We call on all Ford workers to contact the Ford Action Committee to prepare a fight to defend the Cologne main plant. A second Saarlouis must not be allowed to happen. Send us a WhatsApp message to the following number: +491633378340 or register using the form at the end of this article.<\/p>\n
24-hour strike at Ford in Cologne, May 14, 2025<\/p>\n
When the IG Metall held a 24-hour strike last Wednesday of 11,500 Ford workers in Cologne, Germany against the plant\u2019s threatened closure, the WSWS warned that the union and its works council officials \u201chave no interest in an industrial fight to defend jobs, but are seeking the orderly liquidation of the plant.\u201d<\/p>\n
The union apparatus itself has confirmed the correctness of this assessment. On Monday, IG Metall called off a second, indefinite strike, which the workforce had voted for by 93.5 percent. <\/p>\n
In their press release on Monday, union secretary Kerstin Klein and IG Metall shop stewards David L\u00fcdtke and Frank Koch did not provide any detailed reasons for overriding the membership vote. They merely referred to unspecified \u201ckey points\u201d they claimed to have agreed with Ford\u2019s German management.<\/p>\n
They claim the 24-hour strike, which probably did not cost the company a penny given the plant\u2019s low capacity utilisation, led to \u201cmanagement coming far enough towards us in the talks since Thursday that we want to give further negotiations adequate space,\u201d said IG Metall negotiator Klein.<\/p>\n
After Ford had sent Klein an offer shortly before the first strike began, the union official was apparently on the verge of cancelling even the 24-hour strike, but ultimately decided against it. \u201cWe will still go ahead with the one-day strike as planned, because we will not give up the leverage of industrial action as long as there is no overall package on the table,\u201d they wrote at the time. Immediately after the strike, they resumed negotiations and are now reportedly closer to this \u201ccomprehensive package.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benjamin Gruschka, chairman of the Ford Works Council, said, \u201cWe were able to agree on a few key points for further negotiations with the German management.\u201d This now required approval from the group headquarters in the USA on one or two points. \u201cUntil we receive feedback, we will work out further details in working groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank Koch, head of the Ford Customer Service Division employee representative committee, is quoted in the IG Metall press release as saying: \u201cIf the US management is prepared to follow the path we have chosen, we will continue the negotiations; if not, we will have to increase the pressure on the employer side. \u2026 We will then continue and expand the strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n Fellow union official David L\u00fcdtke, employee representative at Ford Niehl\/Merkenich, claimed: \u201cWe are ready to do so at any time.\u201d This is all a lie. All previous experience tells a different story. <\/p>\n Last week, IG Metall organised a strike for the first time in the plant\u2019s 100-year history, despite several strike ballots by the workforce. Immediately after the workforce had voted to take all-out industrial action, IG Metall blocked it by reaching an agreement with the company\u2019s top management.<\/p>\n The only major strike by Ford workers in Germany took place over 50 years ago in 1973. It was not organised by IG Metall, but Ford workers themselves, who were mostly immigrants. At that time, IG Metall works council members joined in beating up the striking workers, actively helping to brutally crush and end the strike.<\/p>\n The recent ballot for an indefinite strike and last Wednesday\u2019s action showed that the workforce is prepared to fight to defend their jobs and Ford\u2019s main German plant. But being limited to one 24-hour strike has shown that jobs can only be defended against both management and the union apparatus and their works council reps in the factory. IG Metall only reluctantly organised the strike under pressure from the workforce and has now cancelled it at the first opportunity.<\/p>\n This is not only true for Ford but is a general phenomenon. In their press release, the three union representatives Klein, L\u00fcdtke and Koch sent \u201csolidarity greetings\u201d to the 3,000 steelworkers at H\u00fcttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) in Duisburg. They also face an uncertain future because Thyssenkrupp, the majority shareholder, plans to close the plant. The steelworkers are also \u201cin a tough battle for a social collective agreement [Sozialtarifvertrag, a type of labor agreement in Germany governing the terms of layoffs],\u201d The three state, concluding: \u201cStay determined, stay strong, we will stand by you!\u201d<\/p>\n IG Metall, the works council and the shop stewards in Duisburg are just as determined to sabotage every struggle as their counterparts in Cologne. In Duisburg last week, IG Metall called a short\u00a0one-hour warning strike at HKM<\/a>, by having the early shift report to work an hour late. A two-hour rally planned for last Monday at Gate 3 was then cancelled, just like the indefinite strike at Ford Cologne.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n