The Eastern Blocked

Here are some short news items that we came across recently, which seem to be important indicators for future front lines. Unfortunately we could not get hold of any first hand reports or further details...

Revolt of low-wage workers at Michelin
and Renault in Romania

The 'shopping' for low-wage work force is a well known practice of multi-national corporations. But the machine starts to shudder: in the factory of Romsteel Cord (in Transylvania), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Michelin, the unions started to denounce the working conditions (seven day weeks, unpaid over-time, holidays not granted, one timely limited contract after the other). They called for strike.

The 11,000 workers at the Dacia factory (subsidiary of Renault, manufacturing the Logan) in Pitesi are about to make the same step. On 25th of February 2007 they announced a general strike. The main demand is a considerable wage increase, which compensates for the rising inflation.

[source: l'Humanite, 23rd of February 2007]

Chinese Textile women workers on strike
in Romania (27th of January 2007)

Hundreds of Chinese textile workers are on strike in the Romanian town of Bacau, north-east of Bucharest. They are demanding better pay and living conditions. About 400 Chinese women, the first to be employed legally in Romania, have asked for their monthly after-tax pay to double, from $350 to $700 (€262 to €525). But their manager has refused, saying it would bankrupt the textile company.

He has accused employment agencies in China of inciting the workers. The Chinese employment agencies take a commission from the workers' monthly salary. Sorin Nicolescu told the BBC that he was paying about 1,200 lei ($450, €337) to each worker before tax. That is roughly equivalent to the average wage in Romania. Mr Nicolescu said he had also offered to reclaim the $5,000 which he says every worker paid employment middlemen in China. He has also alleged that some of the Chinese workers have assaulted him.

Romania faces a severe shortage of skilled workers in the garment industry, since many of them have sought employment in Western Europe. The 400 Chinese women arrived in Bacau last year, but since then have been totally isolated. None of them speak Romanian and only a few can muster basic words in English. "We are hungry all day", one Chinese worker told the BBC, explaining that the Chinese food was very poorly cooked.

Meanwhile, Chinese diplomats have visited Bacau and spoken to the workers and the local authorities. A small number of workers have said they want to return to China, and up to 100 others are said to have agreed to return to work. But the majority are still on strike and Mr Nicolescu has said he wants to bring over other workers from a different region of China. The Italian embassy has also stepped into the dispute, summoning Mr Nicolescu for an explanation, since Wear Company is partly Italian-owned. After the recent struggles of Eastern European workers in Western Europe this example of Chinese migrant workers in the East can be seen as another evidence for the importance of migration for the current re-formation of political class composition.

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6286617.stm]

Third strike at Ford plant in
St. Petersburg, Russia

Some 1,500 Ford workers laid down their tools and occupied the plant in a day-long strike on 14th of February 2007. It is the third strike in the plant, which was opened in 2002. The strike cost Ford an estimated $4 million, NTV television said. More than 1,000 workers voted overwhelmingly for a sit-in strike at the plant after a mass meeting lasting several hours Tuesday, with only 20 votes in favor of management's offer.

Ford management is offering workers a pay raise of between 14 percent and 20 percent, interest-free loans and a one-off loyalty bonus of 10,000 rubles ($380) for those who have worked at the plant for more than five years, among other concessions. Average monthly salaries at the plant are between 16,000 and 19,000 rubles ($600-$720). The strike comes as Ford plans to increase production at the Leningrad region plant by 20 percent to 75,000 units this year.

Last year, Ford emerged as the country's best-selling foreign car-maker, with 116,000 vehicles. The plant assembles about 300 Ford Focus cars per day. Management plans to import 2,300 Ford Focus cars to cover the shortage of the model in Russia, where people wait for months for the cheap car. St. Petersburg and the adjacent Leningrad region have become the new hub of the country's auto industry, with General Motors, Nissan and Toyota moving to build plants in the area.

[http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/02/15/001.html}

Wage dispute at Skoda
in Czech Republic

Union opposition has persuaded Skoda Auto to back out of its proposal plan for a new performance-related pay system in the fifth round of wage talks held March 13. The unions had warned they might consider a strike if talks on wage modernization prevented the signing of this year«s overall collective agreement by March 31, when the present deal expires. The unions are asking for a 17 percent increase and a one-year agreement, while so far the car-maker has offered only 6.1 percent for the period April 1, 2007, through March 31, 2009. With the new Korean Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech (HMMC) factory in Nosovice, North Moravia, set to start mass production in 2009, car-makers are under considerable pressure to attract and retain the Czech Republic«s limited number of suitably skilled workers.

[source: http://www.cbw.cz/phprs/2007031919.html]

[prol-position news #8 | 4/2007]