Capitalists want workers to do as much work as possible for as little money as
possible. Let's not help them with our passivity. Download, print and distributethe March issue of the A3 wall newspaper! ---- At the end of January, after along period of strike readiness, workers from the tire production factory of theKorean company Nexen Tire in Bitozevs on Žatec started a strike. But they werenot passive, but tried to mediate their move as much as possible. They startedthe strike with a demonstration in front of the plant in Bitozevs, after whichthey went to Prague for a protest held in front of the Korean embassy. For a longtime, the management of the company coughed up any efforts by the local union tonegotiate a collective agreement. Apparently, and unfortunately rightfully so, heconsiders the Czech Republic a good place for his production, as there is a veryflexible and, moreover, very cheap labor force. The management of the company wastherefore probably surprised that the employees decided to go from words toactions, and according to the union's information, its first reaction was to tryto fill the jobs of the strikers, to whom he would offer slightly higher wages.The trade unionists responded to this with another demonstration in front of thefactory. The local trade union organization was able to rely on one of thestrongest unions - KOVO, as well as the support of the chairman of theCzech-Moravian Chamber of Trade Unions, who managed to gain visibility as acandidate for the post of president of the Czech Republic in recent months.Thanks to this support from the trade unions, the European trade unionheadquarters, industriAll Europe, spoke on behalf of the strikers.On the first day of the strike, the management of Nexen de facto refused tonegotiate with the trade unions. After only a week, however, they were forced tochange their minds relatively quickly, to proceed to negotiations and acompromise, namely an eight percent increase in wages, valid from March 1 thisyear, and financial compensation for the fact that the company did not raisewages in 2022, nor at the beginning of this, in the amount of 20 thousand crowns.It's not a lot, but at a time of disproportionately high inflation and growingenergy poverty, any salary increase is undoubtedly desirable.It is no secret that capitalists love the Czech Republic. It is within reach ofGermany, whose industry partly determines what and how it will be produced in ourcountry. But above all, there is a low minimum wage, people are willing to workfor really little, and when the worst comes to worst, employment agencies areable to provide an army of reserve human resources applicable to most of the lessskilled work.Another currency that capitalists value in the Czech Republic is the completeabsence of the fighting spirit of the workers. Aggressive neoliberal ideologycombined with primitive anti-communism has imposed on society the opinion thattrade unions are a relic of the past and being a trade unionist today isdefinitely not sexy. Furthermore, it succeeded in the process of atomization ofsociety where the Bolshevik normalization ended. It eliminated social solidarityand made people in the workplace competitors instead of colleagues. It fosteredin the people the depraved belief that only by working hard, long and withoutcomplaint would they achieve a better position than their neighbors, and the evenmore depraved belief that they had only themselves to blame for their wretchedsituation because they did not try very hard. And finally, when the neoliberalideology plunged the mass of workers into the abyss of existential insecurity andloss of dignity, it offered them the possibility of channeling their anger -either through mindless consumerism or hatred of those who are even worse off orunable to defend themselves due to their minority status.The example of the strikers from Nexen in Žatec clearly shows how important it isto speak up, stand up for yourself and fight. And that the strike is working -and would have worked even without the involvement of a union celebrity.It must be realized, quite clearly, that capitalists are not breadwinners, asthey are often presented to us, nor are they philanthropists who give thousandsto charity. They have only three goals and those are firstly profit, secondlyprofit and thirdly profit. Just as with his own arrogance at the beginning of the1990s, when influencing the company's value orientation, Klaus repeated: "Moneycomes first." Capitalists are only interested in reducing costs and maximizingprofits. And cost-cutting means, in particular, minimum wages for workers.It is necessary to express our solidarity with the struggles of workers for theimprovement of their conditions, be it salary, work or life. We need to supporteach other knowing that the interests of us workers (but also students,pensioners, unemployed...) are opposed to the interests of the capitalists. We donot see the slightest reason why the vast majority of workers should turn overevery penny in their hand, while a handful of owners, investors and bossesmultiply their profits in the millions.As anarchists, however, we realize that it is not enough to fight only forslightly larger crumbs from the pie of social wealth, which we create as part ofthe working class with our work and care. You need to take the whole cake withthe bakery. The sooner that happens, the better for everyone.The A3 wall newspaper is published by the Anarchist Federation every month. Theyare mainly intended for dissemination through plastering in the streets orposting in workplaces and schools.https://www.afed.cz/text/7887/a3-stavka-ucinne-reseni_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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