WORLD WORLDWIDE SPAIN News Journal Update - (en) Spain, CN #434 - Taxi Line's strategy: repression and denunciations - Taxi Section CNT Barcelona (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 The 'Taxi Line' case began with a labor dispute on January 27, 2019, by

three telemarketers tired of suffering poor working conditions and
seeing how their rights were trampled on by the company. The three
workers, already affiliated with CNT Barcelona, decide to set up a trade
union section and a protest panel calling on the company to discuss
their employment situation. ---- Taxi Line's reaction, instead of
dialogue, is union repression by immediately dismissing the three
workers without any written notice and without giving them 15 days
notice as required by law. Taxi Line not only fires the three workers,
but also interrogates the rest of the workers to see who else is
affiliated with the union, as if it were a witch hunt looking for 'trade
union heretics'.

Given the serious situation of the three dismissed workers, at CNT
Barcelona we clearly see a case of union repression by a company that
does not tolerate any type of union activity or organization of its
workers. We decided to protest in front of the company -peacefully as we
always do- in the face of totally unjustified dismissals.

Taxi Line not only dismisses the three workers unfairly but also
denounces them with criminal complaints demanding money for damages and
prejudices.

The concentration in the street in front of the company, with the three
workers and some colleagues from CNT Barcelona, is repressed by Taxi
Line throwing water with a hose in the middle of winter, preventing the
exercise of the right to freedom of association as a union legally
constituted. Once again, instead of dialogue, Taxi Line used violence
and repression against the three workers and the CNT Barcelona
colleagues gathered in the street.

The situation of the concentration became violent at times when trying
to prevent them from continuing to wet the protesting compañeras. One of
the Taxi Line businessmen pounced on one of the colleagues, who ended up
throwing him to the ground and protected by two other people from the
company who clearly came out to defend the businessman. There are
insults, attacks and shoving between the businessman, the two
individuals from Taxi Line and the CNT protesters. With the arrival of
the Mosos de Esquadra, the situation calmed down, but the union decided
to denounce Taxi Line for the attacks and unfair dismissals.

Far from intimidating the trade union movement, two more rallies are
held in front of the company. These two times, without incident. In
addition, an attempt is made to contact the company by telephone to
discuss without any result. Taxi Line, in retaliation for the protest
rallies, denounces the three workers and two colleagues from CNT
Barcelona with several criminal complaints, with the accusations of
alleged coercion, threats, damages and disclosure of company secrets.

Not only does he dismiss the three workers unfairly, but he also
denounces them with criminal complaints demanding money for damages and
prejudices. Tactics of union repression and criminal complaints instead
of dialogue and respect for fundamental labor rights is the strategy
used by Taxi Line. He calls the protest rallies on Taxi Line street
'escraches'. They call labor claims 'harassment' and a 'smear' campaign.
They call the phone calls to talk 'an attempt to sink and collapse' the
company. They invent a whole montage full of lies and false accusations
against the workers and the two CNT colleagues, to hide the unfair
dismissal of three workers and the violation of labor rights.

Finally, the labor trial for the dismissals of the entire CNT union
section in the company Taxi Line occurred in June 2021, providing
evidence of unfair dismissals and requesting null dismissal. The
sentence of the social court number 14 is a null dismissal in favor of
the workers of the CNT section.

The sentence of the Criminal Court number 22 was the acquittal of all
charges against the workers and the two colleagues from CNT Barcelona.

The company must reinstate the workers in their jobs and pay them the
processing wages for all the time they were laid off, from 2019 until
now. Taxi Line has appealed the sentence. It only remains to wait for
what the High Court says before the company's appeal.

Regarding Taxi Line's complaints against the union and the workers, the
criminal trial took place on November 2. The company requested prison
terms and heavy fines for the CNT Barcelona trade unionists. The
sentence of the Criminal Court number 22 was the acquittal of all
charges against the workers and the two colleagues from CNT Barcelona.
He has only been sentenced to pay a fine, a CNT comrade for a minor
offense of injury, when all this comrade did was defend himself from the
water that was being thrown at him when trying to take the hose from them.

With this final sentence, the case clearly concludes in favor of the
workers who decided to defend their rights instead of remaining silent
and resigning themselves to the impositions of the company. To the
gentlemen of Taxi Line we recommend that, for the next time, they do
things better. Dialogue is always less expensive than violating and
repressing labor rights.

https://www.cnt.es/noticias/la-estrategia-de-taxi-line-represion-y-denuncias/
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