In April, an interview with our union was published in the monthly
magazine Kapitál, which we are now also publishing on our website andFB. In it, you will learn more about our approach to solving problems at
workplaces or engaging in broader social struggles and strikes. We
comprehensively address our attitude to classic trade unions and social
dialogue from anarcho-syndicalist and anti-capitalist positions, and we
also mention our approach to the issue of power. ---- At the beginning,
please briefly introduce yourself. ---- Direct Action is a union of
workers influenced by anarcho-syndicalist ideas and practice. This means
that when we solve problems in the workplace, we try to make every
dispute not only lead to victory, but also to be a school of
self-confidence and build a culture of solidarity and self-organization.
The way in which we are organized is also related to this - we do not
have bodies in which power could be concentrated, i.e. the presidency,
executive committees and the like, thus avoiding its creation and abuse.
This type of organization is the most sympathetic to us and also
expresses our broader idea of a self-governing society without
capitalism and the state, based on fulfilling the needs of all people.
From the point of view of the current social status quo, you reject or
are critical of the concept of social dialogue and the institution of
collective bargaining. Why?
The answer is actually hidden in the question itself. Social dialogue
aims to maintain social peace, i.e. the social status quo. Being in a
traditional type of union can alleviate the poor position of workers,
but we do not consider it a reason for complacency - today or in the
future. The problem is that social dialogue is basically a political
struggle - just in a different arena, in which the workers are still
counted as a more or less passive mass. They are expected to act mainly
when it is necessary to support decisions made at higher levels of the
union hierarchy, or when the workplace is in a desperate situation and a
basic organization must be established or a new collective agreement
must be negotiated.
Social dialogue and the status quo are also intertwined in that
decisions are made on the basis of what the trade unionists in the
tripartite negotiations consider "real" or "possible". An understandable
consequence is the culture of passivity of the membership base, which is
manifested by the reluctance to participate in the functioning of the
unions, the disinterest in organizing among the unorganized, the
expectation that people from the unions, who are "called" for it (and
here and there also paid), will take up mobilizing. Some trade unions
try to thematize and solve these problems, but in our opinion it is a
structural problem of classic trade unions as such, with which not much
can be done.
Moreover, the history of the labor movement is full of gains that were
achieved other than by shaking hands with employers and the government.
The problem with social dialogue is that it actually accepts that
capitalism and the state are the organization of society that can meet
the needs of people on the planet. It does not allow for fundamental
changes, only for demanding small concessions, literally forever. So
when something is negotiated or very rarely goes on strike, all it takes
is, say, another crisis or inflation and it can start all over again.
On the other hand, you reflect and analyze ongoing strikes, for example
the strike at Volkswagen in 2017 and others. What sense do you see in them?
Each strike requires a lot of effort and is worth exploring. After all,
it expresses people's desire to change something, and that is also why
we supported several strikes. In the struggles of working people in
general, we try to look for the aspects that are closest to us:
self-organization, our own activity of "ordinary membership" and the
like. However, we also notice the weak sides of struggles, failures or
the occurrence of power relations.
For example, during the mass resignations of nurses from the Department
of Anesthesiology and Intensive Medicine (OAIM) of the Andreja Len
Hospital in Humenno in 2008, it became clear how important it is to
defend against psychological blackmail by the hospital management. We
later developed this topic at our meetings and looked for the
possibilities of effective defense. Today, thanks to this, we know, for
example, how to better prepare for negotiations or how to better handle
difficult situations at the workplace.
We approach our own disputes in the same way, which we also thoroughly
analyze, discuss and try to better prepare for the upcoming ones.
However, we consider it important to share experiences from more and
less successful struggles not only to inspire us for the future and
avoid previous shortcomings, but also because this is how we write our
own history and build our class identity.
In the past, you even actively joined an ongoing strike or related
demonstrations, such as the teachers' strike in 2012. What was behind that?
The reason for our interest in the strikes in 2012 and 2016 was twofold.
One of our members was active in them, so we experienced the events
quite intensively and, so to speak, live. At the same time, it was an
unprecedented action by workers in the history of Slovakia in terms of
self-organization. We didn't have any specific intention, we just tried
to contribute to a successful fight as an organization and as
individuals. In 2012, we made a blog about the strike, informed about
the events, expressed moral support to the strikers at protest actions
and online, and coordinated solidarity activities abroad, mainly on the
part of the International Workers' Association unions. Despite the fact
that the strike did not achieve the fulfillment of the demands, we
consider the autonomous nature of the teachers' actions to be extremely
valuable.
Our member's experience with these strikes was also published by Kapitál
in the text We learn disobedience , published in the March 2020 issue.
