History, Event, Movies, panel-discussion, Digital offer, Audio/Podcast
50 years ago, in 1973, there were strikes in over 300 places in the Federal Republic of Germany. Migrant workers, who had come to West Germany in the course of the recruitment agreements since the 1950s, were significantly involved in these strikes. These strikes are often referred to as "wildcat" strikes, since they disregarded the collective bargaining "peace obligation" and the unions were generally not involved in the work stoppages. More recent interpretations, however, place the spontaneous strikes in the context of long-term, unionized labor disputes. The 1973 strikes were merely the culmination of labor struggles in which migrants had been participating since the late 1950s to demand equality with German workers.
Most strikes remained small and unnoticed. The strike at the Ford plants in Cologne-Niehl in August 1973 was a different story. The alleged "Turkish strike" attracted nationwide attention, and this labor dispute was stylized as a threat. Racist headlines such as "Turkish terror at Ford" dominated the tabloid press and made the participation of other nationalities invisible. The strike was ended, in part violently, by police and plant security. The workers' demands were not met.
The strike at the automotive supplier Pierburg in Neuss, Germany, was different, as it was initiated by migrant women workers. They succeeded in getting the works council, which was mostly made up of Germans, to side with them and to work together for better working conditions. Against the will of the plant management, which even afterwards tried to criminalize the strikers, the women were able to push through key demands.
On this special page, we document exemplary material on the hundreds of strikes at the Pierburg and Ford plants: films, eyewitness reports, photos. Exclusively we present a short radio play by Mesut Bayraktar and a music video by Nazım Sabuncu about the Ford strike. In addition, there are event tips for the next days and weeks. In addition, we have asked historians, contemporary witnesses and trade unionists about their perspectives today on the "wild" strikes of 1973. Not only is our book, published for the first time as an eBook in the edition DOMiD series, available, but there are also further online links to more detailed information on the labor disputes of that time.
"In recent decades, the relevance of the "wildcat" strikes of 1973 has been emphasized and kept alive primarily by migrant self-organizations and in leftist, above all factory interventionist, memory culture. The fact that they are finally being remembered and reappraised more broadly today is a step forward that is primarily due to the vehemence of activists. But it is also due to the fact that they have a special topicality today: as for example in today's feminist strikes, the disputes about working and living conditions of migrants, inflation or the increasing strike activity.
The fact that these strikes, 50 years later, are now being researched and also dealt with by the trade unions - which play an ambivalent role in German migration history and migrant strikes - is an important step in dealing with and appreciating the labor struggles. Strikes like those at Pierburg, Hella and Ford have long been more than the events themselves. They made migrants visible as political subjects in the broader public for the first time and were thus always a point of reference for migrant self-organization.
Remembering the strikes is significant not only because migrant resistance has not yet been given a place in public historical culture, but also because we can learn from them in many ways - if we want to do scholarly work on movement history, if we want to do union work, if we want to strike, if we want to impose smarter migration policies on this country."
Nuria Cafaro studied philosophy, history and education and is doing her PhD at the University of Cologne on labor struggles in Italy, France and West Germany around 1968. She works at the Cologne Women's History Association on the self-organization of migrant women, organizes city tours on the history of women's migration and is active in educational work on trade union and migration history. Her work also focuses on the history of the Italian workers' movement and migrant protest in the Federal Republic of Germany, especially the 1973 Ford strike in Cologne.
The "Wild Ford Strike 1973", planned as a "spontaneous work stoppage" for cost-of-living increases and more humane work on the assembly line, which the Ford management refused for a long time, became an uprising of Turkish migrant workers, which made their living and working conditions exemplary for the "guest workers". As an uprising, it not only became topic No. 1 in all media, but at the same time also a signal of awakening of self-confident migrants.
According to my research, I assume that we are not dealing with a "wildcat" strike, but with two social movements: a spontaneous work stoppage along the lines of trade union negotiation logic, planned by trade union shop stewards, and a migrant movement that followed the logic of the uprising. Despite the disastrous ending, the migrant uprising produced multiple, lasting changes: It forced all actors to take a new view of the "guest worker question" and how to deal with migrant workers.
