The global automotive industry is in the midst of a profound transformation, which raises a number of social and ecological questions for trade unions, the left and the environmental movement.
The Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Geneva Office commissioned a study to begin to answer these questions. With their extensive research and interviews with trade unionists and scholars, the authors Jörn Boewe and Johannes Schulten dispel many myths about electric mobility and the transformation of the automotive industry. This is a contribution to how international solidarity can be organized by trade unions with left industrial policies around the global supply chain. A "Just Transition" is possible, but it needs to be prepared conceptually, so that in the coming decades we are not only on the defensive. On the occasion of the publication's forthcoming English translation, author Johannes Schulten discusses the US context of this automotive industry transition to the RLS-NYC. He uses Tesla as a case study to discuss the intersections between the US and Germany when it comes to the automotive industry, labor unions and the environment.
Link to the interview in English: rosalux.nyc/teslas-power-game...
Speakers:
Dr. Johannes Schulten runs the Berlin based journalist office „work in progress“ together with Jörn Boewe. In addition, he conducts research at the Institute for Work and Qualifications (IAQ) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. His research mainly deals with developments in the Industrial Relations system of Germany, union renewal and organizing. Several articles by both on the (international) labor dispute at Amazon have appeared in English.
Sabrina Lamers is an intern at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation New York City and former scholarship holder at the RLS Berlin. She is currently conducting research for her MA thesis on unequal socio-economic transformations, with a special focus on East German deindustrialization processes after the reunification 1989/90.