Although you perceive unions critically, you also attend trade union
demonstrations with your own "bloc," as last time in October 2022.
This "bloc" was rather an exception, although it is true that we have
been to many union demonstrations over the years. We participate when we
have time and see the point in it. We came to the KOZ event because
there were important events in the given year in the KOVO union and KOZ
as such, which we would expect to worry even people who defend classic
trade unions. We expressed our opinion on the policy and activities of
KOZ on banners and in a leaflet that we distributed, and after the event
we also commented on the protest on the website.
Although you do not call yourself a trade union, or even an
anarcho-syndicalist trade union, you are based on this tradition. What
is your reason for this?
We considered for a long time how to briefly express the fact that we
consider ourselves a political-economic organization, which has in
common with classic trade unions only the idea of improving the
socio-economic situation of workers. The internal structure of the
organization and the strategy are different, and from the point of view
of the political vision, we are neither an apolitical nor a
social-democratic organization, which is usually the case with classic
trade unions. We usually say that we are an anarcho-syndicalist union.
We not only criticize capitalism, but also talk about how society could
look like without it, which in itself has a fundamental
political-economic dimension. We found it inappropriate to refer to
ourselves as a trade union, and at the moment we don't even have unions
operating at individual workplaces, so we opted for a much broader term.
The word union is associated with workers' organizations, but it does
not necessarily mean that it is a classic trade union. As a union, we
understand an association formed by workers and promoting the interests
of workers.
So you primarily deal with workplace problems.
Yes, we focus primarily on workplace problems, most often unpaid wages.
However, we also deal with other topics that are considered important by
the membership of the union and by people who come to our open meetings.
We discuss the consequences of the climate crisis on workers and how we
could practically act in this context. We notice the struggle of queer
people and we try to support them in solidarity. We also consider
informal meetings in nature and various forms of self-education to be
important. Our goal is to focus on a smaller number of topics and go
more in-depth. To develop a continuous activity in which we see
long-term meaning, although sometimes the results do not appear until
years later.
You focus on direct actions, strikes are legally regulated in Slovakia,
and as an organization you cannot even call a strike at the moment. You
tend to act regardless of what the law allows. What is the concept of
"direct action" really about?
It is certainly good to know the laws, but the key is to be able to
exert pressure. Many people need every euro from their paycheck. They do
not have the time and often not even the experience and means to even
fight for what the law allows them to do. And certainly not through the
courts. There are many problems that traditional trade unions do not
solve and in which anarcho-syndicalist organizations can succeed
relatively quickly through direct actions.
Direct action means that we act directly against the source of the
problem - without mediation, without relying on third parties, courts,
state authorities or trade union structures. At the same time, it means
that actions are decided by the people affected by the problem. They
actively participate in the dispute. We do not act for them, but
together with them.
Can you give a specific example?
When we start a dispute about unpaid wages and submit a letter of
demands, it is not that we leave the problem to lawyers, nor do we write
the letter for the person in question. On the contrary, the letter is
primarily prepared by the person whose salary was not paid, and then
together we go physically to the employer. Such a tactic works, and in
addition to the direct solution (paying out money) it also has a wider
dimension that is related to anarcho-syndicalism - it brings the
experience of one's own success, self-confidence and helps build
solidarity bonds and a culture for further struggles.
Otherwise, when it comes to legal strikes, it is not necessary to have
official trade unions to call them, which we could also see in the case
of a strike in education. And we would not underestimate wild strikes or
less formal forms of struggle, which we believe are happening in
workplaces, we just learn about it in a smaller circle of acquaintances
rather than en masse.
What disputes do you have most often, or what problems have you helped
employees with?
Many people contact us asking for help with a problem at the workplace,
but so far we have mostly dealt with those that could be collectively
characterized as non-payment of wages.
In February of this year, for example, we succeeded in a dispute over
owed wages, which confirmed that even if something is achieved through
court, it does not automatically mean that the judgment will be
implemented. A certain engineering company owed the workers large sums
of money and, through various legal tricks, continued its business with
a promise to the workers that it would pay the money. Two years passed
and promises remained promises. Therefore, the former worker decided to
go into dispute together with our union, and a week after handing over
the letter, he received his owed over two thousand euros in his account
even before we organized a public campaign. The same scenario was also
in previous disputes.
However, this does not necessarily mean that bosses always give in for
fear of direct action. That is also why, in every dispute, we plan a
series of direct actions with the workers even before handing over the
letter, and we certainly do not rely on the fact that handing it over
will be enough. We also gradually publish ratings from all disputes on
our website so that other people can be inspired. In the publication How
we coped with problems at work: Union disputes Direct action in the
years 2015-2019, we also covered everything related to the preparation
and management of disputes in great detail .