In the Ford strike, the grievances were addressed confidently but still unsuccessfully. Subsequently, the migrant workers developed into committed fighters in the unions. Together, they fought for better working conditions in Baden-Württemberg as early as October 1973, for six weeks' vacation in the 1979/80 steel strike and for the 35-hour week in 1984, and they are committed to their work as works and supervisory council members, shop stewards and union secretaries.
Witich Rossmann is a political scientist and long-serving trade union secretary at IG Metall. He is currently chairman of the DGB Cologne/Bonn.
"In 1973, there were over 2.5 million migrant workers in Germany, derided as "guest workers." Many of them had been working here as "guests" for well over ten years, doing the hardest work for the lowest wages, ruining their health and living in cramped, often inhumane housing.
There had already been many small acts of resistance, but in 1973 tens of thousands went on strike in many factories to put an end to this injustice and disrespect. The women at Hella and Pierburg and the factory squatters at Ford made history.
The actions had a great impact: the migrants gained respect and thus withdrew social acceptance from their discrimination. Management and unions were forced to change their strategy. This was well expressed by a group of young "migrant" industrial foremen when, 25 years later, they said to participants in the 73 strike: "Without you, we wouldn't be here. The end of the special exploitation of migrants also completely changed the production processes. The Y-Hall was unrecognizable after 25 years.
We can learn from this that the world only changes to our advantage if we help it along.
I am very happy about the interest, especially of the grandchildren of those who were on strike at that time, to learn more about the situation at that time, but also about the sovereignty of the young migrant scientists to ask questions anew, to lure machos out of their reserve and to gain new facets from the history of the strike. The 50th has become another real highlight for me as an ex-strike participant."
Peter Bach worked at Ford at the time and supported the strike. Today, he is involved in a variety of activities, including the Herkesin Meydanı - Platz für Alle initiative and the Cologne-Mülheim History Workshop.
"In the 1973 work stoppages, which were only a culmination of previous struggles, something emerged that had already existed for a long time: everyday resistance against unhealthy, poorly paid work, against authoritarian masters, and generally against violations of dignity.
This is also true for the strikes, which were mainly carried out by migrants. It can be said that from the first day of "guest work", there were strikes and protests. In the "migrant" strikes, two aspects are special, which were not equally significant for all other workers at that time (and today): The strikers always also resist the precariousness of the "guest worker regime" and racism in German society. That is why they are so important for an emancipatory culture of remembrance.
The strikes at Pierburg and Ford are in this respect siblings of the current struggles, where today workers take action against exploitation, even without first asking permission from an institution. And perhaps they are also siblings of the protests against the murder of Nahel in France this summer.
After the 1973 strikes, things improved: for those who were not dismissed, there were more migrants in the works council and union. For those who stayed in the country, there were better legal conditions over time. If you look at how people are sometimes treated at work who come to Germany today, however, you will find a lot of similarities with what people were offered at Pierburg or Ford back then.
That's another reason why it's important to keep the memory alive, as DOMiD and many others are trying to do!"
Peter Birke is a historian and research associate at the Sociological Research Institute in Göttingen.
The migrant strikes at Ford in Cologne-Niehl, at Pierburg in Neuss, at Hella in Lippstadt and elsewhere remain unforgettable for various reasons. In the summer of 1973, it became clear that the immigrants had never come to terms with their intended role as grateful and exploitable migrant workers. Already at the beginning of the recruitment, migrants resisted discrimination and unacceptable working and living conditions. The 1973 work stoppages were the turning point at which this resistance could no longer be ignored. Even if not all of these struggles were won, the protagonists of the strikes achieved a lot. The trade union commitment of and for migrants increased again, additional breaks on the assembly line were included in the collective agreement, the discriminatory light wage groups for women were successfully fought for the first time, the annual leave could also be taken consecutively ...
The migrant workers fought against racism, against patriarchy and against discrimination as workers and achieved progress for all - in the company and in society.
Historian Simon Goeke works as a research assistant for migration studies and curator at the Munich City Museum. In his doctoral thesis entitled "Wir sind alle Fremdarbeiter!" (We are all foreign workers!), published in 2020, he examines the migrant struggles of the 1960s and 1970s in the Federal Republic and their connections to the social movements and the trade unions.
By Jörg Huwer in the "Edition DOMiD"
DOMiD published on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the so-called "Ford strike" the book "Gastarbeiter" im Streik - Die Arbeitsniederlegung bei Ford Köln im August 1973 by Jörg Huwer. The author vividly and impressively describes the course of events and the background to the work stoppage. For the first time, the context of the strike is thus clearly shown, beyond all previous patterns of interpretation. The print publication has long been out of print, but with the kind permission of the author we can make the book available free of charge as a PDF (in German language only).
