The IG Metall activists at MBition have organised a successful week of action. For four days, they used the lunch break at the wholly-owned subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz Group AG to talk to their colleagues and ask them about the issues that currently concern them the most.
This brought to light a number of challenges that the employees are currently facing. "At the moment, it's mainly a lack of pay transparency and a lack of promotion opportunities at our company," says Victoria Fischer, IG Metall member and Chairwoman of the MBition Works Council. "Colleagues have the feeling that there is a major injustice in terms of pay. Particularly in view of the pay conditions at Mercedes-Benz, which are clearly regulated by a collective agreement, we still have a lot of catching up to do here."
But it's not just pay that is causing discontent among the workforce. "Many colleagues are worried about their job security," says Jan Brauburger, trade union secretary at IG Metall Berlin. "Of course, the cost-cutting programme at Mercedes-Benz AG has also left its mark on MBition. Although there are no public plans to cut jobs at MBition, there is great concern among colleagues that they could also be affected. Colleagues from third countries in particular, who are currently employed in Germany with a Blue Card, are very worried about their future."
The third ongoing theme of the campaign week was the right to mobile working. "In the tech sector in particular, we are seeing that a return-to-the-office policy is having a full impact in many companies. There are also major concerns among employees at MBition that the general trend in the industry to reintroduce a stricter attendance requirement and restrict the possibilities of mobile working will not stop at MBition," says Sabrina Lamers, trade union secretary at IG Metall Berlin. "We naturally take the justified concerns of our colleagues very seriously. Our goal for MBition is a collective agreement in which we not only ensure good and fair pay and employment conditions, but also give our colleagues the security they need to plan their lives in Berlin in the medium term through an employment guarantee."
