Today's Topics:
1. UK, anarchist communist ACG: The Bud Light Putsch (or the
storming of the US Capitol) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
storming of the US Capitol) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. informa bulteno: January 8, 2020 - Manifesto of a general
strike in Bhopal, India. (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
strike in Bhopal, India. (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Czech, AFED: Let's look at empty houses! -- The ODS is
calling for action [machine translation]
calling for action [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Poland, ozzip.pl, Employee initiative: Another Poznan porter
loses her job [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
loses her job [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Czech, afed: Old Antonio in a new guise -- The Czech edition
of Subcomandant Marcos' book has received a new
of Subcomandant Marcos' book has received a new
cover [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. [Spain] Cnt nº 425 - CNT advances in the metallurgical
sector: New section at Power Electronics- Antonio Ruiz
sector: New section at Power Electronics- Antonio Ruiz
By ANA
(pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
(pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #312 - Unionism,
Helping a fight "from the outside": the strike at the Parc clinic
(ca, de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
The irruption of a medley of fascist, far right, white supremacist, and
conspiracy QAnon groups and individuals into the US Capitol building shows the
profound malaise reigning in the United States, aggravated by four years of
Trump's promotion of reactionary ideas and policies on a whole range of issues.
Those who took part in the invasion of the Capitol presented an alliance of
interests that went across class. So, you could find a CEO of a data analysis
company, an owner of a supermarket chain, and an attorney, a lawyer and police
officers, alongside teachers, college professors, real estate brokers (estate
agents), firefighters, bartenders and tattoo artists.
The invasion of the Capitol was uncoordinated and there was no united and overall
plan to stage a coup, even though some of those who came to Washington were
armed. A coup requires some serious planning, as well as a degree of support
among the police and military and the ruling class. Whilst the feeble defence of
the Capitol building can be attributed in part to sympathy among the police and
National Guard for the cause of these would-be insurrectionists, it was nowhere
near the level required to carry out a successful coup. Neither was the level of
violence anywhere near an enduring insurrection.
Large sections of the ruling class, both inside and outside the State structures,
have been irked over the last four years by Trump's isolationist policies and by
his attacks on a "normality" desired by them. He is too volatile, unstable and
irresponsible for their tastes. The invasion of the Capitol has provided an
excuse to attack Trump and his supporters, as noted built on a cross-class basis
and made up of right wing billionaires, small business owners, marginalised
elements and some disgruntled workers and professionals.
Now these sections of the ruling class are looking towards the re-establishment
of the status quo under Biden and Harris. Neither of these politicians are
friends of the working class and this will be made patently clear over the next
few years. This is all the more reason that an independent working class
movement, that includes and recognises the needs of native Americans, women and
Hispanics and black people, is built to combat both the far-right and populist
movement that Trump nurtures and fosters, and the old establishment represented
by the Democratic Party and the Republican old guard.
It will be necessary to break some white workers away from support for Trumpism.
Donald Trump has cynically manipulated his raggle taggle army of supporters and
betrayed them when it was expedient, as witnessed first by his eager
encouragement of the crowds in Washington, followed soon by his denunciation of
the same people. He has fed on the dissatisfaction and resentment of workers in
the rust belts and elsewhere, victims of years of neglect by succeeding
administrations whether Republican or Democrat. He has successfully filled a void
left by the lack of a powerful independent working class movement.
We should note that the high tolerance for the Trump crowd in Washington should
be contrasted with the treatment dealt out to Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
Indeed if it was they, or indeed any revolutionary grouping, that had attempted a
storming of the Capitol, the result would have been an instant and brutal
response, and probably a massacre. Neither should we forget that the classing of
Trump supporters as "domestic extremists" is the same treatment that any
revolutionary would receive under different circumstances, as would be the loss
of jobs that some Trumpists are now experiencing as a result of the Capitol incident.
The Capitol is a symbol of ruling class power and wealth. It was no surprise that
amazement was expressed by the Trump supporters, once inside the Capitol, at the
opulence of this temple to the might of the ruling class.
