INDUSTRIAL ACTION A NECESSITY
"When such and such talks about industrial action I have to laugh. I
can't afford to go on strike, I'm married with kids and a mortgage" How
often have you heard those sentiments expressed in your workplace? How often
have you agreed with them or expressed them yourself? The truth of the matter
is that if we sit back and let the bosses chip away at what little we have
then we will hardly be in a position to do very much when push comes to shove.
Translink staff from Belfast City Bus, Ulsterbus and Northern Ireland Railways
have learnt this lesson. The majority of staff told an employee attitudes
survey by the LRA (leaked to the press) that the only way to change managements
opinion was to take industrial action. A sizeable proportion went further
claiming that industrial action was necessary in all disputes with management
if staff were to get anywhere. Bosses and workers interests can never be the
same, nor is there any happy medium to be reached. We are a resource, like
electricity, and like all other resources the bosses want the most work out
of us for the least money - thus maximising profit. Profit of course being
the wealth WE create by our labour.
This is the brutal logic of 'industnal relations'. When the facade drops (for those employers who used one) the only language bosses understand is not 'partnership' or 'conciliation' but action. What we need is the will, and organisation, to fight. The absence of any real will to fight on the workers behalf by the Trades Unions, and its results, is highlighted within the pages of this Rebel Worker. Yes, negotiate by all means, but always from a position of strength, and our only strength is industrial strength - the ability to withdraw, or linnit, our labour. Workers need to build links in the common struggle against the bosses, we must build solidarity and with it a determination to win. Reformist unions cannot deliver, we need a Syndicalist alternative. Syndicalist unions are based in the workplace, with workers directly in control of their own struggles. They are based on industry rather than trade, thus avoiding division between workers m the same work place. They rely on direct action and direct democracy to function. Ultimately we, as workers, would do away with the injustices of capitalism by replacing it with Workers Control of society.
We are not in the position as yet to establish such unions. In the mean time members of Organise! - IWA will be encouraging workers direct participation in their struggles, and the building of meaningful solidarity in the workplace. Workers have to ask the question, when does it get to the stage where you can afford not to take action? Especially when we have children to support, mortgages and bills to pay, and while we still have jobs to defend.
A WORD FROM OUR 'SPONSORS'...
Welcome to the third issue of 'Rebel Worker' the Anarcho-Syndicalist monthly produced by Orgaruse! - IWA the Irish section of the International Workers Association. Those of you who received the June and July issues may have been wondering what the delay has been since you last heard from us. Several problems have beset us since bringing out the first two editions of Rebel Worker. In an effort to overcome these our Belfast Local has taken on the responsibility of producng this bulletin. We will aim to stick as close to a monthly output as is humanly possible and as ever news of local/workplace struggles from readers is most welcome. Disiribution will continue to be mostly by mailing list, so if you know someone who'd appreciate receivin 'Rebel Worker' let us know.
