CabAuto picket line Photo Nick Hart
CabAuto picket line Photo Nick Hart

Richard Gingell, Black Country Socialist Party

Near Oldbury in the Black Country, workers at CabAuto are in their second round of strikes against abysmal pay and conditions. With the cost of living soaring, these skilled workers manufacturing interiors for luxury car companies including BMW and Bentley, are barely above the minimum wage, even with parent company Adler Pelzer making over £100 million profits in 2020.

This means that Unite is paying out more in strike pay than their employer would in wages, a fact not lost on the workers present, with one of them realising that they can “basically strike indefinitely”. Pay isn’t the only issue though once again we hear the same old story of bullying from management.

This bullying has continued throughout the waves of strikes, convincing more and more workers to join the picket as time went on. Despite being in the crosshairs, management’s inability to treat workers with respect shines through with an offer below the demands of the workers, who are determined to see this dispute through to the end.

Socialist Party members have been in regular attendance at the pickets over the last two months to offer our support. One worker told us: “We’re not fighting for greed, we’re fighting to survive. We’ve had enough – they’ll be sorry they ever took us on!”