Workers' Fightback - South African Strikers Keep Up The Struggle

The recent South African public sector general strike represents the high water mark of working class resistance since the global financial crisis began in 2007. Although it has now been sold out by the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), worker anger is still on the boil, and could yet pose a direct challenge to the South African elite.

The three week action was brought to an end by COSATU bureaucrats on 6th September, just at the point when private sector solidarity actions were being considered. They then presented their membership with a pay ‘deal’ of 7.5 per cent – just half a per cent higher than the government was offering before the strike, and one per cent short of the strikers’ demands.

If the deal is passed, public sector workers will be out of pocket after a campaign in which they have been vilified by the press, denounced by the African National Congress (ANC) leadership, and faced water cannon, rubber bullets and stun grenades from police. While the strike was on, COSATU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi dusted off his most militant rhetoric, denouncing the luxurious lifestyles of President Jacob Zuma and his ANC colleagues. But behind the scenes, Vavi and his team were conducting negotiations with what he had labelled the government “predator society”, and stitching up a rotten deal.

There are initial signs that the union rank and file is extremely unhappy, and could break with the leadership when the twenty-one day ‘consultation’ period comes to an end. “Unions were shocked by the manner of the rejections”, one local official told reporters, “the mandate was unambiguous, it was a no”. Meanwhile union leaders were chased out of a Johannesburg meeting, when members reacted angrily to the proposals.

The Johannesburg scenes were reminiscent of those at the Indianapolis GM stamping plant last month. This is because although union leaders can sometimes offer militant rhetoric, when it comes to the crunch their interests force them to bow before the demands of international finance and the state, and the mask falls. With class tensions rising, the ‘crunches’ are now coming thick and fast.

A similar objective relationship between bureaucracy and rank and file exists in the UK, where this week’s Trades Union Congress conference saw some of the most apparently angry attacks on the sitting government since the times of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government. It could hardly be otherwise, since public sector spending cuts of around 25 per cent are being openly discussed, as the coalition government tries to make the working class pay for the bank bailouts.

However, when push comes to shove, the UK union leaders’ rhetoric will be shown to be as hollow as those in South Africa, Indianapolis, Greece, and all over the world. If this historic assault on working class living standards is to be beaten, a democratic rank and file movement must be born, equipped with a perspective based on international solidarity and workers’ control.

Workers' Fightback - Indianapolis and South Africa Wage Battles

Workers at the Indianapolis General Motors plant are on collision course with the company, the political and media establishment, and the bosses of their United Auto Workers union, after UAW bureaucrats were shouted down and driven out of a meeting last week. Dramatic footage of this confrontation can be viewed here.

All union mandarins are tied to the employers by their defence of the profit system, and their opposition to workers' control. Since the economic crisis began in 2007, union leaders around the world have helped employers impose the burden on the backs of their own membership. But UAW chiefs directly profit from increased exploitation, thanks to Obama's restructuring of the industry. In May 2009, they signed up for a 17.5% stake in GM, and these profits find their way into the pockets of union executives. For example, Mike Grimes, the Assistant Director who fled the Indianapolis meeting raked in $132,155 last year. The union also owns a luxury golf course, which is primarily used by tops, as was pointed out by one angry Indianapolis worker:

"The UAW is doing this because they own stock in GM, and they want to keep their business coming in. Once they finish the deal, they’ll build another 100-million-dollar golf course with our strike fund."

The bureaucrats' aim is to slash wages by almost fifty per cent - from $29 an hour to $15.50 - before GM sell the plant to former Wall Street speculator J.D. Norman. Local 23 explicitly rejected the plan by an overwhelming 384 votes to 22 in May, but Grimes and others were trying to re-open the contract before they were thrown out.

The workers at the stamping plant toil in often hellish conditions, with floor level temperatures reaching 48 degrees centigrade in summer. It is common for people to pass out from heat exhaustion, and there is a lack of drinkable water.

"I'd like the see a UAW official do what we do every day; to avoid the molten metal and walk on the oily floors,” said Carla. "I invite anyone who thinks we make too much money to shadow me for a day; this plant is a hellhole. There are cockroaches everywhere and half the bathrooms don’t work."

According to the 'logic' of capitalist globalization, workers have no choice but to compete with their class brothers and sisters around the world, by constantly accepting ever worse pay and conditions. In the wake of the Indianapolis meeting, this is the line that has been trotted about by UAW executives, the mayor of Indianapolis, and semi-fascist national pundit Rush Limbaugh. But this 'logic' can only be pushed so far; at a certain point the rate of exploitation becomes intolerable, and working people fight back.

The Indianapolis GM workers have shown their unwillingness to have their rate of exploitation almost doubled, but this raises the vital question: what is their alternative to the capitalist ‘race to the bottom’? The only other possibility is workers' control, and if they are to have a chance of achieving this, the stampers need to make a broad appeal to car and other workers in the United States around the world. This appeal must be made independently of the union hierarchy, who will do anything they can to strangle the rebellion.

One million public sector workers demanding a living wage in South Africa face the same challenge, following the start of an open-ended general strike last Wednesday. President Jacob Zuma and his African National Congress government are offering a 7% increase, while the strikers’ demand stands at 8.6%, plus another 200 rand per month in housing allowance. For the moment, the Congress of South African Trade Unions leaders are talking tough, but behind the scenes they will be working with the government. Since the ANC came to power under Nelson Mandela in the 1990s, COSATU have been an enthusiastic partner in forcing through privatizations, spending and wage cuts.

Workers' Fightback - Greek Trucks and US Starbucks

The combined weight of the Greek army, riot police force, media and trade union leadership was mobilised last week, to stop a strike by truckers. The action took place as 'centre-left' Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou continues to implement European Union and International Monetary Fund diktats. With Greece being seen as a testing-ground for repressing the entire working class of Europe, this episode comes as a stark warning to the rest of us.

From the perspective of the European and international financial elites, Papandreou has been doing an excellent job over the last several months. A report by the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy recently found that his government is on target to force through real wage cuts of between twenty and thirty per cent in 2010, by a combination of attacks on salaries, big rises in VAT, and rising inflation.

