Anarchic update news all over the world - 22.04.2019

Today's Topics:

   
1.  freedom news: Green Anti-Capitalist Front post-action report
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  Belarus, Paramen: European games in Minsk - what will they
      bring to common Belarusian? (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  Poland, Workers Initiative: Report from the 11th National
      Congress of Delegates of OZZ Employee Initiative [machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  Belarus, Paramen: Is Belarus dangerous? (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  Czech, AFED - Croatia: Support the BEK Social Center --
      International call of Croatian friends to support and visit
      Zagreb's social center [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  freedom news: Spanish CNT-AIT and UK Solfed in labour
      disputes (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  anarkismo.net - Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement AWSM
      Solidarity newsletter #19 April 2019 by Sid Knee
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
8.  Poland, Workers Initiative: Workers' victory at the
      Hungarian Audi factory: We hope that our strike will encourage
      other workers to unite [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1






On Monday, the Green Anti-Capitalist Front took part in the environmentalist actions which 
begun in London. Here is their report from the day. ---- Less than a month after our first 
assembly we took to the streets of London to carry out an action to coincide with the 
beginning of Extinction Rebellion's (XR) ‘Rebellion Week'. We gathered among the tourists 
in front of St Paul's cathedral. Our numbers were made up of members from various groups, 
including but not limited to the London Anarchist Federation, Earth Strike UK and the 
Revolutionary Communist Group. With flags waving, masks up and the sound system blaring, 
we began our stroll down the middle of the road, blocking traffic as we went.
In contrast with XR, who were aiming to hold and block symbolic parts of London which they 
had announced to the police beforehand, we told the police nothing and remained fluid and 
adaptable. As such, with a much much smaller group we were able to cause a significant 
amount of disruption despite not being able to achieve our initial aim of getting inside 
the London Stock Exchange. Our main route consisted of visiting and blockading various 
locations with functional significance for capital and resource transactions in London - 
the Stock Exchange, the Bank of England and the Metal Exchange.

Along the tour we also stopped off at other points of interest - banks, courts, the church 
of Scientology - either chosen by particular comrades in the moment, or by the police who, 
due to not having any idea of our plans, kept running to protect buildings we hadn't 
previously considered trying to get into.

Although XR were able to cause disruption, by announcing it beforehand they gave the 
police time to reroute traffic, massively diminishing their impact despite huge numbers. 
Clearly they were onto something by blocking Waterloo Bridge as the police started 
clearing the bridge and arresting people on the first evening; the problem was and is XR's 
trust in and collaboration with the police. It's a shame because with such great numbers 
they really could shut down London and many other cities if they had better tactics. It 
should also be made clear that during our road blocks we were still able to let ambulances 
through - so this is not a valid excuse for working with the state.

We ended our tour by walking to Parliament Square to show some solidarity with the XR 
protesters there. In a scene of joyful solidarity we were greeted with cheers, chants and 
celebration from most of the people on the street. We were approached, not for the first 
time, by people relieved to see an alternative to liberal dogma of non-violence and police 
collaboration. It was clear, however, that the organisers and peace police were not as 
keen to welcome us and they were overheard telling each other to keep an eye on our group. 
This backs up the point made elsewhere that we can support the XR movement, which in many 
cases is made up of anti-capitalists and works autonomously in non-hierarchical groups, 
while heavily critiquing the top-down XR organisation.

The Green Anti-Capitalist Front is an alternative to XR and will maintain a safe distance 
from their police informants and snitches, but we will continue to take actions in 
solidarity with the movement and the thousands of people who are looking for a solution to 
climate and ecological catastrophe. We hope that the movement will begin to see that the 
solution can only be found in a complete rejection of capitalism and nationalism, and we 
will continue to restate this fact through our words and actions.

Below is the flyer that we handed out during the day. Feel free to print off and hand out 
during events. Alternatively, get in contact with us and we can send you a pdf version.

https://freedomnews.org.uk/green-anti-capitalist-front-post-action-report/

------------------------------

Message: 2






Belarusian government does a lot to assure foreigners that Belarus is a democratic and 
safe country. It even lobbied the right to hold the II European Games in Minsk in 2019. I 
am going to explain what Belarusian citizens had to go through as a result of this 
decision of the government. ---- First of all, we need to point out that for the 
overwhelming majority of Belarusians the tickets for these games are not affordable. It 
will be games for the rich and privileged: mostly bureaucrats, top police officials, and, 
of course, foreigners, whom government want to see here as a "milch-cow" for Belarusian 
budget. ---- Nevertheless, all the money necessary for hosting Games were taken from the 
Belarusian budget (almost no investors were eager to invest in this show), and it cost 
Belarusians $112 mln. For example, the average monthly wage o ?a simple Belarusian amounts 
to 150-250 dollars. And, as government officials said, Belarus had not found any investors 
eager to invest their money in II European Games. That means even more money from the 
budget will be taken.

