INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-BELFAST:

MAY DAY IN BELFAST:

May day, the real Labour Day, is fast approaching, and anarchists across the world are preparing to celebrate. I've already mentioned what will be happening in London, Ontario. From the other side of the pond here's what will be going on in Belfast, Northern Ireland. From the A-Infos site...

@@@@@@@@@@

Ireland, Anarchism & Mayday in Belfast:

Mayday is a time of reflecting and renewing the proud tradition of working-class resistance and commitment to social revolution. The spirit of class struggle continues to burn in all of us from the Visteon workplace occupations to the school occupations in Glasgow and beyond. As we continue to bear the brunt of job cuts, house evictions and police brutality, the powerful message of direct action and solidarity against the bosses and the state is as relevant and necessary as ever before.

----

“They are the crisis, we are the solution”

----

The WSM Belfast branch are calling on people to join us for the annual Mayday march on Saturday, 2nd May, organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Assemble at 12pm at York Street/Art College. Look out for the red and black banners.

Branch secretary Michael McGovern said: “Over a century after that first May Day demonstration in Chicago, where are we? We need independent working class politics. No collaboration with government and bosses. Real solidarity with fellow workers in struggle, not a blinkered sectional outlook. The Visteon workers are leading example and it is about time we do the same.”

As part of this year’s activities the Anarchist Communist Discussion Group formed by the WSM, will be hosting a talk on ‘The roots of Mayday and its relevance today.” The talk will take place on Tuesday 5th May at 7pm in the Belfast Unemployment Centre, 45/47 Donegall Street in the city centre.

The ACDG aims to create monthly informal public discussions, to debate and analyse all areas of labour and revolutionary history.

To encourage debate within the wider anarchist/libertarian movement on present areas of struggle. Action without theory is blind and often futile, but theory without action is ultimately sterile and no use to anyone.

To spread and articulate the vision of revolutionary anarchist communism.

We are open to speakers from other political and social organisations. If you have any ideas or suggestions for future meetings, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Contact details:

belfastwsm@yahoo.com

07928479308

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-BELFAST NORTHERN IRELAND:

DEMONSTRATING IN BELFAST:

The following article, describing a demonstration held last Friday in Belfast, the capital of Ulster, comes from the Anarkismo website. Molly's comments follow below the article.

@@@@@@@@@@

Belfast rallies against job cuts- Lions led by Donkeys:
by Sean - WSM Belfast (personal capacity)
Belfast City Centre was brought to a standstill last Friday lunchtime in a rally organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) against the latest job losses in the manufacturing and textile industry.

Around 200 people turned out including trade union representatives and workers from FG Wilson, Bombardier and a majority contingent from the Visteon workplace occupation. Around 30 Bus drivers in the city centre temporarily left their placement in a show of solidarity and support. Banners displayed at the march included ‘Your Job could be next’ and ‘One Solution, Revolution’.

Addressing the rally outside the City Hall, ICTU Assistant General Secretary Peter Bunting demanded action from the Stormont administration such as setting up a Workers’ Protection Fund to give financial help to the recent unemployed.“It is perfectly within their powers to pass laws which can protect those workers at risk of redundancy,” he said.

Last week, Visteon workers rejected an insulting offer from their former bosses, providing employees a cash payment equivalent to 16 weeks pay. Adding to insult has been the exclusion of Belfast union representatives from talks taking place between national union officials and the owners. This is not the first time, top union officials are shafted workers. Remember the Gate Gourmet strike in 2005 and recent hunger strike by the Belfast airport workers outside Transport House.

We must remain in control of our own struggles until demands are met, independent and not reliant on politicians and the union bureaucracy. In the face of company attempts to evict the workers occupation, we need to mobilise our communities and workers at home and across borders, both unionised and not in a show of defiance and solidarity. A victory for Visteon workers is a victory for workers everywhere.

An international day of action suggested by Organise! comrades is a practical step in defence of the occupation. In the long- term, we must move beyond occupations towards removing the entire foundation of the status-quo resting on the antagonistic interest between capital and labour. The viable and practical vision of workers' control of industry is the only lasting solution.

