Category: WORKERS’ RIGHTS

NO JUSTICE, NO PIECE

ACTIVISTS ACROSS THE southwest picketed Domino’s stores back in mid-September to show solidarity with striking pizza delivery workers in Australia. Pickets from Bristol to the South Coast were well received by the public, who were shocked to learn that greedy Domino’s bosses are slashing pay for Auzzie delivery drivers by 19%, adding up to a whole lot of lost dough, all with the collaboration of their boss-friendly union. In disgust, the workers set up their own union, affiliated to the anarchist International Workers Association and have since been striking, taking direct action and calling for solidarity actions all over the world. Bristol Domino’s workers, initially concerned about the demo, soon became more supportive when they learned that it was all to support their antipodean mates. Management on the other hand flew off the handle, angrily berating protesters and going to the top(ping) by bringing in a regional manager to the Bristol demo (brilliant news, as now the high-ups know what people think of their thin-crust pay and conditions). Meanwhile, solidarity protests cropped up in other parts of the U.K., as well as France, Germany, (home of the pizza) Italy and (home of the bastardised pizza) America. With every solidarity action reported to be boosting the morale of the Auzzie drivers, it can only be a matter of time before the Domino’s bosses get stuffed (crust) and the workers get a fair slice of the pizza-pie. Messages of solidarity and info about how to get stuck in can be left at: http://www.facebook.com/GeneralTransportWorkersAssociation

 

NOW THEY’VE GOAN AND DONE IT

Swindon Workers Get Stuck Into Bullying Bosses

FOR THE PAST half a year, cleaners at Swindon’s G.W.H. Hospital have been taking action against their employer, Carillion, who take on the maintenance, construction and management of hundreds of buildings across the U.K. The action comes in response to a culture of bullying and racism from Carillion bosses towards the mostly Goan cleaners. As well as routine racist abuse, Carillion managers frequently force workers to present them with ‘gifts’ in return for time off, overtime and other basic rights at work. The Goan workers were also denied the right to take enough of their holiday in one go to visit their families back home. Since the first strike back in February, the workers have given the rest of us a shining example in how to treat your boss, joining the G.M.B. union en masse, taking dozens of days of strike action (always involving nearly 100% of the workforce), blockading Carillion H.Q., holding well-attended meetings, a 400-strong demo through Swindon and numerous solidarity events and protests, alongside Swindon Anarchists and other union and activist groups.

The campaign has already seen one racist boss get kicked out, but instead of taking strikers’ demands seriously, Carillion have responded by sending in scabs to undermine strikes, lying, faking and fudging internal ‘investigations’ and further victimising the victims by launching disciplinary procedures against 10 of the strikers – they even had the gall to accuse the workers of “offering bribes!”. As a result, not only are Carillion losing their reputation in the industry, not to mention lucrative contracts, but they have also been caught playing a central role in a blacklisting scandal – where major companies have been denying work to ‘troublemaking’ workers for the ‘crimes’ of attending anti-fascist protests and being members of a union! With Carillion refusing to take the hint and clean themselves up, an ever-growing number of ordinary workers are getting drawn into the fight, voicing disgust against Carillion (and yet more stories of corporate intimidation). With more strike action on the horizon – as well as planned action from anarchist and activist supporters – you can be sure that we’ll all be hearing more from the brave Goan workers that refuse to be trampled by their arrogant employer, and you can be equally sure they’re not gonna quit until they’ve won the rights we all deserve at work. To send messages of support to the workers, drop us an e-mail at mutineerpress[at]riseup.net and we’ll pass them on.

BRISTOL COUNCIL COULDN’T CARE LESS

ON THURSDAY 26TH July up to 200 people attended a demonstration at the Council House in Bristol, called by Bristol And District Anti-Cuts Alliance, over proposals to close care homes. Bristol City Council intend to close eight of its remaining care homes and seven council-run day centres. This will mean more privatisation, worse service standards, less accountability, and less jobs. The private providers will of course pay lower wages and spend less on training. By getting these services on the cheap, the council will save money at the expense of the elderly, the vulnerable and everyone else. The council calls this ‘modernisation’: everyone else calls them ‘cuts’. And, of course, in the last year, the remaining council-run home ‘care’ service has already been privatised and grants to voluntary groups running services like lunch clubs and day centres have been slashed. The demo was attended by carers, residents, workers at the homes and supporters of B.A.D.A.C.A. and Bath Anti-Cuts Alliance. Members of the council were passionately addressed by members of the demo.

