Today's Topics:
1. France, Alternative Libertaire AL #288 - With Francine,
Souleymane and Leila, precarious and trade unionists (fr, it,
pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. [São Paulo-SP] II Anarchist Women's Fair By ANA on November
14, 2018 (pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Poland, zsp.net.pl: ZSP wins another court case with POLO
market (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Czech, A3: Big velvet scam (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Britain, afed: 11/11 - A SOURCE OF PRIDE? (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Precarious workers and employees who dare to rebel, who challenge their boss, engage and
politicize ? Yes, it exists. But, their individual courage would not be enough without a
rear base where to draw resources, comfort, concrete support. This is shown by the
investigation of two CGT local unions that are particularly active in the precarious
sector. ---- Coming from a hot city, marked by street culture, Benjamin experimented with
police brutality and prison before getting a job as a car subcontractor. His rebellious
temper quickly pushed him to the union, where his sense of repartee sparked. As in these
compulsory annual negotiations (NAO) bogged down where he punched on the table: " Very
good, if the NAO does not work, we will go to the NAP - the negotiations at the portal !
He tells the management, shocked, putting a threat of strike on the table.
Benjamin is a dozen activist Charles Berthonneau met for a sociological study completed
last year [1]on two local unions (UL) of the CGT, one located in the Bouches-du-Rhone,
the other in the big Parisian crown. He observed the handful of activists who were trying
to build a solidarity collective with employees from the most precarious sectors of the
proletariat. The practicing trade unionists will find here many familiar situations, but
reported with a wealth of detail and a gallery of particularly eloquent portraits.
Bagui, for example. It is in 2005 that, victim of disciplinary sanctions, he went knocking
on the door of the UL-CGT. After having gauged it, the CGT mandated him delegate (DS) of
his factory of about fifty workers, including 20 temporary workers. Confirmation by his
colleagues came next, since they now vote massively CGT at each election. In his practice,
Bagui has quite the profile of the activist " big brother " - " social worker ",
even, laughs his comrades of the UL - always present to defend colleagues in delicacy with
the direction, in particular of temporary workers on the point of being fired for cannabis
use at work (" They trust, because every time they call me, I was always there.[...]It's:
they have a problem, they call me. ")
Rather than systematically going to court, Bagui opted for a dissuasive mediation tactic
against the boss ("If you sanction him, if you want to fire him, go ahead, do it, but I
also a day will come I will attack you "). The goal was to keep the temporary worker on
the site, rather than find himself unemployed with the sole prospect of an industrial
tribunal hearing two years later. In the long run, the trust capital thus created paid off
when, with UL's logistical and human support, it launched a " historic " strike in 2012:
even the 20 or so temporary workers worked, thus gaining their permanent hiring, holiday
vouchers and a 13 th month.
" I'm going to hire you by force "
Souleymane, who later became an active cementist, recounts the strike as a commando
operation: " Bagui told us:" If you want to be hired, follow me, we will go on strike,
but I will not tell you what day. "One morning like that, at 6 o'clock, he said:" We are
on strike, everyone goes out, we go to the door, you let me, I ask you that.[...]So you
trust me, I will hire you by force, but in exchange for your help, with the strike.[...]We
find ourselves in front of the door, there is the CGT, there is everything ".[...]I said,
"I'm with you 100 %, either they hire me right away, or they turn me right away.
"Afterwards, I also helped Bagui to convince the temporary workers. We were 22 temporary
workers, all of whom followed, except one person. "
Berthonneau mentions a " logic of donation and counter-gift " for this action: in
exchange for the work that the union delegate did for them, the temporary workers
undertake to " help " him by going on strike. We are far from the model of the sovereign
general assembly, but the success of the collective action initiated by Bagui with the
posture of the " leader " to the old could have created the confidence conducive to the
construction of a more democratic unionism.
A handful of people animate the life of the local union on which depend Bagui and
Souleymane, sharing some roles. Claude, seconded from his railway union, advises corporate
activists who feel legally or tactically disadvantaged. Caroline and Abid are more in
integration, spending time with new and new, encouraging them to speak in public, to
integrate into UL's life.
It helps unions and the isolated by providing logistics, training, legal advice and
activism, but also, quite simply, moral support in the face of a very harsh environment at
work. Berthonneau talking about it to " union work care repairman class injury " [2].
So Francine, cashier in a supermarket, isolated and harassed by a sadistic leader. She was
about to crack, could have gone on a long-term sick leave. But she, who did not really
like the CGT, dares to confide in Ahmed, a colleague unionist she knew in another store.