(Short registration required)
"I am Nazim. But you can also call me Erkan, Deniz or Ali" - a voice from the spontaneous strike at Ford in Cologne tells of the six days in the summer of 1973, from August 24 to 30. The workers in the Y-hall, final assembly, stop being so-called guest workers. The Federal Republic sees that the recruited workers are human beings.
The text is taken from the play "Gastarbeiter-Monologe" (author: Mesut Bayraktar). The author rewrote it accordingly for the short radio play. More infos here.
COPYRIGHT NOTE
No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or processed, duplicated or distributed using electronic systems without permission of the author. Here with kind permission of the author.
Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm
Love, D-Mark and Death
Documentary, D, 2022, 96 min, OV Turkish / German with English UT
Director: Cem Kaya
At the beginning of the 1960s, people from Turkey brought not only their labor to Germany, but also their language, culture and music. A lively music scene emerged, which had its roots in Anatolia but its heyday in the Federal Republic. It is still omnipresent today.
Cem Kaya's stirring documentary was awarded the Panorama Audience Award at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival 2022.
Afterwards, the group "Streikkultur" invites to an audience discussion.
An event of the group "Streikkultur".
the homeland evening on sunday morning
with Peter Bach, Mitat Özdemir and Claudia Sledz
Fifty years ago, in 1973, the legendary Ford strike took place. About two thirds of the employees at that time were Turkish workers.
They were employed exclusively in the lower wage groups and were practically unrepresented in the works council. They went on the so-called wildcat strike, which ended after 4 days with police action and dismissals. Shortly thereafter, the government decreed a general
recruitment freeze. Peter Bach and Mitat Özdemir report as contemporary witnesses about the events in Cologne. Claudia Sledz sings.
An event in cooperation with the VHS
Mülheim.
Sunday, August 6, 2023
Start 11am
Admission 8€, reduced 6 €
An event of the group "Streikkultur".
The documentary "This work stoppage was not planned" documents the wildcat strike at Ford in Cologne in the summer of 1973. The film will be followed by a talk and discussion with strikers from that time.
Rex am Ring, Cologne
19.30h
An event of the group "Streikkultur".
Exhibition opening & discussion event
"Migration labor and recognition struggles between memory and actuality".
Thursday, August 24, 2023. 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
at the Mülheim Community Center (MüZe), Berliner Str. 77, 51063 Cologne-Mülheim.
An event by interKultur e.V., in cooperation with Geschichtswerkstatt Mülheim.
Program schedule
18.00 h: Admission & Reception
6.30 pm: Opening of the exhibition "Stages, Conflicts and Recognition Struggles of Migration" (with photos by Manfred Vollmer, Gernot Huber, Sergej Lepke and many others).
Exhibition opening with Nihat Öztürk
(Nihat Öztürk came to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1973 as a foundry worker before he studied, sponsored by the Hans Böckler Foundation, from 1978 on and finally worked for IG Metall for three decades, most of the time as First Authorized Representative and Managing Director in Düsseldorf-Neuss).
An event of the group "Streikkultur.
Trade Unions and Social Movements: Between ignorance, confrontation and cooperation.
50 years after the great Ford strike in Cologne, these times are again characterized by strong labor struggles, which are now supported by social movements - whether in the hospital, at Lieferando or in the "social and educational services" sector. Through many years of rapprochement and disputes, ever stronger links have emerged, which currently result in campaigns such as "Wir fahren zusammen" (We drive together), which bring together workers in public transport and the climate movement.
However, the path of unions and social movements does not always lead towards each other, but is often characterized by mutual skepticism, different or even opposing goals, strategies and tactics, competition and knowledge about each other.
These diverse cooperative as well as confrontational experiences urge discussion, reflection and agreement. Therefore, we invite you to discuss together: What are possibilities, obstacles and limits in the cooperation of social movements and DGB trade unions?
with
Impulse:
Franziska Heinisch (activist & author)
Witich Roßmann (Chairman DGB Cologne & author)
and further panel guests
Moderation:
Nelli Tügel (journalist, author & editor)
September 12, 2023 | 6:00 p.m.
