WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, OCL CA: During the holidays the class struggle continues. (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 

This summer, the struggles of workers have not stopped. Far from there.
Often local strikes, for salary increases, for the improvement of
working conditions... More "defensive" strikes: against layoffs, against
relocations. Sometimes about the content of the work: JDD newspaper,
Hollywood screenwriters or workers manufacturing locomotives in the USA.
We can note a form of radicalization in certain struggles, with also an
extension of solidarity at the level of nearby territories. There is a
lack of generalization of these strikes. We can criticize the ugly union
bureaucracies, which are nevertheless very weakened... but perhaps,
above all, what is missing is a more global perspective? From this point
of view, in the USA, the coordinated strike between the workers of three
automobile companies (General Motors, Stellantis, Ford) targeting the
places of production where the bourgeoisie makes the most profit and
with unifying demands (wages, reduction working time etc.) is
undoubtedly a concrete perspective which we should take up in sectors
covered by the same collective agreements. It would be a step towards
building a real and not incantatory general strike...

Don't forget undocumented workers CHRONOPOST / DERICHEBOURG / RSI
We talk about it regularly in this section. The strike pickets
(Derichebourg / Chronopost) have been holding out on the front of the
class struggle for 2 years. They are not content to defend their rights
(regularization of all regular participants in the pickets), but they
did not miss an opportunity to be present and combative during the
Parisian demonstrations against the pension counter-reform. We will
return in more detail during a future CA on this exemplary struggle. We
are already announcing the release of a book dedicated to this struggle,
season 1 of which took place in 20191. This is more than ever an
opportunity to demonstrate class solidarity by sending donations, even
modest, to the strike funds.

DPD picket le Coudray-Montceaux https://www.cotizup.com/sanspapiersdpd
Picket Chronopost Alfortville https://www.cotizup.com/sans-papier...
For more information https://www.facebook.com/Solidaires94/
Undocumented workers at Emmaüs - Saint André de Lille
40 hours per week for EUR150 per month! Emmaüs would have promised the
regularization of undocumented immigrants in exchange for their work...
A delegation of DPD and CHONOPOST strike pickets went there to express
class solidarity. A delegation from Emmaus did the same towards the 2
pickets.

Struggles for wage increases:
Registry services (feminized, invisible profession, without fixed hours)
went on strike to obtain salary increases. Since the end of August, job
creation has been arriving at the registries. Strike at the REFRESCO
company -Drôme- for salary increases and better working conditions.
Ditto in several Grand Frais stores; the Vichy Thermal Baths; the IKEA
store in Dijon; Intermarché Champigny sur Marne, Derichebourg La
Réunion, SOCAT in Dordogne...

Strike against management:
ARGOS cement plant in Guyana. 5 days of strike against company
management. A victorious protocol was signed.

Strike against principals
Employees of Lazer Propreté cleaning subcontractors - Gare St Charles
Marseille and RMT transports - went on strike against working conditions
and contempt for clients. RMT first tried to break the strike by calling
on another cleaning company. The strikers intervened physically and
verbally to prevent the "yellows" from working. Finally, after 13 days
of strike, an agreement was reached. But the strike has resumed, because
the employees denounce "the falsification of pay slips, pressure on
employees regarding work stoppages, fraud at the CPAM, false
declarations to URSAF, taxes and Pôle Emploi , hidden work. This time
the "yellows" were able to work under police escort. The State protects
rogue bosses...

Condat stationery - Dordogne
The announcement of the elimination of 187 positions at the Condat paper
mills in Dordogne has already had tragic consequences. This deletion
corresponds to the closure/relocation of a production line. A cook
employed by a subcontractor committed suicide. The entire employment
area is concerned: Omya careers have announced a social plan. Other
small businesses will be impacted. Several actions with residents have
been undertaken. The Region is asking the (Spanish) group to repay the
EUR19 million obtained in a zero-interest loan. Loan originally granted
to modernize and maintain employment. The entrance to the site was
blocked by employees who regularly met in strike meetings. Blockage
which concerned the entry of goods and raw materials, but not the
employees who wanted to work. After many episodes of struggle and
despite vindictive declarations from certain politicians and unions, the
strikers decided to lift the blockade which had lasted for 17 days. The
gains would be better retirement conditions and better bonuses for
licensees.