For too long we have listened to sterile and boring speeches from top union officials who have more in common with the bosses than the rank and file. Our local administration on the hill a long time ago nailed their colours to flag of capital and turned their backs on us to face the brunt of dole ques, poverty wages and house evictions. The Visteon workplace occupations and 'boss-nappings' in France are leading by example.

We need to take the struggle of the Visteon workers back to our workplaces’ and communities, to strike and to occupy. Direct action sends a powerful message to the sound bites and betrayals from above, and is the most effective means we have to force concessions from the bosses. In the process building links of solidarity and support between unionised, non-unionised and unwaged. Bringing together occupations and sit-ins from Belfast and Glasgow to France and Greece, as their crisis is global and so is our resistance.

@@@@@@@@@@

MOLLY NOTES:

While I hate to rain on the parade of a person with whom I am likely in substantial political agreement with, the article above demonstrates, in my opinion, some grievous defects.

First of all, it is written in a triumphalist style that, while it may be useful at times, far too often exposes the authors to nothing more than ridicule. To be blunt, a turnout of 200 people is not exactly a widespread "movement". I am sure that this did not bring Belfast City Centre to a Halt. I am equally sure that this sort of turnout would be dwarfed by almost every sectarian demonstration in said city. I am not happy about this fact, but it is a fact.

Similarly, I see more than a little tendency to "get ahead of oneself" here. Yeah, I'll agree that union officials can be pretty treacherous bastards. I've had my own experience with it. But, and it's a big but, referring this problem to some mythical "second-coming" such as the slogan "No Solution But Revolution" or advancing something that means the same thing ie saying that only a whole society under workers' control can have any real effect is imagining that one can skip whole stages of history that may span decades !!! To my mind the problem now is not to "go beyond" occupations but rather to make them more effective. Despite the hopes (and illusions) of revolutionaries defeats are just as likely to breed cynicism and resignation as they are to breed radicalism.

Understand that I DON'T say that we should act like Trotskyists and hide our ultimate goals beneath a subterfuge of some "transitional program". What I do say is that, unless we can contrive ways in which the workplace occupations that are occurring and will probably occur with increasing frequency in the near future can win a little bit more than what the social democrats within the union bureaucracies think is "possible" then all calls to 'revolution" will be futile.

No doubt the comrade who wrote the article above actually has such ideas. He has pretty well said it when he spoke of mobilizations. What I say is that there must be a more fleshed out plan for such things. I also say that presenting the "ultimate program" as the only real solution is counterproductive in the times in which we live.

Finally...Belfast. This is off the point, but I have to say here that this was the one place in Ireland when the wife and I visited last year that reminded me of home here in Winnipeg. The same ever present aura of decline and grime, which was pretty well omnipresent outside of the city centre. I have to say that I've seen worse, but it struck me as a very sad city. The saddest thing was that the old sectarian animosities, though toned down, were still present. Belfast still has a long way to go before non-sectarian movements of the working class will gather 20,000 participants rather than 200. I will admit, however, that 200 is at least a start.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-IRELAND/ENGLAND:

MORE ON FACTORY OCCUPATIONS AT VISTEON:

Molly has blogged before on the recent factory occupations in England and Ireland of the Visteon car parts manufacturers. The following, from the Anarkismo web site, gives more details , concentrating on the situation in Ireland, being as the authors are the Workers' Solidarity Movement of Ireland.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Factory occupations in Ireland in response to capitalist crisis:
Following on from the occupation of the Waterford Glass plant in February which managed to save some of the jobs and improve redundancy conditions workers in Belfast at Visteon occupied their factor last week. With plant closures happening across the island of Ireland both these occupations provide an example of workers taking direct action to preserve jobs and/or force employers to improve on redundancy conditions. Here we present reports from WSM members from these occupations and background articles.
Visteon - Belfast
Hundreds rally in support of Visteon workers occupation (April 9th)

Over 200 people marched today from Andersonstown to the factory in Finachy for a rally, which was addressed by Unite Shop Stewards Charlie Maxwell and John Maxwell, including representatives from the SDLP and Sinn Fein.
Workers occupations spread at Visteon Plants (April 2nd)

