INTERNATIONAL LABOUR SWEDEN:

SAC CLEANERS APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY:





The following appeal for online solidarity comes from cleaners at the Lund University Hospital in Sweden, members of the Swedish anarcho-syndicalist SAC. Here's their appeal...
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SAC union cleaners need solidarity
November 22, 2010, 04:32:00 PM
Hello comrades!

We ask for the solidarity with fellow workers, in the USIL section of the
SAC, who are cleaning the prestigious university hospital of Lund. The
workers have for 5 years denounced the ISS international company for the
workload they are subjected to. The workers have only 36 seconds to clean
a toilet, thus exposing the health of patients and risking their own
health.

During these last years we have required the control of these abuses,
however ISS manipulates the information. Swedish press reports the abuses
but the ISS has remained firm in their position to exploit shamelessly,
supported by the local politicians. ISS sells the service to the government of the
region.

We call on international solidarity, to send protests to the office of
your country, and send a copy to the section USIL, and t
peter.ljungbro@iss-fs.se
info@iss-fs.se, to the hospital director, bent.christensen@skane.se and to
barbro.halensjoberg@skane.se and also to the boss who mistreats the workers
maria.andersson@iss-ss.se

Amalia Alvarez
International SAC

Sample letter:

Our colleagues in the section USIL, cleaners working for ISS international
company, in the prestigious hospital in Lund, are on strike to denounce
the work load they are exposed to every day. One example is that the
workers have 36 seconds to clean a bathroom, this is a constant risk to
the health of patients attending the hospital in Lund and the workers
themselves and their families. Faced with this physical burden, and bad
conscience of failing to do the job for not having adequate time, USIL
section remains on strike until:

1. ISS lift the transfer of our fellow union representative Asdren K

2. that the workload is set down by 40%
3. that the boss Maria Andersson is removed from her headquarters for being
a factor influencing the health of personnel in the work environment, and
for being rude and having inappropriate attitudes to the resolution of
disputes with the staff.

We also hope that the company acts, in order to ensure the safety of their
customers and employees. We will be attentive to the development of this
conflict and do not exclude actions to correct this injustice committed against
the USIL section.

Carefully

Send the protest to the contact in your country. (Seek contact in your
country here. ISS WORLD CONTACT) and Please send a copy of your message
of protest to the comrades of the section usil@sac.se and to
peter.ljungbro@iss-fs.se , info@iss-fs.se , bent.christensen@skane.se ,
barbro.halensjoberg@skane.se , and also to the boss who mistreats the
workers maria.andersson@iss-ss.se

thanks for the solidarity!
No pasarán!

ISS WORLD CONTACT:

ARGENTINA: http://www.ar.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

BELGIUM: http://www.be.issworld.com/pages/contact.aspx

BRASIL: http://www.br.issworld.com/sobre_a_iss_brasil/pages/escritorios.aspx

CHILE: info@cl.issworld.com o en la siguiente dirección:Av. Las Torres
1385, el Rosal, Huechuraba Santiago de Chile, Tel.: +56 2 726 6500 - Fax:
+56 2 726 6507 e-mail: info@cl.issworld.com

DENMARK: Adresse & Tlf ISS Facility Services A/S Møntmestervej 31 DK-2400
Copenhagen NV Tel.: +45 38 17 17 17 CVR: 14 40 60 42
http://www.dk.issworld.com/om_iss_dk/pages/kontakt2.aspx

GRECE: iss@gr.issworld.com
http://www.gr.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

ITALY: e-mail: info@issfacilityservices.it
ISS Facility Services S.r.l.
Via Ettore Bugatti, 12 I-20142 MILANO ITALIA Tel: +39 02 8268191 Fax:
+39 02 82681990
http://www.it.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

MEXICO: info@mx.issworld.com
http://www.mx.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

POLSKA: iss@issworld.pl
http://www.pl.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

