Reorganize the struggles!

The situation of workers in important sectors such as the public service, heavy industry, telecommunications, transport and commerce continues to get worse.

Because of the arrogance of the bosses.

Because of the hesitancy and schizophrenia of the unions who are in partnership with the government.

The stakes are: reform of the collective bargaining process, full control over work conditions, the arbitrary nature of wage payments on the basis of compatibility with company profits and the demands of reorganizing labour.

And so we see a strike, called by the public sector for 16 April in order to force the opening of negotiations, despite the signing of a basic agreement, being “inexplicably” called off and put back to some date in May, because of a worsening of contractual conditions by the government. In other words: we are so pissed off we’re not going to strike any more!!

Workers mobilized and then abandoned. Without even a hint of a workplace assembly, without any sort of consultation – no involvement whatsoever by those directly involved. All it took was a memorandum about the meritocracy and services in the public sector jointly signed by the unions and their government friends. Who cares if it means that the 2006 pay rises will go on ice and that the 2007 rises are still caught up in the Budget papers? It was only €101 anyway! And we’ve still got the memorandum!

The refusal by one grassroots union (Unicobas) to call off the April 16 strike at least gave schools workers the opportunity to protest against this anything-but-friendly government and the decisions of the more Byzantine trade unions.

Unfortunately, all this risks intensifying the de-unionizing process which has been going on for some time in the workplace, spreading mistrust and individualism.

In other sectors, the bosses are proclaiming their opposition to contract renewals and job guarantees.

The industrial employers’ federation, Confindustria, has rejected out of hand the timid, but united, platform presented by industrial workers.

Wage dumping in the communications and transport sectors, racked by privatizations, goes on unchecked and workers’ health and free time is under attack in the commercial sector.

While the partnership unions seem to be mostly preoccupied with how to share out the €12.5bn tax surplus and their success in transferring workers severance pay into pension funds, the conditions of the workers themselves get worse and worse and it is increasingly difficult to engage in any sort of combative syndicalism.

But it is in exactly this type of situation that it becomes especially important for libertarian union activists to make an effort in developing grassroots opposition among workers in the workplace, an opposition that can unmask the union bureaucracies and re-launch the contract struggle from below.

Reorganize from below, federalize the struggles!
 

Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici

13th April 2007