A post about crisis protests and external support options for the current labor
disputes at Post and Co. ---- Business & Society By: Peter Nowak - February 22,2023 ---- On February 10, almost 4,000 mostly young people demonstrated shortlybefore the Berlin repeat election from the climate movement for self-organizationfrom below instead of placing hopes in the elections. At the back of thedemonstration there was also a large anti-capitalist bloc. There was a slogan ona banner: "Strike on the streets, in schools and in the factories, this is ouranswer to your policy". "We want to use this to draw a connection between ourclimate strikes and the labor disputes," said a young woman who carried the banner.This is also the goal of the nationwide alliance Enough is Enough (GiG). It wantsto support the upcoming collective bargaining battles outside of the company andsees allies in the extra-parliamentary left, who have called for protests againsthigh prices and rents in recent months. At the first meeting of the GiG alliancein Berlin-Neukölln in autumn 2022, left-wing initiatives and employees fromvarious sectors who are currently or will soon be fighting wage wars spoke.At the end of January there was a neighborhood meeting against high prices andhigh rents in the district of Wedding. There, various left-wing districtinitiatives such as the Kiezkommune Wedding and the district initiative "Handsoff Wedding" (HdW) presented their work. HdW has been supporting union strugglesfor years. Clemens reported on the "Social Work Solidarity Meeting inCapitalism", which was founded 3 years ago. Every third Wednesday of the month,social workers from all over Berlin meet in Wedding's Kiezhaus Agnes Reinhold.The solidarity meeting was initiated by HdW. "Our basic idea was to organizeourselves where we work and live. There are a lot of social workers in our group,so that's where we start with the organisation," reported Marc, who co-foundedthe solidarity circle.At the neighborhood assembly, activists from the hospital movement and theBerliner Stadtreinigung (BSR) campaigned for external support for theirstruggles. One employee at the post office, who described the warning strikes inrecent weeks as just the beginning, received a lot of applause. In a committedspeech, she spoke of a high willingness to fight among her colleagues, becauseeveryone knows that through her work, Swiss Post was one of the beneficiaries ofthe crisis during the Corona period. But she also said that there are stillcolleagues who are afraid to go on strike. She therefore called on those presentto support the delivery staff with small gestures, such as solidarity stickers onthe mailboxes.A young activist from the climate movement also built bridges to the wage wars inher speech. She recalled that already in 2020 members of Fridays for Futuresupported the industrial action of public transport workers. Joint activities areplanned again next year. The neighborhood assembly made it clear that verydifferent groups can cooperate if they prioritize what they have in common andnot what divides them."WE DON'T PAY - WE STRIKE"In January of this year, activists from the crisis protests founded the alliance"We don't pay" in Berlin. Four concrete socio-political demands were put forward:the ban on power cuts for people who cannot pay their bills; a cap on the priceof electricity at 15 cents per kilowatt hour; 100 percent renewable,decentralized energy and finally a socialization of the energy industry.The initiative has set itself the goal of gathering 1 million supporters who arewilling not to pay the costs for electricity and gas. Almost 4,000 people inGermany have currently signed the demands. In Great Britain, where the campaignstarted as "Enough is Enough", there are still over 300,000 supporters. However,that is still a long way from the goal of 1 million. Here, as in Germany, it is aquestion of carrying these socio-political demands into other struggles. Themotto of the alliance is "We don't pay - we strike". So it makes sense to bepresent at the current collective bargaining disputes, warning strikes anddemonstrations. In Jungle World 5/2023, the two topics were treated completely separatelywithout drawing a connection between them. Stefan Dietl, for example, wrote avery committed article about the looming labor dispute at the post office underthe heading "The strike front is standing". Two pages later there was an articleby Gaston Kirsche about the "We don't pay" initiative. However, this only has achance of being noticed beyond the left scene if the connection with collectivebargaining succeeds. In Berlin there are already good experiences with such acooperation. The wage disputes could become a continuation of the crisis protests.https://direkteaktion.org/wir-zahlen-nicht-wir-streiken/_________________________________________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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