Those of you familiar with our magazine, 'Organise! the Voice of Anarcho-Syndicalism should not despair. It WILL be appearing again, although it will be printed irregularly, and will contain more articles about Anarcho-Syndicalist theory and practice, international round up, and historical material. Basically less newsy material as this dates too quickly for a magazine with a less than quarterly appearance. We will also be working on a series of pamphlets, including a series on Syndicaiism in Irish Labour history and a collection of articles from the pages of 'Organise! the Voice of Anarcho-Syndicalism', the 'Antrim Aiternative', and 'The Ahernative' relating to the 'troubles'. Organise! - IWA now also have a web page
PEACE DOESN'T MEAN FREEDOM
The current controversy over decommissioning has projected in stark relief the divisions that continue to exist among the politicians. The institutions that were to be set up as part of the agreement have yet to materialise. It is to be welcomed that mainstream ptramilitaries are on cease-fire. It is far better that people are talking (or shouting) at each other as opposed to pulling out guns and plugging people who disagree. But unless there is real equality, real freedom, delivered for working class people in the North then this is about as good as it will get. The recent sectarian killing of Brian Service by the so called Red Hand Defenders and the Omagh bombing bring into stark relief the cost in terms of lives, bereavement, crippling injury, and devastation caused to working class people and their communities over almost thirty years of sectarian violence. The politicians arrive, express their condolences and absolve themselves of responsibility for a situation which they in no small way helped to create. Two diametrically opposed nationalisms cannot peacefully co-exist, you cannot have 32 counties of Gaelic Mist and a forever Pope-free true blue bigoted Ulster. The current Assembly set up reinforces nationalism, both Irish and our version of British nationalism, and gives bigoty the cover of 'tradition', or 'culture'. Remember what happened at Montupet, remember what happened at United Technologies, remember what happened at Coates Yiella in Lurgan? We will still be in shit jobs, with shit pay, and no amount of Gaelic signs at Stormont or refusing, or not, to speak to Sinn Fein Assembly members will change that. When the committees are up and running, what will become apparent to most is what politics of this kind is really ahout. When our hospitals are downgraded, when jobs are cut, when factories close and when the unemployed are again targeted by the rich and powerful. And we haven t even started to approach the parades issue uith any sense of maturity or common sense. When all this comes to pass (as it inevitably does), working class people will find that flying the Tricolor or donning a Sash will not be enough to stop our local community representatives from pulling the plug on services and industries throughout the North. Revamped Storrnont?... More like a case of back to the future!
A JOKE AND AN INSULT
130 jobs are to be axed when Safeways shut down their branch in Armagh city on the 5th December, and staff have been offered a redundancy package which has been branded a "joke and an insult" by Eamon O'Neill of the Shop Distributive and Allied Workers' Union. The staff are fighting for better redundancies, but the tactics being used in this struggle are more indicative of the inadequacies of Trades Unionism than they are based on any possibility of success. It is a sorry state of affairs that workers are reduced to gathering petitions and talking with 'powerful' politicians, rather than exercising their own industrial muscle. The closure of the Thomas Street premises will bring to 600 the number of jobs axed by Safeways in the NorLh recently. 600 people thrown on the dole, many with families and dependents, all with bills to pay, is more than just a "joke and an insult". It is an attack on working class people and their communities, and bosses have gotten away with these attacks for too long. Much more useful than petitions and grovelling to the politicians would be the use ot industrial action against closures and lay-offs right across the Safeways chain. This type of action, with the struggle being carried out directly by the workers themselves, and not any Trades Union bureaucracy which could at any time sell them short, provides the only strategy which offers a hope of taking on the bosses.
BCO TECHNOLOGIES - LAY OFFS
Staff at RCO Technologies on west Belfasts Glen Road have been laid off. This attack, terminating the contracts of many of their workers, came just days after they were 'treated' to a day out, praised in performance reviews and receiving a pay rise. The company has claimed lay-offs are the result of 'reorganisation' and they are operating a 'last in first out policy". Workers have claimed that this is not the case. So even when you think things are on the up this case proves yet again that the bosses and workers can never have the same interests. Fellow workers take heed. NEVER TRUST THE BOSS!
NEW LAW TO HELP WORKERS?
The EC Working Time Directive comes into force in Northem Ireland on the 23rd of November. The directive has been heralded as the biggest change in employment law in years and is of course being welcomed by the official union movement as a 'good thing'. It is certainly going to bring changes to the working environment of many of us but forgive us if we are a bit dubious of a law which claims to help workers. When has this ever been the case? Very briefly the directive allows aduits who work more than six hours a day a guaranteed day off a week, 11 hours consecutive rest every 24 hours, and at least one work break each working day. Those who have worked for an employer tor more than 13 weeks will be entitled to a minimum of 3 weeks paid annual leave. Workers over minimum school leaving age and under 18 are entitled to two days off a week and 12 hours consecutive rest every 24 hours, effectively cutting out the option of overtime. Most workers will only be able to work up to a maximum 48 hour week. This also limits overtime severely. Controls on the amount of hours a person works is nothing more than an attack on their earnings, something of major concern to workers, especially those of us who are low paid and find it a struggle to make ends meet. At present it is a harsh reality that many of us rely on overtime to raise our families, pay our mortgages and rent, and meet other often crippling expenses. Of course we are opposed to overtime.
