This is intimidation plain and simple, it is union busting,
works council busting and it is meant
to send a message to everyone watching.
So we are here today to support Olesya
in her court hearing and her termination hearing.
Olesya was terminated back in January
and this is the first court date for her.
To increase the pressure the employers suspended pay for one of us,
no salary, forced to apply for unemployment benefits
just for doing the work that the law protects.
But here is what they didn't count on.
We are not afraid and we are not alone.
What is happening is not unique to Thoughtworks
Across the tech industry.
This pattern is the same.
Mass layoffs, surveillance of workers, pressure to build technology
for war and for the powerful and everywhere the same hostility
towards anyone who dares to organise.
The industry that promised to change the world is now using
its money and its lawyers to crush the workers who built it.
For too long we were told that tech workers do not need unions,
that we were different, that we should be grateful.
That myth is dead.
So just to give you a briefing on the worksconsitution act:
We can't be terminated by the employer
unless the workscouncil consents to that.
So employers are trying to terminate us on allegations
that we saw internal company information that we shouldn't have access to.
Because the employer basically sent an email to 10,000 employees
containing this information, links to the information.
Once we clicked on it, they terminated us, me and Olysia.
So these are the basis of the allegations and they are not true,
simply because the employer sent this information to everyone.
It's simply just targeting Works Council members
for being loud and vocal and combative.
So our company has five Works Councils
across Germany in five cities.
We also have like a central Works Council
that represents all the employees in Germany.
When she was terminated she was part of the Berlin Works Council
and she was part of the Central Council.
And currently we are negotiating
with the employer on multiple topics.
So that's basically, we're doing our job as Works Council members
just negotiations, working on agreements,
representing employees and so on.
We will not be intimidated.
We will fight every one of these cases in court and we will win.
And to tech workers watching:
Your rights are only as strong as your willingness to defend them.
Organise, join a union, stand with your Works Council,
because an injury to one of us is an injury to all of us.
Tech workers, unite!