The UL takes charge of the case and, with threatening letters, leaflets and rallies,
forces the management to back down. Listened and supported, morale is up, Francine keeps
her job, commits to the CGT, even presents herself as DP.
A team with an ethic and ambition
Leila is one of the figures of UL who supported Francine. She worked eight years in home
help, was DP, then fired. Unemployed, she now follows the home help sector at UL. Little
by little, she caught on with the more " political " activities of the UL: World March
of Women, the Boycott-Divestment-Sanction (BDS) propalestinian campaign, where she
sympathized with PKK Kurds. She even ended up joining a far-left group whose members were
active at UL.
Charles Berthonneau's investigation shows what a UL can do when it is run by a team with
ethics and ambition. At first, atomized precarious people, deprived of exploitation, come
for individual interest, to find help ; a minority will be " hooked up ", commit
themselves sustainably and participate in the collective force.
No mythology though. The author points out the external and internal limits of this work.
External limits: the obligation to obtain the status of protected employee (DS, DP,
elected at the CHSCT) to limit the employer repression against the precarious employee who
agrees to get out of the wood ; however, there are no personnel representative
institutions (IRP) in companies with fewer than 11 employees ; and, above, IORPs will lose
a lot of resources due to the XXL Labor Law.
Internal limits: the meager resources allocated, within the CGT, to the UL, despite their
potential ; the low investment of local unions, for lack of time and people. Volunteers
are a rare commodity. Revolutionaries who want to work for the popular self-organization
will find there matter to be used usefully.
William Davranche (AL Montreuil)
Charles Berthonneau (sociologist): " We must start from their own experience at work "
Charles Berthonneau investigated for four years in two local unions CGT very active
towards precarious wages.
A UL activist you study says his embarrassment: " People come to us for personal
protection, whereas we, what we offer them, is collective action. How to go from one to
the other ?
Charles Berthonneau: The employees come to the UL to know their rights better, not for big
theoretical discussions about the class struggle. Activists know that if they want to
connect with people who are far removed from unionism and collective action, they need to
start from their own work experience. Suddenly, the logic of collective action is brought
through the council. For example: " There is no point trying to convince your boss to
respect your rights, he understands the situation very well. If you have problems, it is
because he wants to make profit on your back, so only the balance of power can make him
bend. »Collective mobilization (disengagement, petition, gathering) is presented as a«
solution Practical, and not as an abstract ideological principle.
American unions pay " developers ", professional activists who will organize union
organizing in the most precarious circles of the proletariat. Why is the CGT reluctant ?
Charles Berthonneau: In fact, we find in the CGT a culture similar to that of many
organizations, and who is defiant towards professionalization: " We want activists, not
specialists, " we often repeat in the CGT. This is the case for the legal advisory
business, which is conducted by union members who have generally trained themselves in law
(even though they may be assisted by lawyers in some ULs). . At the CGT,
professionalisation is associated with a form of " reformism " Because it supposes that
militancy could be reduced to a kind of depoliticized technical and legal expertise, which
would be limited to enforcing the law, whereas the aim is precisely to make it a support
for the collective struggle .
One of the difficulties of the insecure isolated to integrate union life is the
assimilation of a militant culture that is foreign to them. How do we fix it ?
Charles Berthonneau: Integrating and intervening supposes indeed to become familiar with
ways of speaking, terms, debates - as for example between " reformist " and "
revolutionary " syndicalism - that make sense only for initiates. There can thus be
exclusionary logics of oneself, as in any collective. I was able to observe some and some
activists very attentive towards the new and new delegates to try to integrate them in
this universe. They will see them at the end of the meetings to have their feelings,
explain things they did not understand, encourage them to give their opinion, etc. We must
show pedagogy and attention.
Interviewed by Guillaume Davranche (AL Montreuil)
[1] Charles Berthonneau, " The local unions of the CGT to the test of precarious wages.
Membership, Commitment, Politicization " , PhD in Sociology under the direction of Paul
Bouffartigue, Aix-Marseille University, December 2017.