Workers decided to take action on Tuesday after the car parts company announced without notice that administrators are being brought in with the loss of 210 jobs with minimum redundancy payments. A further 400 people will also lose there jobs across the UK. Even those who have been working at the plant for 30 years will be receiving £9,000 in redundancy payment with most getting less.
WSM audio interview from inside the plant with Unite shop steward and convener John McGuire and interviews with Belfast Visteon workers at rally (Michael)(Gerry)(Rally at plant)
Why we have occupied Visteon, EnfieldThe text of the leaflet produced by workers in occupation of the Ford Visteon factory in Enfield, London explaining why they had joined the occupations in Belfast and Enfield.

Waterford Glass - Waterford
Clear as Crystal ... Waterford Shows the Way (WS 108, March)

The workers at Waterford Crystal occupying the plant are an example to us all. Rather than accept the closure of the business, the loss of all the jobs and the destruction of the area’s premier industry; workers seized the buildings making liquidation impossible for the receiver.
Audio: Waterford Crystal Workers Speak Out (Feb 10th)

Noel Atkins and Pat Phelan, Waterford Crystal workers and Unite Shop Stewards, travelled to Cork last night to speak out against the attempted closure of the plant. They spoke from the heart as workers tossed on the scrap heap after decades of service.
Support workers occupying Waterford Glass (Feb 3rd)

Workers have been occupying the Waterford Glass factory in Kilbarry for five days now after the receiver was unable to borrow further funds to keep the plant operating. Yesterday as 150 workers continued the occupation members of the Cork WSM visited the plant and interviewed Joe Kelly, the chairman of the Crystal Unite branch. The Cork branch later issued a statement in support of the occupation.
WSM audio interview with Joe Kelly from inside the occupation
Background articles
WSM position paper on the Trade Unions

This is the collective policy of the WSM as agreed at our national conferences that guides our work in the unions and workplaces in general.
Workers Without Bosses - Workers' Self-Management in Argentina (RBR8, 2004)

The original battle cry of Argentinean people "Que se vayan todos" - We want all of them out - that expressed the will to break with the corrupt bureaucracies, with the political class, turned out with all of them staying in the end. These experiences also highlight many of the problems anarchists elsewhere face in the wake of popular risings and they show us that the building of a libertarian society is not a matter of repeating clichés and slogans.
Argentina says "Enough" (WS69, March 2002)

On the 19th and 20th of December 2001, there was a major popular revolt in Argentina which among other things led to a large number of workplace occupations with workers putting these occupied factories back into production under their own self management. Workers Solidarity 69 reported on the start of the process in early 2002.
Workers Self-management in Argentina (WS73, Nov 2002)

The most direct challenge to capitalism is the occupation of factories by workers. On the 1st of October last year, the workers of the Zanón ceramics factory in Neuquén, one of Latin America's largest ceramics producers, occupied their factory and have kept it running ever since. The bosses had stopped production, claiming the factory was no longer profitable and that they could no longer pay the workers. In similar circumstances in Buenos Aires, the female workers of the Brukman textile factory occupied their workplace and have been running their plant successfully for the last 10 months.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-GREAT BRITAIN:
FACTORY OCCUPATIONS AT VISTEON:
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


Last Tuesday British auto parts manufacturer Visteon filled for bankruptcy protection. This company is a supplier to the Ford Motor Company, but is has been separated from the parent corporation since 2002. the following article from the Financial Times gives the story of the bankruptcy, including the cynical move on the part of Ford to both avoid helping out its supplier and to put its supply chain before the workers involved.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
UK car parts maker files for bankruptcy:
By John Reed and Michael Kavanagh in London
The largest UK unit of Visteon, the financially troubled US auto parts producer, on Tuesday filed for bankruptcy in a move that will cost about 600 jobs.





Visteon UK said that it had lost £669m since 2000, and was dependent on its US parent, to which it owes £400m to fund its losses. It appointed Jim Tucker and John Hansen of KPMG as joint administrators.





Visteon separated from Ford Motor in 2000 and remains one of the US car maker’s biggest suppliers. The company has three UK plants in Basildon, Enfield and Belfast, and employs 610 people.