Though the bosses of private and public sector unions (ADEDY and GSEE respectively) have called a ritualised series of one day general strikes and protests, the truckers' action has posed the biggest threat so far to Papandreou. By holding out for six days, the 33,000 drivers brought the economy to near standstill during the peak tourist season.

On the strike's third day, the government effectively conscripted the truckers into the army, instantly making the strike illegal. But they refused to restart work, and five hundred fought riot police in an attempt to storm the Transport Ministry. The army was then brought in, and began supplying fuel to economically critical sectors. At this stage, truckers union president Georgios Tzortzatos began concerted efforts to shut down the strike, despite no demands having been met, telling drivers that they "had to consider the difficulties their actions have caused for society at large".

Strikes are powerful precisely because of the disruption they cause to profit-making business of usual, but the union bureaucrat offered to call it off, conditional on the government withdrawing the army. This was agreed, and on Sunday a narrow majority of strikers voted to end their brave action.

Abandoned by their own union, isolated from the rest of the working class (neither GSEE or ADEDY had called any solidarity action), and threatened with five years imprisonment, it is small wonder that the majority decided to give up the fight. But the consequences will be catastrophic.

The dispute was over the 'liberalisation' of the trucker licensing system. Under the old system, drivers bought trucker licenses from the state, for between €100,000 and €200,000. The licenses could then be resold on retirement from the profession. Deprived of this pension nest egg, many now face bankruptcy.

This social tragedy claimed a victim in the days leading up to the strike, when a sixty-seven year old, debt-ridden trucker took his life, hanging himself on a bridge over a motorway. Indeed, the Greek suicide rate has nearly tripled this year, according to suicide helpline Klimaka.

Furthermore, confident in the knowledge that trade union bureaucracies will help them if disputes get out of hand, the Greek state must now turn its attentions to lawyers, notaries, pharmacists, architects, civil engineers and accountants, according to the EU/IMF prescription. If these groups are to have a chance of surviving the onslaught, they must break with the bureaucracy and reach out to working people around Greece and throughout Europe.

One group of workers who won't have a union bureaucracy to worry about are the baristas of the 15th and Douglas Starbucks, in Omaha, New England. Together, they have formed an Industrial Workers of the World branch in response to recessionary attacks from bosses. As staff shut down the cafe on Thursday morning, shift supervisor Sasha McCoy declared:

"We are being squeezed, and we can't take it any more. Since the recession began, Starbucks executives have ruthlessly gutted our standard of living. They doubled the cost of our health insurance, reduced staffing levels, cut our hours, all while demanding more work from us. Starbucks is now more than profitable again. It's time for management to give back what they took from us."

As Phil Dickens recently commented: "Rank-and-file workers are the trade union movement, not those at the top who offer fine words and gesture politics. If the fight against the cuts is to have any success, we need to take it back from the bureaucrats. Otherwise, what the mainstream media is calling an "autumn of discontent" will amount to nothing more than pissing in the wind."

Workers' Fightback - War Without Frontiers

The first coalition government since World War Two was formed in the United Kingdom last week, as Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats joined David Cameron’s Conservatives, giving the latter a big enough majority to oust Gordon Brown and Labour. Clegg’s decision marked a historic stage in another grim fight to the death – between the ruling capitalists and the working class.

Prior to Brown’s resignation, he and other leading politicians from the three main parties had all spoken of the need for a “strong, stable” government to emerge from the general election result, which saw Labour, Conservatives and Lib Dems alike fail to win sufficient support for their very similar policies of brutal cuts to social spending.

In return for seats in Cabinet, the Lib Dems have abandoned their modestly ‘centre-left’ policies, and embraced Cameron’s stridently anti-working class agenda. Gone are the pledges to impose a ‘mansion tax’, to make employers pay extra National Insurance contributions, and tax bankers’ bonuses. The Trident nuclear missile will be retained, at a cost running into the tens of billions, and £6 billion to vital social provision will be announced in a forthcoming ‘emergency budget’, in which a 2.5% rise in VAT is also expected to feature.

But this massive assault is merely a taster for the main course to come. With the UK national debt at almost £1 trillion following the bank bailouts, the super rich are demanding an unprecedented war on working class living standards.

However, events in southern Europe give some clues as to what’s coming. Greek Prime Minister Giorgios Papandreou has made slashing cut after slashing cut for the last few months, trying to wring €30 billion from a country of only eleven million people. His latest announcement – an attack on pension entitlements – provoked large demonstrations, in a nation that has seen numerous one day general strikes this year.

Now the leaders of Spain and Portugal are getting in on the act, after the announcement of a further trillion dollar bank bailout by the European Union. Presiding over a country with an official unemployment rate of more than 20%, Spain’s José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero declared a 5% cut in public sector pay to be followed by a wage freeze, the elimination of a significant subsidy for families with new babies, and the end of government spending on prescription drugs. Cuts in local government spending were also unveiled.

Not to be outdone, Portugal’s José Sócrates indicated he would take the axe to local government, public sector jobs and salaries, and even unemployment benefits, at the time when they are most needed.

Though this kind of ferocity is yet to reach British shores, the Cameron/Clegg government will keep it in mind when dealing with the situation at British Airways, where another round of strikes against pay and job cuts is scheduled to begin this week, despite pressure from the courts and the Unite leadership’s best efforts to manage the anger of their members. The ‘I support the BA cabin crew strikes!’ Facebook group is here, and the 'An injury to one is an injury to all! Defend the right to strike!’ group is here.

Finally, there have been two general strikes in the Middle East over the past week. In Yemen, the General Labour Union called a series of nationwide stoppages in protest at price increases, which have pushed many workers into destitution. And in Iran – another country subject to US aggression – workers in all Kurdish cities and towns went on strike, despite martial law measures carried out by the Islamic regime. Indeed, the action was sparked by the execution of five labour activists, and was supported by hundreds of Kurds on the Turkish side, who tried to cross the border into Iran.