[2] Care : solicitude, benevolence.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Avec-Francine-Souleymane-et-Leila-precaires-et-syndicalistes
------------------------------
Message: 2
This year we will hold the second edition of the Anarchist Women's Fair , inspired by the
struggles of the anarchofeminists who came before us, strengthening those who now fight
with us, and opening the space with the theme: NEM ESTADO, NEM PATRÃO, NEMO HUSBAND! ----
We, the anarchist women, continually seek ways to disobey this system from within
ourselves and from time to time withdraw our "rights" and make our struggles, which have
taken us so many years, into constant devaluation and regression. ---- We then decided to
bring the questioning of these three patriarchal pillars (state, boss and husband)
together to talk about how we have disobeyed, organized and produced healthier ways of
collectively surviving. ---- Below is the registration form for talk wheels, children's
activities, artistic presentations and material stands. From the number of registrations
we will inform the dates of confirmation:
https://fdma.tellform.com/#!/forms/5bdcc9160ec65c75274cf93c
Schedule:
Registration: November 9 to November 18
II Anarchist Women's Fair: December 2
Attention:
As we approach the date of the Fair, we will announce the address, but we anticipate that
it will be in the East Zone of São Paulo, near the subway station Patriarca.
>> More infos:
fdma.noblogs.org
anarchist-ana news agency
------------------------------
Message: 3
In 2017, POLOmarket filed a penal case for "defamation" against Rafal from the Polish
Syndicalist Association, a former employee of one of the chain stores. The alleged
defamation was to be informed in the mass communication media, the Polish Radio Program 3,
Gazeta Wyborcza and the ZSP website, among others o overtime and other abuses against
employees that took place in the supermarket. ---- On 27 September 2018, the District
Court in Bydgoszcz discontinued criminal proceedings and ordered the company to pay the
costs of the proceedings. ---- The court stated, inter alia: ---- "From the very extensive
and fairly detailed report of the accused, it clearly follows how employees' rights were
respected in the POLOmarket store in Bydgoszcz at 410 Fordonska Street while he was
employed there.[...]Store manager EK knew about the fact that he was a disabled person,
despite this she did not inform the cadres about it ... she did not send a certificate of
disability, which she received from the accused. "
The court, considering credible the testimonies of former employees and the reports of the
National Labor Inspectorate, that:
- employees transported meat and other goods with their own cars, which was not reflected
in the work records
- there were difficulties in using meal breaks
- there were cases of employees calling on their days in a free schedule, some of them
were afraid to refuse to carry out the abovementioned order
- employees raised the fact that overtime and night hours were
not properly recorded - no proper accidents were reported at work
- employees were not trained in the operation of the electric wheelchair and were not
equipped with protective footwear
- the signatures on the attendance lists were falsified
At the same time, the Court refused to believe the claims of the store manager and its
deputies. In the opinion of the Court, as the persons who were responsible for the
violation of employee rights, they had an interest in presenting a favorable version of
events for themselves, and not a reality consistent with reality.
The court further stated:
"Rafal[...]acted in the name of public interest (former employees of the POLOmarket chain
of stores, with which he protested in connection with the violation of employee rights),
and not only his own private
[...]
According to the court, the accused said the above-mentioned content, through mass media,
he acted to protect a socially motivated interest, and it is beyond any such interest to
defend workers' rights against being violated by employers.
[...]
according to art. 14 Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms, art. 21 par. 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and
art. 11 of the Labor Code is prohibited any discrimination (even indirect), including Due
to trade union membership, the action of the accused by means of utterances to the mass
media was a simple generalized reaction to the violation of workers 'rights of specific
persons who together with the defendants, under the aegis of the trade union
"Syndykalistów Polski" acted in defense of their workers' rights. As a side note, the
norms of law in Polish law give protection to an individual person from the point of view
of her good name, as well as the general population from the point of view of, for
example, employee rights. "
The verdict is not yet final.
http://zsp.net.pl/zsp-wygrywa-kolejna-sprawe-sadowa-z-polomarketem
------------------------------
Message: 4
The anniversary of November 17, 1989 is behind the door. Where has the company moved since
then? Download, print and enlarge the November issue of the A3 wall paper! ---- This month
will be 29 years since the demonstration that culminated in violent police intervention on
Students Day. This event triggered a rapid process of ending "one-party rule," the end of
the Communist Party's forty-year hegemony. Students were soon joined by dissident circles
and a large number of cultural workers. But the breakthrough came when the call of the
workers after the change in social conditions was also heard. ---- In a transnational
context, Czechoslovakia was one of the last countries in Eastern Europe with its "Velvet
Revolution", where one chapter of history was closed. It was actually a revolutionary show
in which there was nothing to take risks, so it was not hard for Letenská plaza to fill
people who no longer bothered any police force, and that the Communist Parliament still
chose President Vaclav Havel until the end of 1989.