About 565 people will be made redundant immediately, while the remaining employees would help administrators wind down the business. The unit’s collapse followed several unsuccessful restructuring attempts, according to KPMG.





“The entire automotive supply chain has been under pressure for a number of years,” Jim Tucker, joint administrator, said in a statement. “In the current economic downturn, car sales have dropped dramatically, which has caused further severe pressure on parts suppliers.”
The company made a $16m interest payment in the US earlier this month that analysts had expected it to miss, which would have triggered a Chapter 11 filing.





But Moody’s cut its credit rating earlier this month after an admission from Visteon that its auditors might query its status as a “going concern.”





Visteon UK makes air conditioning, interior and power train components with Ford, Jaguar and Land Rover - which Ford owned until selling it to Tata Motors last year - accounting for around 80 per cent of its business.





Donald J Stebbins, chairman and chief executive officer of Visteon in the US, said on Tuesday: ”Despite extensive restructuring efforts, the UK plants have continued to incur substantial losses. Regrettably, having exhausted all options, the Visteon UK board of directors had no alternative but to file for administration.”





He added the decision to withdraw financial support from the UK subsidiary reflected Visteon’s commitment ”to taking decisive actions in view of the current challenging operating environment to protect the long-term viability of the business”.





Unlike General Motors, which has pumped about $11bn into its main supplier Delphi since it filed for bankruptcy in 2005, Ford has refused to bail out Visteon itself.




A UK spokesman for Ford said that the failure of Visteon’s UK arm had not yet disrupted production.





“We’ve been in close contact with Visteon, as we would be with any supplier in distress – especially so over the past few months,” he said.





“Our aim now of course is protecting vehicle production, and at this point we’re not expecting any disruption to vehicle assembly.”





The spokesman said that Ford was working with Visteon to implement a plan to secure its customers’ other parts supplies, including from other Visteon plants outside the UK.





Auto parts suppliers are suffering from a severe downturn after extended shutdowns of car plants by many manufacturers. Earlier this month, the US Treasury announced a $5bn bailout package for the sector.




In the UK, Visteon is latest car parts maker to fail. In December London-listed Wagon Automotive, controlled by US billionaire Wilbur Ross, placed its UK arm into administration with the loss of several hundred jobs. Wagon’s failure also prompted the failure of one its its key suppliers, Sonas Automotive.





A separate UK company, Visteon Engineering Services, which employs about 400 people, is unaffected by the Visteon UK’s failure, and continues to trade as normal.





A spokesman for Jaguar Land Rover said: ”The uncertainty of Visteon’s position has been known for a long time, and as a prudent business measure we have put in place contingency plans for the supply of components which have been sourced from Visteon UK. Now they [the plans] will have to be implemented.”





Visteon shares opened $0.03 or 20 per cent lower in New York at $0.12.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
In response workers at three plants in the UK proceeded to occupy their factories. This in significant because it is a coordinated response to factory closing, unlike most previous occupations which have been localized to one plant only. It does, however, show that the tactic of factory occupations is becoming more and more popular as the financial crisis deepens. Hopefully it will spread even further and become more radical. Here's a report from the British LibCom site on the occupations.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Car factory occupations spread across the UK:
Sacked workers from the car parts firm Visteon have been occupying three factories across the UK since Wednesday.





The action began with an overnight sit-in at the Visteon plant in Belfast and employees are continuing their protest at the factory. More than 100 workers have staged a sit-in, the Unite trade union has said. Earlier, it was announced that 565 staff would go at Visteon car components plants across the UK. Most of the jobs have been lost with immediate effect and two hundred jobs will go at the Belfast factory.





KPMG said it had no alternative but to close the factory and the two others in Basildon and Enfield in England. Administrators have been called in to the factory which is the former Ford plant. Visteon has a total workforce of 600 in the United Kingdom.





Unite convener John Maguire said the workers at the plant had "been treated disgracefully".
"We have been left with no choice but to occupy the factory to save our jobs and to defend jobs for the people of Belfast," he said.





