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The World Socialist Web Site reports
The management of Volkswagen in Germany, [Europe's largest automaker, with around 620,000 employees,] has taken a hard-line stance in a dispute with two suppliers and accepted a partial halt in [vehicle] production.
[...] Almost 30,000 workers face the threat of forced time off or reduced hours. [...] The company has applied for reduced working hours at the federal labour agency, which means employees will receive reduced-hours pay, meaning significant wage reductions.
[...] Suppliers ES Automobilguss and Car Trim allege VW has forced them to halt deliveries by ending a development cooperation programme worth half a billion euros without notice or cause. Both firms are demanding VW pay €58 million in compensation. They describe the crisis at VW as self-made. "VW was offloading its own problems onto the supply industry" and was clearly exploiting "its dominant market position against suppliers", they claimed. An employee meeting took place at ES on [August 22].
ES specialises in transmissions, while Car Trim focuses on internal fittings like car seats.
[...] The conflict between VW and Prevent [Group, which overarches the two suppliers and others,] is the outcome of the years-long process of cutting costs by shifting production from the major automakers to suppliers. Much of production has been outsourced to Eastern Europe, where wages are many times lower than those in Germany.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @06:26PM
If that was true, refugees wouldn't be getting the abuse they are.
...and people picking up their entire existence and leaving all social ties behind in pursuit of employment in a distant place is NOT normal.
Companies moving production|sourcing to the other end of the continent is an example of the ease with which CAPITAL is allowed to move.
Whether this is good or bad...
That evaluation is dependent on whether one values profit for a few above all else or one values a stable society that sees humans as more than exploitable labor.
It's a choice between concentrated wealth (and the resulting concentrated political power) on the one hand and healthy communities on the other.
An example of the latter is Marinaleda, in Spain. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [jacobinmag.com]
In the case of the former, with the race-to-the-bottom paradigm of Capitalism, you don't have to look very far to find an example of a town slipping into a Dickensian state of existence.
As illustrated by TFA, Capitalism and "free trade" has humanity moving backwards.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @06:52PM
The refugees originate from outside the EU. International law states that they may claim asylum in the first country that they come to that provides safety from the whatever is threatening their lives in their own country. It does not accept economic migration as a valid justification for claiming asylum. The reason that refugees are being 'abused' is that they are picking and choosing which country they want to claim asylum - usually one that pays more in support or benefits than others, or offers them the best potential lifestyle.
There is no restriction on the movement of EU citizens within the EU - although some countries are now becoming unhappy by this fact.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @01:30PM
They got what they deserve, with scores of them getting trapped in Italy and having to let old men screw them for 5 euros a pop to survive.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 26 2016, @11:26PM
An example of the latter is Marinaleda, in Spain. (orig) In the case of the former, with the race-to-the-bottom paradigm of Capitalism, you don't have to look very far to find an example of a town slipping into a Dickensian state of existence.
We also don't have to look hard for towns that don't slip into Dickensian states of existence. Like most of the developed world.
That evaluation is dependent on whether one values profit for a few above all else or one values a stable society that sees humans as more than exploitable labor.
Let us note that exploitable labor is the primary vehicle by which people improve themselves and stuff gets done. Even the socialist societies you mention now and in the past exploit labor. The crops don't pick themselves in Marinaleda. A huge part of the point of stable societies is to provide the support for cooperative labor efforts (like businesses or a cooperative), a reasonably fair market for labor, and useful outlets for the fruits of labor (such as a home, investments, leisure, etc in a capitalist society).