Now the narrative will be centred around the "defence of democracy" and that all
good people should rally behind the Democratic Party. But it is the system that
the Democrats and the Republicans defend that has produced monsters like Trump.
Biden was quick to condemn the anger expressed in riots in many cities as the
result of the continuing police murders of working class people, many of them
black. He will continue to do this, to support the police, to support
pro-business policies that will have a devastating effect on the American working
class and poor.
At the moment it benefits the boss class to have a mainstream supporter of the
status quo like Biden in power. Trump is seen as an embarrassment that has to be
cleansed from the body politic. If a strong revolutionary movement did ever
re-emerge in the USA, then creatures like Trump or his ilk would be called up
create far right populist movements and to establish authoritarian regimes.
It can be seen from the recent policy statements that the Biden-Harris
administration will look towards its allies in the trade union bureaucracies and
amongst the career politicians and bureaucrats in the civil rights movement to
maintain its grip and tamp down unrest in the workplaces and neighbourhoods. In
addition, Biden's fostering of green energy and his support from the various
social media big hitters like Twitter and Facebook point towards a restructuring
of American capitalism that a section of the ruling class desires, away from the
protectionism and support for the military industries that Republicans support.
Finally, let's take a look at the hypocrisy of many Republicans, eager to
dissociate themselves from Trump after the Capitol incident, but avid enablers up
until then. The same goes for Theresa May, who was an enthusiastic supporter in
this country, as was Boris Johnson, who recommended Trump for a Nobel prize, and
as was the odious Michael Gove.
Other UK Trump admirers
Nigel Farage of course was completely supportive of Trump, even going as far as
siding with him over the Presidential election result, but issued a very brief
sentence on Twitter claiming to believe that the storming of Capitol Hill was
wrong. Farage claims to be a man of the people, yet was willing to waste £10,000
on a bet on the Presidential election result whilst people lose their jobs and
are unable to feed their kids. In November Farage also lied on Twitter about the
situation at the Napier barracks in Folkestone, Kent (a facility that is used to
house new arrival asylum seekers). Farage showed footage of Asylum Seekers
protesting (shouting at Police at the gates of the barracks) claiming "they all
want four star hotels and a trip to Anfield". Infact the guy who shot the footage
in question had to point out that the protest was about cold, cramped conditions
and access to medical attention for vulnerable people -a situation that anyone
would protest about.
Other well-known pro-Trump figures in the UK include Jacob Rees Mogg, who wrote a
fawning piece about Trump in The Times and has made many other pro-Trump
utterances. In December, Mogg claimed that UNICEF "should be ashamed of itself"
for spending thousands of pounds on feeding hungry children in the UK when it is
"meant to be looking after people in the poorest, most deprived countries in the
world". This tells us all we need to know about the fake ‘populism' of the right
which uses working class people as pawns in a divide and rule game for the
benefit of the establishment.
Real meaningful change to our lives can only come about, not merely through the
storming of a government building on the one hand, not through more police and
state surveillance, or through capitalist elections, on the other - but by a
working class revolution that destroys the state, the class system and abolishes
capitalism, whereby we share power and resources in our communities collectively.
We can only get close to this goal with a strengthened working class that is
united as much as possible, not divided into Democrat and Republican, Labour and
Conservative - divisions that only benefit the parasitic ruling class.
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2021/01/10/the-bud-lite-putsch-or-the-storming-of-the-us-capitol/
------------------------------
Message: 2
For observers in India and abroad: general strikes like these are mostly
electoral political facades at the expense of genuine workers 'complaints. The
majority, if not all unions affiliated with the "left" parties, treat their
workers as children in these demonstrations, which control them more severely
than in their workplaces.
There are some independent unions that are less authoritarian, but almost no
truly democratic workers 'organization. We are working to change that.
