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A Great Victory, Pyrrhus!
by Ulrich Biele
by Ulrich Biele
DIGG THIS
No, I won't comment the unsolicited massage service, Angie had to
experience during the G-8 summit. Despite the published mainstream opinion,
this might turn out to be one of the more pleasant experiences she'll have to
go through this year.
Last week, a decision made to the news which came, for most people,
like a bolt of lightning out of thin air. WalMart will give up in Germany.
Effective December 31, all WalMart shops will be sold to the METRO Group,
Germany's largest group of retail chains.
After eight years of hard struggle, WalMart surrenders to the
German United Services Union, ver.di. This union, amalgamated by fusion of most
smaller unions a couple of years ago, is one of the most powerful organizations
in Germany. There is only one union left of comparable size, the Union of
Industrial Metalworkers, the IG Metall. "IG" means industrial trade union,
unlike in "IG Farben."
Ver.di is one of the major factors in Germany, where leftist
politics have a stronghold. They are exerting more political leadership than
the head of our administration, Angela Merkel, Chancellorette. The unions are
among the leading voice in the debate of an unconditional basic income and
wherever a company hires more than a few helping hands, they claim influence.
You can't run a WalMart shop with nothing but unqualified part time
workers at ? 400.- a month, like the ALDI-chain (Trader Joe's in the USA) or
LIDL do, where the market manager and the shift chiefs are full time workers
and all others are part timers who earn ? 400,- a month for 20 hours a week. A
WalMart shop requires a qualified basic staff of full time employees who must
bear some responsibility and, in turn, don't get a hungerlohn. Here's where the
unions muscle in: Every shop with more than a certain number of full time
employees must accept a Betriebsrat (workers committee). These committees are
usually being installed at the urging of the unions in order to represent
labor. Unfortunately, these committees have the right by law to exert influence
on the company's policy. Not only concerning who's hired and who's fired, but
general policies as well. In a company of the size of WalMart, any member of
this committee will be suspended from his working chores and can dedicate his
entire time to the representation of the employees protected by him. He can't
be fired until two years after his defeat at the Betriebsrat elections, so
basically, it is a sinecure with full pay. During my own life as an employee, I
have found myself twice in a situation where I might have appreciated qualified
assistance, but got screwed instead, because I would not sacrifice myself in
the struggle against the evil capitalists. Thanks, boys.
But I digress.
The permanent war of the unions against this evil blood-sucking,
American-imperialist, pooh-pooh capitalists was what made WalMart lose most of
its profits. Millions had to be spent in senseless lawsuits, many of which
ended in a settlement out of court, leading to nothing.
I love to shop in German WalMarts. Not only that they have a wide
spectrum of goods and competitive prices, I have the impression that - at least
in those Shops I patronize (Munich, Würzburg, Dortmund), the employees make a
rather happy impression. Ask any of them for some information - you will get a
satisfying answer. I once asked a lady at the information how to make a
suggestion to improve their service and, without any hesitation, she picked up
her phone and put me through to the manager on service. He was friendly and
told me that improvements were under way, but thanked me anyway. You won't see
this behavior in a German - managed retail chain like Karstadt, where employees
are scared to death when a patron has a complaint. When I, not too long ago,
addressed one Karstadt employee with a minor warranty issue, he told me he
could not process my request, because to do so would make his department look
bad a few layers "above" and he would be brandmarked as a bellyacher, which
means: a candidate for the next lay-off - party.
People who have such an issue at WalMart simply get their money
back.
WalMart in Germany employs some forty-five thousand people, most of
whom will be laid off during the next year. Metro is going to fill the gaps of
their real.- chain (a retail chain in the Metro company), but of course they
will close those places where real.- and WalMart are situated side by side.
Metro will close the WalMart administration in Wuppertal, they do have enough
bureaucrats, I am sure.
In other words, the German unions have delivered proof that they
are powerful and can destroy hopes of forty-odd thousand people in a wink.
Funny: last time I looked up the meaning of the word Gewerkschaft (union) in a
dictionary, I read something about protecting the workers and representing
their interests against the employers. Well, later next year, almost none of
these forty-five thousand workers will need any protection against bad pay or
overtime.
What a victory. Sort of....
August 4, 2006
Ulrich Biele [send him mail] is a consultant in Munich, Germany.
Copyright © 2006 LewRockwell.com
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