WEBVTT

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My name is Namik Sarikaya; I’ve been
working at Volkswagen for about 27 years.

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IG Metall shop steward.

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My name is
Lars Hirsekorn.

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I have been working at Volkswagen
in Braunschweig since 1994.

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My name is
Thorsten Donnermeyer.

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I have been working
at VW for over 40 years now

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and work in
production.

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I am also a member of
the union convenor

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We have,
at the last

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shop stewards' general
meeting, raised the issue,

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that we do not want the
arms industry at Volkswagen

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and that we must
do something about it.

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We have now launched
a call to action,

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stating that we do not agree
with the fact that at Volkswagen

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more and more arms production is now
being introduced into the factories.

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The alliance has a
fairly broad scope.

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This petition
refers to the

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IG Metall Statutes §2
on peace and disarmament.

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And we call on
our trade union to

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oppose this
militarization,

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both within the workplace
and outside the workplace.

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We do, after all, have
a job security scheme

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that we “bought” last year and
now there is increasing

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pressure from the corporate
level, from the shareholders,

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that weapons
be produced here,

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because that yields
higher profits.

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The trade union official,
our chairman Oliver Dietzel,

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speaks at various
events and calls for

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people to apply for jobs
in the arms industry.

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They’re looking
for workers.

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But we believe we don’t
want to produce weapons,

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no instruments of murder, but
we have civilian manufacturing

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and we want
to stick to that.

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We’d rather
build trams,

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we’d rather build buses
for public transport,

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but not any
missile components!

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Bread and butter,
or cannons

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- you can’t
have both.

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And if you go for cannons,
then there’s simply no bread

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and no
butter left.

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And that’s not
on with us.

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We, as workers,
will only suffer as a result.

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In fact
it was Ford

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who was the initiator
or the instigator,

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which is why we said,
we must do the same.

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There, the shop stewards voted over-
whelmingly in favour of this petition.

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And something similar
happened at ZF in Hanover

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and we at VW also tried to bring
this to the union bodies.

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And that is precisely
how this petition

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came about, and
we’re well on our way.

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A number of
senior officials

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as well as many colleagues
have signed it.

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We are trying to
collect the signatures

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by hand.
That means,

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we haven’t launched a
traditional petition

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via the internet, but we’ve
actually got signature sheets

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and try to strike up a
conversation with our colleagues.

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That’s what
matters to us:

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to engage with people
and have a discussion.

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And yes, that’s going
very well at the moment.

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The situation at Volkswagen,
as is well known,

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is that one crisis is
following another,

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that around 35,000 jobs
at Volkswagen’s core brand

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and a further 15,000 jobs
in other brands

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will be lost
by 2030.

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And the company is, of course,
using this situation

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against the workers to really
bring the hammer down on them.

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Either you go along with this
now, or you’ll be out of a job.

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That’s the big stick
being brandished.

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Of course, there are
many who say: Well,

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before I loose my job, I’d
produce military equipment too.

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But there are already very,
very many who say: We’ve been

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waited for this
discussion to even begin.

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Up until now, people have
simply kept quiet about it

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and just
put up with it.

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And we are calling
for a debate

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within the workforce and
within the trade union.

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To me it seems
a bit like this:

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there’s that quote by Bertolt
Brecht: “First comes food

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and then
comes morality.”

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And if you look at the automotive
and supplier industries,

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then the situation is this: people
have had their food taken away

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and many naturally lose
their moral standards as well,

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because the rent still
has to be paid.

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The children might want to
go on a school trip.

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I had a discussion
with a colleague

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the other day
about this.

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He said: ‘Just wait and see
for now, Thorsten

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until the time comes.

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and I think that if
we wait and see with VW,

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and our production
depends on Kriege,

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that everything stays
so stable and relies

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on doing business with it
– then it’s too late!

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Yes, for now it’s just
a loose connection

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who discussed it
and said

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We have to try to
set something in motion,

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it can’t go on like this,
where people just say:

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Well, Osnabrück, we’ll 
either we close it down

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or we’ll produce  weapons there. 
- There’s no other alternative.

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And that’s precisely
our demand,

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that there must be
an alternative.