ESPAÑA: Tel. 902 266 366 - info@es.issworld.com
http://www.es.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

SWEDEN: peter.ljungbro@iss-fs.se
info@iss-fs.se

UNITED KINGDOM info@uk.issworld.com
http://www.uk.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

Uruguay: info@uy.issworld.com
http://www.uy.issworld.com/Pages/Frontpage.aspx

Francia: grh@fr.issworld.com
http://www.fr.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

Deutschland: frank.born@de.issworld.com

http://www.de.issworld.com/presse_und_aktuelles/News_Deutschland/Pages/ISSweitetMarktpositionaus.aspx

ISS WORLD CONTACT:
http://www.issworld.com/our_services/issworldcontact/pages/iss_world_contacts.aspx

PERSONAL:

HERE AT MOLLY'S BLOG:

The seasons change, and the leaves begin to fall. Molly is due to go on vacation soon so the number of posts at this blog will drop during that time. I hope I've provided at least a little information and amusement in the last little while. the squirrels are busy gathering their nuts, and Molly is busy decorating the yard for Halloween. It's a long process preparing for my favourite holiday, and each year the cars drive by, stop and take pictures.

In terms of this blog I'd like to call the readers' attention to three different sections that have been added in the last little while. All of them are under the anarcho-syndicalist rubric, the form of anarchism that I feel closest to and which I consider the most practical. The first is the listing for the KRAS, the Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists in Russia. While it must be admitted that KRAS is still only a propaganda group rather than a functioning union it is still significant that they have at least expanded their online presence in the last little while. it is part and parcel of the general expansion of practical anarchism that I have taken such delight in in the last few years.

Speaking of such there is also a new listing for the youth section of the German FAU. The (take a deep breath) Anarhistisch-Syndikalistischer Jugen (Anarcho-Syndicalist Youth) in Germany has been expanding rapidly, and I have added a separate category for them following the FAU listings. While not up to the level of the youth federation of the Swedish SAC (also listed under our Links) the young German comrades seem to be expanding rapidly. I have to admit that it is beyond me why the Swedes and the Germans seem to be so successful while in Spain both the CNT with their FJIL (historical nostalgia ?) and the much larger CGT seem to have their youth sections "stillborn". There is also another Iberian youth federation that, as far as I can tell, is not an extension of one of the Spanish anarchosyndicalist unions, but it is also very small. They have been listed under the Spanish section of our links. As I said, beyond me, and I can definitely see the utility of a youth federation as it addresses concerns different from those of older people. As for here in North America this is obviously a project for the far distant future as "youth" would probably encompass close to 95% of anarchists here.

Perhaps most pleasantly there is now a listing for the Workers' Initiative/(another deep breath) Inicjatywa Pracownicza of Poland. These people are the "non-AIT' anarcho-syndicalist union federation in Poland, and despite my early misconceptions they are (as expected) far more successful in organizing than the AIT affiliated ZSP. Their base of strength is in Poznan, but as the listings point out they have branches in many Polish provinces. These are the people who have a "dual card" arrangement with the British IWW. The latest news that I have heard from their quarter is that their decision to actually run as candidates in the workplace councils has brought the same success (in a smaller way) as it brought to the Spanish CGT and the French CNT (Vignoles). The anarcho-syndicalist project faces some fundamental choices in the modern world...whether to actually collectively bargain, whether to participate in union elections (in both the North American and European sense) and so on. My own opinions are very much in favour of making the necessary compromises because the alternative is shrinking away to an irrelevant sect that will be of no use even if times were to change. I recognize the dangers, but I also recognize the dangers of the sectarian alternative.

Enough of this pontification. May the busy squirrels of Fall not shit on your head.

Molly.

PERSONAL:

HERE AT MOLLY'S BLOG:

Can you imagine ? It's mid-July and I'm still planting flowers. Rain, rain and rain. They aren't likely to do well, but I make the effort anyways. It's been a very busy spring and summer, and, of course, my productivity at this blog has fallen off. Hopefully this will change in the next few weeks.