Muktivadi Ekta Morcha-AIT (Friends of the AIT in India)
https://informabulteno.wordpress.com/2020/01/09/bhopal-barato/
------------------------------
Message: 3
We presented the ODS (Really Good Squats) team in Prague in a report from an
illegal screening in July in one of the long-dilapidated houses in the center of
Prague. It is now calling for decentralized action to draw attention to the fact
that, on the one hand, there are people who cannot afford decent housing, and on
the other, there are plenty of empty houses and flats. ---- The prices of rents
and flats in Prague are rising twice as fast as wages, so many people are forced
to pay more and more money for housing in ever worse conditions. Meanwhile,
developers' profits have doubled in recent years and the segment of apartments
used only for investment is constantly growing. Our homes have been turned into
speculative goods by billionaires and corporations and are completely losing
their social value.
It has been two years since the state forcibly evacuated the Autonomous Social
Center Clinic, and for two years now, Prague has lacked open homes for voluntary
activities that cross the boundaries of ideologies and the market world. It is
time to start changing this state again.
For these reasons as well, the ODS calls for open action:
Choose an empty house in your city, district, street and mark it publicly in the
week from 10 to 17 January - with a poster, banner or otherwise. Take a photo of
your work and mark it with the hashtag #domyprolidi, or send it to the Facebook
profile Really Good Squats[you can also send it to afed (a) afed.cz, we will be
happy to pass it on].
https://www.afed.cz/text/7281/ukazme-si-na-prazdne-domy
------------------------------
Message: 4
A picket of porters and doormen in the building at ul. Ratajczaka 44 in Poznan in
2019. ---- At the beginning of the new year, one of the activists of our union,
employed at the gatehouse at 44 Ratajczaka Street in Poznan, lost her job. This
is the second such case at this place. The building houses, among others Teatr
Ósmego Dnia, seat of the Municipal Publishing House, numerous parliamentary
offices. ---- From 2018, we systematically inform about the notorious violation
of employee rights towards people employed in security, including other buildings
administered by the Poznan Management Board of Komunalnych Zasobów Lokalowych
(ZKZL). Many of the cases ended before the labor court, where several dozen
trials are pending (or have been completed) in connection with abuses committed
by security companies hired by ZKZL.
It would not be possible to expose the exploitation if it were not for the
determination and commitment of the female employees and the gatehouse staff.
Several of them have already lost their jobs for their activities. Last time, we
informed about the dismissal of Krystyna Wilk from the same gatehouse, working
for the same company.
The dismissal of another person took place during the pandemic and during the
holiday season. After several years of work in the building at 44 Ratajczaka
Street, Maria did not receive another contract for 2021. She was one of the
people who exposed irregularities in this and other security companies. It was
thanks to her that we learned that the current operator at the beginning of his
activities unfairly treated the employed people. Many of the charges against the
company were made in November. confirmed by the District Labor Inspectorate.
https://ozzip.pl/informacje/wielkopolskie/item/2732-kolejna-poznanska-portierka-traci-prace
------------------------------
Message: 5
As we have already informed on 1 January, the Anarchist Federation joined the
joint declaration of the EZLN and, above all, of the European groups supporting
the Zapatista uprising. This declaration anticipates this year's visit of
Zapatistas to Europe. In July, August, September and October 2021, a wide range
of meetings of the Mexican delegation of the CNI-CIG (Congress of Indigenous
Peoples - Indigenous Governing Councils), the Pueblos Front in the Defense of the
Agua and the Tierra de Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala will take part in Europe.
(People's Front to defend the water and lands of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala)
and EZLN (Zapata's National Liberation Armies). ---- We firmly believe that we
will be able to organize some of the partial meetings here as well. We would like
to use this as an opportunity for further acquaintance with the Zapatista
movement and the indigenous rebel culture there.
In this regard, we recommend to read especially the Czech translation of the book
from perhaps the most prominent figure of the Zapatista uprising, Subcomandant
Marcos, which was published in May 2017 by AF Publishing House. Now you can buy
the book Stories of Old Antony with a new cover by Jana Anna, a graphic artist
from the Cerná ruka collective . You can get the publication dressed in a new
guise in Prague's Žižkov in the Roleta39 store (Rehorova 33/39) or through its
e-shop .