Capital's global struggle against working class people is provoking a response which transcends the system of rival capitalist nation states.

Workers' Fightback - "No more illusions, war against the rich"

On Saturday, workers and young people around the world will celebrate May Day - a festival of resistance which traces its origins back to the struggle for the eight hour day, and the state murder of the 'Haymarket martyrs' in 1880s Chicago.

Saturday is also one year since the first Workers' Fightback bulletin, which opened with news on the Visteon car workers' factory occupation, resistance to the sacking of Linamar union convenor Rob Williams, and the emergence of direct action parent power in Greenwich, London.

Since then, the UK has witnessed more occupations in schools and universities, as well as the Vestas wind turbine plant on the Isle Of Wight. Large-scale strikes in civil service, post and air travel have won support from other workers, but provoked the mass media's wrath, and have ultimately been restrained by a trade union bureaucracy which makes a living by cutting and enforcing deals with bosses and governments.

The continuing economic crisis has seen this level of resistance matched and surpassed in many countries. But without a doubt, international financiers and class struggle activists alike are focusing their attention on Greece, which is increasingly being seen as a test case for imposing massive structural spending cuts (or resisting them, depending on your perspective).

The Greek economy was amongst the worst hit by the first wave of the crisis, and nominally centre-left Prime Minister Giorgios Papandreou has formally requested loans running into the tens of billions of dollars from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. In return, both institutions are demanding even deeper cuts than Papandreou passed just six weeks ago.

Even then, his agenda forced union leaders to call general strikes, and there were many violent clashes with police. But those single day actions failed to prevent the March cuts, and such a strategy would surely fail this time round. An April 22nd public sector general strike saw tens of thousands of workers demonstrate, chanting slogans such as "No more illusions - war against the rich".

There have been victories over the last year - we can look at the Lewisham Bridge parents' triumph in saving their children's school, for example. But these highs have been few and far between, and the defeats keep coming faster, with greater intensity.

Amidst all this gloom, perhaps some brick workers in the Kurdish part of Turkey can shed light on the path ahead. Having worked on a fixed wage for four years (despite inflation running at around 10%), the Diyarbakir workers were offered 7.5%, amounting to an effective 2.5% pay cut for 2010, even if 2006-09 inflation is not considered. They took a two week unofficial 'wildcat' strike action, and delegated fellow workers to put their demands forward. The result was a 28% pay increase.

Illusions in the profit system, politicians and the top-down trade union structure are rapidly being shed by millions upon millions of people. In the period to come, nothing less than the formation of a new, international working class movement is required, a movement organised on a rank-and-file basis, a movement that is directly controlled by its own membership. This movement must reject both capitalism and the division of the planet into rival nation states, and demand working class control of the global economy.

Workers' Fightback - the "Spring Of Discontent" and Beyond

The UK general election is just five weeks away, and though all major parties are committed to massive cuts in spending to cover the bankers' debts - the figure of 25% is being bandied about - it's still not clear whether the reds, blues or even the yellows will hold the balance of power.

British Airways cabin crew and civil servants have recently taken strike action, and an Easter rail stoppage has been called. Meanwhile, right wing commentators such as Melanie Phillips - as well as the Conservative Party itself - are claiming that Labour's reliance on the union's political levy will stop them imposing the post-election cuts demanded by the ruling class. This is despite Gordon Brown labelling the BA strike "deplorable".

For all the talk of union leaders being Labour's 'new Militant Tendency' - a reference to the Labour left grouping of the 1980s - they have acted as willing, well-paid accomplices in Brown's drive to lower working class living standards. Should a 'centre-right' party come to power in Britain, they would surely follow the example of their German and French equivalents, offering their services to the government.

One factor ignored amidst all the furore of the BA dispute is the actual reason that strikers give for their action: the company are seeking to impose £80 million in cuts, and shed thousands of jobs, in preparation for a possible merger with Iberian Airlines. According to a Manchester striker:

“On jobs cut on aircraft, you had four cabin crew and now you have three. On an aircraft where you had eleven, you’ve now got ten and on the jumbo where you had sixteen, you’ve now got fourteen. So already on some aircraft, they are saving 25% in crew savings. On the jumbos and triple 7s they are saving twelve to fifteen percent because of the seniority and the pay scale.

“That’s not enough for them. They just want to smash the union. We have concerns over our right and safety practise that just don’t work as well with fewer people. And the customer doesn’t do as well with 25% fewer people to serve them."

Unite are well aware of BA's intentions, and have offered any number of concessions in return a seat at future negotiating tables, and the continuing flow of members' dues. Indeed, many Unite placards bear the slogan "We offered pay cuts to keep BA premium".

Underscoring the similarity of union and corporate bosses' interests is the fact that BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh was once the chief negotiator of the Irish Airline Pilots Association. And for their part, European airline unions made sure that pledges of solidarity with BA crew came to practically nothing.

The reformist, nationalist, and hierarchical nature of current trade unionism acts as a straitjacket, restricting workers' fightback. In the coming period, grassroots, worker-run organisations must be built to combat cuts. These organisations must be independent from party political and trade union control.

The 'I support the BA Cabin Crew strikes!' Facebook group is here.

The 'Support BA Cabin Crew's Democratic right to strike!' Facebook page is here.

Workers' Fightback - Greek "State of War"/Sussex Solidarity/Junk Mail

"All was quiet until the GSEE union boss Mr Panagopoulos took the microphone to address the protest. Before managing to utter more than five words, the hated union boss was attacked by all kinds of protestors who first heckled him and threw bottles of water and yogurt on his face and then attacked him physically like a giant swarm. With bruises, cuts and his clothes torn, the PASOK lackey struggled his way towards police lines, as the people attacked again and again. Finally he managed to hide behind the Presidential Guard and up the steps of the Parliament where the hated austerity measures were being voted. The crowd below encouraged him to go where he belongs, to the lair of thieves, murderers and liars."

