Hello All. This mail is to introduce a new newsletter, now on it's
second issue. It is a a collection of reports from different spheres
of proletarian struggle, which analyse the material conditions, the
experiences and difficulties of the struggles.
It is in English, and downloadable as a pdf from www.prol-position.net
(about 200 kb)
Below are the contents and editorial of issue 1 and issue 2. Please
feel free to circulate this e-mail, or the newsletter. Thanks.
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PROL-POSITION NEWS #1 OUT NOW!
The contents of the first issue:
Editorial: Why such a project today?
Wildcat strike at General Motors, Opel in Bochum, Germany
General Motors, Saab policies in Sweden
New wage-model at VW, Germany
Protest against Hartz IV, welfare-reform in Germany
Struggles of migrant workers in Paris, France
Travel report: more struggles in France
Aviation: Two struggles in Britain and Belgium
Construction: Struggle at Laing O’Rourke, Britain
This first newsletter focuses on struggles in Western Europe in the
second half of 2004.
Below is a longer introduction to the project and then a short
description of each of the articles:
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EDITORIAL:
This is the first issue of the Prol-position Newsletter. The newsletter
is an open project discussing and circulating articles from different
regions, translated from different languages, and reporting on
different spheres of exploitation and proletarian struggle around the
world.
Why such a project now?
Today, many struggles have an international dimension. The people
involved face a social and international context mediated by capital
which is turned against them. Capital and workers themselves move
faster than their struggles spread:
* Migrant agricultural workers are being replaced by other newer
migrants,
* Workers in older core-industries are put under pressure by
(threatened) relocation or closure,
* Workers in new factories and development areas are threatened by
flexible work-rules and unemployment,
* The unemployed see themselves forced into more intense flexibility
and into undermining work standards,
* Workers in many production units are being played off against each
other by intensive transportion and new communication technologies...
If we want to understand these trends and support the struggles taking
place under these circumstances, we have to acknowlege and analyse
their international dimension - and organize an international debate
about them.
Unions and other forms of workers’ representation clearly remain an
obstacle for further development of struggles. By narrowly focusing on
the interests of single companies, professions, nationalities etc.,
unions can do nothing but widen the divisions within the class. They
need to stick to forms of representation and delegation to negotiate,
and therefore have to suppress tendencies towards self-organisation and
autonomy within the struggles. They do this, for instance, by retaining
and manipulating information or by releasing reports merely glorifying
struggles (whether lost or won).
There is also growing potential for links between the so-called social
movements, the new forms of organizing they develop and the direct
action of proletarian struggles. Some of these trends we could see
within the so-called antiglobalization movement. We want to circulate
reports about experiences of self-organisation within these conflicts,
understand their material conditions, and acknowledge their potentials
and difficulties.
Several projects, newspapers, etc. now operate on a regional or
countrywide level, engaging in struggles and writing about them. Most
only write in their own language. So far cross-national exchange on
these experiences beyond one country is limited by language barriers or
takes place individually between those who speak a couple languages and
thus is rarely coordinated or has few practical consequences. Despite
international meetings, the internet, etc., information on struggles in
many countries is hard to get. We don’t expect to solve these problems
merely by translating more articles into a more widely spoken language
(English), but we think this newsletter can help by spreading inside
views on some struggles and facilitating debates around them.
What will be the newsletter‘s content?
We will translate and write articles on struggles in different regions
of the world. For the newsletter itself we will focus on reports on
proletarian struggles analysing their material conditions, experiences
and difficulties - rather than just announcing the mere existance of
the conflict. Background information and other usefull material will be
published in the archive section of the website
(www.prol-position.net).
We want to collect enough material to publish the newsletter on a
bi-monthly basis and in-between when necessary. We will hold an
editorial meeting before each edition to discuss the proposed articles
and the political issues, the class situation etc.
How can you get involved?
You can send us articles, interviews, reports. We wrote a rough
questionaire on struggles which can (!) be used as a guideline (also on
www.prol-position.net). We are also interested in background
information relating to the conflicts, which we will archive or use for
the introduction.