Fifty people who were sacked on Tuesday are now on the roof of the Enfield plant. Others are holding a sit-in at the plant in Basildon in Essex.





The protesters claimed the company's former owner and main customer, Ford, had promised redundancy contracts which they now want to see honoured.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Here's yet another first hand report from the Irish Workers' Solidarity Movement, via the Anarkismo website. It's about the occupation in Belfast.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Audio: Inside the occupation of Visteon Belfast:
by Sean Matthews - WSM (personal capacity)
A short audio interview with Unite shop steward and convener John McGuire from inside the occupied Visteon plant in Belfast.





“Don’t wait for politicians and people high up in the unions- just do it yourself”, says Unite shop steward John McGuire.




Protests spread, as workers continue to occupy Visteon/Ford plant in West Belfast.




Workers decided to take action on Tuesday after the car parts company announced without notice that administrators are being brought in with the loss of 210 jobs with minimum redundancy payments. A further 400 people will also lose there jobs across the UK. Even those who have been working at the plant for 30 years will be receiving £9,000 in redundancy payment with most getting less. Davy McMurray, from the Unite trade union in Northern Ireland said the way the job cuts were announced was "brutal." "The administrators came in, took a meeting of the workforce and told them their employment was terminated.




"Visteon took over from the former Ford plant in 2000. Ever since that, management at the plant have been undermining workers rights and conditions including gradually reducing redundancy payments. The company’s two other plants Basildon and Enfield in England have now been occupied.




Despite the devastating news and bosses refusing to meet face to face, solidarity and unity amongst workers remain determined to reach a settlement. Motorists on the MI motorway were keen to express there support through beeping their horn. Essential materials and goods such as food are supplying the blockade.




This is the latest example of us having to pay for the crisis in capitalism and the mess by politicians and the very rich. Like the Calcast workers in Derry and the Waterford Crystal workers, these brave and determined car workers are leading by example in resisting attacks on our rights and conditions. Support and solidarity by the wider workers movement is essential.




Solidarity is Strength
For Workers Control’.




This short audio interview below took place inside the plant with Unite shop steward and convenor John McGuire. It was first published on indymedia.ie and can be downloaded from there at http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/apr2009/workers_occupation.mp3
Related Link:
http://www.wsm.ie/
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Finally, here's another story on the events, this time from the Australian IWW. Please note that this article contains a link whereby you can express your solidarity with the Visteon workers.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Visteon update occupations Ireland & England:
Submitted by Viola Wilkins
During the global financial crisis Bosses lie that sacrifice now will result in job security and better wages later. This has has been disproved once more at Visteon: "Workers had been put on 1, 2, or 3 day shifts since November - led to believe such a sacrifice would help pull the company thru hard times - a now familiar story we shall hear more frequently as more workplaces move towards closure." http://libcom.org/forums/news/workers-occupy-visteon-factory-31032009





“Don’t wait for politicians and people high up in the unions- just do it yourself”, Unite shop steward John McGuire.





This is the latest example of us having to pay for the crisis in capitalism and the mess by politicians and the very rich. Like the Calcast workers in Derry and the Waterford Crystal workers, these brave and determined car workers are leading by example in resisting attacks on our rights and conditions. Support and solidarity by the wider workers movement is essential. Solidarity is Strength For Workers Control’. The audio interview below took place inside the plant with Unite shop steward and convener John McGuire.
http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/apr2009/workers_occupation.mp3





More: Support Visteon Factory Occupation in London, Enfield Short Report, 2nd of April 2009





After car parts manufacturer Visteon announced job cuts workers occupied plants in Belfast, Basildon and Enfield. In Enfield about 70 workers - men and women from all kinds of backgrounds - are still inside the plant and on the roof. Last Tuesday the management called for a general assembly and told people that they would have to leave their workplace immediately. They were told to fetch their personal belongings the next day at 10 am.





When people turned up the factory was already closed. Workers entered through an unlocked side entrance and occupied the plant. The security guards won't let people go inside, they also blocked the fire exists with padlocks - which is clearly illegal.