This extract from a LibCom report gives an indication of the social struggle currently going on inside Greece, a situation described as a "state of war" by Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou. In a moment charged with symbolism, protesters attacked the leader of the main private sector union, as he addressed a rally against Papandreou's European Union-dictated austerity plans. Later in the day, riot police sprayed tear gas directly into the face of eighty-seven year old Manolis Glezos. The celebrated veteran of resistance to the Nazi occupation of Greece needed emergency hospital treatment.

Over the past few weeks, a wave of general strikes, sectional strikes, occupations and riots has demonstrated that European governments will not have an easy time making working class people pay for their respective banking elites' shortcomings. However, trade union leaders continue to work with governments, by seeking to channel dissent in safe directions such as nationalism. Before last week's general strike, the president of the tax collectors union summed up the bureaucracy's mood, as he declared that: "It is just a symbolic protest. We understand that the austerity measures are necessary."

Following the Sussex University occupation against cuts two weeks ago, six "ringleaders" were suspended by Vice Chancellor Michael Farthing. As an official press release made clear, the suspensions were meant to intimidate opposition, being a "precautionary measure" against "disruptive" actions.

However, this measure provoked outrage amongst students, and hundreds of their number showed they were very far from being intimidated by occupying again on Tuesday evening.

A Commune article on the National Convention Against Fees and Cuts claims this is just the beginning, as:

"Many students are taking political action for the first time and have a lot to gain, both practically and in terms of their own perspectives on the situation, from coordinating with others. Meanwhile the threat of higher tuition fees looms just past the general election."

The NCAFC Facebook group is here, and the blog is here.

The corporate news generally presented the latest Royal Mail/Communication Workers Union agreement as beneficial for all parties concerned. As CWU left critic Roy Mayall notes, the Daily Mail-owned thisismoney.co.uk led with the headline: 'Royal Mail strikers get more for less work.' If this were the case, and more posties were being taken on to pick up the difference, then it certainly would have been a happy ending. However, the following 'devils' emerge from a closer reading of the details:

• The CWU leadership has accepted the inevitability of closures and “significant” job losses.
• CWU bureaucrats share “the goal of managing headcount reduction without leaving unresolved surplus.” - i.e. sacking people and making the survivors work even harder.
• Under these terms, the automation of sorting will mean more time trudging the streets, with heavier loads.
• The 6.9% hourly pay increase over three years is below the current rate of inflation, and so amounts to a pay cut, even if inflation stays at current levels.
• There will be no more restrictions on 'unaddressed' - i.e. junk - mail coming through UK post boxes.
  

The 'I care about our Postal Service!' Facebook group is here, and the larger 'I Support the Postal Workers!' group is here.

Workers' Fightback - Students, Posties and European Workers Confront Cuts

The past ten days have seen big mobilisations against austerity Europe, and the domination of the financial sector over government spending. Last Wednesday, two million public and private sector workers struck in Greece, following protests or general strike calls in Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic. At its birth, it is apparent that the emerging new movement will be an international one, but it will be obstructed and misled by trade union and 'radical' groups which organise on a national basis.

Since the previous Workers' Fightback update two weeks ago, unions in Germany, France and the UK have taken action to curb their members' resistance, and defence of their own livelihoods. The German pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit called off a strike at Lufthansa on the first day. Similarly, the French General Confederation of Labour sabotaged a nationwide strike against oil giant Total. Concessions had not been won before the bureaucracy called a halt in either of these cases. In Britain, the Unite union announced that the overwhelming mandate for strike action against British Airways would be put "on hold" while they held talks with management.

As thousands of Greek workers took to the streets, their banners could easily have spoken for the working class across much of the world at the moment: 'Where has all the money gone?'; 'People are more important than markets and banks', and 'Billions of euros for capitalism, but nothing for the workers - rise up!'. Even more simply: 'Enough is enough!'

An article on The Commune website suggests:

"A further day of action in another two weeks’ time seems likely: but a series of national one-day strikes does not look like a strategy to stop the government. After all, while tolerating occasional demonstrations the state will not shrink from invoking anti-union laws and using riot cops to suppress the most ‘threatening’ wing of the movement. Before the general strike, an indefinite stoppage by 3,200 customs workers saw Greece’s petrol pumps run dry for five days, such that the courts intervened to rule the action ‘excessive’. The union put an end to the strike, even though they could have been given even greater strength by the national strike action."

Students in the UK have been dusting off the tactic of university occupation, which spread nationwide in the first half of 2009. According to the Fight Cuts at the University of Westminster blog:

"Over 200 staff and students at the University of Westminster have protested, stormed the board of governors meeting [on Monday} and are currently in occupation, vice-chancellors office, in regard to recently proposed tutoring and administrative job cuts."

This action is in response to management plans to slash 250 jobs by April. Two weeks ago, a motion of no confidence in the vice chancellor was unanimously passed by over 150 staff and students.

The occupiers demand a statement on the avoidance of redundancies, financial documentation being made freely available to unions, and the production of alternative plans for addressing budget problems for the next several years.

This afternoon, Sussex students barricaded themselves inside management offices at their university, against plans to make another 115 redundant. These student occupations must link up with each other, but also turn to the wider working class if they are to have a chance of success.

The Fight Cuts Campaign at Westminster Facebook group is here.

Finally for this busy roundup, it seems that the Communication Workers Union bureaucracy has reached a deal with Royal Mail, regarding the 'modernisation' of the postal service. In a message to the union's membership, deputy general secretary Dave Ward announced that:

"Following 3 months of talks facilitated by Roger Poole, the Independent Chair and ACAS, the negotiating process between Royal Mail and CWU has now reached its final phase. Both parties believe significant progress has been made. A document, will this week, be considered by the Postal Executive Committee."

Last November, the CWU executive brought a well-supported strike to an end, having received no guarantees on jobs and conditions, other than a seat at the negotiating table. Doubtless, a total or near-total sell-out is being prepared, but the executive will have great difficulty controlling rank and file anger.

Workers' Fightback - Belgian Rail Workers Strike For Safety/Going Postal Yet Again/March of the PIIGS

A fatal crash that killed eighteen people was the final straw for railway workers in Belgium, who have spontaneously organised strikes and blockades around the country. Their courageous move has of course brought short-term disruption for passengers, but it has also put pressure on the national railway company to implement much-needed safety measures.