Moreover, the European Games-2019 will bring many Belarusians even more troubles and 
hardships.

- Preventive arrests of social activists and opposition leaders are expected. In 2014, 
before the World Hockey Championship, Belarusian government, attempting to avoid any 
protests or public political expressions before foreign guests detained at least 37 
activists: members of the opposition political parties, anarchists, football fans. As 
Belarusian law does not have legitimate articles for preventive detentions, people were 
arrested for alleged "peeing on the street," "minor hooliganism", and other absurd 
accusations. Each of the detained spent 10-15 days under arrest, just enough to keep them 
away during the Hockey Championship.

In order to "clean" the streets and not let foreigners see the "unpresentable face of 
Minsk." police conducted mass detentions of prostitutes and homeless people. According to 
human rights defenders, during these days, temporary detention facilities were 
"overcrowded" - police even had to move the arrested to Minsk region facilities. About 350 
prostitutes were detained and put under arrest.
Now, before the II European Games, activists, human rights defenders, and the civil 
society is worried that this massive "cleansing" may happen again.

- Just as the government also intends to clean the streets from the "undesirable" people, 
street animals are going to face with even worse treatment. In Belarus, stray animals are 
not receiving care or fixing. They are kept in shelters for three days and then killed. 
Animal rights defenders expect massive killings of stray pets on the streets of Minsk 
before the II European Games, for the same was done at the Olympic Games in Sochi and 
during the Football Cup in Russia. The animal rights defenders even started a petition 
against that, and it already collected more than 5,000 signatures.

- Belarus is expecting more than 5,000 athletes to visit the II European Games. All of 
them need to be accommodated, right? Students of five (!) Belarusian universities were 
evicted from campuses to free the space for athletes. The government promised, that all 
the evicted will be given some other accommodation, but it was a broken promise. Most of 
the students did not get any accommodation at all and had to come back to their native 
towns, and those who did were put in terrible conditions. Many have to live in rooms with 
4-5 beds and just around 3 square meters per person. But many just had been kicked out and 
had to manage their problems by themselves.

The European Games in Belarus are presented as a fest of sports, joy, fun and happy 
leisure for both Belarusians and guests of the country. But in fact, they are going to be 
held to satisfy the ambitions of the Belarusian leadership and polish the international 
image of Belarus, which is associated with dictatorship, repressions and severe human 
right abuses. The foreign tourists will be enjoying the clean streets with no signs of 
political life, no discontented folks - because they all will be in temporary detention. 
The guests of the country will be surprised that Minsk has no stray animals - because all 
of them would be killed before their visits. And the athletes will be settled in free and 
comfortable campuses having no clue that someone was resettled to let them be there.

Still, we may spread the truth and tell many people what the cost of the European Games 
will be for common Belarusians and support those who are going to suffer because of the 
ambitions of the rich and privileged.

Mikola Dziadok (Facebook, Telegram, Email)

https://pramen.io/en/2019/04/european-games-in-minsk-what-will-they-bring-to-common-belarusian/

------------------------------

Message: 3





Proceedings of the 11th National Congress of Delegates and Delegates of the OZZ Employee 
Initiative ---- March 30 this year took place XI National Congress of Delegates and OZZ 
Delegates. Workers' Initiative. A new National Commission and the National Audit 
Commission of our union were elected. Statutory changes were also made. In several cases 
there was a heated discussion. ---- The congress traditionally began with registration of 
participants and participants of the meeting (a total of 59 people), and then the election 
of the presidium of the Congress and members and members of the Returning Committee. After 
the confirmation of the validity of the Congress, the deliberations began.
Report of the National Commission
First, the National Commission (CC) submitted a substantive and financial report. The most 
important data presented show that the Workers' Initiative currently has slightly more 
than 3,000 members and members, registered to 60 company, inter-enterprise and 
environmental committees. The largest IP structures in terms of numbers operate in Amazon 
and Volkswagen. Recently, there has been a sharp increase in the Employee Initiative, 
which was a major challenge first of all for the National IP Commission. In addition, in 
2018 legislative changes took place, ie the provisions of the GDPR were introduced and the 
Act on Trade Unions was amended seriously. For example, it forced a connection to appoint 
an Inspector of Personal Data Protection. The relationship training activities were 
reformulated (we presented the report on training activities in the previous 50 issue of 
the Employee Initiative Bulletin). The relationship was also very active in the field of 
international activities (a report on this in a separate article).