On a rather happier note I can say that the project of listing the SAC contacts is finally coming near to the end of the tunnel. I've even managed to learn a tiny, itsy bitsy bit of Swedish during this. Or at least how to type their accents. Not enough for sure to get me more beer and complain about the price in Stockholm, but it is interesting nonetheless.

On an even happier note the hacking into my personal email seems to have ended. The last "check" as to what I was writing about Siemans came in through the usual front door rather than through my email. I went all the way up to have the most secure password possible as the first password change was also 'decoded". It is also possible, however, that they simply lost interest in me. I hope to rectify this situation. As an even greater chuckle Siemens itself, according to Business Week, has been attacked in its operating system by something called the 'Stuxnet Worm'. Somehow I have extreme difficulty working up sympathy for them. Or suppressing my giggles for that matter.

That's it for now. The squirrels continue their antics in the backyard. Put the nuts out last night. The grey squirrel came early, and, as they say, "the early squirrel gets the nut". At the same time, however, as I was loading the car for the day one of the lazy red squirrels showed up. Big squirrel fight with the red chasing a grey at least three times its size. Over the garage and far away. I still am in amazement at people who report that grey squirrels "replace" red squirrels in various localities (anecdotal here in Winnipeg, documented and fretted about in England ). Maybe all that it is is that they are less than double plus thick to the 3rd power as to where they bury the nuts. That may be hard to believe if you have ever seen a grey squirrel close up (I have). They tend to project stupidity.

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-SWEDEN:

REMEMBER BJORN SODERBERG:

The following reminder of the death of a good comrade at the hands of the fascists just came into Molly's email today from the Swedish Anarkisterna website/group. Looking at the photo, and reading the article Molly is impressed with the tremendous waste of life of this young comrade. Here in Canada the general appearance of comrade Soderberg is such that, especially here in Winnipeg where we are mostly squat, dark and Slavic looking (except for Molly who is a dead ringer for an Iranian Ayatollah), the guy would have had to hold raffles for the girls to meet him. No doubt his personality was as winning as his looks. So sad, and the fascists who killed him are more to blame for it. In Sweden the pride of place of syndicalism is held by the SAC, and comrade Soderberg was an ethical young worker with an internationalist perspective. Here's to the memory of this young hero. Also remember what the essence of fascism is, however it may try to throw the cloak of 'moderation' over itself.

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Ten years later: Remember Björn Söderberg!:

Show moral courage

On the 12th October it has been ten years since the Syndicalist Björn Söderberg was attacked in his home and killed by Nazis in a suburb of Stockholm. We solemnize his memory with a dignified manifestation on Monday the 12th. For those of you who are in Stockholm that day, we gather on Medborgarplatsen at 6 pm and march to La Mano on Katarinavägen at 7 pm. There the manifestation will end at 8.30 pm.

The context in which the murder took place, was that Björn acted openly and consequently against racism and Nazism at his workplace. For a while after the murder, protests kept coming in to Stockholms LS, the Stockholm chapter of the Syndicalist union. Tens of thousands gathered all over the country to express their disgust with the deed. Representatives of all the parties in the parliament participated in the manifestation on Medborgarplatsen.

Almost 70% of the Swedish population wanted Nazi organisations to be prohibited after the murder. But today, in our increasingly harsher class society, we witness a slowly growing support for a sneaking racism. The divisiveness of the solidarity between workers takes on such expressions.

At the same time the daily struggle against racism continues at schools and workplaces all around the country, a struggle seldom or never noticed by the media. Many people show their moral courage every day in an open stand against racism and fascism.