A driver was among those killed on Monday, when two trains collided in Halle, fifteen kilometres from Brussels. Even before the black box recorders had been recovered, Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges bosses were claiming that one of the drivers failed to stop at a red light. They were later forced to admit that one of the trains had not been fitted with a security system that automatically switches on a train’s brake at every red signal. This system was recommended in the wake of a crash in 2001.

According to LibCom:

"Machinists and technical workers have blockaded depots across the country with services most affected in Wallonia. Train drivers and signal workers are also observing the strike. So far the depots at Braine-le-Comte, Mons, Liège, Ath, Saint-Ghislain, La Louvière, Charleroi, Namur, Ottignies, Tournai and Louvain are reported as being entirely blockaded by strikers and the Belgian Rail Company (SNCB) is admitting that 85% of its depots are affected by the strike."

Union leaders have denounced the wildcat action, effectively siding with the bosses who have failed to roll-out required safety measures, with Jos Dignette of the ACOD union declaring that "The situation is not good...I don’t understand why some have decided to declare war at this moment."

It seems the ongoing confrontation between Royal Mail bosses and their employees may be heating up once more. Last Bonfire Night, Billy Hayes and his Communication Workers Union executive unanimously voted to sabotage a series of strikes that enjoyed widespread public support, and guaranteed Royal Mail no strikes before Christmas. However, up to 45,000 postal jobs are still under threat, together with pay cuts and a backbreaking increase in productivity, leading to eventual privatisation under the next government.

The latest major incident was at the large Bridgwater Delivery Office in Somerset. The immediate spark for an unofficial one hour walkout was management's treatment of two employees who are subject to a disciplinary investigation, but underlying the conflict is management's plans to cut 240 hours of work from the Bridgwater team, leaving many out of pocket or working part-time.

Bridgwater CWU rep Phil Greenslade told This Is Somerset that:

"People are not happy with the way these investigations are being carried out and we feel Royal Mail is taking a very heavy-handed approach. We feel they are trying to get rid of people unnecessarily and however they can."

Managers are tightening the screw in every workplace and this must inevitably produce resistance, which threatens to slip out of the CWU bureaucracy's control.

Fear of working class resistance shook the stock markets at the start of the month, as Greek trade unions announced a one day general strike for 24th February. Although leaders see the strike as a means of letting off some steam, investors are worried that the 'socialist' Greek Prime Minister will not be able to enforce the European Union-ordered austerity measures, and bring the state's debt down to a manageable level.

The global economic crisis is about to enter a dramatic second phase. After the first, governments around the world bailed out the banking sector, allowing enormous bonuses to be paid, and the build-up of a second stock market bubble. Sooner or later this will burst, but in the meantime governments must attack social spending and raise taxes, in order to pay off their debts. Greece has already seen massive uprisings by young people in the last couple of years, and authorities must now confront the whole of the working class.

Similar struggles are building up in the other most heavily indebted countries, and analysts have come up with the acronym PIIGS to bracket Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain together. The future of the euro currency is hanging in the balance, while large economies outside the eurozone - namely the United States of America and the United Kingdom - have also thrown colossal amounts at their financial sector. The tottering house of cards is about to tumble, and even more graphically illustrate the bloody class conflict at the heart of capitalist society.

Workers' Fightback - Scottish School Sit-in/Iranian Steel/Mexican Standoff

Last year saw a mini wave of school occupations in Britain. A long-standing rooftop protest combined with overwhelming local support kept Lewisham Bridge Primary open, despite Lambeth Council's determination to make cuts and privatise education. In Glasgow, the Save Our Schools group fought against the proposed closure of twenty-five schools and nurseries, staging occupations in the Maryhill area of the city.

The resistance is continuing into 2010, because last week saw a brief sit-in at St Matthew's Primary in nearby Wishaw. According to the 'Save St Matthews' Bebo group:

"Five protesters refused to leave St Matthew’s Primary School in Wishaw. The four parents and a grandmother began the protest just after 3pm on Thursday when pupils left the building for the day and took resident in a parents’ room. They left at approximately 9am on Friday morning."

Short-lived though this action was, it shows that relatives of school children are still looking for ways to resist cutbacks, which often dramatically impact their own lives. We can expect more of the same throughout the year.

Iran is often in the news, usually due to conflicts with or within its ruling class. It far more rare to here about workers organising there, and indeed this is extremely dangerous due to the repression meted out by the clerical government. However, workers have started to organise at the massive Isfahan Steel Company. A translation of their public statement declares that:

"[...] faced with an uncertain future and generally worsening conditions, and mindful of the crushing weight of the economic crisis on the workers’ shoulders, we, a group of ISC workers, have decided to form the “Ad Hoc Council of the Isfahan Steel Workers”, whose mission it is to unify the workers’ ranks and defend their rights."

Furthermore:

"Considering the total absence of conditions for open activity, the Council calls upon all workers to set up autonomous labor cells throughout Isfahan Steel. It is our strong belief that without forming these cells, the workers will not be able to advance their aims in any meaningful way. The prime goals of these cells would be to disseminate news and information, to unify the rank and file, and to elect individuals who can represent them and provide leadership for their efforts. These cells could take form on the basis of friendship networks, sports and recreation links, in-house loan associations, etc."

It is not yet clear how successful this organisation will be, or what form it will take, but the statement illustrates the idea that in Iran - as in every country - the true opposition to the government is to be found amongst the working class, not rival sections of the elite.

A long-running saga in the Mexican electricity industry escalated this week, when ex Luz y Fuerza (Light and Force) workers defied their union, and refused to remove barricades around their former workplaces.

Mexican president Felipe Calderón has been restructuring the Mexican electricity sector. Last October, he dissolved the state-run Luz y Fuerza, sacking its workers. Since then, the sacked former employees have been occupying factories. The occupiers claim that another state power company has been 'plundering' turbines from factories, effectively ending the possibility of them being re-opened. So barricades were built, and according to Narco News:

"Representatives from the Mexican Electricians Union (SME) visited the barricades, informed the workers that they were engaging in unsanctioned protest activity, and requested that the workers remove them. Workers at many barricades refused the union’s request, and the union refused to recognize and support the wildcat barricades."