Regarding the financial situation, the relationship at the national level currently has 
financial reserves. The repayment of premiums, which was outgoing, the National Commission 
estimated at about 30 (pessimistic version) to 50 (optimistic version) percentage 
depending on the methodology of counting.

Magdalena Chustecka spoke on behalf of the National Audit Commission. While analyzing the 
activities of the National Commission, she pointed to the lack of sufficiently clear 
budgetary plans for KK's activities and difficulties in accessing selected documentation. 
The fact that the outgoing Commission explained above all the dynamic and changing 
situation in connection with its numerical increase and the number of newly registered 
company commissions. It was also pointed out that, out of the 11-member National 
Commission elected two years ago, half of the members and members of this body ultimately 
did not participate actively in the work of the CC. For this reason, there were serious 
difficulties in fulfilling a number of requirements, because the excess of tasks was 
burdened by other people. Finally, the National Audit Committee requested that the 
resigning authorities of the Employee Initiative be granted a discharge. 48 delegates and 
delegates voted in favor of granting discharge; 3 people voted against "granting the vote 
of acceptance"; "Abstained" 7 people.

Statutory changes

The proposal for changes in the IP Statute resulted from the necessity to adapt it to the 
amended Trade Unions Act. In addition, the project provided for the possibility of 
choosing a larger number of members and members of the presidia of company, 
inter-enterprise and environmental committees. The need for change was justified by the 
fact that several committees are very numerous, and at the same time structurally 
dispersed throughout the country, which requires the selection of a larger number of 
functionaries. The draft amendments to the statute also proposed the abolition of the term 
of office of the authorities at the basic level of our union. In the discussion on the 
resolution regarding statutory changes, it was proposed that the term of office of the 
company, inter-enterprise and environmental commissions should be maintained. A partial 
vote was therefore whether Delegates and Delegates are "for" abolishing the term of office 
of the abovementioned authorities (as envisaged by the Assembly for a resolution regarding 
statutory changes) or "against". In the end 44 people voted for the abolition of the term 
of office of the organization of the basic level, 5 persons against it; "Abstained" - 8 
people. The convention therefore supported the proposal for statutory changes presented by 
the National Commission.

Selection of new IP authorities. Trade union office

11 people stood for the new National Commission. The number of KK Congress was determined 
by 9 members and members. In the secret ballot, KK was elected as follows:
(1) Piotr Krzyzaniak - Coordinator for Trade Unions
(2) Michal Sobol - Coordinator for Trade Unions
(3) Maria Swietlik - Coordinator for Cooperation with other Unions and Organizations
(4) Rafal Jakubowicz - Coordinator Cooperation with other Unions and Organizations
(5) Ignacy Józwiak - International Coordinator
(6) Agnieszka Mróz - Treasurer
(7) Jakub Grzegorczyk - Information Coordinator
and two people performing functions: Organizational Coordinator and Development 
Coordinator Union.

The elections were organized in such a way as to better define the scope of duties and 
responsibilities of individual persons who are members of the National Commission. This is 
to help both the newly elected National Commission in organizing its work and facilitate 
the future Congress of the assessment of the functioning of this body of the national 
authorities of the association.

The following were elected to the new National Audit Commission:
(1) Wojciech Naglowski - Chairman
(2) Szymon Bojdo
(3) Krzysztof Jackowski

An important problem was the question of how the National Commission should continue to 
function. In order to ensure the stability of the Employee Initiative at the 
administrative and legal level, the outgoing CC recommended establishing a "trade union 
office" with people employed in one form or another. This is a new solution in our 
situation, so far virtually no functions in the IP have been made for a fee, or even more 
on a full-time basis. Two variants of the functioning of the office appeared during the 
discussion: "option A" assumed the establishment of a budget for personal wages (not 
prejudging their form) to the decision of the National Commission, whom and on what 
principles to employ; "Crazy B" assumed that paid persons will be employed under an 
obligatory contract of employment (full or part time) and will not be representatives or 
representatives who are also part of KK. Finally, the Congress recommended "variant B" in 
the voting (22 votes against 15 votes for "variant A"). At the same time, 6 people opposed 
both options.

