Over the last decades, more and more unions found themselves outside of the Spanish organization known as the CNT. In 1996, 14 unions were also expelled from CNT but they maintained the CNT name. They functioned as the CNT Catalunya for almost three decades. The CNT never made any lawsuits about the use of this name – until recently, when these reintegrated into the CNT-AIT. A number of other unions called CNT exist throughout the country. Joining CNT-AIT means that the Spanish section of CIT would sue them. Apparently, if they stay out of CNT-AIT, they are left alone.
This is very interesting and shows us just how much the lawsuits against the CNT-AIT are vindicative, against those who organized themselves outside of the authoritarian structures of the Spanish Section of CIT.

Last month, one of these organizations, the CNT Vigo, published the following text. This is the English translation.

WHEN THE WAVES TURN INTO STORMS (CNT-Vigo vs CNT-CIT)

Today is a day when betrayal and cynicism show their most disgusting face. The union that still calls itself CNT-CIT, an organization that long ago abandoned the founding principles of anarcho-syndicalism, has the audacity to denounce before the social court of the National Court 18 historic unions that carry in our DNA the true labor struggle . This commercial demand, in which they intend to claim 50,000 euros from us and take away the use of our acronym, is nothing more than a desperate act by those who, far from the libertarian ideology, cling to bureaucracy and legalism to try to crush what they cannot control.

But they will NOT succeed! The acronyms of the CNT belong to the working people, not to their bureaucratic machinery or to their vertical management. They belong to all the fighters who gave their blood and sweat in the factories, in the fields and in the streets, defending the ideals of freedom, justice and emancipation. They do not belong to those who turned the organization into another apparatus of the system it claims to fight, to those who now seek to enrich themselves by selling the historic premises that were built with the effort and sacrifice of all the members of the unions it denounces today. They want to strip us not only of our acronyms, but also of our collective heritage, sell the premises that are owned by the entire organized working class. They don't care about the legacy of those who fought and even died, only their petty interests.

The CNT-CIT today is a shadow of what it was. Their actions are proof that they have lost their way, alienated by the values ​​of capitalism they claim to fight. Instead of fighting the class enemy, they direct their attacks against those who remain faithful to the principles of anarcho-syndicalism: direct action, self-management and mutual support. To us, this acronym is much more than a trademark or a legal name. They represent the historic struggle for the liberation of the working class and the rejection of all centralized power.

Image: 

W najbliższy czwartek, 19 września, rozpoczną się procesy przeciwko 16 związkom zawodowym CNT-AIT (IWA) w wyniku pozwów wniesionych przez CNT-CIT (ICL), związek zawodowy, z którym tworzyliśmy jedną organizację do mniej niż 10 lat temu. Nie będziemy wchodzić w przyczyny tej sytuacji, co zrobiliśmy już 3 lata temu w tekście zatytułowanym „Wbrew wszelkim przeciwnościom”. Dzisiaj naszym zamiarem jest poinformowanie i wskazanie kilku kwestii dotyczących treści i znaczenia pozwów.

Pozwy mają na celu zmuszenie nas (za pośrednictwem państwa) do zaprzestania używania „nazwy Krajowej Konfederacji Pracy, inicjałów CNT, jej charakterystycznych znaków [flag i logo] ... i jej emblematu [Herkules walczący z Lwem Nemei]”, argumentując, że „są one zarejestrowane jako Krajowe Znaki Towarowe” (w Hiszpańskim Urzędzie Patentowym i Znaków Towarowych) w imieniu CNT-CIT. Oskarżają nas o zastąpienie tożsamości, która według nich należy tylko do nich i starają się wprowadzić w błąd swoich potencjalnych partnerów, wykorzystując ten historyczny prestiż. Ale jedyną pewnością jest to, że z dwóch stron CNT-AIT jest ta jedyną, która zawsze jasno dawała do zrozumienia, kim jest i do której organizacji międzynarodowej należy (Międzynarodowe Stowarzyszenie Pracowników założone w 1922 r.). Z drugiej strony, jeśli chodzi o CNT-CIT, można by niemal powiedzieć, że celowo ukrywają to jako strategię marketingową. Kto wprowadza zamieszanie? Odpowiedź wydaje się nam oczywista. Innym punktem, który naszym zdaniem jest istotny w tych pozwach, jest ich intencja, aby uniemożliwić nam publiczne mówienie o tym, co się wydarzyło, o ich niedopuszczalnym zachowaniu, ich manewrach politycznych i ich korupcyjnych praktykach. Zamierzają nas uciszyć, wykorzystując Sąd Krajowy, osiągając siłą państwa to, czego nie udało im się osiągnąć przez brak ich moralnej legitymacji.

Jakby tego było mało, domagają się 50 000 euro od każdego związku pozwanego (łącznie 800 000 euro) za spowodowanie rzekomych „szkód moralnych” w celu sparaliżowania nas finansowo.
Jest oczywiste, że ten pozew nie tylko ma na celu pozbawienie nas imienia i tożsamości, ale także pozbawienie nas tego, co zbudowaliśmy przez ponad wiek i pogrzebanie nas pod skandalicznymi odszkodowaniami. Argument o rzekomych „szkodach moralnych” jest całkowicie absurdalny, karna i nieuczciwa strategia osiągnięcia tego, co próbowali przez lata: doprowadzenia do naszego zniknięcia. Po raz kolejny i na zakończenie wzywamy wszystkich członków ICL, zawstydzonych działaniami swoich komitetów, aby położyli temu kres, a ruch anarchistyczny w ogóle, aby wyszedł z bierności i porzucił neutralność w tej sprawie.

