Now you have to know that in Canada precise rules for the strike are agreed with the police. One of the rules stipulated that the strikers were allowed to hold cars entering and leaving the plant for ten minutes. So that was what Management and all those who did not take part in the strike could expect from the first to the last day of the strike. In Florian Festge’s mind, everything was against giving the strikers the satisfaction of simply detaining their boss for a certain period of time. So he thought about not even leaving the office on the day before the first day of the strike– but rather setting up there with a sleeping bag and enough provisions for the night. He rolled out his sleeping bag under his desk and “enjoyed” the somewhat different office nap.
The next morning, he was thrilled to see the strikers’ reaction as they searched in vain for him. In the days that followed, he drove back to the factory site with the others – but instead of everyone coming individually in their own car, they chartered a van that could transport nine people at once. This meant that the loss of working time was not so serious.
There are two sides to every coin. The good side of the long strike was that a great sense of solidarity developed among the non-strikers. Everyone did every job – no matter how unfamiliar it was – and somehow they managed to keep the business running together despite the strike. Even today, Florian Festge still remembers the indescribable feeling when the gate opened after the first self-assembled screening machine had been loaded onto the lorry together.
This was the first and last time that Florian Festge “camped” in his office.