WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL AL #354 - Trade unionism: Back to school: No call for a strike taken lightly! (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 In the post-election context, the first "back to school" strike in

National Education was scrutinized as an indicator of the social
temperature. Like many before it, it was a damp squib. This failure must
question the use of the strike. ---- The fiasco was predictable. "Oppose
national assessments and their generalization", legitimate demands
brought to the FSU/CGT/SUD inter-union. But behind the practices already
in place in the establishments. "On strike on September 10", less than
ten days after the start of the school year. Too often our union
federations launch strikes on just slogans but with no possibility of
success.

For more than 20 years, union calls alone have generally not been enough
to mobilize. Gone are the days when colleagues waited for
"instructions". With some exceptions, without significant preparatory
work (union tours in particular), strikes have difficulty taking off.

The process is well-known. During national union meetings, the update on
current demands is an inventory of mobilization dates without any
strategic coherence. The result is ultra-voluntary calls. Then, at the
inter-union level, we must not be "lagging behind". Press releases and
leaflets are issued. Out of "loyalty", union teams timidly relay these
calls, without engaging in any real mobilization work. Union leaders go
on strike out of coherence but without hope or, conversely, risk losing
credibility by going to work.

Ritual calls for demonstrations
The result is also well-known: starving gatherings made up of union
discharges, seasoned activists and the people most committed to the
theme of the call. The latter, who may feel discouraged by the low level
of mobilization, then desert the collective spaces of resistance.

Building mobilization
We are far from the simplistic criticisms of "union bureaucracies" that
would curb a "combative" base. Historically, this may have been true.
But currently, union calls for strikes are often too systematic and a
few tones above the level of combativeness of most bases. Tactically,
this is not always a bad thing. But, in general, these "false" calls for
strikes are demonstrations of weakness, they change the level of power
relations to our disadvantage and tend to increase the idea that unions
are out of touch.

This use of the strike actually depreciates its scope: it is a tool of
tough confrontation with the bosses and/or the State that should not be
used lightly... because it is the means that has allowed our class to
obtain its most important advances but from which we do not always
emerge winners, or unscathed.

Too many or not enough calls for strikes, one common point: a certain
disconnection with the rank and file. Also, as anarchists and trade
unionists, we must work to reduce this gap by developing grassroots
union collectives (local sections), by promoting self-management and
self-organization, by bringing federalism to life in our unions and
union democracy at all levels... and of course by actively participating
in building struggles. Vast work but more necessary than ever!

Gil (UCL Montpellier) and Francis (UCL Marseille)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Rentree-sociale-Pas-d-appel-a-la-greve-a-la-legere
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