You can also help us by translating and proofreading material. Most of
us aren’t native English-speakers (and we can only speak a couple of
languages), so it would be great if people could volunteer to help with
these tasks.
You can forward the newsletter-link to other people, and you can print
out and photocopy the newsletter and give copies to friends,
co-workers, strikers, and other workers. Or you can take copies to
bookstores, hand them out on meetings and conferences...
Finally, you can take part in the discussion and exchange via Email.
The newsletter will be our main focus for now, but if people feel the
need to discuss and share material through an email list, we will
consider setting another one up. Till then you can email us at:
[log in to unmask]
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The articles about the wildcat strike at the automobile plant of
Opel, GM in Bochum, Germany, the policies of Saab, GM in Sweden and
about the new wage model at VW, Germany describe the attacks on the
(old) centers of workers’ power and capital accumulation. In 2004
Germany saw a main breakthrough of capital. It managed to impose longer
working hours and lower wages in industrial strongholds and big
companies such as Siemens, Daimler Crysler, DB (German railways) and
Karstadt. The wildcat strike at Opel, GM Bochum was a surprising answer
of the workers, an answer that mobilised a united front of employers,
politicians and union bosses which managed by the bluntest means to
shut it up. While the capitalists are using mass unemployment to put
more pressure on those who have (legal) jobs and those who don’t, so
far we have not really seen a collective expression of resistance of
those, who are (temporarily) unemployed.
The ‘Monday-Demonstrations’ in Germany against the welfare-reform Hartz
IV in Germany took everyone by surprise (and were in the beginning by
and large self-organized). There was a lot of international attention
on the protests, but very few reports circulated abroad grasped the
initial strength and spontaneity of the demonstrations and their
internal dynamics and final weaknesses. The article summarizes the
different stages of the movement in different towns and gives an
impression of its internal composition. We added a short update on the
current situation around the introduction of the reduced unemployment
benefit, the so-called 1-Euro jobs and attempts to fight againt this
attack.
The analysis of the solidarity commitee regarding the strike of
immigrants working in the kitchen of Frog Pubs in Paris reveals quite
clearly the dynamics between immigrant comunities, the strike, the
union and the external strike supporters. It is important to re-open
the debate on the question of external strike support, a debate that we
saw on a more serious level during the strikes of Arcade, McDonalds and
Pizza Hut workers in Paris in 2002, all strikes which happened in
small shops and often led by immigrant workers.
The travel report from France talks about experiences at three
different sites of struggle during the rather lukewarm autumn 2004. The
travel starts at a picket-line in front of a McDonald‘s branch in
Paris, goes down south to an assembly on the action day against the
Nestlé factory closure, and ends in the strike kitchen of the occupied
software centre of Schneider Electrics in Grenoble.
The short reports from demonstrations of DHL-employees in Bruxelles and
the picket line of baggage handlers at the airport in Gatwick describe
two examples of conflicts which took place in the aviation sector over
the past few years. In the introduction to that article you can find
some questions on the increased political importance of this sector for
the globalized class struggle.
The final article describes the struggle of contruction workers in
Britain working on some big sites like the channel tunnel. A company,
Laing O‘Rourke, tried to change the workers’ status by making formerly
self-employed workers into Laing employees. For the workers that meant
major pay cuts, declining working conditions and more means on the side
of the bosses to put pressure on (resistant) workers. After meeting the
workers some activists from the anti-capitalist movement supported the
struggle by occupying cranes on one construction site... Enjoy!
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PROL-POSITION NEWS #2 OUT NOW!
You can download the newsletter as a printable pdf-file from
www.prol-position.net (about 330 kB).
The contents of this issue:
Editorial
Going East: Investments in Eastern Europe
Investments in the Czech Republic: Boom or Fall?
Migrant Workers in the Czech Republic
Strike at Skoda Auto, Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic
Migration, Industry and Struggles in Poland
More Strikes in Poland
Romania after the Transition
Strike at Michelin (Zalau, Romania)
Interview on Solectron (Timisoara, Romania)
Wildcat-Preface: Beverly Silver, ‘Forces of Labor’
Strike at ThyssenKrupp in Terni, Italy
Striking Olive Harvest Workers in Spain
Chat on the Olive Harvest Strike in Spain
A new kind of Strikes in France (Citroën etc.)