CEAT LONGVIC - Côte d'Or
The Dijon commercial court ordered the judicial liquidation of the
company. Leaving the 203 employees of this Samsung subcontractor in the
lurch. The employees decided to occupy the company so as not to return
Samsung products. It was the absence of a partnership (although
announced for several weeks) from Samsung which precipitated the
liquidation. Despite pressure from Samsung, sending a truck with
security service every day, the employees held on and blocked the latest
model of laptops manufactured in the factory. As of July 19, they were 3
weeks into the blockage.

CLESTRA - Strasbourg
On August 14, Clestra employees were in their 7th week of strike in this
office partition manufacturing factory. The workers denounce the
deterioration of working conditions since the takeover of the company by
the Jestia group. The general secretary of the CGT came to support the
employees.

SUNDAY NEWSPAPER
After 40 days of strike, JDD journalists called off the strike. The
reason, let us remember, is the arrival at the head of management of
Geoffroy Lejeune, former head of Valeurs Actuelles, and well known for
his far-right commitment. Certainly the old version of the JDD did not
make us shudder, but this conflict illustrates several phenomena. A
far-right billionaire, Bolloré (Vivendi), has taken control of numerous
media: Canal+, I-Télé, Europe 1 etc. This brings us the sad Sir Hanouna
in Touche pas à mon Poste... the disappearance of the Guignols de l'Info
etc. The process is well established, since the Bolloré-Vivendi group
plans to buy Lagardère2. The Macronists, who dare to present themselves
as a bulwark against the far right, showed their sense of combat by
being the first to be interviewed by the new JDD (Secretary of State for
the city - Sabrina Agresti-Roubache). Rest assured, the Renaissance
deputies have been instructed not to participate in the JDD articles
while waiting to see if the editorial line is as worrying as that of the
first issue. First issue which has already stood out with articles
written by friends of Geoffroy Lejeune and a first page with a photo
"error" concerning a news item.

GREVE A HOLLYWOOD
This would make a good title and storyline for a TV series! For several
months, the writers have been on strike for a new collective agreement
and have been joined by the actors. The demands relate to obtaining
salary guarantees and the arrival of Artificial Intelligence. According
to them, the latter threatens their future, in particular generative AI,
which makes it possible to easily create very realistic synthetic voices
and images. This double social movement has been unprecedented for 63
years in Hollywood. This strike caused the shutdown of almost all film
and television productions. She disrupted the Emmy Awards and is
starting to affect the entire economy in Los Angeles. This movement
benefits from broad support from well-known actors (B. Pitt, M. Streep,
G Clooney etc.), Jane Fonda supported them during the presence of
Starbucks workers on a strike picket of screenwriters and actors in
front of Netflix studios. If we compare with the absence, for 2 years,
of known artists on our strike pickets, particularly when they are in
the suburbs and manned by undocumented workers, we are furious!

UNITED STATES
On strike for green locomotives
Local sections 506 and 618 of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers of America (UE) have been on strike since the end of June. One
of their demands has already captured national attention for its central
role in building global worker power.
Beyond the classic demands (anti-disciplinary etc.) The demands also aim
to improve society as a whole. There's another demand workers have put
forward in the bargaining process: They want the company to help the
union win a green overhaul of the locomotive industry, with the overall
goal of significantly reducing emissions that release carbon and
pollution into the atmosphere. Obviously, the company's management
remains deaf... It goes to show that ecological principles are for the
working class, not for the orientations of the owners of the means of
production. Ecology will be proletarian or will remain at the level of
guilt-inducing discourse.(1)

Salary Insubordination
July/August/September 2023

Notes
1 https://www.laboursolidarity.org/
2 To read regular and intelligent work about the media, we recommend
ACRIMED Action Critique Médias https://www.acrimed.org/

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article3968
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