Cooperation with other trade unions

The Employee Initiative Convention was also hosted by the trade union delegation 
"Unitedeni", with whom we have been cooperating for several years. The concept of creating 
a federation of both our organizations appeared. We wrote about this issue in the previous 
issue of the Bulletin. The decision in this matter lies with the National IP Commission 
(and of course the United Nations Board), but the issue of the IP accession to the 
federation was put to the vote at the Congress. Unanimously Delegates and Delegates 
supported this initiative (without voices of opposition and resisting). At the same time, 
it was recommended to the presidium of the Union of Independent Trade Unions (because 
that's the name of the created federation):
(1) Maria Malinowska
(2) Krzysztof Król
(3) Piotr Krzyzaniak

In the next ballot, a resolution of the Congress was adopted, recommending the dulling of 
the Employee Initiative to the International Union Network of Solidarity and Combat, in 
whose works - having already had observer status - we have been taking part for several years.

The final issue discussed during the official part of the Congress was the unanimous 
adoption of a position supporting protests and strikes in the budgetary sphere and the 
decision to start a process of coordination of activities at this level - both within our 
union and "outside" - in cooperation with other trade union organizations fighting in the 
budget area.

After Zjazd, on Saturday evening, Rozbrat's squat held a screening of the documentary 
"Fist and dynamite of Gaweda about Silesian anti-fascists in Spain" and a meeting with its 
director Dariusz Zalega. On March 30, it was also the 9th anniversary of the death of 
Marcel Szare - therefore, we organized and organized a short ceremony commemorating our 
activist and one of the founders of the OZZ IP.

In turn the next day (on Sunday) there was a training and discussion devoted to the 
subject of the amendment to the Trade Unions Act, which came into force on 1 January 2019. 
About 20 people from various IP committees took part in the meeting. In addition, there 
were many exciting discussions around important issues regarding the functioning of our 
trade union now and in the future.

http://ozzip.pl/teksty/informacje/ogolnopolskie/item/2475-sprawozdanie-z-xi-kzd-ozzip

------------------------------

Message: 4




Belarus hosts II European Games in June 2019. At the moment, the authorities take a huge 
effort to present Belarus as a friendly country of law and order, absolutely safe for 
foreigners. But this has nothing to do with reality. ---- My name is Mikola Dziadok, I am 
a journalist, blogger and former political prisoner from Minsk, Belarus. And against the 
background of the governmental lies, I am going to tell you about how safe Belarus is for 
foreign citizens. ---- Belarus has one of the highest incarceration rates in Europe. 
Moreover, the police per capita rate of Belarus is 1442 police officers per 100,000 
population, which is the biggest in the world. The Freedom House ranks Belarus 176 in the 
human right index, accompanied by Congo and Cameroon.
Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko has been in power for 25 years already. Also, 
many things that are legal in other countries are illegal in Belarus. For example, the 
Belarusian criminal code has an article criminalising assembling in a certain space 
without government permission, criminal punishment for participating in anti-government 
organisations, and even punishment for "discrediting the Republic of Belarus" which is 
wide enough to imprison any person critical of authority. In Belarus, police 
systematically raid gay clubs and parties of swingers. The latter are accused of 
"organising prostitution." ---- Belarus was NOT included in the Global Finance magazine 
rating of the safest countries.

On 17th May 2018, the International Day Against Homophobia, the British embassy in Minsk 
hung up a rainbow flag. The Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs, headed by minister 
Shunevich, issued a statement titled "We stand for truth," defaming the British officials 
who did it, accusing them of the propaganda of "false values."

Belarusian drug policy is one of the harshest in the world. In 2014, the president issued 
a decree, according to which distribution of drugs is punished by up to 25 years in 
prison. What falls under the concept of the crime? Mostly that is just sharing a joint 
with your friends. By now, around 8 000 people, mostly youth, serve their terms in 
terrible conditions of Belarusian prisons for such a crime. Most common terms are 8-12 
years. In 2014, Lukashenko demanded to create special prisons for "drug dealers": "Make 
them ask for death," he said to his ministers. And they did. People are dying in 
Belarusian prisons as a result of tortures, lack of medical care, and suicides.