Workers' Fightback - Fire Service Cuts/Fujitsu Strikes/'Fair Work Australia'

2010 will be another dramatic year, with governments and bosses slashing their spending, provoking working class anger and resistance in the process.

It looks like firefighters across the UK will be in the front line of resistance. With central government looking to make massive cuts, the 'independent' Audit Commission wants local fire authorities to reduce running costs by £200 million. This is on top of a £200 million in cuts between 2004 and 2008. Disputes are already bubbling under in Warwickshire, Lancashire, Essex and Cleveland, while Merseyside Fire Brigades Union members are currently on an overtime ban, in protest at Authority plans to axe 104 uniform posts, and 'save' £5 million.

In the summer of 2006, Merseyside firefighters protected frontline services from £3.5 million of proposed cuts. They did this over a month of concerted strike action, which received high levels of public support despite a strong anti-firefighter campaign in the local media. Ultimately, the £3.5 million was still taken off the budget, but changes were made in areas less vital to public safety.

Three and a half years down the line, and the government wants to take away more essential resources. £200 million is a tiny amount when compared to the £850 billion bank bailout, but such cuts would harm the workers losing their jobs, and all the people who rely on their skills and professionalism. Ironically, the economic crisis has increased public need for this service, as people on low incomes are far more likely to experience fires, or suffer physically from their effects. The irrationality of the profit system is laid bare once again.

Fujitsu workers in the Unite union are taking a series of one day strikes, and setting up picket lines despite the freezing temperatures. They have good reason for such determination: the IT business is threatening 1,200 UK job losses, and want to close the final salary pension scheme, which Unite claims would amount to a 20% pay cut for those affected.

However, as with their equivalents in other unions, the Unite bureaucrats cannot be trusted to lead Fujitsu workers. On the contrary, they will try to protect their own interests by seeking a deal with the company, and then enforcing it as best they can.

On 11th January, Unite's national IT officer Peter Skyte claimed: "It appears that a disproportionate number of women, part-time and ethnic minority workers have been made redundant."

At first glance, this seems like a leftish attempt to reach a 'fair' deal, but it is actually a de facto acceptance that redundancies are inevitable, and an attempt to restructure them. Part time workers often more likely to be female and non-white than their full time counterparts, Skyte is actually arguing for more full time redundancies instead, with the axe falling on traditionally more privileged white males, such as himself. But if Skyte gets his way, one major difference between him and the Fujitsu white males is that he will still have a well paid job, whereas they will be making their way to the local job centre.

On the other side of the world, companies have been using the Labor government's new 'Fair Work Australia' legislation to lock out staff attempting industrial action. The latest use of the Rudd administration's anti-worker laws came on the 8th and 9th of January, when Tabcorp’s Star City Casino locked out members of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union. They took one hour stoppages in response to a row over deteriorating pay and conditions. The short walk-outs had been organised by the union leadership, but they are now offering no defence of their membership. Like all Australian union bureaucracies, they have already accepted the terms of the legislation, and will not mount a serious challenge when it is applied.

Workers' Fightback - Czech Wildcats/Greece On Fire Again/California Fighting

Many people are getting ready to celebrate the season of 'peace on earth and good will to all men', but that doesn't mean there's any let-up in the class war. Instead, it is business as usual for 2009, with sporadic outbreaks of working class resistance meeting fierce resolve from the ruling establishment.

One group of car workers in the Czech Republic seem to have made a temporary gain, although Hyundai bosses are regrouping for a new year counter-attack. By all accounts, management have been cranking up the pressure on employees at the Nošovice factory this year, and a statement by a worker's husband on a Czech newspaper forum is surely reminiscent of what many have been feeling worldwide, as corporations and governments have turned the screw:

"The other day my wife came home, locked herself in a room and cried. When I came to her and asked what had happened, she told me little by little how things work there and what they have to endure. She’s been bottling it up inside her heroically for almost 7 months. I can’t understand how something like this is possible in our country. When I read statements of [Czech Hyundai spokesman] Petr Vaňek I feel like I’m about to vomit. Chicanery, humiliation, threats = this is where Mr Rakovský and Mr Vaněk are heading to."

On 1st December, the pressure erupted, and twenty workers left the welding shop, taking unofficial wildcat action against compulsory overtime, cuts to bonuses, and workplace harassment. The next day, staff at the nearby Hyundai subcontractor struck ever hour in solidarity. There was a much larger one hour strike on the 9th.

At the time of writing, it appears that Hyundai have abandoned the practice of compulsory overtime for the rest of the month. However, the company want to victimise those who struck on the 9th, and the whole contract will be renegotiated with union bureaucrats next month. Watch this space...

Twelve months ago, large areas of urban Greece were ablaze, as a spontaneous uprising of young people saw massive fights with police. It was touched off by the police killing of fifteen year old Alex Grigoropolous, but the movement had its roots in the desperate conditions facing many working class Greek youths. The 6th December anniversary of Alex's death saw more conflict, and massive police retaliation.

The 'conservative' government of Kostas Karamanlis did not survive the aftermath of the uprising, and was forced into an early general election. This was largely because the Greek elite did not believe his party could implement the drastic cuts needed to balance the budget in one of the economies worst hit by the economic collapse. Now 'socialist' PM George Papandréou has allowed the European Union to dictate a drastic austerity programme, which will ferociously tear into jobs, wages and conditions. Much more conflict is inevitable in the year ahead.

In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is talking tough on student resistance to his cuts agenda, and has labelled students' behaviour as "terrorism". This may be the first time the label has been applied to domestic opponents of the American ruling class since the 'war on terror' was declared in 2001. Having 'terminated' much of the California education budget, he has allowed universities to dramatically increase tuition fees, pricing many working class students out of higher education.