More on the Citroën strike
France: Leafl et on 35h-Week
Leaflet on hotel workers’ strike (Accor, France)
Students’ Struggles All Over
Update: Car-Industry
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Please circulate this e-mail to others!
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EDITORIAL:
This issue’s main focus is on the class situation in countries in
Eastern Europe. The movement of capital and the labor force from the
East to the West and vice versa is a decisive element of class
re-composition in Europe. Mobilizing a large reserve army of workers
from Eastern Europe to supply certain sectors in the West and
threatening to re-locate production from Western Europe to the East
serve as important levers in intensifying exploitation. The ominous
image of ‘low wage regions in Eastern Europe’ and ‘low wage workers’ is
partly capitalist propaganda; the real picture is much more
complicated. Eastern European workers are often hired in sectors of the
western labor market (like agriculture and cleaning) where ‘local’
workers don’t work. In early April 2005 German agricultural employers
loudly objected to government plans pressuring more German unemployed
into working in the fields, instead of hiring Polish contract workers.
They complained about the German unemployed ‘arriving too late to work,
leaving too early, and taking sick leave after two days’. At the same
time, more workers from eastern Germany are migrating to the
Netherlands to find work in greenhouses.
Regarding re-location of production units, the actual re-locations to
the East are few compared to new investments in the West itself. Direct
investments of western companies mainly consists of buying the formerly
state-owned infrastructure or companies in the East, like
telecommunications. Other investments are undertaken to supply local
markets, meaning that they will not replace production capacities in
the West. To unmask the propaganda element in the ‘Go East’-hype, we
need to organise a deeper inquiry into the actual movements of capital
and the class confrontations in Eastern Europe countries. In this
newsletter you will find some texts that might serve as a starting
point: The article Going East summarizes statistical material on the
relation between direct investments and the shifts in production by
German companies. It concludes that setting-up production units in the
East rarely results in closing sections of the same company in the
West. Apart from supplying local markets, the bosses are aiming for a
situation where they can, with maximum flexibility, play-off certain
production sites against each other. Foreign Investments in the Czech
Republic: Boom or Fall analyzes the re-structuring process of capital
and the labor market during the last decade, the impact of this
restructuring on the Czech Republic as one of the main regions for
direct foreign investments in the former Eastern Bloc, and the threat
by capital to move on further east. Migrant workers in the Czech
Republic sheds light on the situation of Slovakian, Polish and
Ukrainian workers in the Czech Republic. The article shows how the
European labor market extends far beyond the borders of the EU,
setting-off chain reactions of work migration. Czech building workers
working in the West, for instance, are replaced by Ukrainians slaving
away in Czech cities, having to put up with the Czech state’s migration
policies and the mafia-like structure of Ukrainian temp agencies.
Skoda Auto: Inspiration from Mlada Boleslav? is an article about the
recent strike at Skoda in the Czech Republic. It argues that although
it was the biggest struggle at Skoda so far, the workers - under the
union’s control - didn’t really use their power to win. But the
situation at Skoda and in other companies might change: Some of the new
plants western companies have set up in the Czech Republic can’t find
enough workers in the region, undermining the lay-off threat. These new
plants are often not unionized, leading the authors to conclude that
there is “some possibility for an autonomous struggle in which any
union structures would be left behind. We shall see where this
inspiration from Skoda will lead...”. Behind the Border - Poland
describes the history of class struggle in Poland since the 70s, the
role of financial policies and state repression, the context of
workers’ struggles, and the collapse of the socialist regime of
exploitation. It also deals with the structure of the Polish agrarian
and industrial sectors today and the question of migration. Attached to
this text is an update on recent struggles in and around Poland.
