June 9th:
Appeal for Urgent Solidarity
German trade union activist sacked.
Here some information on the case of Michael Prillwitz, a works council
member and activist of IG Metall (metalworkers trade union) from
Rostock who worked for wind energy producer Nordex before he was fired.
Nordex has several factories in Germany and other neighbouring
countries. This branch of industry has experienced in the last years an
enormous growth. The company with its head office near Hamburg made a
lot of profit during the last years.
But in Eastern Germany there is a special situation. There are modern
factory like in West Germany, but the employees here get only 2/3 of the
wages of West German workers.
The unemployment rate is much higher than in the West Germany. The
management uses this in a arrogant and cool-headed way. They
intimidated the workers by saying that the workers should be happy to
have a job and should remember that they are better off than the about 20
percent unemployed in the region.
Nordex also took on workers who were unemployed for a long period because they hoped this people would stay more quiet. About one year ago a token strike was organised to support a wage claim. It was a big step for the workers who are usually very inexperienced in organising protests and strikes. But the union
leaders did not much to help them score a success and the battle ended in a
defeat.
Since that time the management have played the organised workers against the
unorganised ones even more than they did before. The pressure on the factory
committee and especially on Michael increased. He is one of two union
members in the works council, the rest are unorganised. He also
fights for the interests of the workers. Many of them are afrade of loosing
loose their jobs, but think that it is wrong that Michael should be
fired. However the majority of the works council works together with the
company's management.
Some weeks ago Michael got his dismissal notice. The works council has
agreed to it. The union wants to go to industrial tribunal to sue for
reinstatement.
This case is really something special. The company wants to silence
critical employees. And they want to exploit the East as low-wage area.
The reinstatement of Michael would be very important, and would
strengthen the employees and the union members. It would be very
important for East German workers, as a whole.
The latest development shows that the management takes the first letters
of protest very seriously. The have now written a second dismissal notice to
Michael.
Please Send Protests
Protest Letter to:
Nordex AG, z.H. Dr.Dieter Kaster (chair of the board of directors),
Bornbach 2, 22848 Norderstedt Germany
Or Protest E-mail to:
info@nordex-online.com
Or Protest Fax to:
++ 49 40 50 09 81 01
Nordex Energy GmbH, z.H. Herr Witwer (management),
Erich Schlesinger Str. 50, 18059 Rostock Germany
or
++ 49 381 40 20 44 4
Nordex Energy GmbH, Hohe Rampe 3, 18146 Nienhagen Germany
Letters of Solidarity to:
Michael Prillwitz, Zum Vogelnest 10, 18147 Rostock Germany;
or email:
Michael_Prillwitz@gmx.de
Please always send copies to:
rostock@sav-online.de
aSAV-Rostock, Dierkower Damm 38d, 18146 Rostock Germany