AnarchoSyndicalists demand a shorter working week and a living (as opposed to bare minimum) wage in the short term. We simply need a good enough basic wage in order to do away with the need for overtime. This directive attempts to deal with the issue arse about face. Workers control being the only long term solution to our problems. There are of course certain legal constraints that employers will find themselves under as a result of this directive. This is only a very brief look at some of its implications, concerned workers should acquaint themselves with this document, and in as far as is possible, use it as another weapon with which to beat the bosses.
LORDS ATTACK WORKERS RIGHTS
The House of Lords has gutted regulations which protect workers trom mass sackings as pan of a transter deal. Six teachers appealed their sackings as part of a deal transferring their school from Lancashire to SL Helens in Scotland. Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981, the current boss can't sack worker as part of a transfer allowing their new bosses to take them on again at worse pay and conditions. However the House of Layabouts says differently. Unions will have to take each workers case to an industrial tribunal before they can challenge the sackings. Since tribunals rarely give people their jobs back, tough luck, the boss can name his conditions, if you are taken back at all. But don't worry, UNISON are looking at "imaginative ways'' to take the case to the European Court of Justice. So that's all right then. While they are using their imaginations, watch your backs.
SECTARIAN ATTACK ON COUNCIL WORKERS
Two council workers were attacked by sectarian thugs while cleaning at the Junction of the Falls Road and Broadway, in Belfast. The men, a sweeper and a driver tor the city coumcil. were set upon in thc early hours of Tuesday 10th November, by 3 loyalists. The same men are believed to have smashed the windows of several houses on Broadway Road before running into the Village. This is another in a long Ime of reprehensible sectarian attacks on innocent workers from both communities.
CLASS WARFARE IGNITED IN WARRENPOINT
Industrial relations have been 'hotting up' in the Co. Down port of Warrenpoint this summer, with locked out workers fmding that their union-busting employer is now £7 million out of pocket due to an unfortunate accident. The incident could not have greatly upset the 24 members of the ATGWU who were dismissed and locked out of their workplace at Jenkins Shipping Ltd after protesting about a colleague berng urfairly sacked. Ihe workers' shop steward had lodged a complaint with the company and was in the process of discussing the companies reply, when he was summoned by a compamy representative. The shop steward was told that he had five minutes to get his men back to work. After informing the company that his members were still considering their next course of action, the ATGWU rep was told to get off the premises as he was sacked and now trespassing on private property. This was extended to the other 23 employees concerned. A picket of the company ensued with the 24 men protesting about both their unfair dismissal and unqualified scab labour being used for dangerous industrial work. After several days of stalemate with both sides talking to the local press and throwing accusations at each other, an event occurred which brought it home to management what it felt like to have their livelihood interfered with. In the early hours of a Saturday morning around the end of luly, a fire was reported at Jenkins Shippmg warehouse. By the time the fire crews reached the building the fire was already unstoppable. After 3 days the fire was still going and 16 fire crews from all over the North were still attempting to keep the blaze under control. All in all, the company is thought to have lost £7m in damages. And who were the culprits'? Was it a case of industrial sabotage, arson, or faulty wiring? Nobody seems to know... and that includes the RUC forensics personnel who reported that thc cause of the blaze remains unknown.
Going to jail because you want to pay your taxes:
BUILDING WORKERS AGAINST THE BLACK ECONOMY
The spate of unofficial actions which have arisen over so-called 'Labour Only Sub-Contractmg' (LOSC) reflect the anger of many building workers, particularly the bricklayers, at the rise of the 'black economy', the shadowy underside of the Celtic Tiiger's property boom. First a bit of background. There are approximately 120,000 workers in construction, making it Ireland's largest industry. I say approximately because no one appears to be sure exactly how many there are. According to the Plasterers Union, about 45,000 workers have filed as 'self-employed'. Officially, however, only 21,000 workers have made retums as 'self-employed'. The total number of builders who filed retums, both PAYE and LOSC, is only 86,000. That means at least 34,000 workers are missing, as far as the state is concemed. Some union sources believe the figure for the 'black economy' could be higher, as much as 64,000, based on the Revenue Commissioners overestimating the number of PAYE workers. A common scam in the industry is for workers to continue to claim social welfare while getting paid cash-in-hand on site. To get around the tax laws, they fill out a sub-contracting form using a false name. According to workers in the industry, whether registering as self-employed is done legitimately or not, most workers have little choice in the matter. They have a higher take-home pay, but they lose a range of benefts, including absolving their bosses from paying contributions towards PRSI and the industry's peniion fund. They also lose out on holiday and sick pay. The advantages to profiteering construction bosses are obvious.