As has been reported previously, students have staged numerous protests and occupations. Last Friday however, up to seventy-five demonstrators are said to have surrounded Berkeley Chancellor Robert Bergenau’s mansion following a violent campus eviction, and eight were arrested for allegedly causing property damage, as well as fighting police. At least one activist disputes this version of events, but whatever the truth, Schwarzenegger denounced the attack on a rich man's property in the strongest terms, declaring: "California will not tolerate any type of terrorism against any leaders, including educators."

This provocative use of the 'T-word' has inflamed press coverage of a relatively minor incident, obscuring the reality that his policies - and those of elites around the world - are part of an unprecedented attack on working class living standards. If the beginnings of a global rebellion this year are any guide, it will not go unanswered in 2010.

Workers' Fightback: Irish Public Sector Strike/Student Movement Grows

This week's update looks at struggles based outside the UK, but with profound implications for battles right around this ever more interconnected world.

Firstly, 24th November saw a one day general strike amongst public sector workers in the Republic of Ireland. Around a quarter of a million people are reported to have taken part, with teachers, lecturers, nurses, local authority workers, firefighters and civil servants striking against the Irish government's drastic proposed cuts to public service spending. Even police took industrial action short of a strike, by refusing routine tasks. Protests also took place in Northern Ireland, against Sinn Féin/Democratic Unionist administration proposals.

Ireland's economy was among the worst hit by the first wave of the global economic crisis. As in many other countries, the state and national bank funnelled massive amounts of taxpayers' money into backing the elite's gambling debts. The Bank of Ireland has already committed €16 billion to the Irish 'bad bank', and the Fianna Fáil /Green coalition plans to shift that debt onto the backs of the Irish working class, by slashing at least €4 billion from budgets, and enforcing a 7% tax on the pensions of public sector workers.

This dispute is significant for two main reasons. Firstly, although the Irish government's attacks on public spending are particularly severe, they are a foretaste of what other national governments are planning over the short and medium term. Secondly, they show that Irish trade union leaders - like their equivalents around the world - are siding with governments to impose the cuts that the super-rich demand. They only beg to be involved in negotiations, and for the pace of cuts to be slowed - stalling the momentum of grassroots opposition.

This is illustrated by a leaked letter written by Peter McLoone, boss of the IMPACT union. In it, McLoone warned union officials that: "In my judgment the alternative [to pay cuts] is likely to involve a significant reduction in public service numbers over the next three to four years, with the likelihood that some additional exceptional measures will also be needed in 2010 to deal with the budgetary crisis next year."

As the fight against cuts escalate, workers in all nations must discover that they have far more in common with each other than with their national ruling elites - trade union leaders included.

Another truly worldwide struggle is for decent university education. On a global scale, the neoliberal university has been in formation for the past few decades, and this process is accelerating under the crash conditions. Movements continue to build in California, Austria and Germany, where occupations have freed up space for much debate and discussion, potentially helping to radicalise many young people, who are making the connection between banker bailouts and student/worker poverty. An Austrian student statement explains:

"These events are connected to the worldwide development of social movements. In this sense what is being fought for is not only better working conditions for students, teachers and other university personnel – rather it’s a fight for better working conditions across all sectors and borders."

Similarly, a Californian communique announces:

"November 2009, this is what is happening: we have found each other, and we are learning to act, finally. This means developing close bonds, learning what it truly is to say ‘comrade’; someone who shares your conditions, shares your enemies, and who you trust with your life. Someone who knows that it is always necessary to take sides. We have learned what it means to say we."

Workers' Fightback: Union tops sabotage posties and firefighters/Austria university occupations

The postal strike was sabotaged by the leadership of the Communication Workers Union last Thursday, when chief negotiators called off two scheduled days of all out action following eleventh hour talks, and left their dues payers in dark about the sell-out being prepared in their name.

The inevitable betrayal came at talks brokered by Trades Union Congress boss Brendan Barber. Like CWU general secretary Billy Hayes, Barber's privileges depend on forcing through bargains that enormously favour big business and the government, at a time when all major parties are backing massive cuts in public spending, to cover the gambling debts of the financial elite. For this reason, they fear nothing more than rank-and-file workers building up momentum and solidarity. This is especially true given a BBC poll, which showed widespread support for the posties, despite the mainsteam media propaganda going decidedly against them.

The bureaucrats have guaranteed Royal Mail there will be no more strikes until Christmas, and so are essentially offering their services as industrial police to ensure this happens. The executive includes Socialist Workers Party member Jane Loftus, but she also voted to accept this interim deal, effectively selling her comrades down the river for a seat at the top table.

So what now? An article in The Commune suggests that:

"In the next two months, things could go one of three ways. The workers may be sold out passively, rank and file pressure may generate further official action, or spreading unofficial action may develop. It is in the grasp of workers to avoid the first possibility, and maximise the chances of the other two being effective. CWU members should push inside the union for the action to be resumed, insisting on the most democratic forms of rank and file control. But they cannot rely on this strategy being successful. Therefore, they should also be prepared, should it be necessary, to take, support and spread unofficial action, from office to office, from one end of the country to the other."

The 'I Support The Postal Workers' Facebook group is here.

The problem facing unionised workers in all industries is a structural one; union leaders have different interests to rank and filers, and so must try to further those interests by making backroom deals with those who propose cuts to jobs, wages and conditions. In a further example of this, Sheffield Fire Brigades Union officials also capitulated to management just hours before a strike was due to begin over shift patterns.

The 'Support the South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Operational Fire Fighters' group is here.

Finally, following the California university occupations a month ago, students in Austria are building a much larger movement against poor conditions, and the so-called 'Bologna process', which is aimed at the standardisation of university cuts across Europe. As well as protest marches around the country, Vienna students have now occupied the Audimax central lecture hall for two weeks. There have also been occupations at Heidelberg and Münster. According to the WSWS:

"The students’ demands include the abolition of tuition fees, the lifting of entrance restrictions at universities and colleges of further education, more rights for students to influence what happens in higher education, better equipment in all educational establishments, as well as the provision of sufficient and well-paid teaching staff."