What other problems do you solve?
For example, how to behave when someone is the target of sexist or
racist comments, how to respond to pressures to increase productivity or
changes in workload or time and not argue with colleagues, but instead
create bonds based on support. These are just a few examples of the
problems we struggle with every day at our workplaces and to which we
try to approach both humanely and anarchosyndicalistically.
How do you perceive the issue of class consciousness, especially in the
Slovak context? Can traditional trade unions support it and mobilize
workers in the given spirit?
It is questionable whether they strive for such a thing. Moreover, the
concept of class was devalued for many decades by the events before
1989, and subsequently the concept of social dialogue came to the fore.
Talking about class in understandable language, so that it does not seem
intimidating (in the context of state socialism or one-party
dictatorship, i.e. concepts we reject), is still a challenge for us as
well. If the classic unions don't try it for this reason, we understand,
but rather we think they don't talk about class and class relations for
other reasons. Here and there one can read about some criticism of the
consequences of capitalism, but not capitalism itself. However, they
cannot be blamed for it, because traditional trade unions are not about
politics, and thus their membership does not solve political issues
within the trade unions.
However, the concept of class consciousness is not a completely
unambiguous topic and is largely connected not only with practice, but
also with language. Many people today may find it bizarre that, for
example, the word capitalism became socially applicable and acceptable
only sometime after the financial crisis of 2008/2009. In general,
however, when communicating externally, we tend to use ordinary language
instead of political terminology.
In the industrial relations literature, the so-called "militant
minority" is also discussed in the context of union revitalization. In
recent decades, there has been a lack of connection between different
groups of workers and activists. In the past, the "militant minority"
played an important role. She brought militancy and dynamism to the
unions and helped organize and fight at workplaces and in the community.
Do you agree with this approach?
If by "militant minority" we understand the more combative rank-and-file
membership, then we consider it to be crucial in the battles that will
take place in the future. The problem in our culture is that more active
people often get into leadership positions, join political parties or
municipal politics. We don't find that inspiring. We also see similar
problems in community disputes, which, moreover, are often cross-class,
connecting business entities and people in the locality, so it is
difficult to find in them a rejection of power or hierarchical
relations, let alone capitalism or the state.
"Militant minority" can also be understood as someone who gets a job
somewhere with the aim of leading a dispute or strike there. This
approach, although it can be valuable from the point of view of
analyzing different industries, is not sympathetic to us and often seems
like some kind of adventure.
A "militant minority" can also be some form of "entrism" in trade
unions. We know anti-capitalist organizations that have used this tactic
in various situations, but our approach is rather that we accept if
someone wants to be in a trade union of a traditional type at the same
time and encourage solidarity and combative relations in the workplace.
But not with some "party" agenda, but in the spirit of organizing,
regardless of whether colleagues are in unions or not, and regardless of
union structures in the workplace. In other words, the point is not to
help unions be more "militant," but to build workers' bodies that will
have their own interests independent of union structures. Of course,
anarcho-syndicalist unions do not have to be such bodies either, but in
our opinion, unlike classical unions, they have a greater tendency to
support such independent bodies.
Due to structural changes in the nature of work, voices are emerging
that propose to overcome classical research frameworks, where unions as
an institution form the center of attention. There is talk of new types
of alternative or non-governmental organizations that deal with labor
issues and at some points even take over elements from the traditional
trade union agenda. How do you see yourself as an actor working in this
field?
We like the activities of collectives working in Slovakia and abroad,
which openly speak out not only against capitalism, but also against
power relations and representative democracy. However, there are not
many of them. Rather, there are more that are labeled as left-wing or
anti-capitalist, but in practice power structures, exploitation and an
atmosphere of authoritarianism operate in them. We are also familiar
with disputes against left-wing collectives or "cooperatives" in which
there was non-payment of wages or sexist and queerphobic behavior. As
long as there is a power structure in the workplace, there will be
exploitation regardless of how leftist the leadership is.
Do you also cooperate with other organizations or collectives in solving
problems at workplaces?
We are closest to the anarcho-syndicalist unions associated with the
International Workers' Association, of which our union is also a part.
We are also in contact with a lot of unorganized people with whom we
help each other. Recently, we have been trying to develop contacts in
the regions and organize open meetings in smaller cities in addition to
Bratislava, Trnava and Koshice. The aim of this effort is for as many
people as possible to organize themselves in solving problems in the
workplace.
https://www.priamaakcia.sk/-piseme-vlastnu-historiu-a-budujeme-svoju-triednu-identitu-.html
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