The first two care homes are planned to close before the end of this year, but B.A.D.A.C.A. is working with those affected, both residents and staff, to prevent this. The next full council meeting on Tuesday September 18th will be a key event. B.A.D.A.C.A. and others will be holding a mass lobby of this meeting to tell the council that Bristol doesn’t accept these closures. Please help spread the word:

Lobby of Bristol City Council Meeting: Tuesday 18th September

Venue: Council House, College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TR

Time: 5.00p.m.

Please come along and tell councillors what the people of Bristol think of their cut-throat plans. For more information, e-mail admin[at]bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk.

Meanwhile in Bath, staff at the Royal United Hospital have warned that they will consider strike action over proposals to damage their working lives. The hospital has joined 18 other health bodies in the southwest to controversially form the P.T.C. cartel, as part of the Con-Dem’s plot to slash funding to the tune of £20 billion – nearly a fifth of the N.H.S.’s entire annual budget. The R.U.H. has even gone so far as to throw £10,000 of public funding at a new directorial post, whose sole aim is destroying nurses’ pay and conditions. The next Bath Anti-Cuts Alliance organising meeting on the 4th September, at 8p.m., in the upstairs of the Ram pub in Widcombe, will be discussing how we can support these workers. This assault in hospital workers, and resistance to it, looks set to go country wide very soon. More to follow.

http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/710603

http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Leaked-document-Bath-Royal-United-Hospital/story-16451204-detail/story.html

http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Changes-loom-Bath-s-Royal-United-Hospital-staff/story-16524775-detail/story.html

IN FULL SWING

THROUGHOUT ENGLAND IN 1830, agricultural labourers, tradesmen and smallholders rose up in their thousands to fight back against the driving down of wages, lengthening of hours, enclosure of public land and the starvation of their families at the hands of wealthy landowners. Nowhere was the rioting more fierce than in Wiltshire.

Between 1770 and 1830, over six million acres of common land had been placed in the ownership of a few rich landowners, leaving farm workers with nowhere to graze their small herds or grow subsistence crops. This, combined with a steep decline in wages for farm workers and the introduction of new machinery robbing them of their livelihoods, meant that many rural people found themselves and their families starving and penniless. The wage for a labourer in Dorset and Wiltshire was far worse than the national average.

Within a week of workers burning a threshing machine in Kent, rioting had spread to Wiltshire, where bands went on the rampage, burning farm produce and equipment and threatening the local gentry with physical force and letters demanding higher wages and food (always signed by the mythical ‘Captain Swing’). Some of the most extreme events occurred in Pewsey and Oare, where local landowner James Self was pushed into the flames as he attempted to save his property! The damage in this spree was estimated at £400. In the same night, the crops of a Mr. Fowler were also burned, with the local aristos surprised that “…the labourers of Oare, instead of assisting to put out the fire, appeared to take pleasure from the situation, and… were lying about enjoying the scene”.

Hoses brought to the scene were immediately sabotaged. Rioting was not only limited to farm labourers either, as demonstrated when a mob of 500 in Wilton gathered to attack and loot the mill of John Bishop: including his employees! And so it was in tens of towns and villages across the county, with workers successfully ‘persuading’ employers and landowners to hand over substantial amounts of money, food and, of course, beer! But before long, the shocked employers retorted, swearing in a ‘yeomanry’ comprised mainly of the local well-to-do, responding to disturbances with violent relish. After four months of sustained unrest – and, predictably, repression from employers and courts – the rioting died down, leaving hundreds imprisoned, dozens deported and 19 hung.

Despite the bloody end to the Swing Riots in Wiltshire, the workers scored some important victories. They met their material needs by looting money and supplies from landowners who were previously happy to let them starve but, possibly more importantly, the rioters experimented with ways to organize themselves to answer their own needs collectively, setting a blueprint for future working class self-organization that would inspire future generations of rebels and society as a whole.