Furthermore, the issue of the anarchist review Existence , which is specially
dedicated to the Zapatista uprising and was published on the occasion of its
twenty-fifth anniversary, is still available . You can also get that in the
Roleta39 shop.
And if you subject zapatismo and Mexican revolutionary tradition intrigued
recommend to the e-shop Roleta39 Six ou Declaration and the Lakandonské jungle
and in English, for example, the book The Zapatistas Dignified Rage , Zapantera
Negra: An Artistic Encounter Between Black Panthers and the Zapatistas , Zapata
of Mexico or Beyond Resistance: Everything. An Interview with Subcomandante
Insurgente Marcos .
https://www.afed.cz/text/7278/stary-antonio-v-novem-havu
------------------------------
Message: 6
Helping a fight "from the outside": the strike at the Parc clinic
(ca, de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
The irruption of a medley of fascist, far right, white supremacist, and
conspiracy QAnon groups and individuals into the US Capitol building shows the
profound malaise reigning in the United States, aggravated by four years of
Trump's promotion of reactionary ideas and policies on a whole range of issues.
Those who took part in the invasion of the Capitol presented an alliance of
interests that went across class. So, you could find a CEO of a data analysis
company, an owner of a supermarket chain, and an attorney, a lawyer and police
officers, alongside teachers, college professors, real estate brokers (estate
agents), firefighters, bartenders and tattoo artists.
The invasion of the Capitol was uncoordinated and there was no united and overall
plan to stage a coup, even though some of those who came to Washington were
armed. A coup requires some serious planning, as well as a degree of support
among the police and military and the ruling class. Whilst the feeble defence of
the Capitol building can be attributed in part to sympathy among the police and
National Guard for the cause of these would-be insurrectionists, it was nowhere
near the level required to carry out a successful coup. Neither was the level of
violence anywhere near an enduring insurrection.
Large sections of the ruling class, both inside and outside the State structures,
have been irked over the last four years by Trump's isolationist policies and by
his attacks on a "normality" desired by them. He is too volatile, unstable and
irresponsible for their tastes. The invasion of the Capitol has provided an
excuse to attack Trump and his supporters, as noted built on a cross-class basis
and made up of right wing billionaires, small business owners, marginalised
elements and some disgruntled workers and professionals.
Now these sections of the ruling class are looking towards the re-establishment
of the status quo under Biden and Harris. Neither of these politicians are
friends of the working class and this will be made patently clear over the next
few years. This is all the more reason that an independent working class
movement, that includes and recognises the needs of native Americans, women and
Hispanics and black people, is built to combat both the far-right and populist
movement that Trump nurtures and fosters, and the old establishment represented
by the Democratic Party and the Republican old guard.
It will be necessary to break some white workers away from support for Trumpism.
Donald Trump has cynically manipulated his raggle taggle army of supporters and
betrayed them when it was expedient, as witnessed first by his eager
encouragement of the crowds in Washington, followed soon by his denunciation of
the same people. He has fed on the dissatisfaction and resentment of workers in
the rust belts and elsewhere, victims of years of neglect by succeeding
administrations whether Republican or Democrat. He has successfully filled a void
left by the lack of a powerful independent working class movement.
We should note that the high tolerance for the Trump crowd in Washington should
be contrasted with the treatment dealt out to Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
Indeed if it was they, or indeed any revolutionary grouping, that had attempted a
storming of the Capitol, the result would have been an instant and brutal
response, and probably a massacre. Neither should we forget that the classing of
Trump supporters as "domestic extremists" is the same treatment that any
revolutionary would receive under different circumstances, as would be the loss
of jobs that some Trumpists are now experiencing as a result of the Capitol incident.
The Capitol is a symbol of ruling class power and wealth. It was no surprise that
amazement was expressed by the Trump supporters, once inside the Capitol, at the
opulence of this temple to the might of the ruling class.