The mothers of the imprisoned have tried many ways to fight for their sons, including 
hunger strikes.

At April, 4th, Belarusian authorities demolished 70 handmade crosses, surrounding the 
Kurapaty a forest near Minsk where from 40 000 to 200 000 of people were killed during the 
Stalin's repressions. Before the demolition was made, the forest, where the crosses were 
standing, was encircled by the police. 15 opposition activists, who tried to stop the 
demolition were detained. Few days before president Lukashenko said that the sight of the 
crosses irritates him when he drives by - they "spoil the look". The Stalin's repressions 
still were not condemned by the Belarus officials.

But what about foreigners? If you think that all above-mentioned only concerns 
Belarusians, you are wrong. The punitive system of Belarus does not care whom to punish. 
And here are the most well-known stories of foreigners, who thought that visiting Belarus 
was a good idea:

Daichi Yoshida is a 27-year old well-known Japanese cartoonist, who was visiting an anime 
festival in Kyiv, Ukraine. There, he bought parts of an antique rifle in a shop. Kyiv 
customs were totally OK about it, but after getting to a transit area of the Minsk 
airport, Daichi was searched, detained, and soon sentenced to 4,5 years of imprisonment. 
In prison, Daichi went through depression, syncope and blennocystitis, but never got 
decent treatment.

No one paid attention that these parts of the rifle could not be used for shooting. No one 
paid attention that Ukrainian customs had no questions to Daichi. They found him guilty. 
Daichi spent almost 2 years in prison. All the higher instance courts refused to review 
his case. He was released after the intervention of the Japanese embassy and wide press 
coverage of this story.

Read his story here.

Jolan Viaud, a 24-year old French citizen, was travelling to Ukraine from Lithuania 
through Belarus. In Lithuania, he bought a souvenir cartridge. While passing the 
Lithuania-Belarus border he was searched and accused of not declaring the cartridge. 
Basically, he simply could not do this, because Belarusian border patrol knows neither 
English nor French. He was accused of smuggling the weapons and detained immediately.

Jolan Viaud's case is an exception in some way. He was acquitted during the trial and set 
free. Nevertheless, he spent two years in custody.

More details about his story here.

Andreus Golubeus, a Lithuanian, bought a painkiller called Tramadol for his wife who lives 
in Belarus. But in Belarus, this painkiller is considered a drug. On the Belarusian 
border, he was detained and accused of smuggling drugs. Neither the court nor the 
prosecutor cared about the fact that he was not concealing Tramadol but gave it to customs 
officers voluntary. Andreus got 3,5 years in a high-security prison. His wife, who is 
confined to a wheelchair, was left without his care and the medicine she needed.
Now Andreus is in prison, and prison administration prevents him from applying to 
international bodies. They just do not let out the complaints he files.

Alan Smith is a British businessman. He was acquainted with a woman from Kurdistan, who 
was trying to get refugee status in Lithuania. After this woman was detained on the 
Belarus-Lithuania border, Alan Smith was detained in 2016 for allegedly "organising 
illegal migration." The connection between Alan and that woman were enough for such an 
accusation.
In prison, he was pressed by the administration to plead guilty, stayed in isolation 
because he speaks neither Belarusian nor Russian and faced with all the bad conditions.

He served his full term being deprived of visits from his relatives, food parcels and was 
allowed a minimum sum for buying goods in the prison shop, which is comparable to torture 
under Belarusian prison conditions. Upon release, he told the press a lot about the abuses 
and torture that prisoners experience and the unjust sentences from the Belarusian courts.

In the penitentiary, Alan drew awesome cartoons depicting the Belarusian state and penal 
system. Most of them were smuggled outside illegally. None of the higher instance courts 
considered his appeals. The British ambassador was not too active in improving his fate: 
no one would like to spoil the international relations because of one citizen.

UK press about Alan Smith.

