Putting the lever in the right place
To safeguard our interests, we use direct action. This approach means that we exercise the power based on our labor and purchasing power in a self-organized and direct way – from collective threats to strikes or boycotts. Through the union, this power can be perpetuated, ultimately bringing about the democratic reorganization of the means of production and distribution of goods.
In this sense, the FAU pursues a social revolutionary strategy. We thus aim at a transformation of social relations from below. After all, power relations are determined by labor and social relations. We want to intervene in this sphere directly, without detour via the state, even if indirect methods (protests, court cases, etc.) can sometimes be tactically useful.
Inhalt:
Union work in companies – How does the FAU Göttingen proceed in the workplaces?
Works councils – How does FAU Göttingen deal with works councils?
Collective bargaining policy – How does the FAU Göttingen behave in the collective bargaining process?
Trade union freedom – How does the FAU Göttingen deal with the legal conditions?
Social organization – What does FAU Göttingen do beyond the workplaces?
Workers cooperatives – What is the significance of workers cooperatives for the FAU Göttingen?
Consumption – How does the FAU Göttingen involve the consumption sphere?
Union work in companies – How does the FAU Göttingen proceed in the workplaces?
One of our tasks is to support colleagues who want to become collectively active in their companies. By companies we do not only mean production sites, but all economic and social units for which wage earners perform work. Through trade union structures in the workplace, we create a democratic counterweight to the power of disposal that “employers” have over an essential part of our lives.
Of course, it is the members themselves who are most familiar with the problems in their workplace. However, the union can help them organize, provide a protective framework and contribute to a lasting organizing power in the workplace. It also helps to take into account the situation in the industry, in the local environment and the general legal situation when taking operational action.
We want strong company groups, i.e. associations of colleagues that create publicity in their company. FAU company groups should therefore be open to all groups of colleagues and involve the workforce – including non FAU members – in the best possible way. We consider the development of this workplace counterculture to be a prerequisite for overcoming the existing company hierarchies.
Works councils – How does FAU Göttingen deal with works councils?
Our relationship to the institution of the works council (WC) is ambivalent. As a state-regulated body, it is only suitable to a limited extent for the assertion of workers’ interests. Especially since the grassroots’ possibilities for control and influence are severely limited. And the existence of a works council often promotes the lethargic attitude: “They’ll take care of it, that’s what they’re elected for.” This is all the more true when members of the works council are released from work.
So much for the criticism. In practice, however, we need to look at where works councils make tactical sense. Their legal protection against dismissal can be an important moment in supporting open grassroots work. Also important as a tool and catalyst for trade union action are the information and training rights of a works council vis-à-vis the company.
The works council is responsible for ensuring compliance with minimum standards. This is why it often represents a major step forward in small companies, where the boss’s “familial” arbitrariness usually prevails. However, the co-determination of the works council “at eye level with the management” can also, especially in larger companies, lead to appropriation and even co-management. This is where the trade union must act as a counterweight.
Collective bargaining policy – How does the FAU Göttingen behave in the collective bargaining process?
In principle, collective agreements are an achievement, because they safeguard what has been fought for. Collective standards apply to wage earners, rather than the arbitrariness of bosses vis-à-vis individuals. In practice, however, collective agreements are a double-edged affair. Not only have employers learned to deal with them, but German labor law has also heavily regulated the possibilities offered by collective bargaining.
Institutionalized collective bargaining policy is tough. In recurring collective bargaining rounds, union officials haggle with the bosses over a few percentage points. Not infrequently, this ends in a loss of real wages. The lower wage groups, in particular, are often disadvantaged, while important problems are swept under the table. Afterwards, wage earners are obliged to keep the peace, which means they can no longer react to current developments.
Current jurisprudence is strongly oriented toward central apparatuses. We therefore see ourselves as pioneers of new collective bargaining activities. For us, they are closely linked to the operational basis. Offensive and sustainable demands are just as important to us as the equalization of wage groups. Existing standards must never be undercut. We also try to develop alternatives to the collective agreement in order to remain flexible.
Trade union freedom – How does the FAU Göttingen deal with the legal conditions?
Trade union freedom and the right to strike are fundamental rights for us. The fact that workers can unite, act freely and carry out labor disputes is a necessary moment of a civil society. We therefore oppose any attempt to restrict trade union freedom or the right to strike. We also stand up for trade union freedom worldwide.
German labor law is a particularly restrictive one. This is due to continuities of National Socialist law, but is also related to the DGB’s policy of pacification. Above all, with the construct of “collective bargaining capacity,” guidelines were laid down in judicial law that make self-organized factory struggles more difficult. At least there are minority legal positions that advocate trade union freedom.
We are trying to fundamentally expand the scope for self-organized labor struggles in and outside the FAU. In doing so, we do not shy away from legal disputes. But the main thing is to strengthen our presence in the workplaces and to bring labor struggles to a successful conclusion. After all, it is the struggles themselves with which we can change the rules of the game and assert trade union rights.
Social organization – What does FAU Göttingen do beyond the workplaces?
For us, trade union work does not end with the world of work. After all, what use are higher wages if the rent goes up at the same time? What use are workers rights if we are unemployed? What use is more free time if food makes us sick? What use are quota rules if discrimination persists in everyday life? These areas need to be thought together with the world of work. We therefore have a comprehensive understanding of trade unionism.
We organize to fight for better living conditions. This also applies to the social spheres beyond the workplace. Tenants’ sections, for example, could bundle the power of tenants and aggressively enforce collective standards.
The concept of trade union social organization makes it possible to coordinate demands, activities or transformations in different areas and to exploit synergy effects. It is also an answer to individualized and flexible working and living conditions. By organizing along the socio-spatial level, even isolated wage earners can find better connections to the union.
Workers cooperatives – What is the significance of workers cooperatives for the FAU Göttingen?
For some, working in a collective enterprise is a political concept or at least expresses the will to work without a boss. For others, it is more of a coincidence or even born out of necessity. In any case, cooperatives are not outside capitalism. They are also subject to market mechanisms, and the working conditions that prevail there do not remain without impact on those of the respective industry – in both positive and negative ways.
The FAU is trying to find an approach that does justice to the people working there and integrates them into a broader movement. In the best case, cooperatives are then places of social experimentation and mutually reinforce each other in an economic federation. They can lead to an improvement in the living and working conditions of individuals and serve as a school for a future reorganization of the economy and society.
If they remain isolated, however, they have little to counter the pressure of the market, which is expressed, for example, in the tendency to self-exploitation or the return to “normal” company structures. This is neither in the interest of the workers inside nor outside a workers cooperative. We therefore welcome it when workers from such enterprises or entire cooperatives organize themselves in the FAU.
| Work without a boss? Grassroots democracy and self-organization? In the union coop // federation, companies who go this way have joined forces. www.union-coop.org |
Consumption – How does the FAU Göttingen involve the consumption sphere?
Consumption and production are two sides of the same coin: wage earners produce goods at poor wages, which wage earners consume at expensive prices. The relationship of exploitation is thus doubly flanked. But just as economic counter-power emerges from collective organizing as producers, organizing as consumers also offers potential. Trade unions should take this into account and include the consumption side in their strategy. In this way, the power of consumers can be used in labor disputes, for example in the form of boycotts or consumer strikes. This puts the employer under double pressure.
A union that involves consumers in its actions on a permanent basis can make such methods particularly effective. The interests of consumers themselves should also be taken into account. For example, the union can use its power at the workplace to demand qualitative standards and lower prices for products and services. Consumer organizations are also conceivable in perspective within the FAU, especially in connection with collective enterprises. All parties involved can only benefit from such a connection.
