Zwickau (dpa/sn) – The workforce of the joint shaft plant (GKN) near Zwickau clearly voted in favor of a permanent strike in a ballot. As the IG Metall announced on Friday, 96.97 percent of the union members voted in favor of an indefinite labor dispute in the auto supplier plant threatened with closure. “With this impressive result, the way to permanent strikes from Monday is clear,” said district manager Irene Schulz.
In mid-January, GKN announced that it would be closing the plant in the Mosel district of Zwickau for the foreseeable future. However, the union rejects a closure and demands a perspective. After previous negotiations remained unsuccessful, the 835 employees were able to vote until Friday, 11:00 a.m. whether they wanted to stop working for an indefinite period from Monday.
“The Mosel plant, with its more than 800 jobs, has to remain,” Schulz demanded. The GKN colleagues are determined to fight for their future. “If the company doesn’t move, there will be a storm here. We call on GKN to actively support the Mosel site and the preservation of all jobs.” In addition, Schulz demanded an appropriate social contract that protects the employees for all eventualities.
IG Metall district boss Jörg Köhlinger suspects that the company is being put under pressure by a British investor. “IG Metall has the impression that the management of GKN is driven by the British financial investor Melrose Industries.” Köhlinger believes that the shareholders are putting management under a lot of pressure in order to be able to place the company well on the stock exchange. The shareholder is only interested in ruthlessly maximizing profits at the expense of the employees, criticizes Köhlinger. Negotiations between the union and the company in Offenbach are to continue next week.