BEARING THE BRUNT OF RED OCTOBER

OCTOBER 20TH WILL see hundreds of thousands descend on London for what is being billed as the biggest protest yet against the cuts. The demo, organised by the T.U.C., follows a steady stream of resistance to austerity over the last couple of years, including the massive March 26th demo of 2011 which saw 500,000 people swamp London, and banks, posh hotels and stores like the Ritz getting a much deserved ‘redecoration’. With the Coalition’s popularity at an all-time low, and the arguments for austerity in tatters, why not come along and let Cameron and his millionaire mates know we’re not going to take it any more? In the run up to the demo, teachers and other public sector workers will be on strike and there will be large protests at the Tory conference in Brum on the 7th – all in all, a ballache for the Bullingdon boys! There will be something for everyone – as well as a massive, peaceful march, direct action groups are already organising to make sure we give the rich and powerful their just desserts. Dozens of coaches will be travelling to the demo from all over the southwest – check out http://www.falseeconomy.org.uk/oct20 for up-to-date info on transport options near you.

SOLIDARITY FOR NEVER?

 

AFTER OVER 90% of the membership of Unison, the largest public service trades union, voted in line with their leadership’s recommendations – voting ‘Yes’ to accept the government’s new pensions deal – on the 24th August, an email leaked to anarchist website Libcom showed off the union leaders’ darker side. While the deal accepted was a better version than what the Con-Dems first offered before the strikes of November 30th, the agreement now still obliges the majority of workers to work longer, pay more contributions and earn less. In the run-up to the ballot, not only did the leadership campaign hard for a ‘Yes’ against the interests of their members, but when, despite bullying, some rebel branches still rejected the deal, the leaders hypocritically cited ‘Code of Good Branch Practice 4.4’ (a rule actually brought in to stop individual branches campaigning AGAINST industrial action when it had already been democratically voted in), and spied to coerce workers to toe the line: implying the threat of disciplinary action purely against those who would fight to defend themselves.

Whilst we recognise that unions are one of the most viable ways for people to organise to improve their lot, particularly in the face of current Tory-inspired economic attacks, we here at the Mutineer once again find ourselves disappointed by the actions of the bureaucrats at the top of certain unions, who seem to take every opportunity to side with the bosses and stifle meaningful resistance. Despite frequent tough talk and posturing, Unison head honcho Dave Prentis and friends have made a long-running habit of expelling and demonising members who really want to take the fight to the bosses. We can only hope that the Unison rank and file take a leaf out of his book and kick out the bigwigs who always seem to side with the boss at the first opportunity.

http://libcom.org/blog/unison-officials-spy-their-own-activists-ensure-yes-vote-pensions-25082012

 

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS

 WORKERS FROM THE threatened Remploy program occupied their manager’s office in protest to the planned closure of their workplaces. Remploy is a government-run group of workplaces, providing employment for people with a range of disabilities. By the end of the year, the Coalition plans to close more than half of Remploy’s 54 sites, resulting in the loss of over 1,700 jobs. As part of its brutal program of austerity, and in keeping with its passion for hitting the poorest and most vulnerable hardest, they insist that the workers should be able to find ‘normal’ jobs in private industry. The facts paint a different picture – following the last round of jobs cuts at Remploy two years back, 85% of workers are still unemployed. After the most recent round of factory closures, some bosses didn’t even have the guts to let the workers – some with learning difficulties – know face-to-face that they were being made redundant. The hypocrisy is doubly hard to bear when it comes from a government attempting to ride a wave of popularity off the back of the Paralympics, while tossing disabled workers – including Brian Davies, a Remploy worker who has won four Paralympic gold medals – on the scrapheap.

On August 23rd, having booked a meeting to talk with a senior Remploy boss in Leicester, Remploy workers decided it would be more productive to occupy his office, refusing to leave until the Disabilities Minister, Maria Miller, committed to further negotiations before the closing of any factories! The workers are determined to fight back, with five days of strike action planned for early this month. They have called for solidarity in their fight for dignified employment; if you would like to support the Remploy workers, check out their website at http://www.remployworkers.info.

On the other hand, what to do when strikes and occupations fail? Well, we hope Remploy won’t follow the burning example of the Maruti Suzuki carplant staff in India. On the 9th July, following over a year of wage disputes and a poorly-timed nasty comment from a supervisor, the workers kicked off, ransacked offices, and then apparently locked the execs in a room and lit them up! Nine police were injured in the battle, an H.R. Manager fried, and at least 99 arrests were made. But honestly, we’ve all dreamed bout torching the boss, right?

http://rt.com/news/india-suzuki-plant-clashes-567

 

THEORY CORNER: WHY DO THEY ONLY CALL IT CLASS WAR WHEN WE FIGHT BACK?

Each month, Theory Corner will look at and explain a different idea or action. This month, we will look at what is meant by the often misunderstood term ‘class war’.

