlands: Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Metalworking Industry
Correspondence Rode Morgen Netherlands July 14, 2021 Agreement in Principle on the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Metalworking Industry. After five months of strikes (mostly in relays, once nationwide at the beginning of this month), the trade unions and the employers' organization FME of the metal companies have reached an agreement in principle on a two-year CLA. During these two years, wages will be increased by a total of 5.3%: 2.3% on 1 July 2021, with compensation for the first seven months for those employed when the old CLA expired on 1 December 2020 and 3% on 1 February 2022. That is considerably more than the 2.25% for two years that FME offered for a long time using the corona problems of a few companies as an excuse, but much less than the 5% per year that the union demanded. On the positive side, youth wages will be abolished altogether for those over 18 and women with the same job and education should also receive the same pay as men. It was also agreed that 2400 temporary workers will be offered a permanent contract, although it is unclear how hard this commitment is. The problem of the high workload of many colleagues is largely referred to committees. The number of overtime hours to which one can be obliged is reduced to ten hours every four weeks. This collective bargaining agreement, which applies to 160,000 people, covers large companies such as DAF, Scania, Fokker, VDL, ASML, Siemens - but also many smaller ones. The union leadership not only gives a positive opinion for the agreement in principle, but assumes in advance that the members will agree: it sets aside two months for a vote by the members, while the actions are halted.
Philippines: Global Day of Solidarity with PH workers
On the 26th of July, President Duterte will be delivering his last State of the Nation Address, which we expect to be charged with lies of change and progress as he has done in his past addresses. On the same day, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) together with other democratic groups will be calling for a Global Day of Action to hold Duterte accountable for his crimes against the Filipino workers and people.
July 3: Brazilians will take to the streets against the genocide and corruption of the Bolsonaro government
Correspondence from Brazil: The construction of a general strike should be on the agenda in the unity of social organisations and labour federations
Successful day of strike of the CGT in Sochaux
22 June 2021: Correspondence: Today a strike action took place in front of the Stellantis plant in Sochaux / France. The call of the CGT for a nationwide strike day against the attacks at Stellantis, Renault and supplier factories with a total of four regional assemblies in France, in Sochaux for the region 'Grand Est', was a good initiative. The International Automotive Workers' Coordination welcomed it very much.
International solidarity to the day of strike of the auto workers in France on June 22, 2021
The International Automotive Workers Coordination brings the warmest and solidarity greetings to the CGT Metalworkers' Federation and the CGT of Stellantis and Renault for their day of strike on June 22, 2021.
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