We will never back down - No Pasaran!/Stockholms LS, the Stockholm chapter of the Syndicalist union SAC

Nazi activity then and now

The summer of 1999 saw Nazi violence culminating in Sweden — in May two police officers were executed when stopping a car after a bank robbery performed by Nazis, and in June a car bomb severely injured a journalist living under constant death threats for writing exposing articles on Nazi organisations. That summer Björn worked as a stockroom worker when he learned that Robert Vesterlund, a leading Nazi, had gained a commission of trust in the union Handels at his workplace. Björn was determined to act despite of his own worries of becoming a target. He approached the staff management, the union and the Syndicalist weekly Arbetaren. As a result, Handels relieved Robert Vesterlund of his commission of trust and, later on, the company fired him. A month later, two armed Nazis rang on his door bell and after a heated argument shot him dead.

One of the Nazis who participated in the killing of Björn Söderberg was Hampus Hellekant, notorious in surveying leftist activists, journalists and others that he perceived as his opponents. Since his release from prison he has changed his name and, according to himself also his politics. But, as the Research Group reveals in this weeks’ issue of Arbetaren, he has never stopped his activities, he has never stopped his monitoring.

The results of which, as we’ve seen, can be severe.

Last December a Syndicalist couple and their two year old daughter were the victims of a Nazi arson in a suburb of Stockholm. The family escaped the flames by climbing down the balcony to the floor underneath. Some months earlier Hampus Hellekant had published pictures and addresses of the couple on a Nazi web page, displaying them as antifascists.
The challenge we face

We are experiencing an increasing level of Nazi violence very similar to the situation of the nineties, we wrote in Refuse to let history repeat itself. The social setting of today, with a financial crisis, increased marginalization and bigger divides between classes and a growing sense of insecurity among people is also very similar to then. However, some things differ. Today the Nazi movement is stronger than it was in 1999. And the kind of united anti-racist response we saw after the murder of Björn Söderberg was lacking after the attempted murder last year.

The same-same-but-different-card is habitually played every time anti-racists protest against marching Nazis and should, once and for all, be unveiled as the false play it certainly is. If one claims that the twenty or so murders committed by Nazis since the 80’s in Sweden alone, as well as the severe hate crimes, arsons, bombings and assaults they have carried out, is equal to the rock-throwing and street fighting of anti-racists, one lacks a sense of proportions.

Looking back at the repressed anti-racist mobilization against the Nazi march in Salem, the establishment does lack a sense of proportions. The extra-parliamentary left stood alone and five hundred people were rounded up and taken into “preventive custody” as soon as they arrived at the train station. The rest of the demonstration were cattled ( I think this means "penned"-Molly ) and never allowed to leave the rallying point.

The challenge for antifascist activists, as stated in From Salem to Stolberg: Right-Wing Martyrs and Right-Wing Violence, lies in finding effective means of resistance. The Swedish example confirms the difficulty to establish the right balance between two necessities: broad public support against the activities of the extreme right on the one hand; and retaining a critical voice against structural discrimination and (party) political hypocrisy on the other.

One of the reasons why the Salem March can continue derives from an early split within its opponents. While mainstream leftists and liberals now hold an anti-racist rally in Stockholm, far from the actual march, militant antifascists attempt to confront the march directly. This renders the Stockholm rally merely symbolic, while politicians and police commanders can portray the confrontations in Salem as yet another case of “extremist clashes”.

So the challenge remains for each and everyone of us to unite and manifest:
- That we are always many more than the fascists are ever going to be!

- That we are stronger than they will ever be!

- That we will never forget Björn Söderberg!

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-SWEDEN:

WILDCAT STRIKE AT THE SWEDISH LIQUOR MONOPOLY:

My God, from the Molly point of view this comes close to being a strike at an "essential service" ie booze. The following is a report from the new 'Notes From the Swedish Workers' Movement' blog(in general agreement with the anarchosyndicalist Swedish union federation, the SAC). See our Links section under 'Other Anarchosyndicalist Links' for both the 'Notes' and the SAC. As in too many other cases the official unions in Sweden have failed to give their members proper protection. In Sweden at least there is an organized alternative,the SAC.