Now the narrative will be centred around the "defence of democracy" and that all
good people should rally behind the Democratic Party. But it is the system that
the Democrats and the Republicans defend that has produced monsters like Trump.
Biden was quick to condemn the anger expressed in riots in many cities as the
result of the continuing police murders of working class people, many of them
black. He will continue to do this, to support the police, to support
pro-business policies that will have a devastating effect on the American working
class and poor.
At the moment it benefits the boss class to have a mainstream supporter of the
status quo like Biden in power. Trump is seen as an embarrassment that has to be
cleansed from the body politic. If a strong revolutionary movement did ever
re-emerge in the USA, then creatures like Trump or his ilk would be called up
create far right populist movements and to establish authoritarian regimes.
It can be seen from the recent policy statements that the Biden-Harris
administration will look towards its allies in the trade union bureaucracies and
amongst the career politicians and bureaucrats in the civil rights movement to
maintain its grip and tamp down unrest in the workplaces and neighbourhoods. In
addition, Biden's fostering of green energy and his support from the various
social media big hitters like Twitter and Facebook point towards a restructuring
of American capitalism that a section of the ruling class desires, away from the
protectionism and support for the military industries that Republicans support.
Finally, let's take a look at the hypocrisy of many Republicans, eager to
dissociate themselves from Trump after the Capitol incident, but avid enablers up
until then. The same goes for Theresa May, who was an enthusiastic supporter in
this country, as was Boris Johnson, who recommended Trump for a Nobel prize, and
as was the odious Michael Gove.
Other UK Trump admirers
Nigel Farage of course was completely supportive of Trump, even going as far as
siding with him over the Presidential election result, but issued a very brief
sentence on Twitter claiming to believe that the storming of Capitol Hill was
wrong. Farage claims to be a man of the people, yet was willing to waste £10,000
on a bet on the Presidential election result whilst people lose their jobs and
are unable to feed their kids. In November Farage also lied on Twitter about the
situation at the Napier barracks in Folkestone, Kent (a facility that is used to
house new arrival asylum seekers). Farage showed footage of Asylum Seekers
protesting (shouting at Police at the gates of the barracks) claiming "they all
want four star hotels and a trip to Anfield". Infact the guy who shot the footage
in question had to point out that the protest was about cold, cramped conditions
and access to medical attention for vulnerable people -a situation that anyone
would protest about.
Other well-known pro-Trump figures in the UK include Jacob Rees Mogg, who wrote a
fawning piece about Trump in The Times and has made many other pro-Trump
utterances. In December, Mogg claimed that UNICEF "should be ashamed of itself"
for spending thousands of pounds on feeding hungry children in the UK when it is
"meant to be looking after people in the poorest, most deprived countries in the
world". This tells us all we need to know about the fake ‘populism' of the right
which uses working class people as pawns in a divide and rule game for the
benefit of the establishment.
Real meaningful change to our lives can only come about, not merely through the
storming of a government building on the one hand, not through more police and
state surveillance, or through capitalist elections, on the other - but by a
working class revolution that destroys the state, the class system and abolishes
capitalism, whereby we share power and resources in our communities collectively.
We can only get close to this goal with a strengthened working class that is
united as much as possible, not divided into Democrat and Republican, Labour and
Conservative - divisions that only benefit the parasitic ruling class.
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2021/01/10/the-bud-lite-putsch-or-the-storming-of-the-us-capitol/
------------------------------
Message: 2
For observers in India and abroad: general strikes like these are mostly
electoral political facades at the expense of genuine workers 'complaints. The
majority, if not all unions affiliated with the "left" parties, treat their
workers as children in these demonstrations, which control them more severely
than in their workplaces.
There are some independent unions that are less authoritarian, but almost no
truly democratic workers 'organization. We are working to change that.