Last night, Thursday 1st of April, two bailiffs entered the plant. They issued an eviction order, supported by five cops. The eviction order was flawed, e.g. it was not signed and it had the wrong address on it. Workers expect a proper eviction order for tomorrow, Friday, 3rd of April.
In case of eviction workers plan to picket the plant. they also plan to go to Ford Dagenham for a solidarity picket. The plant manufactured parts for various car companies, for example Land Rover, Jaguar, Madzda, Renault, Ford. In 1991 there were still 1,100 people employed, this number came down to 250.





Workers guess that Ford Southampton, the main 'client', piled up stock lasting several weeks - Ford Southampton announced redundancies and will eventually shift production of the Transit to Turkey. Links of solidarity between Enfield and Southampton is the most pressing. People have the most basic stuff inside, sleeping backs, some food etc., contributions are welcome, ex-Visteon workers and neighbours from Enfield drop by with food.





Unfortunately the G20 hype has pushed the occupation into the public back-ground. The occupations are the first 'offensive' collective reactions to the crisis, we should support them - particularly given the pending threat of eviction. So spread the word and come up to Enfield: Meeting point: Friday, 3rd of April and Saturday, 4th of April at 10 am at Ponders End Railway Station (the plant is 5 in walk, cross the foot-bridge, walk down main road towards Central London, the next street to the left is Morson Road, the factory situated at the end).





Bring along: friends, banners, food, music... Flyer for Visteon Factory Occupation http://london.indymedia.org.uk/events/998
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Here is the statement of support that has been suggested for the Visteon factory occupations.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
RESOLUTION
We support the occupations by Visteon workers in Belfast and Enfield against the summary closure of their factories without notice, without proper redundancy pay, and without pension security.





We support their demand that Ford - the huge global corporation which is Visteon's main customer, and from which Visteon was spun off - intervene to stop the closures.





We urge the whole trade union movement to give maximum support to these occupations in whatever ways are requested by the workers.





We believe that these occupations, like those at Republic Windows in Chicago, USA, and Prisme Packaging in Dundee, show the best way for the working class to resist mass job cuts and closures and to demand that industries be taken into public ownership under workers' control, with reconversion to alternative products where appropriate.
Please send to: stevehart@unitetheunion.com (for Enfield)
dmcmurray@unitetheunion.com (for Belfast)





Messages of support / offers of help to John Maguire Belfast Unite Convenor - 07816590380"
more: http://www.shopstewards.net/Visteon.htm
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
MOLLY NOTE:
Here is an example of where Molly has to modify her usual schpiel. The workers at the three plants involved in this occupation are pretty much "trapped". They have one and only one customer, and that customer has ultimate control (until it itself, of course, goes bankrupt) over the marketing of the product of the plants. This is quite different from other factory occupations where there was at least the possibility of the workers involved marketing the factory products on their own to a diverse set of consumers. This means that the occupations in question are inevitably purely political, and that they are limited to putting pressure on the buying company and various governments. How possible is this ? Who knows ? What is certain is that the workers involved cannot simply start up production on their own. This is a serious limitation on the eventual success of the occupations, particularily as the Ford Corporation has already indicated that they will shift parts supply to other countries.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND:

PICKET IN SUPPORT OF SACKED SUBWAY RESTAURANT WORKER:

Last Friday various union and anarchist groups held a picket at a Subway Restaurant outlet in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Here's the story from the British Libcom site.

........................

Northern Ireland: Subway picket in Belfast in support of sacked Polish worker:

Organise!*(http://www.afed.org.uk -Molly) WSM*(http://www.wsm.ie -Molly), trade unions and various political activists picketed a Subway restaurant in Belfast today in support of sacked Polish worker Natalia Szymanska. The protest at the Subway restaurant on Great Victoria Street in central Belfast was, despite the poor weather, attended by around 60-70 people, during what should have been the fast-food outlet's busy lunch-hour, all showing their solidarity with Natalia. Passers-by and customers were informed of the nature of the protest and urged not to support Subway until Natalia was reinstated and reimbursed for the earnings lost as a result of her sacking.Natalia was sacked while 5 months pregnant following a spurious claim that she had breached Subway's health & safety policy.