However:

"It is necessary to discuss and develop a political perspective that wages a struggle against the capitalist social order. It is necessary to do the very thing that the ruling class fears most: to orient the protests to the working class."

The 'In Solidarity with the occupations in Austria for Free Education!' Facebook group is here.

Workers' Fightback: Update 20

Postal workers have begun their national strike against job cuts, worsening conditions and potential privatisation, with two days of stoppages. In doing so, they have engaged in a political struggle to save a service everyone in the UK relies on, and they are lined up against Royal Mail bosses, the Labour government, and the leaders of their own Communication Workers Union.

Royal Mail has done much to provoke the strike, with management bullying becoming endemic all over the country over the last six months. In response, local workforces have held unofficial wildcat walkouts, requested held many local ballots and strikes, and finally dragged their union tops into a national strike they have desperately tried to avoid.

Throughout this time, general secretary Billy Hayes (who claimed a £83,530 salary and £14,190 in pension contributions when selling out the 2007 strike) and his deputy Dave Ward have offered management their services as peacemakers, and a moratorium on strikes. In the last minute talks before Thursday's strike, Ward proposed “a three-year agreement aimed at providing long-term stability for the business, employees and our customers” on the sole condition that attacks on postal workers are "introduced by agreement".

A leaked internal 'Strategic Overview' showed that Royal Mail want to make the strike an "enabler" of these attacks, which include tens of thousands of sackings and the impossible speed-ups which these would make necessary. The document claims that even if the CWU bureaucracy doesn't force through a deal, "there is “shareholder, customer and internal support for implementation of change without agreement" (emphasis added). The only 'shareholder' in Royal Mail is the state.

From the government's perspective, the smashing of this strike would serve to intimidate not only postal workers, but also the workers across the public sector who will face huge cuts after the next general election. For this reason and so many others, it is vital that posties receive maximum solidarity from the working class.

A three day strike is scheduled to begin on Thursday. The 'I Support the Postal Workers!' Facebook group is here.

Meanwhile, striking refuse workers show no sign of giving up their struggles against wage cuts, despite the severe hardship they are suffering. On Wednesday, 92% of strikers at a mass meeting rejected Leeds council's "final offer" of substantial attacks on pay, sick pay and conditions. This was despite a Yorkshire Evening Post article alleging that GMB and UNISON negotiators had all-but caved-in to the council's demands. The 'Leeds supports its Refuse Collectors' Facebook group is here.

Similarly, Edinburgh street cleaners are angry with council leaders' suggestions they are "set to give up their protest", according to Indymedia. The 'Edinburgh Muckraker' reports that nothing has changed since their mass meeting on 9th October, when hundreds of council manual workers agreed to continue their work-to-rule and overtime ban. “Nothing’s changed,” a street cleaner argued, “This is council PR". The Edinburgh Evening Post had reported the council's claims as fact on the 19th.

Meanwhile, there was been more unrest in Greece, which last year saw a huge uprising, trigged when a cop fatally shot fifteen-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. Since the election of a new 'Socialist' government at the start of the month, there has been massive police repression in the Exarcheia district of Athens - traditionally an anarchist stomping ground. Meanwhile, the death of twenty-year-old Pakistani immigrant Mohamed Kamran Atif at police hands sparked clashes with the state forces, and a short-lived occupation of the town hall, which received the support of the local Municipal Workers Association before it was brought to an end. According to LibCom, the Workers Association demanded:

"...that the forces of repression leave from within the boundaries of the historic City of Nikea. The occupation of the City Hall by the protesters is a political act, and the attempt to criminalise it is unacceptable and undemocratic."

Workers' Fightback: Update 19

If your post hasn’t been arriving as regularly recently, it’s because UK postal workers are desperately trying to save their pensions, their jobs, and the future of the service you rely on. In doing so, they are confronting Royal Mail, the government, and the leaders of ‘their own’ Communication Workers’ Union.

Posties are currently deciding whether to hold a national strike, having forced the union bureaucracy’s hand with a series of local stoppages – both official and unofficial. If – as expected – they decide to take the action, it will be against attacks on working conditions agreed by CWU general secretary Billy Hayes and his team at the end of 2007. The deal was aimed at making Royal Mail attractive to buyers, and though Business Secretary Peter Mandelson can’t find one in the current market, he’s determined that the company should press on with plans to cut the payroll by 40%.

Although the corporate media has started stoking fears that the Christmas post could be delayed, for example, it has been silent on the chaos that would follow if so many posties were forced out of work. Neither is it examining the potential impact on the remaining 60%. As industrial commentator Gregor Gall suggested in an article on The Commune website:

"Ironically, the only serious hope for a stable and lasting resolution to the current dispute is the prospect of a national all-out postal strike. This would use the autumn return to official parliamentary politics to put pressure on the government to tell Royal Mail management to negotiate an acceptable outcome. It looks like it’s going to be a case of going to war to bring about peace."

The 'I Support the Postal Workers!' Facebook group is here.

In a historic development, plantation workers in Sri Lanka have openly declared that they oppose ‘their own’ unions, who have clearly stabbed members in the back one too many times. In their statement, the newly formed Balmoral Estate Action Committee announced that:

"We, the workers of the Balmoral Estate in Agarapathana, have formed our own Action Committee to fight for our rights and call on workers throughout the plantations and other sections of industry to do the same.

"We have taken this step because we have no faith in any of the trade unions that have sold us out time and time again. All the plantation unions are working with the employers and the government to force us to accept another two years of poverty-level wages."

Furthermore:

"Workers cannot put any trust in the unions, which operate as industrial policemen for the government and employers. We say workers everywhere must rely on their own independent strength. That is why we are calling for workers in other estates as well as in factories, schools, hospitals and other workplaces to form their own action committees independent of the unions. We are all finding it impossible to make ends meet."

As the economic crisis facing working class people intensifies, it is becoming increasingly apparent that trade union bureaucrats act as "industrial policemen for the government and employers". In the UK and around the world, the same lessons must be learned, and acted upon.