Muktivadi Ekta Morcha-AIT (Friends of the AIT in India)
https://informabulteno.wordpress.com/2020/01/09/bhopal-barato/
------------------------------
Message: 3
We presented the ODS (Really Good Squats) team in Prague in a report from an
illegal screening in July in one of the long-dilapidated houses in the center of
Prague. It is now calling for decentralized action to draw attention to the fact
that, on the one hand, there are people who cannot afford decent housing, and on
the other, there are plenty of empty houses and flats. ---- The prices of rents
and flats in Prague are rising twice as fast as wages, so many people are forced
to pay more and more money for housing in ever worse conditions. Meanwhile,
developers' profits have doubled in recent years and the segment of apartments
used only for investment is constantly growing. Our homes have been turned into
speculative goods by billionaires and corporations and are completely losing
their social value.
It has been two years since the state forcibly evacuated the Autonomous Social
Center Clinic, and for two years now, Prague has lacked open homes for voluntary
activities that cross the boundaries of ideologies and the market world. It is
time to start changing this state again.
For these reasons as well, the ODS calls for open action:
Choose an empty house in your city, district, street and mark it publicly in the
week from 10 to 17 January - with a poster, banner or otherwise. Take a photo of
your work and mark it with the hashtag #domyprolidi, or send it to the Facebook
profile Really Good Squats[you can also send it to afed (a) afed.cz, we will be
happy to pass it on].
https://www.afed.cz/text/7281/ukazme-si-na-prazdne-domy
------------------------------
Message: 4
A picket of porters and doormen in the building at ul. Ratajczaka 44 in Poznan in
2019. ---- At the beginning of the new year, one of the activists of our union,
employed at the gatehouse at 44 Ratajczaka Street in Poznan, lost her job. This
is the second such case at this place. The building houses, among others Teatr
Ósmego Dnia, seat of the Municipal Publishing House, numerous parliamentary
offices. ---- From 2018, we systematically inform about the notorious violation
of employee rights towards people employed in security, including other buildings
administered by the Poznan Management Board of Komunalnych Zasobów Lokalowych
(ZKZL). Many of the cases ended before the labor court, where several dozen
trials are pending (or have been completed) in connection with abuses committed
by security companies hired by ZKZL.
It would not be possible to expose the exploitation if it were not for the
determination and commitment of the female employees and the gatehouse staff.
Several of them have already lost their jobs for their activities. Last time, we
informed about the dismissal of Krystyna Wilk from the same gatehouse, working
for the same company.
The dismissal of another person took place during the pandemic and during the
holiday season. After several years of work in the building at 44 Ratajczaka
Street, Maria did not receive another contract for 2021. She was one of the
people who exposed irregularities in this and other security companies. It was
thanks to her that we learned that the current operator at the beginning of his
activities unfairly treated the employed people. Many of the charges against the
company were made in November. confirmed by the District Labor Inspectorate.
https://ozzip.pl/informacje/wielkopolskie/item/2732-kolejna-poznanska-portierka-traci-prace
------------------------------
Message: 5
As we have already informed on 1 January, the Anarchist Federation joined the
joint declaration of the EZLN and, above all, of the European groups supporting
the Zapatista uprising. This declaration anticipates this year's visit of
Zapatistas to Europe. In July, August, September and October 2021, a wide range
of meetings of the Mexican delegation of the CNI-CIG (Congress of Indigenous
Peoples - Indigenous Governing Councils), the Pueblos Front in the Defense of the
Agua and the Tierra de Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala will take part in Europe.
(People's Front to defend the water and lands of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala)
and EZLN (Zapata's National Liberation Armies). ---- We firmly believe that we
will be able to organize some of the partial meetings here as well. We would like
to use this as an opportunity for further acquaintance with the Zapatista
movement and the indigenous rebel culture there.
In this regard, we recommend to read especially the Czech translation of the book
from perhaps the most prominent figure of the Zapatista uprising, Subcomandant
Marcos, which was published in May 2017 by AF Publishing House. Now you can buy
the book Stories of Old Antony with a new cover by Jana Anna, a graphic artist
from the Cerná ruka collective . You can get the publication dressed in a new
guise in Prague's Žižkov in the Roleta39 store (Rehorova 33/39) or through its
e-shop .
