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Since the firing of Icaro in March, the struggle has been continuing in the factory. A group of six workers went on strike but were fired. Other dismissals are being carried on as well; in November, the factory fired 40 people and threatened to close its doors. Now Icaro is being charged with defamation against the company, which is a criminal charge in Brazil. His trial will be on Wednesday, December 14 in Minas Gerais, Araxá.
The IWA received this information from the COB-AIT in May 2011:
“FF Mercantil, a company from Araxá-Minas Gerais, responsible for products of the Brazilian brand Finta and the Italian brand Lotto, keep their employees in a regime of extremely precarious work conditions and use different means to prevent them from organizing to resist their exploitation: the workers don't receive extra money for working in unhealthy conditions, they are exposed to excessive heat, they receive less than the minimum wage and many are the victims of humiliation, persecution and blackmail.
Our comrade is being charged with defamation for defending workers' rights in Araxa!
For speaking out for workers' rights and trying to organize in the FF Mercantil factory in Araxa, Brasil, our comrade Icaro Polletto was fired and threatened. (Basic information on this case can be found in many languages here: http://lotto.zsp.net.pl) Now he is being charged with defamation against the company, which is a criminal charge in Brazil. His trial will be on Wednesday, Dec. 14 in Minas Gerais, Araxá.
The workers of FF Mercantil were demanding an 8 hour working day and a 5-day work week, better health and safety measures in the factory, extra payment for work in dangerous conditions and the right to organize.
Decision to use another service provider is clearly a union-busting tactic.
EULEN workers in the ABB factory in Cordoba, Spain started an indefinite strike on Nov. 28. Since then, the strikers have been camped out all day and night in front of the company. The strike was called by the CNT and CGT unions in the company in response to the illegal assignment of workers from EULEN who were contracted to work in ABB. EULEN provides services such as cleaning and maintenance to other companies and public administration.
ABB announced that as of January 1, it will not renew its contract with EULEN and instead will use the services of EUROCEN, which is part of the ADECCO multinational.
The CNT denounces the labour reform underway which will lead to unprecedented precarization: € 426 euros a month, with no unemployment benefits or vacations, no maximum working day, no insurance and no paid holidays.
This reform will produce the exchange of contracts with rights for new ones, cheaper for companies and without any protection for the workers.
A pub worker and South London SF have together won 6 weeks in stolen wages after a campaign of direct action and threatening pickets of a London pub. Laura was employed by ‘The Hartley’ pub in South London. She was let go after she refused to work because she hadn't been paid for 6 weeks - owed over £700 dating back to mid-September.
Laura got tired of waiting and spoke to South London Solidarity Federation (SLSF). The first step of the campaign was for Laura and members of SLSF to deliver a letter demanding her back-pay on Friday 19th. While waiting for action from the boss, Laura organized a mass phone-in of her employer with her friends and family. The boss was clearly rattled:
"Tell your people to stop calling me. I've got everyone's numbers, I'll report you, I'll report you to....to..... your networks!"
On November 18th, the Freie ArbeiterInnen-Union (FAU) organised several meetings in order to protest against the consequences of Bally Wulff's restructuring plan, which hits the only remaining screen printers in Berlin-Neukölln's gambling machine factory. The anarcho-syndicalist union federation FAU announced actions nearby 10 out of 12 subsidiaries; reports were available from 8 cities.
Workfare is a growing problem, as demonstrated by recent stories of a number of supermarkets had volunteered to be providers for the scheme and that young people were providing 30 hours a week of unpaid labour. This presents a problem both for the claimants trapped by this scheme, essentially as slave labour, and for the providers' workforce who are being undercut by those doing their job at practically no cost. Equally worrying is that, despite the growing anger over government attacks and emergence of anti-cuts groups across the country, nothing is being done to challenge this.
FAU Kiel and Flensburg did successfully agitate against temporary work at a job fair in Kiel. The Barlag job fair is touring Germany over the whole year. In Kiel, eleven temporary agencies among 70 exhibitors presented themselves. The fair was situated at the snobbish Mercedes-Benz Branch Baltic Sea (37,000 sqm.). Last year, 10,000 visitors came, according to the organizers.
Activists did not only distribute FAU's leaflet "Abolish Temporary Work!" but they did also prepare special flyers to warn visitors of temporary agencies at the job fair. Inside, visitors were indoctrinated on how to sell themselves best to the capitalists. And directly at the entrance, Germany's military forces welcomed people, allowing them to wear gas masks!
Last night, Liverpool Solidarity Federation members were amongst protesters gathered outside Liverpool Town Hall. They demonstrated as Liverpool City Council held a Budget Question Time in order to seek views on how they could save £50m in the coming year. Whilst the audience inside gave the councilors a hard time, those outside disrupted traffic by blocking off a road.
Read Liverpool members' individual reflections on the day on the Truth, Reason & Liberty and Working Class Self-Organisation blogs.
Catalyst #28 is out now, read it online here.
In this issue:
With friends like these, who needs enemies? To beat the cuts, workers need to act independently of the trade union laws... and it's already happening.
Dispatches from the frontlines: Three London education workers speak about cuts, organising and casualisation in the sector.
Victory for the cleaners: unofficial action by Senate House and Guildhall cleaners gets results in London.
Sparks fly: electricians direct action over pay cuts.
Plus: your basic rights at work
