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Column: VW anti-worker pact In Germany, the powerful autoworkers' union, IGMetall, agreed in August to the "5,000x5,000" formula proposed by Volkswagen. It passed only with personal intervention from Social Democrat Chancellor Schröder. Under this plan, VW agreed to create 5,000 new jobs, primarily tied to a new mini-van project, to be paid at the prevailing wage of 5,000 dm ($2,350). In exchange, VW is allowed to extract seven more work hours per week, up from 35 to 42, before overtime pay becomes mandatory. VW will be able to compile up to 200 more of these hours over the standard 35-hour work week now in place for autoworkers. Saturday shifts will be scheduled for these VW workers, and for the whole auto industry, workers now will no longer get paid breaks. This anti-worker agreement breaks the pattern of industry-wide bargaining in auto. It is similar to the way in which in the U.S. GM and the UAW reached an "agreement" for the Saturn auto venture in Tennessee, before the first worker was ever hired to work in the plant. |
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