Furthermore, the issue of the anarchist review Existence , which is specially
dedicated to the Zapatista uprising and was published on the occasion of its
twenty-fifth anniversary, is still available . You can also get that in the
Roleta39 shop.
And if you subject zapatismo and Mexican revolutionary tradition intrigued
recommend to the e-shop Roleta39 Six ou Declaration and the Lakandonské jungle
and in English, for example, the book The Zapatistas Dignified Rage , Zapantera
Negra: An Artistic Encounter Between Black Panthers and the Zapatistas , Zapata
of Mexico or Beyond Resistance: Everything. An Interview with Subcomandante
Insurgente Marcos .
https://www.afed.cz/text/7278/stary-antonio-v-novem-havu
------------------------------
Message: 6
Power Electronics is a heavyweight in the metal technology industry, employing
more than 3,000 workers and with points of sale in more than 40 countries, with
exponential growth in recent years. Since 1987, it has been manufacturing high
power variable speed drives and starters and is currently involved in the solar
energy and electric vehicle market. She was even involved in the manufacture of
respirators during the start of the Covid-19 health emergency. The company
belongs to the Salvo family, whose vice president is the former executive
chairman of the board of directors of Valencia Club de Fútbol, Amadeo Salvo.
The company recently built a work center in the municipality of Llíria
(Valencia), with an area of more than 100,000 square meters - called "Campus" -
in which more than 1,000 employees work. It is in this work center that the CNT
set up its new union section. The Salvo family also owns another company in the
metallurgical sector called "Power Metal Works", in which CNT also created a
union section that has been operating for several years.
The union section was recently formed in July and is the result of the union's
ongoing work in obtaining affiliation in the workplace, disseminating
communications, distributing information on shift changes, etc. The highlight of
this effort was the creation of a union section with a considerable number of
members and presence in various departments of the company. A company of this
size without unitary representation and without another union section shows the
fear that has been instilled among workers to prevent personnel from claiming
their rights. Currently, CNT is the only leading union with a real presence in
Power Electronics.
As the constitution of the new union section spread, expectations were high and
the number of members increased exponentially. There have been too many years of
irregularities, breaches of agreements, continued abuse and fear. But now that
there is a CNT union representation in the company, Power Electronics has no
choice but to comply with labor standards and respect the rights of the workforce.
The CNT union section intends to move forward little by little, but with firm
steps. The first demands that have been made relate to the confinement of workers
due to Covid-19, compliance with prior notice on flexible working hours,
prevention of risks in the production lines, professional groups that perform
higher functions, etc. It is very clear to union representatives that they must
increase their membership in the medium term in order to be able to make their
claims more forcefully, and that they will not tolerate a single irregularity in
order to literally comply with the applicable collective agreement.
CNT continues to be established in the metallurgical sector, a historically
combative sector that must continue to organize itself to recover all the rights
that have been withdrawn from it in recent decades.
Source:https://www.cnt.es/noticias/cnt-avanza-en-el-sector-del-metal-nueva-seccion-en-power-electronics/
Translation> Liberto
anarchist news agency-ana
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Message: 7
In Nantes, the double mobilization of trade union and feminist networks "outside"
a company helped to bring a strike out of its isolation, and to achieve victory.
Story by UCL comrades involved. ---- The Parc clinic is a small establishment in
Nantes with barely 50 employees, specializing in psychiatry. It was bought a few
years ago by a private group of Australian origin, Ramsay. Since then, working
conditions have deteriorated: non-replacement of colleagues on leave,
understaffing, multifunction employees, lack of training ... All this for very
low salaries, frozen for years: 1,130 euros net monthly for a nursing assistant
with five years of seniority and one weekend on call per month !
As often, however, it is not the money that is lacking at Ramsay France, with a
turnover of 3.4 million euros, up 52% over one year.
