Strong start for the fundraising campaign for the 3rd International Automotive Workers' Conference

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Like the International Automotive Workers' Conference itself, the fundraising galas are completely self-organized by the participants and the groups of the International Automotive Workers' Coordination. This inspired and sparked the initiative of the participants: a more than sumptuous buffet, songs from the VW collective bargaining round to Gaza solidarity, poetry by a former assembly line worker, a dance performance, beautiful music by the group “lucky punch” from Hanover, and much more...

Colleagues came from the VW sites in Hanover, Braunschweig, Wolfsburg, and Kassel, from OPEL in Eisenach, CATL in Erfurt, and Mercedes Benz in Bremen. In addition, guests from Emden and Reutlingen had made the long journey especially for the event. The broad participation from across the north brought together the experiences from the fundraising campaign so far in a short discussion round. The fundraising gala unanimously declared its solidarity with a union representative from Hanover who had been reprimanded by VW for a 4-minute stoppage during collective bargaining negotiations.

A speech expressed disappointment at the outcome of the collective bargaining round at VW in December 2024, but also that many illusions had been shattered and that workers were coming to realize that they had to take action themselves if they wanted to assert their own interests.

This was also reflected in the result: A good €3,200 was donated to the coordination group's donation fund, mainly to cover travel expenses. Numerous colleagues contributed delicious food donations to the buffet or distributed invitations to the fundraising gala at the factory gates, even though they themselves were unable to attend due to time constraints. Others donated up to €50 for a supporter ticket. This is the spirit that makes such large projects a reality through the contributions of many.

Now it is a matter of organizing participation in the conference in Pune, India, visas, flights... and, of course, continuing to collect donations and further developing international automotive worker coordination so that even more friends can realize even larger projects in the future.

Original text in German