Saturday 5th June 2021
Works council angry
Werft can vote on terminations online
660 jobs gone, and reportedly 200 unpaid overtime per employee per year? Or 1000 jobs gone? Meyer-Werft asks its employees in an online survey following a digital event. The works council feels left out.
In the struggle for the course at Meyer-Werft, the management had employees vote on job cuts – and thus brought the works council to the barricades. Following a digital information event in the morning, according to the ailing cruise ship builder, 93 percent of around 1500 participating employees voted for “Route A” proposed by the shipyard management. This stipulates that 660 jobs should be lost when the rest of the workforce is ready to contribute. As such, 200 unpaid overtime hours a year had been named so far.
Of 1557 employees, 1446 voted for this proposal. There was therefore no majority for the second of the two proposals that the shipyard in Papenburg an der Ems had already presented on Thursday. This stipulates that 1000 jobs should be lost without an employee contribution.
The works council criticized the shipyard management’s approach as “unlawful”. The management had made an attempt to split the workforce and create a mood against the works council, said works council chairman Nico Bloem of the German press agency. He also pointed out that only part of the workforce took part in the survey, although everyone was allowed to participate.
Corona problems
In addition, such an action is subject to co-determination. However, the employee representatives were not involved and the proposals of the works council for downsizing were not part of the survey. The works council now wants to organize a works meeting at the beginning of the week.
Regardless of this, the management sees a clear vote in the vote. “Now we can hopefully soon find good solutions for each individual and the entire shipyard in an arbitration board,” said managing director Jan Meyer according to a statement.
So far, Meyer in Papenburg employs 3,600 people in the core workforce and around 900 employees in subsidiaries. There is hardly any demand for new giant cruise ships in the coming years due to Corona. The shipyard will slow down the order book until 2025.
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