The case echos that of a female Slovakian worker in Belfast, Dasa Kacova, earlier this year. In the Kacova case, Organise! and WSM took part in pickets of the restaurant, Delaney's, from which Dasa was sacked. Following the successful 'shut-down' of the restaurant during pickets, and an hour of negotiations, Delaney's management agreed to all of the worker's demands to reinstate Dasa immediately, reimburse her for loss of earnings, pay her outstanding holiday entitlement and to treat all workers fairly. Dasa did not wish to return to work under in Delaneys and agreed to a full financial settlement.

In the Szymanska case, the Migrant Workers Unit of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) had appealed Natalia's dismissal, but according to ICTU "the hearing was not conducted fairly by Subway and they upheld the decision...It is unacceptable in this day and age that employers can still mistreat and discriminate workers in this way...The Irish Congress of Trade Unions will expose and challenge the mistreatment of workers and in particular the pregnant migrant workers who are the most vulnerable in our society."

The demands made by the protest today were to:

* immediately reinstate the pregnant worker,

* reimburse her for loss of earnings,

* compensate her for the injury to feeling,

* treat all workers fairly.

Police arrived after 30 mins of demonstrating to ask protesters to stop obstructing the doorway, and accused picketers, who remained peaceful throughout the hour-long lunchtime protest, of being 'intimidating'. The police presence in the doorway subsequently managed to do a pretty good job of obstructing the entrance anyway.

The protesters have vowed to return to further protests at Subway and another picket has been called for 12.30 on Wednesday 15th October

.http://libcom.org/news/subway-picket-belfast-support-sacked-worker-10102008

IRISH LABOUR:

BELFAST WORKERS VERSUS BOTH THE BOSSES AND THE "UNION":

Six years ago workers at the Belfast Airport in Northern Ireland went on strike for a 50p/hour pay raise. Instead of supporting them their union, UNITE, colluded with management to have 24 of the workers fired. Since then the workers in question have fought a long battle against both the Belfast Airport management AND their union. The news story below is from today's LibCom board, and it tells how UNITE has obtained court injunctions against these workers who it supposedly "represented". I was first made aware of this situation by a reply posted on another matter by 'Radical Glasgow'. Since then I have researched the matter, and, yes, it appears to be a particularly egregious case and the workers involved deserve full support. Their website, the Belfast Airport Workers, has a petition that you can sign in their support. Here's the article.

.............................

Unite injunction against Belfast sacked shop stewards

The Unite union has served an injunction against protesting shop stewards, threatening them with fines and imprisonment.

“Unite are trying to deny us our democratic right to peacefully protest.” – Gordon McNeill

The dispute between the sacked airport shop stewards and their union, Unite, was dramatically escalated on Tuesday afternoon.

Sacked shop steward, Gordon McNeill, who was on the thirteenth day of a hunger strike, was served with a court injunction brought by the union barring him from continuing to protest “in or at Transport House”. The injunction makes clear that if any of the three shop stewards involved in the protest, Gordon McNeill, Chris Bowyer and Madan Gupta, continue to protest they may face fines, seizure of assets and/or imprisonment.

Gordon McNeill has responded by escalating his protest from a hunger strike to a hunger and thirst strike. Gordon commented:

“Trade union members are used to employers serving injunctions to stop pickets and other protests. Now it is our union who are using the law to try to take away our right to protest.
“Is it not enough that our union leadership got us sacked and then refused us support in our legal battle against our employer? Now they are threatening to use the courts to fine us, seize our assets and put us in prison in order to silence us.

"They are going to take away my democratic right to free speech.

“They should remember that the right to join unions was won by people like the Tolpuddle Martyrs who faced jail and deportation fighting the combination laws. I’m sure those early trade unionists would turn in their graves at the thought that the organisations they founded were led by people who would threaten their own members with imprisonment for daring to take protest action.

“We have every right to continue our peaceful and dignified protest demanding justice from our union. My response to this latest intimidation is to escalate my protest from a hunger strike to a hunger and thirst strike. I will not take fluids until I am convinced that Unite Irish Regional Secretary, Jimmy Kelly, will not persist with this threat of court action.”