Airport / District - You have a good reason to blow the whistle at the Verdi Airport Region Association.
This time, for once, not because there is a strike, but a big birthday.
But because they could really make a big deal for their milestone birthday: The local group for the Erding and Freising area is 20 years old. Strengthening employees, supporting works and staff councils, but also dealing with political issues in general: these have been the local association's big hobbyhorses since 2001. And that in an environment at the airport where there are a lot of employees. As before, despite Corona.
The association was founded by committed trade unionists in Neufahrn. “The aim and purpose was to get to know the others because, after all, five different unions had come together to form Verdi, creating 13 different departments,” says Monika Ludwig, looking back. She has been chairwoman of the local association for 18 years. “We wanted to be a link between the different areas. We did it. ”, She says happily. For example the public service on its own? No: "For us it was always across the board between the 13 areas."
In the past 20 years, Verdi Airport Region has expanded the knowledge of the participants in 15 works and staff council conferences and stimulated the exchange of information.
The networks have made you less vulnerable - “a model for success,” as Ludwig finds.
Supporting strikes at the airport is part of the local association's program.
Our newspaper wanted to know from Ludwig whether she remembered a very special strike.
"I think they are all special", the chairwoman does not want to commit to a single example.
“A strike at the airport is always something special when take-offs and landings are not taking place.
It's huge when you can achieve a lot with relatively little, ”says Ludwig.
She is also proud that Verdi made a decisive contribution to the establishment of works councils - as reported, for example recently at the ITG logistics company in Schwaig. “Our legendary, political morning pints on Sunday in Erdinger and Freisinger Wirtschaften were always very well attended with 50 to 70 participants,” Ludwig also remembers. Topics there include: “Getting poorer for the rich”, “Financing hospitals properly” or “Retirement at 67”, each with experts as speakers and guests eager to discuss.
However, the local association also campaigned - together with Allianz for the free Sunday - that Sunday should remain a day for family, associations and idleness and should not degenerate into an additional day of shopping. “We also got involved when the housing market in the region became increasingly difficult. Housing is a human right, ”emphasizes Ludwig, whose association became just as active when it became clear that many of them could no longer make a decent living from their retirement after 40 years of work. Ludwig looks back on a returnable bottle campaign with the Bundestag member Erich Irlstorfer. "We were also able to welcome high-ranking guests," recalls Ludwig. In 2008, for example, Frank Bsirske, long-time head of Verdi, who promoted the minimum wage with the local club in Freising on Marienplatz.
“We were and are always there when it comes to demanding good work and fair wages. Because every company wins by having a well-informed works and staff council. The employees deserve a strong lobby, ”emphasizes Ludwig, who is supported by her deputy, Kemodinger Andreas Faltermaier, among others.
The board of directors includes a number of committed and experienced trade unionists, "hardened by many disputes and strikes," as Ludwig puts it. As an example, Irmgard Fischer from the Catholic company chaplaincy should suffice at this point, an expert on the subject of bullying, for example. As reported a few weeks ago, after the closure of Fischer's company pastoral care location in Freising, the local association wrote an open letter to Cardinal Reinhard Marx with the request that the whole thing be reconsidered. "Unfortunately, nothing has changed since then," reports Ludwig when asked. Marx replied very nicely and expressed his regret, but justified the closure with a pooling of skilled workers and corresponding relocation to Munich. "But that's difficult for the care in Freising and Erding",thinks Ludwig, who announces “that we will try again”.
In any case, the local club is "far from over, we have a lot of ideas that we want to put into practice in the next few years," announced Ludwig. The next action has already been decided: “Who should pay for that?” As part of the Verdi campaign “Super rich to cash for the costs of the crisis”. The whistle is far from falling silent.