I have been neglecting to engage on Hive for almost half a year now.
Here is a little report to give you a glimpse into what kept me so busy over the past few months.
About my person
I work at the local IKEA store in the logistics department. In 2015 my coworkers elected me as one of seven members of the local coworker's council. Two years later I was also elected as one of three union representatives. Another two years later the coworker's council elected me as their chairman. And in 2020 I was elected as one of 40 union members to sit on the union state board.
Over time I grew into these roles and learned to manage them. Some parts I am allowed by law to fulfill during working hours and some I have to manage in my own free time.
This year, the latter would exceed everyone's expectations.
With the end of April our current union wages contract ran out. Since then we are in a constant fight for a new contract with higher wages.
Fixed sum vs. percentages
This round we decided to demand a fixed sum instead of a raise in percentages. That way the relative improvement for those who need it the most, i.e. the low income employees, would gain the most, while those already getting more, can survive a (for them) smaller settlement.
We went in with a demand of 2.50€ more per hour. Simple as that.
We have a high inflation, energy crisis, several wars, etc.
Especially the inflation of then over 9% is a huge burden on those low income households. With groceries having inflation rates between 20% and 50%
Official wages below minimum
In Germany we have a minimum wage of 12€ per hour since October 2022. In our store, after a three year apprenticeship, you would earn 11.82€ per hour as per (two year old, now almost three year old) union contract. After an additional seven years you can increase that to a maximum of 17.37€ per hour.
Now consider that they mostly offer contracts with only 120 or 87 hours per month. You also have to pay taxes, health care and other insurances. And more than half of the contracts are limited to run out within two years, every third not being extended.
The employers declared:
Forced by law the first year rate is of course increased to 12€ while it still is at 11.82€ officially. Any increment settlement would be calculated with 11.82€ as the base wage. If it does not go higher than 12€ per hour it would then bet set fix to 12€ again.
Nothing to gain
During the first round of negotiations in early May the employers actually suggested we should be happy with a 3.5% raise distributed over two years.
We were sitting at a table with the heads of those store chains for groceries and accessories whose products increased in price the most. In front of me sat a man who just a few weeks before released a profit report with the highest gain in profits for over a decade and he is telling me to be happy with 3.5%
Going on strike
We went on strike the very next day. The employers did not seem to be in a hurry. While we wanted to set a new date for another talk within the next two weeks they apperently had not time for us within the next five weeks.
Every few days, mostly on Friday and Saturday, we went on strike. Unfortunately we have a problem with proper education about these things in the retail busines. Only a third of the roughly 150 employees in our store are in the union.
And when we ask the others why they don't join us, they respond with "someone has to do the work or the store would come to a standstill and we cannot let that happen, right?". These people are set in their ways we have no chance to change their minds.
As a result the heads of department were telling us that our strikes have no impact and we won't get any better offer. Why not go back in?
Increasing the pressure
Fortunately, those who participate in the strike are resolute and as a result we were able to increase the frequencies of our strike actions by adding a few weekdays here and there to our list. So screw you and let us see how much impact we can have.
The next round of negotiations led to a slightly increased offer of 4.5% over two years but still far away from our demands and not nearly enough to even cover the first few months of the high inflation. Again they did not set a new date for the next few weeks. Instead the employers cited their need for vacation as reason why they could not meet with us for another eight weeks.
Feeling disrespected
In the meantime other branches and sectors of industry got new contracts increasing their wages by 10% and more with an additional one time payment between 2000€ and 3000€. Among them even some that suffered during the Covid lockdowns.
Somehow that made us feel disrespected. People got angry.
All the while the executives were spreading their narratives to those still working to drive a wedge between us. How the remaining staff had to work more and overtime to cover our workload. And too many were gullible enough. No resistance but anger towards us. They even asked us to "go on strike outside of busines hours" so we would not interrupt the workload. We had absolutely no chance educating the remaining staff of their rights or how union negotiations work.
More determined than ever
So far our tactics did not improve much. Some days we went on strike, others we went to work. Trying to be unpredictable we started mixing it up a little bit to increase the impact and keep them guessing when adjusting the work schedule. On the plus side we noticed that despite their claims we actually did have an impact.
And then we added a new tactic: Leaving the store mid-days.
While in line for the checkout the lady closed down and said sorry, we're on strike now
That definately increased the impact. We timed that action so only union members were working the registers at that very moment and it took them more than 15 minutes to get in replacements.
After repeating this a few times at different hours, the schedules were adapted and the process of reopening the lines was improved. Our impact with that tactic became negligible.
Permanent strike
In the meantime we got back at the table only to hear that the offer "graciously" was improved to 5.3% with an additional 2% next year. While that was an improvement it was still not nearly enough to even consider it.
So we went on permanent strike and have been since October.
And since it is getting dark early these days we replaced the balloons with lights. We also added a hand-cart with a speaker and some more signs. Walking up and down in front of the store makes the customers more and more aware of our situation.
No new date but huge support
The employers got emotional and terminated any further negotiations. We currently have no new date to meet again. Christmas shopping is near and reports of more and more coworkers inside the stores calling in sick increase every day.
However, most of the customers support our cause. Those who engage us and ask further questions are astonished by the low wages and offers. And when they come out of the store they talk to us again giving us hope by reporting the impact we actually have. Empty shelves, long register lines due to too few lines open.
They wish us good luck and to reach a settlement soon.
So do I.
First two picture show myself, all other pictures/screenshots taken by me