You should keep in mind that these are only the examples which became known thanks to the 
Belarusian press. Many other foreigners do not enjoy the attention of human right 
defenders or ambassadors, like Columbian citizen Gedi Kalderon who is prevented by the 
prison administration from meeting with ambassadors from his country.
Huma

https://pramen.io/en/2019/04/is-belarus-dangerous/

------------------------------

Message: 5





Dear, it's been a year since the new BEK squat and social center is operating in Zagreb. 
It was a year of various struggles and challenges. Something has been done, not something, 
but we are still in the process of learning and developing our social space. The original 
idea of a place without drugs and with free entry and awareness of social relations is and 
will be preserved. ---- An old FB page has been recently hacked and e-mail e-mail has been 
hacked and hackers sent out a lot of misinformation, so we apologize for the confusion we 
will make, we will try to put everything in order. Now that the spring has come, we will 
continue to adjust the green around the squat and the existing projects will continue - 
public kitchens, movie nights, rehearsal room, art studio, library, freeshop... Now we 
organize workshops like yoga, karate, self defense, language courses and more.

We welcome all those who are interested in participating in such projects and help with 
the organization of activities, renovation of buildings, housework or technical matters. 
People who want to stay longer and organize a linguistic, artistic or creative workshop or 
other activity are particularly welcome, as are those who contribute their skills. We will 
also be happy for musicians or performers who would like to organize a show with us - we 
will provide food and accommodation for everyone.

See you soon!

https://www.afed.cz/text/6979/chorvatsko-podporte-socialni-centrum-bek

------------------------------

Message: 6





The Spanish CNT-AIT and UK's Solidarity Federation reported on new labor disputes they 
take part in. ---- On April 9, a picket was held in Granada in Spain against the Patricia 
Villanueva shoe store. Having settled down at the entrance, the CNT activists began to 
call for a boycott of the store and for solidarity with the worker who had not been paid 
her wages. This did not go unnoticed by the store's management and the police was called. 
The cops tried (and failed) to take the megaphone away from the picketers, claiming that 
the event was not authorized by the municipal authorities. They were quickly reminded that 
the right to trade union activities is officially guaranteed and does not need any 
additional "permission". The action continued, to the apparent displeasure of the store 
owners and the police. CNT-AIT declare their intention to continue the campaign until all 
debts to the worker are paid.

In Tarragona, the CNT-AIT began a labor dispute in a tobacco shop No2 Vendrell in Coral 
Vidal, where the management is trying to dismiss, without any form of compensation, the 
union delegate who has worked at the shop for over a decade. The trade union declared its 
intention to solve this dispute by direct action if necessary, and without resorting to 
the ‘mediation of bourgeois justice'.

In the UK, similar disputes are often undertaken by the Solidarity Federation. Recently, a 
worker organising with Brighton branch of Solfed has won a dispute with their employer 
Harbour Hotel which did not pay the worker for the three days labour over Christmas 
period, and also withheld contracted gratuities such as tips and denied the worker's 
holiday pay. Following a picket and a meeting, the hotel's management paid the worker. In 
addition, Brighton Solfed had recently helped a tenant who's deposit was kept by the 
letting agent, and entered into a public dispute with the Sidewinder pub in Brighton to 
get them to pay compensation for the unfair dismissal of one of their workers for taking a 
sick day. Following a number of pickets, the pub still resuses to pay compensation to the 
dismissed worker, but they did pay up the unpaid holiday pay, and the manager of the pub 
informed Solfed that they have quit their job.

Brighton Solfed run training courses to help with workplace organising. If you are 
interested or need some help with an issue at work, you can contact them at 
brighton(at)solfed.org.uk.

Sources: CNT-AIT, Solidarity Federation

https://freedomnews.org.uk/spanish-cnt-ait-and-uk-solfed-in-labour-disputes/

------------------------------

Message: 7





We are the only anarcho-communist voice in Aotearoa / so-called New Zealand. This is the 
latest issue of our newsletter
This is our first newsletter for a while, but we are aiming to do 2 or 3 more this year. 
If you would like to contribute we would be happy to see your work.
We are waiting for the physical copies, but we are making it available here as a download.
Screen Reading PDF http://awsm.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/newsletter19A4.pdf
Printable PDF http://awsm.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/newsletter19A45printbooklet.pdf
http://awsm.nz/2019/04/17/solidarity-awsm-newsletter-19-april-2019/
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/31383

------------------------------

Message: 8





A strike at the Audi factory in Györ ---- Below we publish a translation of the interview 
that Philippe Alcoy conducted with representatives of the AHFSZ trade union for the 
"LeaftEast" portal[see the Left East website]. The interview turned out to be originally 
in English on April 10 this year. - translation and publication with the consent of the 
editor. ---- The employees of the Hungarian Audi factory in Györ in the west of the 
country carried out a winning 7-day strike at the end of January. It was organized by 
AHFSZ (Independent Trade Union Audi Hungaria). AHFSZ currently has 9,700 employees among 
factory employees (72% of the crew) and is referred to as "a relationship independent of 
all political parties as well as all Hungarian trade union federations." AHFSZ members 
agreed to answer Philippe Alcoy's questions.