The following was posted yesterday. If there are any new developments Molly will try to inform her readers in a timely fashion.

ASASASASASAS

WILDCAT STRIKE IN STOCKHOLM:

Workers in the warehouse for the Swedish state’s alcohol monopoly have started a wildcat strike in response to management attempts to replace the workforce with short term workers. Management has been trying for a long time to replace the workers with casualised workers on short term contracts, but now they are using the recession as an excuse for laying off workers, while they continue to hire agency staff. The workers have received little help or interest from their trade union; after a demonstration outside the LO (mainstream trade union federation) headquarters they were promised a meeting with LO representatives, but this was never fulfilled. The workers have refused to return to work and have been joined in their strike by supporters from the local branch of the SAC and individuals from the extra-parliamentary left.

A blockade of the warehouse was successful between five this morning until two in the afternoon when police helped the management to sneak scabs in the back door. Police have taken the unusually hostile step of classifying the action as a demonstration rather than a workplace conflict, which gives them increased powers to harass the strikers. This is a tactic that is often used against strikers from the syndicalist union SAC but is not typically used against workers from the LO (mainstream) trade unions. The strike continues tomorrow when there will be a national day of action. The strikers are expected to be supported by SAC members working in the stores of the state’s alcohol monopoly.
thanks to Altemark(a Swedish anarchosyndicalist blogger to my knowledge-Molly) for the info.

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-SWEDEN:

HOLIDAY APPEAL FOR VICTIMS OF NEO-NAZI ARSONS:

Molly has mentioned at least one of the following incidents on this blog before. On December 1 a family of Swedish syndicalists, affiliated to the anarchosyndicalist SAC, were almost killed by an arson attempt on their apartment. Also, however, on the 29th of November, the Swedish autonomous cultural centre Cyklopen was also burnt down by fascist arsonists. Both the family and the Centre need your support, the family to rebuild their lives and the Centre to open once more. Here's the appeal from the Swedish website Anarkisterna.

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Support the victims of Neo-Nazi arsons:‏
Please help us spread this call for solidarity on lists, blogs and pages.Support is needed, both for the family that has lost almost all of their belongings in the attack on their apartment and for financing the rebuilding of the Cyclops.

Thanks /embryo collective

http://anarkisterna.com/blog/2008/12/20/support-the-victims-of-neo-nazi-arsons/

The “Salem March” is the biggest annual Neo-Nazi gathering in Scandinavia.It is an alleged “commemoration” event for a Swedish youth with contacts to the country’s extreme right who died during a late-evening confrontation with migrant youths in the year 2000 in Salem, a suburb of Stockholm. In the weeks leading up to this year’s march, neofascists engaged in a series of attacks against antifascist activists.

On the 29th of November, the autonomous cultural center Cyklopen was burned to the ground. The fire coincided with a planned meeting of the Network Against Racism that organizes protests against the Salem March every year. Luckily, the meeting did not take place that night, so no one got injured in the blaze. According to authorities, the fire was a certain case of arson and the perpetrators are suspected in the neofascist scene. Cyklopen had been threatened various times before. The neofascists know that autonomous left-wing spaces are a cornerstone of effective antifascist work.

On the 1st of December, there was an arson attack on the apartment of two members of Sweden’s anarchosyndicalist union SAC and their three-year old child. One of them explained: “I saw how someone poured some clear fluid into the hallway through the mail-slot. I could smell that it was gasoline. I screamed as loud as I could, ‘We have a child here!’ It is impossible that they did not hear me. Next thing I know, they set the gasoline on fire.” While the child was handed down from the apartment’s third-storey balcony to neighbors below, the two adults were able to climb to safety. The police treats the attack as politically motivated. They strongly suspect the perpetrators to be the same as in the Cyclopen attack. Half a year ago, the names and pictures of SAC members had been published on Info-14, an internet portal of the Swedish extreme right that is closely connected to the organizers of the Salem March.

