COMMENT: Saab union stands up for those not wearing shirt and tie

There appears to be something outrageous going on in Trollhattan or should I say Gothenburg.

While all the fancy lawyers currently engaged on the Saab case – a breathtaking 55 of them mind you – are eagerly looking for new buyers – a not inconsiderable task of course requiring eye-wateringly complex negotiations – there is one group affected by Saab’s bankruptcy that seems to have been almost completely ignored.

The automaker’s IF Metall union – representing around 1,500 Saab workers – told me today (9 February) most of its members still remain unemployed – and that in the automaker’s home town of Trollhattan which is now facing a jobless rate rapidly climbing north of 20%.

The situation has been exacerbated by not only Saab’s demise, that could see up to 12,000 jobs in the region culled including the extensive supply chain, but by another large manufacturing business going bust recently. And both those in a town whose population numbers a meagre 54,000.

IF Metall represents blue-collar staff, without whom frankly, nothing happens. They might not be the skilled engineers of the white-collar labour body, Unionen, but they are the assembly line workers, the cleaners, plumbers, electricians and canteen staff, who make up the human-facing side of any large manufacturing business, oiling the wheels of commerce.

But IF Metall’s legal adviser, Darko Davidovic told me his members appeared to be almost completely ignored by those 55 lawyers in Gothenburg handling the bankruptcy.

It seems work and educational records for IF Members – in line with many companies Saab appears to have operated some in-house training and learning of its own – are simply not available for redundant union staff seeking employment. Well, the records are there, but it looks as if no-one at the receivers is handling requests for those details to be made available to potential future employers, who, not unreasonably, want them to evaluate any new staff.

“New employers want to see what kind of education they have – the receivers say they can’t give them that because they don’t have anyone employed that knows the system,” Davidovic told me.

“It is a very strange situation – people are looking for new jobs and the receivers say they can’t afford anyone to give out this [information]. Our members are often employed [at] Saab and educated through Saab.”

This is surely outrageous. The very least the receivers could do is dedicate somebody to take care of up to 1,500 IF Metall members, particularly as it has found time to organise around 200 of them as skeleton staff keeping the Trollhattan site going.

The receivers need that factory to be kept ticking over to convince prospective buyers there is a tangible product, still in shiny condition, with clean floors, sparkling machinery and food in the canteen.

But what is intangible and can’t be seen are the future job prospects of more than 1,000 ex-Saab employees, whose State money that replaces salaries is about to run out next month.

There’s been a lot of talk about recruiting white-collar engineers from Saab, with Volvo and even the Saab defence group taking an interest, but of their blue-collar colleagues, almost nothing.

The situation has so enraged IF Metall, that the union has convened a meeting today to urgently address what it clearly views as the receivers taking their eye off the ball.

It’s particularly galling when those same receivers have asked the 200 IF Metall members to work at the Trollhattan site to make it spick and span, but has left the remainder floundering around in the dark.

And Davidovic means business: “If you can employ 200 people, you must employ one more so people can get new jobs,” he said. “I will demand this – if they will not do this I will take action.”

I’ve tried umpteen times to talk to the receivers with a spectacular lack of success – they even took the phone number off their dedicated Saab website but when I eventually got through a message redirects you to – their website.

Thank goodness for IF Metall, whose members probably grumbled about paying union subs at the time, but certainly aren’t now.

This is what unions do best, not engage in wildcat strikes at the drop of a hat as in some other European countries I could mention, but represent their members who are asking nothing more than to be given a fair crack of the whip at finding new work.

IF Metall is doing more than just standing up for its members. It’s standing up for a principle that the little man can’t be pushed and shoved around just because he doesn’t wear a shirt and tie.