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Protest against the planned job cuts at the Meyer shipyard on June 7th: 660 jobs are threatened
Photo: Mohssen Assanimoghaddam / dpa
The heavily criticized vote on the reduction of 660 jobs at the Papenburg Meyer-Werft also enraged the Volkswagen workforce, following the works council of the major customer TUI.
In a letter to Meyer colleague Nico Bloem, group works council boss Daniela Cavallo and the top workers from the German VW plants expressed their solidarity with the protests against the shipyard management's approach.
You spoke of an "attack on the social partnership" and a "targeted poisoning of the situation".
"Bypassing the Works Constitution Act and the established co-determination, Meyer-Werft is trying to split its own workforce and take away your chartered rights," the letter says.
The management must immediately return to the negotiating table and "work constructively with you to find a solution."
The cruise lull puts Mayer in a mess
Germany's largest shipbuilding company is aiming to cut 660 positions, as managing director Jan Meyer and HR manager Anna Blumenberg said at the beginning of last week.
The lull in the cruise industry during the Corona crisis has put increasing pressure on the shipyard.
For a long time, however, there was no agreement between management and the works council and IG Metall about how to deal with the problems.
Allegedly without consulting the workforce representatives, the shipyard management recently had an online meeting about the implementation of the job cuts.
Unionists felt taken by surprise.
TUI works council speaks of "attempted division"
Major clients are also dissatisfied with this style.
The works council of the TUI Group, whose cruise brands have several Meyer ships, spoke of an attempt to split up: "We are deeply shocked at the behavior of your management in the dispute over an intended savings program."
Meyer wants to slow down the order backlog now by 2025.
The aim is to save 1.2 billion euros - and reduce the current work capacity by a good 40 percent.
clh / dpa-AFX