Promised Land and Class Struggle: Romania after the Transition examines
the development of capital and migration in Romania. The main focus is
on the textile industry, pointing out the important role of Italian
companies in the restructuring process. We added a short interview with
a worker from Solectron in Timisoara. Solectron is a US-company
producing mobile phones and other electronic equipment for companies
like Nokia, Ericsson and Alcatel. Then follows some news on a recent
strike in Romania (Michelin) and Solectron in France.
After the texts on the class struggle in Eastern Europe, you find the
preface of Beverly Silver’s book ‘Forces of Labor’ written by ‘Wildcat’
people who recently published the book in Germany. Silver investigated
the last 130 years of workers’ struggles on a worldwide scale, using a
database she and her collegues have built up. “The book’s particular
strength is telling the (hi)story from the perspective of workers in
struggle (...) ‘Forces of Labor’ elaborates on the connection between
struggles from below and their effects on ruling class actions and,
therefore, capitalism’s development as a world system. Workers’
struggles chase capital around the globe and from one industrial
product to the next. And with every new cycle of hegemonic power,
pressure from below had more impact on the shape of the world order.”
We publish this preface because we think this book can help us in
understanding the world-historical development of struggles as well as
the course and outcome of certain workers’ struggles we want to
investigate or take part in ourselves.
Some more reports on struggles follow: The first is a report on the
strike at the ThyssenKrupp steelmill in Terni, Italy based on several
interviews with workers. There was a strike early last year after the
German multinational ThyssenKrupp had threatened to close down a
certain section of production in Terni/Italy and shift it to other
plants elsewhere. ThyssenKrupp backed down - just to re-announce the
closure a few months later. Again, the workers went on strike but
without success. The tale of Striking Day Laborers in the Spanish Olive
Harvest gives an overview on the structure of the Spanish
agro-industrial sector and its (migrant) work force, describing the
three main front lines on which capital attacks: the changes in
unemployment benefit for seasonal workers, the new migration law, and
the increasing mechanization. These front lines also defined the
reality in a small village near Cordoba/Jaen, where day workers struck
for a month in winter of 2005. We added a Chat on the Olive Harvest
Strike. The article A new kind of Strikes in France tries to draw a
line between the restructuring of the (car-)industry, the effects on
wages and work conditions and the new kinds of strikes that make
“visible a new offensive attitude against the conditions of
exploitation”. The strike at Citroën, Aulnay (near Paris), serves as
the main example. More on Citroën is another (shorter) comment on the
Citroën strike, sent to us by a comrade who has a slightly different
viewpoint on that strike.
The leaflet on the 35-hours law in France focuses on the French
government’s late 90s so-called Aubry-law which was praised by the
European left as a job creating miracle. The reforms of the right-wing
government today are interpreted as a break with the ‘workers friendly’
legal achievements of the left. The leaflet describes how the
much-praised law of the leftist government minister Aubry was a big
leap forward to further flexibilisation in working time and a reduction
in real wages and that the right-wing government today is only
continuing on a path already been paved by the previous left one. The
leaflet for Faty, ex-striker at Accor, France, is a call for practical
international solidarity with striking workers at the French hotel
chain. We want to support this initiative because it tries to overcome
‘national’ and language boundaries. However, we added some critical
comments on the campaign’s main focus.
We have also summarized some reports from various students’ protests in
different parts of Europe (France, Italy, Germany, Slovakia) over the
last few months. The violent attacks against the students’
demonstration in Paris by kids from the suburbs raise political
questions concerning not only schools and the youth movement, but the
whole class situation in large urban areas with entrenched high
unemployment and a parallel economy. For an update on the situation and
strikes in the car industry in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany
and Italy we took material from several (leftist and non-leftist)
newspapers. The struggle at Dräxlmaier in Bremen/Germany is yet another
example of the industrial power post-Fordism puts in workers’ hands.
Dräxlmeier is one of the main German direct investors in Romania and
other Eastern European countries. The (wildcat) strikes at Skoda in the
Czech Republic, Citroën in France (see the other articles in this
newsletter) and the spontaneous protests at Fiat Mirafiori in Italy
contrast with the silence surrounding the Rover car factory’s closure
in Britain.
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