The seventeenth November became a new meaning and is still a sensitive date. Sensitive
because it is not perceived by everyone as well. Some have been able to enjoy the liberty
they have enjoyed, others have not brought anything else significant, and others have
indulged in nostalgia for past times.
If we look briefly at what has been going on until today, there is not much reason to
enjoy. But that does not change the fact that the previous regime was not free,
authoritarian, and in its Stalinist beginnings it was also murderous. Although it has
changed over time, and in the 1960s a new hope for better socialism has grown, there is no
reason why it should be thwarted.
Although no one at the beginning called for a capitalist restaurant, the admirers of the
most affluent figures of that time, such as Reagan and Thatcher, were directed at it
rather quickly. Though we naively thought we had escaped from ideological bonds, our hands
and feet put our stools even stronger and more sophisticated. The neoliberal ideology that
has been in the West since the 1970s has dominated the next twenty years with us as well.
Klaus's right-wing party showed us the extinguishing privatization, during which a narrow
group of former cadres and cronies sat up in a good mood. If someone nostalgically recalls
Havel in the 1990s, it should not be forgotten that it was precisely the time when people
like Babis formed their economic empire. And it was Havel, who was still a personified
social winner in 1989, to soon play the role of a useful idiot who gave moral awe to all
that robbing, sorry, building capitalism. And while part of society was battling the
illusion of victory of truth and love, the real winners became those with the sharpest
elbows that flutter everything that prevents them from raising their profits. And while
Klaus was replacing the post of the prime minister with the social and democratic Zeman,
nothing has changed in the neo-liberal line that has led the company where it is.
If we lift our head from a domestic manhole and look around the world, we find out that we
were no exception. Neoliberal ideology and ruthless practice of the free market were
everywhere, and it was today a dying parliamentary left, which had its lion's share.
Moreover, the free market, whose invisible hand has picked us from its pockets, to move it
to the pockets of corporations and speculators registered in tax havens, is free only for
the richest and most powerful.
Many, in 1989, looked back on the hopes of the eighteenth, wanted to get rid of the
governments of one side, and to embrace socialist Czechoslovakia with a human face. They
were most likely to be crying for you, Czechoslovakia has collapsed, socialism has become
a word of thanks to righteous campaigns, and the human face will stand for you, its
institutions and their protected capital will only show if you can afford it. And almost
none of us can.
What did we have left after those years? The centuries-old, hated Catholic Church has
given back what has been consumed for centuries. Work has not become a mission, but a
survival when many people are unable to meet basic needs. And if you do not have it, you
become the object of bullying and hate, just as if you have a different skin color or you
are fleeing from areas affected by war or misery. And how many people have tasted
indiscriminate bailiffs? And what about the course of the climate crisis, which shows that
we are worse in the planetary than the worst scenarios have predicted. However, no
necessary steps come. Instead of cutting production of methane and carbon dioxide, the
consumer machinery is in full swing, the Bílina Mine has to be expanded, and the police
are pushing activists demonstrating in the field for climatic justice. Racism and
nationalism, which had long been to be on the history trash, experience renaissance and
legitimation from the highest places. No wonder, these tools have always been an effective
weapon to divert attention from the real causes of problems and to put people in a
position to defend themselves. And if it did not work, there is a militarizing police with
technological and power equipment, next to which the National Class thrashers are ridiculous.
Seventh November deserves to be worshiped as a hated regime. But the revolution has been a
very daunting one for her children. However, we do not intend to resign our anarchists and
anarchists in the face of the current illicit development and to accept the various forms
of authoritarianism, discrimination and exploitation.
A3 (November 2018) HERE
http://www.afed.cz/A3/A3-2018-11.pdf
to download.
Download, print, spread!
The A3 wall paper is published annually by the Anarchist Federation. They are intended
primarily for spreading through street lifts or posting in workplaces and schools.
https://www.afed.cz/text/6902/a3-velky-sametovy-podvod
------------------------------
Message: 5
"International conflicts between or within states only have one lesson, and that is those
of us with no real stake, workers on both sides, die, led or driven by the donkeys, to
preserve their power, profit and privilege. The lessons now as then are the same - we die,
the rich pillage, and their pride is our shame."
Above excerpt from our editorial of 4 years ago:
http://afed.org.uk/1914-2014-the-great-war-continues/
Read in full our 2014 special issue of Resistance about war and WW1:
http://afed.org.uk/res/resist156.pdf
http://afed.org.uk/11-11-a-source-of-pride/
------------------------------
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten