THE industrial conflict which seemed to be looming in West Germany a few weeks ago has for the moment been defused, with a series of compromise settlements between unions and employers. However, a vote by public sector workers rejecting the deal agreed by their leaders shows the tensions just below the surface of the patched up edifice of social partnership, as Angela Klein explains.
sector strike might prove highly unpopular with the public. She also put herself forward as the spokesperson for all those in the West who have lost out as a result of unification; while defending unification, she pointed out that the workers were bearing three quarters of the costs, and insisted that the rich should pay more.
This was a highly political strike, both in terms of the strikers' motiva-
ANGELA KLEIN — June 4, 1992.
T HE agreement signed by the
leadership of the OTV public sector workers' union on May 10, 1992 was rejected by the membership in a referendum organized by the union, with 44% voting for and 56% against.
Usually a 75% vote is needed to launch a strike, with only 25% needed to accept a deal made by the leadership with the employers - this is in particular the case with the big engineering union, the IG-Metall. The internal rules of the ÖTV are more democratic, 50% being needed to ratify an agreement.
The public sector workers leader, Monika Wulf-Mathies, has come out of the strike with her position significantly weakened, although during the strike she had seemed untouchable. Discontent and opposition have been showing up inside the ÖTV for some time.
No history of militancy
The union does not have any history of militancy and its leadership tends to the right. While its members have shown themselves very determined in struggle they have also been unsympathetic to the positions of the left. Members and leaders have closed ranks against the "social worker" types influenced by the struggles of 1968 and after.
Generally direct opposition to the leadership has not been tolerated and there have recently been expulsions on grounds of disobedience. However these anti-democratic practises have frequently been criticized.
The strike has changed everything. The leadership did not want it; it was 26 forced into against its will, by the government's determination to impose a new wage policy in the interests of the employers, something that it had already failed to achieve with the steelworkers and bank employees. The government's inability to understand the political climate in the country pushed the ÖTV into action.
Once it had no option but to lead a strike, the union leadership decided to get serious and win an agreement that would be seen as a defeat for the government. Reacting to the government's rejection of a compromise proposed by the "independent" arbitrator and a 90% vote for a strike, WulfMathies said: "Now, we are no longer fighting for a compromise; we are in struggle and we are fighting for the
The union did indeed then take action, with all the membership following the leadership, including the cri-
On the "left" the only people to criticize the union — using, it must be said, arguments very similar to those of the employers — were the Greens and some associations. They were saying that it was not the time to raise such demands, the union was not showing solidarity with the East and so
Union leader takes high profile
The ÖTV leader had a high profile in the strike; she went from city to city visiting the strikers, listening to their problems and acting as their representative to the press. The strike was organized democratically; it was decentralized, and the rank-and-file were entrusted with deciding which entertion (teaching the government a lesson, the stakes involved for the Kohl government (how to resolve the problems posed by unification) and its confrontational character.
This meant that the union side presented its case in terms that went beyond strictly trade union issues in order to gain public sympathy. The public did indeed support the strike, even in its most difficult moments.
Furthermore, the strikers were encouraged by the militancy of the IGMetall and print and construction unions, who were at the time involved in negotiations and threatening strike action. The accumulation of conflicts raised the spectre of a general strike.
### Essential services maintained
The strike was conducted flexibly with the aim of causing the least amount of irritation to users. In hospitals the administration was halted but emergency services were maintained, showing how this kind of problem can be dealt with by the unions themselves without any need for any government imposed strike-breaking "minimum service"
The trains that did not run during the week were back in service at the weekends to allow people to leave for their homes; the waste piling up in the streets was moved in special cases, such as local festivals.
The strike was massive from the start. The ÖTV was well aware that such a movement could not last long, that the determination of the leadership must be clear from the start and that it must hurt.
At the start there were 30 to 50,000 strikers, rising to 450,000 by the end. Every sector was drawn in: city transport, post, railways - especially on
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GERMANY the ÖTV
June 22, 1992• # 231 International Viewpoint prestige projects such as Intercity Express (ICE) cleaning services, hospitals, schools and further educa-
The culminating point of the strike was without doubt the total closure for 24 hours of Frankfurt Airport, Europe's largest. All it took to shut it down was to bring the firefighters out on strike. demanded that the personnel from the nearby US airbase replace those in Frankfurt, and when this was refused, took the Hesse government to court, claiming that the authorities forbade the Americans to step in.
All this shows the vitality of the German union movement, with its organizational strength, unity in struggle and awareness of its ability to rapidly bring the country
It was no accident that the debate on public sector privatization started again during the strike, this being seen as a means of breaking
GERMANY
„Säg nicht am Ast, auf dem wir alle sitzen!"
In the 1980s some indus- "Don't saw off the branch we're all sitting on" trial enterprises were privatized and the postal service was partially denationalized. Plans to privatize the rail-
Some state enterprises started using private cleaning firms during the strike; and after the strike there will certainly be a big campaign for wide-ran-
Despite its victorious struggle, the ÖTV now has to confront a major challenge to traditional forms of union struggle. The bosses are abandoning, at least partially, their line of seeking conciliation rather than confrontation, at least when they had the money.
Budgets squeezed on all sides
Today budgets are being squeezed on all sides and it will take a hard fight to preserve workers' gains. A big effort will also be needed to combat the privatization plans and unionize workers in the private sector as well as victims of deregulation.
For the moment, the question of union democracy is on the agenda at the ÖTV congress to be held June 1925.
Even if the agreement represented a defeat for the government, at least on the political level, public sector employees are not satisfied with the deal either and want to resume the strike. Issues of open negotiations and the possibility for the rank-and-file to influence them have been raised.
Despite the results of the struggle, in which all the militants supported the leadership, opposition inside the ÖTV has grown. It remains heterogeneous, poorly structured and politically weak and it is highly unlikely that there will be a challenge to Wulf-Mathies' leadership, but it may become a more organized force around the issue of union democracy.
Furthermore, the current debates express the new confidence of hundreds of thousands of unionists, many of whom have just had their first experience of strike action.
In the engineering sector, the bosses realized that, contrary to what they had been hoping, the mood on the shop floor was much more radical than among the union leaders and decided to be flexible. The IG-Metall leadership, meanwhile, was fearful of launching a struggle in such a tense politi-
This is why they signed an agreement which the membership considers very bad - even though at the same time the bosses' side has been denouncing it as irresponsible. In fact the employers view it as a first step towards the wage policy shift they
After the two big unions, the ÖTV and IG-Metall, had settled, agreements were also reached in printing and construction. Now wage negotiations have started in East Germany to adapt wage levels to the new conditions.
Combativity of movement remains intact
This strike wave testifies to the changing balance of social and political forces in reunited Germany. The union movement's combativity remains intact — it has not suffered the erosion and the defeats seen in some other European countries. But, at the same time, it is confronted by new problems for which its leaders are ill prepared Their response at the moment is to defend established positions, but this will not be enough. The challenge therefore is to build a union left able to 27 develop an adequate response. *
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June 22, 1992