Eurounions Power Up

[Dennis R Redmond]

Apropos Nice, another promising insurgency is brewing far to the north: IG
Metall is, so says the Taz, beginning a serious push to expand the
codetermination laws. The idea is to make it easier for workers in small
firms to organize, to combat outsourcing, streamline voting procedures,
and expand the mandate of work-councils to include things like gender
equity, environmental issues, the struggle against racism, etc. --- a huge
step forwards in building solidarity between the micropolitical resistance
and the labor movement. The article says around 40% of all employees are
represented by work-councils, down from 50% in 1980. At a rally in
Wolfsburg, headquarters of auto giant VW, Hartmut Meine, head of IG Metall
in Lower Saxony, warned at a rally, "Pension reforms and the upcoming
reform of codetermination laws are going to be a test-case for the
relationship between the government and IG Metall." Article in German at: 

http://www.taz.de/tpl/2000/12/07.nf/text.Tname,a0084.list,TAZ_wu.idx,0

-- Dennis