There exist solidarity accounts for the victims of the attacks:

The “December Collection” (Decemberinsamlingen) serves as emergency help for the family that has lost almost all of their belongings in the attack on their apartment:

Re: Decemberinsamlingen

Addressee: SAC

IBAN: SE24 9500 0099 6034 0809 9236

BIC/Swift: NDEASESS

The Cyklopen activists are determined to rebuild their center – financial help can be sent here:

Re: Cyklopen

Addressee: Kulturkampanjen

IBAN: SE09 9500 0099 6034 1607 5525

BIC/Swift: NDEASESS

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR/ANARCHOSYNDICALISM-SWEDEN:

NEO-NAZIS ATTEMPT TO MURDER SYNDICALIST FAMILY IN SWEDEN:

The following is from the Swedish Anarchisterna website, though Molly first read about it on the website of the Romania Indymedia. At the Anarkisterna site anarchist from across the world are sending messages of solidarity with the Swedish comrades.

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Nazis tried to kill union activists and their child:

In 1999 Nazis killed the Syndicalist Björn Söderberg. Now they have tried again. Two Syndicalists from Stockholm – one of them the former chair of the Stockholm chapter of the Syndicalist union - and their two year old daughter were forced to climb down from the balcony of their third floor apartment when Nazis sat fire to their flat.

Half a year ago, our union members were exposed on the Nazi webpage Info-14. The Nazis behind Info-14 are the same people who arrange the annual Nazimarch in Salem.

Just before nine p.m. on Monday night, 1st December 2008, our members heard a splashing sound from the hallway. “I saw someone pour a clear fluid through the mail slot and understood from the scent that it was gasoline”, one of them said. “I shouted so loud that they can’t have missed it: We have children in here! Only seconds later they lit the fire.”

In the hall hung the family’s winter clothes and in a couple of seconds the fire had spread to the kitchen and the living room. To exit through the front door was impossible.

“We had to lower our daughter down to the neighbours’ balcony one floor below”, our member explains. “We live on the top floor. Had she slipped out of our hands, she would have died.” The couple then climbed down the same way. Behind them the fire ravaged all their belongings, memories and future plans.

Our members and their daughter miraculously remained unharmed, but it doesn’t change the fact that one, or several, people deliberately and in cold blood tried to take their lives. Six months ago the openly National socialist homepage info14 published names and pictures of our members. The police work from the theory that the deed was politically motivated, performed by the same offenders who two days earlier burnt down the libertarian socialist cultural centre The Cyclops in Högdalen. The case is classified as arson.

Our targeted members’ union work focused on antiracism and diminishing class divides. Because of this they were to be punished by death according to the Nazis.

The Nazis behind Info-14 are the same people who run the organisation Salemfonden, that every year on the first Saturday in December arrange the biggest Nazi march in Northern Europe. “The people arranging the Salemmarch are not harmless individuals with a slightly dissenting opinion. They are ideologically convinced Nazis, evidently capable of murder in the pursuit of their cause”, Ola Brunnström from SAC’s working committee states.

This Saturday the people who tried to kill our members arrange a march in Salem, a suburb of Stockholm. SAC, the Syndicalists, urges everyone to join in the counter demonstration by the Network Against Racism at 12 o’ clock in Salem Centre.

If we let the Nazis stand unchallenged we never now who they’ll attack next.
SAC’s working committee

http://www.sac.se

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-SWEDEN"

SWEDISH 'SAC' ORGANIZES FOR PAKISTANI SEAMEN IN STOCKHOLM:

The SAC is a venerable anarchosyndicalist organization in Sweden. despite the temptations and repression of both social democratic and conservative regimes in that country they have survived and continued to press an apolitical class organization method. Lately they have taken up the cause of immigrant labour. This is one of their efforts. The following is taken from the A-Infos website.