Old Fire Station | Large Forum | Melchiorstr. 3, 50670 Cologne, Germany
A cooperation event of:
DGB Stadtverband Köln, Fridays for Future Köln, Profits harm your health.
Successful and unsuccessful solidarisations. 50 years of spontaneous strikes
August 2023 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the spontaneous strikes at the auto supplier Pierburg in Neuss and at Ford in Cologne, which already attracted a great deal of attention at the time, but in the following decades, due to the disproportionate share of migrants among the strikers and their "unofficial" character - especially at Ford in Cologne - acquired an almost symbolic significance for a more recent political and academic debate and a (post-)migrant activism.
In recent years, the memory of the 1973 strikes has been primarily characterized by making migrant resistance, migrant (labor) struggles, and migrant actors visible and worthy of attention. The 1973 struggles can also be assigned to a longer temporal arc of labor disputes that can be dated, for example, from late summer 1969 ("September strikes") to 1974 (successful ÖTV strike).
On closer examination, the strikes in this phase of the Federal Republic's history cannot be described dichotomously as "wildcat" strikes against the DGB unions and their "legal" labor struggles, but rather show a contradictory interplay rather than a stark contrast. The strike in Neuss, which was predominantly carried by women and was directed against wage group 2, which in fact discriminated exclusively against women, was also successful because the majority of the works council and the local IG Metall union showed solidarity. For today's left struggles, this could be a hint not to operate too much via demands on the state and legislation, but to focus more on the development and implementation of active practices of solidarity in the world of work.
For this to succeed, conditions of solidarity are crucial that allow for unifying struggles. This was successful in Neuss, but not in Cologne. But this difference between successful and failed solidarization should not be expanded into another dichotomy either; valuable conclusions can also be drawn from failure.
We, that is the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the Otto Brenner Foundation, the Hans Böckler Foundation, the Foundation for Human Dignity and the World of Work, IG Metall (Executive Board Department Migration and Participation), the IG Metall Düsseldorf-Neuss office, the Institute for Social Movements in Bochum, and the German Labor History Association, are taking the anniversary as an occasion for our conference on September 1 and 2 in Düsseldorf and asking: What is the fascination of these strikes of 1973, and how are they to be assessed today from a historiographical and activist perspective? To what extent can they be productively linked to the current situation?
The conference will begin with a cultural program on the topic on September 1 from 5 p.m. at the DGB-Haus Düsseldorf. The conference will begin on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the same location. Trade unionists, contemporary witnesses, academics and politically active people from different spectrums will engage in discussion in various formats. In addition, a publication from the circle of organizers will appear in the summer.
Friday, September 1:
Saturday, September 2
Cooperation partners: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (federal government and North Rhine-Westphalia), Otto Brenner Foundation, Hans Böckler Foundation, Human Dignity and the World of Work Foundation, IG Metall (Executive Board Department Migration and Participation and Düsseldorf-Neuss Office), Institute for Social Movements in Bochum and the German Labor History Association.
You were present during the strikes and still have souvenirs from those days? You would like to tell us your story? Please feel free to contact us.
Motif series "Migration history in images"
From 1967 to 1986, the GDR recruited so-called contract workers to counter the shortage of skilled workers. How did they fare and what are the long-term consequences? This is what we are dealing with in this online story.
Motif series "Migration history in images", History
The strike at the Neuss-based automotive supplier Pierburg made headlines nationwide in 1973. The article tells the story of how foreign workers and Germans worked together to improve working conditions.
Motif series "Migration history in images"
Labor migration is often associated with male migrants, when in fact, female migrants represent a remarkable amount of the workforce, e.g. in the health sector. This article describes the roles of migrant women using the example of Korean nurses.
Motif series "Migration history in images"
In addition to working in Germany, music and culture were important components of their free time for many migrant workers. In the current online story, we deal with music interacting with political engagement.
Motif series "Migration history in images"
“Guest workers” ("Gastarbeiter") - this problematic term was used to designate foreign workers who were only supposed to work in Germany for a short time. In the German Liaison Office in Istanbul, these boards advertised job seekers.
Motif series "Migration history in images"
In our motif series "Migration History in Pictures" we are devoting ourselves this month to a special exhibit of Italian labor migration from the 1950s: the Eis-Boy from the Galeazzi family.