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