Audi employees in Györ struck for seven days, demanding better wages and working 
conditions, and won a great victory over this giant of the car industry. Can you say how 
it started and why the workers decided to strike just then?

We had a collective agreement by 31 December 2018. Negotiations began in the autumn of 
2018. Unfortunately, however, the employer was determined not to present constructive 
proposals. It took several weeks before we were able to put it clearly. AHFSZ set out its 
pay demands at the annual conference on November 9, 2018. However, the negotiations 
continued and our positions remained equally distant.

The AHFSZ Board of Representatives decided to create a Strike Committee on January 14, 
2019, because the employer did not respond positively to our previous pay offers. The 
Council decided to conduct a 2-hour warning strike on 18 January. The success of the 
warning strike has emboldened the Strike Committee to declare a strike length of 168 hours 
from 6 am on January 24 because there was no progress in the negotiations.

We know that there have been large strikes in the region, including the car industry 
(though not only there). Have you followed these battles and did they have any influence 
on you?

We are always open; however, most recent protests in Hungary were caused by 
other[political]factors. We must make it clear that the strike we organized took place in 
the Audi car factory and aimed only at increasing pay for the employees of Audi. We were 
able to carry out this strike because we are an independent factory association and we are 
not members of any association or federation.

Nevertheless, your strike was watched by Volkswagen workers in other countries, and even 
by those working in other car companies in the region. We know that you have received 
solidarity from trade unions such as IG Metall from Germany. Can you explain it? Have you 
received support from other trade unions in Hungary or other countries? How did the 
employees of Audi accept these expressions of solidarity? Can this herald the beginning of 
international cooperation? And do you think that your strike can mobilize other workers in 
the region to take advantage of your example?

We have received many expressions of solidarity from trade unions in Hungary and abroad, 
for example from workers in the Italian factories Lamborghini and Ducati. We must also 
mention the Mercedes employees from the city of Kecskemét. Trade unions in other 
industries also sent expressions of solidarity. We believe that other relationships can 
benefit from our example. It must be said, however, that the main condition for a 
successful strike is well-organized unity at the factory level. The unity that we built in 
our factory was unbelievable - during the strike all the workers stopped their work, and 
4000-45000 thousand employees took part in information magazines on one shift.

In recent years, many employees from Györ went abroad for training. What effect did it 
have on their awareness of their working conditions compared to other Audi and Volkswagen 
plants in the region and relations with unions and workers in other countries?

We are in touch with unions from other countries and regularly exchange practical experiences.

The Audi factory in Györ is the largest plant in Hungary (employs 13,000 people and is 
responsible for 1.5 percent of GDP.) Since its creation in 1994, it is the largest foreign 
investment in this country). How do you think this strike will affect other workers in 
Hungary?

Here you can not answer the definitive yes or no. Time will come, but we hope that our 
strike will give the workers of other plants the courage to admonish their rights.

You fought for a pay increase, but also for increasing the number of days of leave. The 
demands of workers to have more time for rest and leisure are becoming more and more 
important in the country and the region. Why is it like that?

The attention of people in Hungary and other countries has attracted the fact that we are 
demanding one free weekend for all workers. Most people in Hungary seem to think that one 
free weekend is guaranteed for all employees. However, unfortunately, this is not the case 
here, because we have a special shift system in which an employee can have a weekend off 
only once every 7 weeks. That's why we fought for this right.

What can you say about the role of women working in a factory during a strike? We saw them 
among the strikers on filamch and photos of the strike.

The employees did not have any separate role during the strike. They are workers with 
equal rights and responsibilities and have taken full part in the strike.

Do you want to add anything else?

We want to add only one thing. During the strike, we were asked several times whether 
support was falling for us. We can proudly say that at the beginning of the strike, the 
number of our members was 8,900 people, while at the end - when we signed a wage agreement 
- it increased to 9,700. Support for the relationship has also been increasing since then.

Translation: Wojciech Orowiecki

http://ozzip.pl/teksty/publicystyka/walki-pracownicze/item/2474-zwyciestow-robotnikow-w-wegierskiej-fabryce-audi-wywiad

------------------------------