Building Workers agarnst the Black Economy emerged at the end of 1997 to get around the elaborate and financially costly machinery of the Industrial Relations Act. In a dispute with contractors C & G Cramptons, the bricklayers union BATU had to twice ballot the grand total of ten members, working at Dublin City University, in order to satisfy the High Court. This cost the union £40,000. Convinced the restrictive conditions of the Act would not work in the building industry, members sought a differeot strategy. Their response was to go unofficial, staging mass pickets at Cramptons sites across Dublin. Though Cramptons got court orders, they never sought to jail the pickets, and even came to the table over the subcontracting issue with BATU. The dual approach, with a rash of unofficial disputes on site organised by BWABE, and a legal challenge by BATU against the industry agreement which allowed LOSC, seemed to bear fruit. That is, until the workers ran into the immovable object that was John O'Connor, millionaire property developer. Developers generally have a lot more to lose than contractors if there is a delay in construction. Last August, when workers objected to the use of a subcontractor on O' Connor's Merrion Rd. site, they were sacked. In response to this victnnization, BWABE began to picket this site, and another O'Connor development on Conyngham Rd. With his Capel Developments company facing a financial loss of £9.1 million because of the mass picketing, O' Connors brought in the lawyers, attempting to stop Lhe picketing and implicate BATU in the dispute. Though the union managed to avoid the financially catastrophic liability, the core of BWABE is made up of BATU members. This is why Davtd McMahon and Willie Rodgers were locked up in Mountjoy. They wanted to pay their taxes. Logically, the Irish legal system threw them in jail for it.
REFORMIST UNIONS IN A FLAP OVER BLAIRITE BETRAYAL
As the government's much vaunted 'Fairness at Work' bill trundles towards Parliament, TUC bosses have suddenly got an uneasy feeling about 'New' Labour's commitment to the proposals. After the millions spent by the unions to ensure a Labour victory, it seems that furious lobbying by the CBI has succeed in watering down key proposal on union recognition. With 13 cabinet ministers out of 22 demanding that the govemment stick by it's original proposals, what is Mr. Tony to do? Even the ultra-Blairite business union, the AEEU, has been making angry noises at attempts to water down the proposals. When the AEEU, which donated £1 million to the Labour Party for the last general election, breaks cover to attack the government, it is clear that there are some desperate men roaming the plush corridors of power in social democratic unionism.
THE VALUE OF A WORKER'S LIFE
Stephen Clarke, 58, was working near a computer controlled drilling machine when the accident happened on March 10 1998. His leg was caught between a piece of steel channel, which was being machined, and a roller conveyor. A vital artery was severed, and he died a short time later. His bosses, S.C. Graham, Ballinderry Rd., Lisburn. were fined £850 for breaking health and safety laws. Makes sense, doesn't it?
IBB BOSS IN 11-CITY STATESIDE JUNKET
Alan Gillespie, chief of the Industrial Development Board, was sent on an all-expenses junket around the U.S. to sell Northern Ireland's 'brand' in 'a new, fresh and confident way in the language of business to business'. The trip cost £75O,00. The 'language of business to business'? TREBLES ALL ROUND!