On June 16, 2020, the employees of the clinic went on strike, responding to the
national call for health, out of confinement. For many, this was a first. All the
following summer, the employees of the Park increased the number of walkouts with
pickets. Very close-knit team, excellent atmosphere between colleagues whatever
the status: nurses, nursing assistants or administrative. A puzzling
determination, far from the pessimism of the time.
Big problem, however: the staff representatives (CGT) are among the only
non-strikers ! They even clumsily try to reconcile with management. However, the
strikers are still largely in the majority, even if the requisitions of personnel
prevent really impacting the functioning of the clinic. A protest book is given
to management, but the latter despises him.
On September 17, on the evening of a new national day of action, the strikers
decided, without warning the director, not to return to work the next day. The
renewable strike is launched. And, against all odds, it will last thirty days !
Opposite, a direction of combat which will end up releasing timidly an increase
of 60 euros net monthly and a bonus of 100 euros. A mixed victory (not so bad in
the period) but an exemplary fight.
How did UCL activists help ?
The union tool on the front line
From the summer, activists from UCL Nantes pass on the picket line to discuss
with the strikers and express their support. A basic approach whose importance
should not be underestimated. In addition to allowing libertarian activists to
keep their feet in the reality of struggles and their needs, any striker knows
how much each testimony of solidarity counts and encourages in the face of adversity.
It is our role to tell our class that it is right to defend itself, that our
struggles are legitimate and that its difficulties are shared by millions of
employees. And when possible and / or necessary, it is necessary to know how to
go further, to provide strikers with additional tools of struggle.
And for libertarian communists, the union tool is a necessary lever. Thus the
Solidaires 44 union, which UCL comrades participate in leading, and the
SUD-Santé-sociaux union will act to promote the strike in the press and in
activist networks. Trade unionists from all sectors will thus come regularly to
show their support. A strike fund is matched by the unions, and nearly 13,000
euros are collected.
The isolation is broken thanks to the work of the activists and the striking
collective feels more supported than ever. The CGT, realizing the inaction of its
elected officials, is trying to catch up by dispatching activists from the
sector, who will be of vital help thanks to their solid legal service.
Because in the background of the strike, the question of requisitions and their
legality arises. Thanks to lawyers from the CGT-Santé federation, the
management's requisitions ended up being canceled, which resulted in the closure
of the clinic, putting Ramsay in real difficulty.
Along with the use of the union tool, support for strikers has been able to
advance through the collective Féministes Révolutionnaires, in which UCL
activists actively participate.
cc Didier Raynaud / Solidarity
Class feminism in action
From August, activists of this collective were able to meet employees of the
clinic, the vast majority of whom are women. However, presenting oneself as a
feminist collective to employees fighting for their working conditions is not
necessarily straightforward. But the contact worked, first because the collective
had publicly expressed itself, during the confinement, on the working conditions
of women, especially in health. Still, it is the almost daily support on the
picket line, with the loan of a megaphone, coffee thermos, dissemination of
information on social networks and relay of the pot, which have made it possible
to build confidence.
At the end of the mobilization, a support evening for strikers in the Park was
organized with the presence of women strikers from the Ibis Batignolles hotel .
This experience shows the support that external groups can represent during a
strike. While they cannot substitute for the union tool to build the balance of
power, they provide the symbolic and material support necessary to hold out over
time. The action of the Revolutionary Feminists collective provides a practical
example of a class feminism, reactive, capable of making the link between
strikers and other workers, by providing a feminist analysis of the situation.
The libertarian communists were therefore able, on their modest scale, to provide
concrete and useful support, while forging links for the future. This support was
achieved by mobilizing their union or feminist organizations. These checks and
balances can provide significant legal, financial and media assistance. But for
that, it is still necessary to contribute to build and animate these
organizations in a self-management way, with the view that they grow and help to
win victories for our class.
Anna and Benjamin (UCL Nantes)
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Sante-Aider-de-l-exterieur-la-greve-de-la-clinique-du-Parc
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