WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, UCL AL #340 - Syndicalism, the next time, we will succeed (the renewable strike)! (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 The 64-year-old employees were 90% hostile to it, and showed it by

monster demonstrations, throughout the country, of exceptional magnitude
and longevity: five months of struggle! Yes, but here it is: the strikes
did not take. Why, and how to fix it? ---- On April 5, from Beijing,
Emmanuel Macron was ironic: " What is the rate of strikers for fifteen
days? It is at a historically very low level. From national education to
energy, to transport... Do not explain to me that the country is at a
standstill. That's not true! "Indeed, the country has not been brought
to a standstill... Yet we had serious assets. The intersyndicale
remained united, and this unity was a decisive psychological factor in
convincing workers who were hesitant to commit, beyond the usual
militant cores. This made it possible to mobilize even in union deserts.

On the heels of the monster demonstrations of January and February,
Solidaires and the CGT - the left wing of the inter-union - have, from
March 7, called for a renewable strike. With mixed success. This was
limited to three sectors : rail, at the call of all the federations,
energy and petrochemicals. Elsewhere, in union strongholds such as
health, education, territorial or RATP (yet spearheaded in 2019), the
strikes did not take, did not last. Certainly there are always, in
certain localities or sectors, short-term explanations (" we already
went on strike last month ; last year ; now it's up to others to move ",
etc.). Activists from the sectors concerned to explain their
difficulties themselves; we invite them to write the balance sheet of
this failure. But for the general case, we can make some suggestions.

Favorable situation, missing strengths
To succeed in renewable strikes, to achieve a general strike, we rely on
the combination of two factors. First, there needs to be a social crisis
that will push people into action, and even into danger, to defend their
rights. This we had with the attack on pensions. Secondly, you need a
militant force that will direct the multiple individual frustrations
towards strike action, to create a balance of power. This, we did not
have, because of the weakening of the trade union movement. Because
going on a renewable strike is easier when you are used to doing it. In
the railway sector, for example, the trade union federations have no
difficulty in launching a prolonged movement because railway workers
have been used for several decades to lead long strikes and hold them.
Since the 2019-2020 pension strike, solidarity funds have regularly
collected money to support the strikers. Even if this does not
completely erase the loss of wages, it mitigates the financial sacrifice
and encourages leaving and going back on strike. Mass trade unionism,
active on a daily basis with employees, makes it possible to build
united working groups ready to fight together. Mass unionization is a
lever to mobilize. When workers have faith in the unions calling for
struggle, more of them answer the call. Motivation is essential. Workers
are not all combative, including among union members. But in the event
of a call for a renewable strike, motivated teams, carrying out union
tours, can bring even the hesitant and hesitant into action.

Daniel Maunoury
It is the motivation to defend or win their rights that explains why
undocumented migrants who risk expulsion dare to go on strike for their
regularization. It is she who explains that employees of private
companies, even without a strong union tradition, are able to strike for
several days for their salaries.

No shortcut to the generalized strike
As with every major social movement, activists have organized
spectacular collective actions to win against the government and
employers. After the failure of the renewable strike, we have seen this
type of action multiply: blocking of road access, of strategic companies
(buses or waste treatment), general assembly of individuals calling
themselves " interpro ", trash fires , symbolic demonstrations (in front
of the Constitutional Council, etc.), potholes, protest parties and
picnics... So certainly, these actions give visibility to the struggle,
maintain a combative atmosphere, create links, collectively express
anger... In short, they are good for morale. They should neither be
neglected nor renounced, but without kidding ourselves: generally, they
only mobilize the most militant of the social movement and in no way
broaden the mobilization. And above all: they do not permanently block
production or the country. These are mosquito bites for capitalism.
Unfortunately, there is no shortcut to a general strike.

Conquer the union deserts
A majority of workers are today in union deserts, especially in SMEs,
and unionism does not sufficiently affect the precarious, temporary,
feminized sectors... Roll back these union deserts, tighten the
territorial network, it must be a priority to win against employers and
the government. We must therefore take advantage of the social movement
of 2023 to establish new union sections. In many companies, employees
have dared to go on strike for the first time at the call of the
inter-union. A certain number then asked to join the CGT or Solidaires,
sometimes by knocking on the office of the local union, often by simply
clicking " Join " on a website. It is crucial that these memberships are
not a flash in the pan. We must help these new and new members to become
activists, by building collective action in their company. Union tours,
discussions with employees in demonstrations, in companies or even on
their doorstep, everything is possible: the opinion of the employees is
favorable, it is time to propose membership. If we do not accumulate new
militant forces in our unions, we will not be able to mobilize more in
the future. It would then be the cat biting its tail. We would not be
able to generalize the strike and we would still go around in circles
without winning.

Boivin (UCL Rennes)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?la-prochaine-fois-on-reussira-la-greve-reconductibl
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