BELFAST ABC: Justice For Mark Barnsley
Belfast Anarchist Black Cross are helping coordinate the campaign, for Britain's only Anarchist prisoner, in Ireland. Mark Barnsley, from Sheffield, has so far served 4 1/2 years of a 12 year sentence that was lOO% politically motivated. A cop he successfully sued years ago was involved in the prosecution, the evidence against Mark was a joke, along with the charges and situation he was arrested for. Support for Marks freedom is growing but more is needed. On Monday December 21st Belfast ABC will be organising an information picket in Belfast city centre to gain attention for Marks case. There will also be pickets in London, Sheffield and Dublin. For more details plesse write to Belfast ABC c/o the Organise! address listed in this issue of Rebel Worker. From a statement issued by Belfast Anarchist Black Cross (an Anarchist and class struggle prisoner support group).
Bangladesh Workers' Appeal
The 'National Garment Workers Federation' in Bangladesh, have issued an appeal for help following the recent devastating floods. They are "still collecting clothes, medicine, dry foods and above all badly needed money to support its members and their families." They demand the bosses pay an aid allowance equivalent to one months wages, Tk30 as conveyance, change the working hours to 9.00am 6.30p pm with 1 hours lunch break, and suspend overtime and night shifts. "Demonstrations have already occurred in support of our demands, but we appeal to workers in all trade unions, women's groups and development organisations abroad to send donations in the form of money or cheques." Solidarity is badly needed - just because its not on the TV news doesn't mean the devastation is over! Donations should be addressed to the FAU - Bonn, who are coordinating the relief effort for the NGWF. Send donations to: FAU - IWA, "Stichwort: NGWF" Wolfs Str. 10 Hinterhaus 53111 Bonn, Germany.
Although we'd all like to think an Anarchist or Anarcho-Syndicalist group can survive on idealism, determination and revolutionary spirit, the truth of the matter is that while we exist in the confines of a capitalist society we need that bit more than just free association, mutual aid, solidarity and direct action to build a social revolutionary alternative (although all these things are essential), we need MONEY! As such Organise!-IWA has started a drive to raise £10,000 towards the opening of a Solidarity Centre in Belfast. Such a centre would be used to provide a forum where militant workers can come together and begin to set their own agenda, beyond the confines of the reformist Trade Union movement. We see the promotion of direct action and working class self activity as of central importance. It is very much a case of putting our ideas into action. This is not about substituting a premises for tne constructive work of building a real revolutionary alternative in Ireland, but about providing a focus for activity and campaigns which can unite workers across the sectarian divide and bring them together in defence of their interests as workers. It is about the establishment, not of a political party, but of a movement where solidarity is not a mere slogan but the foundation upon which all of our efforts are based.
COMRADE MILLIONAIRE AND AFRICA'S NEW CAPITALISTS
The reecntly published 'Forbes' list of the worlds 200 richest people should give those lefties who fawn over Third World National Liberation movements cause for thought. For included in it is none other than the 'people's president', Fidel Casto - idol to long distance revolutionaries in every outpost of armchair armed struggle. Castro, worth over S100 million, heads a tyrannical regime which has incarcerated political prisoners for up to thirty years. "Defend Cuba's socialism" is a popular slogan with the American left, and similar views are prevalent among their ilk on this side of the Atlantic. This gives an insight into what they mean when they say socialism. Another bloke with a worldwide fan club is Cyril Ramaphosa. Formerly a high ranking Trade Union bureaucrat, this African National Congress leader is listed as having a personal fortone of $25 million (Castro has of course had a head start of 40 years on his South African brothers in socialism ). Mr Ramaphosa has amassed his fortune through investments in mining (known for particularly brutal working conditions) and brewing (denounced in past days as a pillar of apartheid. "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which." George OrwelL Animal Farm.
THIRD WORLD SWEATED BY THE HIGH STREET
With Desmonds & Sons in Derry cutting 225 jobs as a result of Marks & Spencers shifting their clothes buying to the Third World, the total number of job losses has reached 1400 in Northern Ireland As High Street shops seek to maintain their profit margins, Third World textiles factories are becoming even danker pits of exploitation, with Thai workers being paid 50p per hour to make £99.99 bomber jackets. In the game of international capitalism, there are no winners. Unemployment in the 'First World' usually means exploitation in the 'Third World'.