Salut i rewolucja społeczna.
Sekretariat ds. prasy i propagandy CNT-AIT
12 września 2024 r.

Image: 

From December 6-8, 2013, the XXV IWA Congress took place in Valencia, Spain. Around 150 people took part in the Congress, with delegates coming from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Norway, Serbia, Poland, Russia and Slovakia. Observers also came from the FIJL – the Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth.

Towards the beginning of the Congress, we welcomed new organizations to the IWA: the Autonomous Workers' Union of Bulgaria and the FAS from Austria. The status of the Australian Section was also settled. With these new organizations welcomed to the International, we proceeded with a long list of internal and practical issues.

Image: 

The FAU delegation had to walk out of a meeting with the Heinrich Boll Foundation on October 11th. The meeting took place after the verdict issued by a Berlin court in September, which stated that the Foundation had used temporary workers illegally and that one of the plaintiffs was in fact a worker directly employed by the Foundation. The meeting was supposed to bring an out-of-court settlement regarding the compensation of the worker already recognized by the court, as well as the status of the remaining workers seeking recognition as direct Heinrich Boll Foundation employees.

Only a few minutes into the negotiations it became clear that the FAU had no other choice but to end the meeting. The managers of the Heinrich Boll Foundation refused to recognize the base union as a partner of negotiations representing the interests of it's members. Instead, the managers wanted to talk with each of our colleagues separately. This strategy was meant to undermine the function of FAU as a union.

Image: 

The day after the general strike, we can say that it was a good choice to take part in local initiatives. Below are some comments, pictures and video from various cities. Some reports from various locations.

It was an excellent day in Cosenza . The USI - AIT Calabria had its own initiative on the occasion of the national strike . The comrades present in the square on Sept. 11 distributed leaflets about the strike, met people interested and impressed by the claims expressed by the USI - AIT.

Many passers-by seemed to have a lack of information about the strike and many issues related to it. Being on the street, meeting people was a way to get around the logic of centralization and vertical integration.

Image: 

The Fair Work Ombudsman has ordered Dominos Pizzas to pay drivers around $590,000 in back pay. The workers had been underpaid. In 2012, a group of drivers formed the General Transport Workers Association (GTWA), affiliated to the ASF-IWA. The drivers protested against a pay decrease and had other demands towards Dominos. As a result, their pay was mostly reinstated and now the company has to pay compensation for previous underpayment.

The comrades at ASF-IWA consider this to be a victory for the drivers and an important event for their union.

Image: 

· The staff is tired by the uncertainty created in the current process of bargaining the contract with CESPA.
· The City Hall, which will manage the service, does not agree that all the work places, or the same salaries or other working conditions will be maintained.

The Public Services Union of the CNT Adra wants to inform the public of the current situation of uncertainty that the workers in the public service of street cleaning and garbage collection in the municipality of Adra are facing. Since all means of dialogue have been exhausted, the staff is left with no alternative but to call an indefinite strike starting July 29.

Image: 

The Capgemini multinational plans to fire 370 workers in Spain. Last week, workers went on strike for 24 hours and decided to have a longer strike starting May 23 if the company did not resign from its plans. However, the two biggest unions in the company, CCOO and UGT cancelled the strike without asking, hours before the planned assembly of workers.

It is unclear what happens next, but our comrades in CNT-AIT in the firm will continue to protest and agitate.

Our comrades at Priama akcia have set up an email form for sending protests to the company. Please take a moment to send a mail and let the bosses know what you think of the firings!

The links are below. The messages are editable - senders can choose their own Text and Subject if they like.

Image: 

As the result of the call by the Telecommunications and IT Services section of the CNT-AIT Madrid for a Day of Solidarity with the CNT-affiliated members and the workers of Capgemini, several trade unions and European sections of the IWA organized different actions to stop the redundancy plan that the management of this company presented against 370 workers.

This Day of Solidarity was called as part of the 24h strike that the subsidized
unions organized as part of a program that will conclude, if Capgemini does not withdraw the redunancy plan, in an indefinite strike starting the 23rd of May.

Image: 

On May 8, workers from the USI-AIT and USB unions at San Raffaele hospital in Milan went on strike. (See article here.) USI has informed that two days later, at 7AM, after negotiations, an agreement was signed whereby the hospital agrees not to fire the 244 workers. The 66 workers who received their notice will not be fired either.

Unfortunately, the hospital still wants to lower salaries by 9% and this was not overturned. So our comrades from USI-AIT do not consider it a victory yet. But it is in fact something that the workers won thanks to their actions and thanks to the determination of the unions who fought, unlike the mainstream ones who gave in.

The agreement still has to be ratified at an assembly of workers tomorrow, the 16th of May.