President
of the United Auto Workers Union Bob King: In Germany,
unions
must by law be represented on corporate boards. Since GM
owns
Opel, a car company largely in Germany, these are rules GM
has
to play by. Bob King will be the fist American union official to sit
on
the supervisory board of a German car company.
Financial Times Deutschland, Germany
In Germany, UAW President
Seeks Great Leap Forward for Unions
"German
union IG Metall will soon appoint Bob King to Opel's supervisory board. … King’s
charm offensive in Germany is based on the conviction that unions can no longer
act alone on an international level. King's hope is that IG Metall will push companies
in Germany into relinquishing their anti-union stance in the United States."
Delray Beach:Bob King,
President of the American Autoworkers Union (UAW), wants to save Opel. Out of
principle and solidarity with his German counterparts - but above all,
because it is in his own interests, which extend far beyond the case of Opel.
King, whose once powerful
union has been diminishing in importance year after year, has big plans for
Opel, for U.S. President Barack Obama, and for IG Metall [Germany's Industrial
Union of Metalworkers].
This weekend, the news out of
Detroit is that IG Metall will appoint the American to Opel's supervisory board as early as next month. King and his German colleague Wolfgang
Schaefer-Klug are said to have negotiated the details of the appointment.
[Editor's Note: Unlike in the
United States, a percentage of the seats on corporate boards in Germany are
reserved for union officials].
Opel workers would have a
powerful partner in King, who has excellent contacts at the corporate headquarters
of GM, Opel's parent company. During hard collective bargaining with General
Motors, Ford and Chrysler, he recently proved he is prepared to make reasonable
compromises when it comes to securing jobs and the company’s future.
If he were now also able to
distinguish himself as a successful mediator between Detroit and Rüsselsheim,
he would take a big step toward his ultimate goal: close transatlantic
cooperation between the UAW and IG Metall.
“We’re strongly supporting IG
Metall and … the workers in Europe,” King
said this weekend. “We believe in solidarity just like we’re asking other
unions to support our organizing drive.”
King’s charm offensive in
Germany is based on the conviction that unions can no longer act alone on an
international level. “They [IG Metall] are a great union and we want to
continue to work closely with them,” King said. What he would rather not say is
that up to now, cooperation has lagged far behind his expectations.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Primarily in his
sights are Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW. In the U.S., these companies, as well as
Siemens, operate with significantly lower labor costs than in Germany.
Part 2: Influence on Other German Automakers
At the same time, U.S.
companies General Motors, Ford, and General Electric operate large plants in
Germany. And while plant managers and engineers on both sides of the Atlantic
work together closely, shop committees and trade unions largely limit
themselves to working on site with their own memberships.
That is precisely what King
wants to change - thereby helping his UAW acquire new members and thus new
strength. In particular, he is focusing on states in the American South, states
that for the most part have been union-free up to now.
Viewed as Positive by American Trade Unions
Neither Volkswagen in
Tennessee, nor Daimler in Alabama, nor BMW in South Carolina, is unionized. Thus
far, all attempts on the part of UAW to break into these plants have failed.
That is why King needs the
assistance of IG Metall: The hope is that the union will push companies in
Germany into relinquishing their anti-union stance in the United States. It is doubtful
this will suceed. But the idea deserves applause.
More than once, King has made
it clear that he wants to do more than just represent the interests of workers
in Detroit. He wants to unite the different industrial unions in the United
States to be able to negotiate with corporations on a more equal footing.
He emphatically supports the
reelection of U.S. President Obama, who is celebrated in Detroit as the savior
of the U.S. auto industry. Already in 2008, the union contributed significantly
to his election victory. And Obama is well aware that without King, saving
General Motors, Chrysler and Ford would have been impossible.
So if King actually does join
Opel's supervisory board, and if Obama really does get reelected to the White
House in November 2012, the UAW president could rise to become a great and more
influential union leader - and one that America urgently needs.
