Visibly in good spirits: Striking employees after their intervention at Saturn
Photo: Christian Lelek
On Thursday morning, 30 people are sitting and standing in a cluster in front of the world clock. The last few meters are discussed hastily. One of several flash mob actions is about to start here as part of the three-day strike in the retail sector. The houses of Galeria, Saturn and Primark are to be visited one after the other. Two employees of the fashion chain Adler from Ahrensfelde query the floors of Galeria. One by one, the others raise their hands to indicate which floor they want to go to. “I want to go to the children’s department,” jokes one of Penny’s employees.
The vast majority of those present work at Penny on Oberweißbacher Strasse in Marzahn and on Wisbyer Strasse in Prenzlauer Berg. “Everyone who has to work today is here, except the boss,” says one from Wisbyer Strasse. The store was completely closed on Wednesday.
There are also employees from Galeria on Hermannplatz and from Edeka on Hadlichstrasse in Pankow. From a small group at Kadewe, one woman says she joined the union at the age of 19. That was 30 years ago. She was present at almost every trade union action.
As is usual in the industry, most of them are women. For many, it is the third day of strikes in a row. Union officials are not on site. Everything happens on its own.
When the entourage leaves for Galeria at 10.30 a.m., the excitement seems to have evaporated. Chatting, most of them go through the main entrance, a few take the side entrance. In the clothing department, a group of three approaches a young woman who is folding a pair of pants. “Hey, you’re doing well,” says a much older colleague to her. Her counterpart replies that she is only a temporary worker. The other three explain to her why they are on strike, that it is hard to pay the rent with the wages.
Not everyone dares to talk. Flyers are often distributed: in shoes, in trouser pockets, in the toilets and at the top of the restaurant. They also set the staff table there, says one of Penny’s wives. The flyer states that workers would have to choose between buying a washing machine and something to eat, and taking the children to the zoo and getting new school books. In general, the action is very quiet. Customers hardly seem to notice the intervention.
It is different with the employees. A group around the Adler employees tried early on to intervene in the operations. They line up at the register with items and when it is their turn and the items have already been scanned they claim they don’t have enough money with them and ask for a cancellation. That doesn’t go over well with the Galeria cashiers on the other side of the counter. It is then no longer possible to get into a good conversation. It hardly disturbs the operation either. There are not enough active employees on site for this. At Galeria and Primark, the activists are asked outside by the security service at the end.
Where attempts are made to be less confrontational, reactions are more positive. An Adler employee suspects that the age difference between the employees of Galeria and Primark, for example, could also play a role. Some employees carefully fold up the flyer after reading it and put it in their pocket. Others can be seen putting their heads together. A Primark employee says: »I’ll think about coming out on strike next time. Thank you for doing this, keep it up!« A security guard from Galeria is helping the long-time trade unionist from Kadewe to hang up Verdi’s strike call. It doesn’t seem to bother him that a message is pasted over there on the front door informing them that the store will be open despite the strike.
Over time, the mood becomes more relaxed. On the Saturn escalators, some women start dancing and cheering to the music from the store’s boombox. Soon they no longer approach people in groups, but dare to have one-to-one conversations. When most of them are waiting outside after the Saturn visit, a woman comes running out and cheers: “We have someone who might want to join us right away.” But in the end he doesn’t come.
At Primark, some take the opportunity and buy a pair of cheap leggings. “I can afford that more with the 2.50 euros,” one of the women alludes to the Verdi demand. The colleagues take a break between their tours: smoke, eat bread they have brought with them and exchange ideas: about the bad situation at Galeria, where salaries have been frozen since the bankruptcy filing in 2009. Since then there have been no salary increases, Christmas bonuses or one-off payments.
After the last station at Primark around 12:00 p.m., several hundred flyers are stored in all conceivable places in the goods departments and dozens of discussions have taken place among colleagues. Even if operations are not disrupted, such flash mobs achieve what central strike rallies cannot: They bring organized and unorganized colleagues into contact and certainly leave a lot of talking points for many of the latter. Even then, a little leftover is not enough. They collect the leftover flyers and say: “We’re going to Rewe now.”
According to those present, flash mobs were also planned on Ku’damm, at Ikea in Tempelhof and in Frankfurt (Oder). In the wage dispute that has been going on for months, negotiations in other federal states have also ended unsuccessfully. Verdi announced further strikes there.
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2023-08-18 11:07:42
#Strike #Berlin #flash #mob #Penny #workforce
