| From Unity, 13 October 2007 |
The strike bike: Workers take over bicycle factoryHermann Glaser-BaurThe German Democratic Republic had a flourishing production of bicycles, and the long-lasting rigid two-wheelers were popular in many countries. Since the west of Germany had lost a number of its famous makes, such as Adler and NSU, during the 1950s and 60s, a GDR-made Mifa, Diamant or Biria bicycle was a common sight in Frankfurt or Munich as well as in Dresden or Berlin. After the counter-revolution things changed in the bicycle industry, as well as in all others. Diamant was shut down altogether; Mifa re-emerged after a while as a shareholder company. Biria, which consisted of two factories, in Neukirch (Saxony) and Nordhausen (Thuringia), hung in for a while and was bought for very little in 2005 by Lone Star Investments, a company based in Texas that has branches in Belgium and Germany. They weren’t interested in making bikes, never mind keeping workers’ jobs: speculation is their business. When the Neukirch plant was shut down last year and workers thrown out with no or scandalously small redundancies (€600 for a worker after thirty years in the factory), anger was huge. But, let down by the “free world” governments, not supported by their union leaders, and axed by the bosses, the men and women who had made good cycles for a long time saw no hope and had to join the endless and ever-growing dole queues. When Lone Star’s plans became public, anger grew. They sold both factories, including machinery and contracts, to their “competitor” Mifa. The price paid was 25 per cent of the shares, worth about €8 million. This move meant, of course, the death of the Nordhausen works, and then in the spring of 2007 the bosses started to have machinery dismantled and shifted out of the works. The workers and their elected union reps (similar to shop stewards here, but elected by the whole work force) made a last and desperate attempt to halt the destruction. Neither local politicians nor the leadership of the metalworkers’ union, IGM, seemed fit or willing to upset the American capitalists; the only support at that stage came from FAU, the free workers’ union, a relatively small trade union with a strong anarchist leaning. “Occupy the factory” was their advice. Establishment politicians and the media roared with laughter at the suggestion. The smiles froze on their lips on 10 July 2007. 135 workers, that’s exactly 100 per cent of the total work force, turned up and decided unanimously to take over the factory. Since that day the works have been occupied in a three-shift system; not a further piece of machinery could be moved from it. Support grew from all over. The trade unions changed their position and backed the workers. Despite no strike allowance or redundancy money, they have been holding the fort, and the plan to restart production started to take shape. The “Strike Bike” was born, and Radspannerei Berlin-Kreuzberg, a small independent manufacturer, offered help in producing, as did the small business collective “Café Libertad” in Hamburg. To restart the production of bicycles on the smallest possible scale and for a short period, the factory needed about 1,800 orders, all of them paid up front. A local solicitor took on the job of giving potential buyers a money-back guarantee in case of failure. €275 was the price put on Strike Bike. The little advertising leaflet describes it like this: “28-inch wheel ladies’ and gents’ bike, stainless-steel spokes, hub dynamo in front wheel, three-speed, steel mudguards painted in the same colour as frame. Only colour available: RED!” When the shop-steward Manuela Fischer announced on 20 September that the Farradfabrik Nordhausen had only twelve days to find the 1,800 pre-paying customers, the know-alls, the cynics and the ever-so-smart journalists came out of the woodwork again. Even large manufacturers like Kettler couldn’t sell such a number of cycles in the autumn in a few days, never mind people having to give money for goods that haven’t been and might never be made; and so on and so forth. There’s one word these people don’t know or understand: solidarity! Within days a wave of support, unseen for a long time, swept through Germany and indeed other countries. The Metalworkers’ Union tried to make up for their lack of support and ordered bikes for some of their reps. The Communist Party sent money for a batch of the red beauties, to be shipped to Cuba. Environmentalists, city couriers, bike shops, workers from other factories placed their orders. But 1,800 bikes in just twelve days is a lot, and when the CPI activist Marion Baur (needless to say, she had ordered a bike) tried to phone through solidarity and find out about the state of things on 1 October, the two factory numbers were engaged all day, and the e-mail came bouncing back. “Things are looking bad. I think they’ve cut their phones off,” was her conclusion; and friends in Germany who had tried all day were getting worried too. Next day was the deadline, and we tried for several hours non-stop. At 4:30 p.m. Heiko Hieronymus, worker and union rep, answered one of the phones: “How are things in Ireland?” We were biting our nails: “Okay, but what about the red bikes?” “We are starting production on Monday. More than 1,900 orders were in and paid for this morning. We can’t take any more for a few days; our logistics system is at the point of collapse.” We couldn’t hear the rest of his words; they were drowned by the noise of singing and celebrating people in the room. The press conference in the evening was one of the most spectacular events in the recent history of the small town of Nordhausen. Television and radio reporters from several European countries, about every German newspaper, NTV, Sky—the lot—turned up. Nobody wanted to listen to the conservative head of the state of Thuringia, who stuttered something about personally trying to find a new owner for the works. Manuela Fischer shouted it out to the media: “During the last two months we have learned who is on our side and who isn’t. We are totally overwhelmed by the people’s response. We will have to find investors, but at the moment we here at the works control what’s going to happen.” Could the bicycle factory in Nordhausen have a better owner than the workers? There will be a Strike Bike on the road in Ireland soon, and Marion Baur will gladly show it to anyone interested. Anybody who would like to buy a bike or—equally important—send messages of solidarity to Nordhausen is welcome to contact Marion Baur for address and translation: flaxmill@gmx.net. |
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