EACH TIME A group of workers walk out on strike, or ordinary people target or criticise a boss or millionaire, right-wing rags such as the Sun and Daily Mail start screaming about ‘Class War’. To an extent, they’re right, but that’s only half the story.

Class war is not just about ordinary people attacking the rich and powerful: rather, it is a fact of everyday life that gets played out in hundreds of different ways, every day. We live in a society divided into classes. At its most basic, there are two broad classes – bosses and workers. It is rare that these two classes co-exist happily, as the power and wealth of one depends on the oppression and poverty of the other. When a boss increases his profits, he does so at the expense of the worker, through increased workload, pay reductions, redundancies or other cost-cutting measures. When a worker wins a strike for more pay, or against bullying, she does so at the expense of some of the wealth or power of the employer. ‘Class war’ simply describes the fact that there can be no real peace in the world while one class owns all the wealth and power and the other, far larger, class has none.

Class war is all around us all of the time. When the government allows big banks to get away with fraud and financial crimes, but bangs up ordinary people for the same thing, this is class war. When the rich send in police to break up a strike or demonstration, this is also class war. In this class war, most of us are fighting our corner. Sometimes, this involves large actions like strikes or workplace sabotage. Often, it is small things like pinching supplies from work or pulling a sickie. This may not sound like much, but would we need to do it if we were treated fairly at work?

So, class war is not just riots or strikes, it is a description of the tension that arises from the fact that the rich tries to maintain its power and privilege at our expense. Sometimes, we win, sometimes the boss class wins, but class war is something that is all around us all the time – not something that some of us have chosen to fight, but a struggle that is going on whether we like it or not. The question is, how can we, the ordinary people, win? As Warren Buffet, investment banker and one of the world’s 10 wealthiest men likes to say, “There’s class warfare all right, but it’s (often) my class, the rich class, that’s making war”.

 

SPAIN IN THE ARSE

Spanish Unions Get All Robin Hood Against The Cuts

ACROSS EUROPE, MILLIONS of ordinary people have been fighting back against massive cuts to jobs, wages and welfare. There have been protests, occupations, strikes, direct actions and even the odd riot. But now, members of the Spanish field workers’ union, Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores, along with supporters, have stepped it up by raiding one supermarket and forcing another to ‘donate’ most of its produce, before distributing the looted groceries to impoverished families. Hundreds of union members entered supermarkets in the towns of Seville and Cadiz, filled up their trolleys and, after a tussle with security, left without paying. The food was distributed via locally co-ordinated food banks. The actions saw only two arrests, one being the mayor of Marinaleda, who stated “If I end up in jail because I highlighted the crisis, it will be an honour.” A second supermarket raider said “we are taking some food and giving it to families who are having a really hard time. If this is stealing, then I’m guilty.” These food runs follow in the footsteps of similar actions by Greek anarchists which have become increasingly widespread over the past five years.

The week after the supermarket sweep, hundreds of union members in hard-hit Andalusia (where unemployment has risen to 40%) broke down the fencing of an estate owned by the Duke of Segobore, occupied the land and set up a ‘communal agriculture project’. Diego Canamero, of the Andalusian Union of Workers, said: “We’re here to denounce a social class who leave such a place to waste”. The lavish well-kept gardens, house, and pool are left empty, as the Duke lives in Seville, more than 60 miles away. Commenting on this, an unemployed farm-worker taking part in the occupation said “Nobody lives here now, but the sprinklers are functioning and keeping the lawns beautifully green. Just imagine how many farmers’ wages you could pay instead of watering empty gardens.”

Mostly, the situation in Spain is dire, with the top 10% earning 12 times the average wage. Unemployment stands at 25%, higher amongst the youth, and 22% of families have plunged below the poverty line. And if planned cuts over the next decade go ahead, things look set to get much worse.

In light of this, the looters and occupiers have realised that, while protesting against cuts is important, if we are to survive, we need to start taking what we need from the rich, who would let us go homeless and starve rather than sharing the wealth. All we should care about is the fact that we need food, housing, healthcare and, hell, some entertainment once in a while, and we still live in a continent of plenty. Despite (or because of) the recession, whilst we’ve all been tightening our belts, the richest in our country – and all across Europe – have been hoarding even more wealth. Soon the time will come when we have to start taking some of it back for ourselves: trip to Tesco’s anyone?