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Sweden, SAC* takes conflict for Pakistani seamen in Stockholm

There is a campaign home page regarding an ongoing conflict with seamen in Stockholm local of SAC vs Ånedinlinjen that is also in english! This conflict is really nasty because the seamen are sacked and when their contracts end they will not only loose their jobs but also their legal status. There are 18 pakistanis in the Stockholm local on the ship and they have lived in Sweden between 7 - 23 years. The shipping company will ruin their plans for the future, their social life in Sweden (many have lived here longer than some posters on this forum-(A-Inf0s-Molly)) and their economic situation, if we can't stop them.

>>> Read more about it here:

http://www.birgerjarl.info/

EUROPE:

A SYNDICALIST MAYDAY IN EUROPE:

The following announcement is from the website of the French CNT (the CNT-Vignoles). It is about a coordinated Mayday amongst various anarcho-syndicalist unions on the continent of Europe. The poster to the left is a joint effort of the various organizations.

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DIRECT ACTION AGAINST CAPITALIST EUROPE !!!
When, throughout Europe, "leftwing" Governments, as well as rightwing ones have similar policies : public services are broken up and privatised, working conditions are under attack from casualisation, subsidies to the bosses, attacks on the welfare system, and pensions, ...

When, throughout Europe, "leftwing" Governments, as well as rightwing ones are criminalising both those who are fighting back, with repression against organised labour, and immigrants, with detention camps and deportation.

When, throughout Europe, "leftwing" Governments, as well as rightwing ones have imperialist and neo-colonial foreign policies such as in Iraq, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Africa and Latin America.

When, throughout Europe, the trade unions are now collaborating with the bosses, with no more strength of will to fight back.

We, anarcho-syndicalist, and revolutionary trade unionist organizations, the "Red and Black Coordination", on 1st May 2008, the day of labour and international solidarity, renew our determination in our anticapitalist, antiauthoritarian, antifascist, antisexist and revolutionary fight.
The Red and Black Coordination :

ESE (Greece), WI (Poland), LA (Poland), GGT (Spain), USI (Italy), IWW (GB), CNT (France), SAC (Sweden).

SWEDISH LABOUR:

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WIN UNPAID WAGES IN STOCKHOLM:

As Molly has remarked many times before the world anarcho-syndicalist movement is gradually being rebuilt, and is nowadays acting as real unions in many countries. One of these is Sweden, where the venerable SAC already had a strong base before the renewed interest in anarchism of the last few decades. One of the major problems of labour today is the situation of migrant workers, many of them often undocumented. Anarcho-syndicalist and syndicalist unions across the world have applied themselves to organizing these workers. Here is the story of one such effort and its successes.

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Illegal immigrants win unpaid wages in Stockholm



The syndicalist SAC union in Sweden has been campaigning for fair wages for illegal immigrants in the last few months, resulting in thousands of dollars in unpaid wages being paid to migrant workers.

The increasing organisation of illegal immigrants within the syndicalist union SAC have lead to more and more blockades to force the payment of unpaid wages, mainly from employment agencies in the restaurant, cleaning, hotel and building industry. Millions Kronor in unpaid wages have been have been won by the SAC. That these companies and their customers don't want to attract attention to their exploitation of illegal immigrants, in most cases the mere threat of a union blockade has been enough to get the wages paid.

Parallel to this defensive work, the SAC have started organising a list of workplaces where the employer is only allowed to employ members from the syndicalist register, working as a closed shop for illegal immigrant workers, setting wages, six-hour-workdays and democratically electing bosses on the workplaces. At the moment these workplaces are paying untaxed wages for illegal immigrants, exchange students and asylum seekers but the aim is to organise this amongst all forms of precarious labour.

The register has been dominated by illegal Latin American workers, but after these 2 victories the SAC hopes for a breakthrough with organising the growing number of illegal Indian/Pakistani workers in Sweden.

But at the Pakistani restaurant Lilla Karachi in Stockholm, the employers tried to set their foot down. The restaurant rejected demands on 80,000 Kronor (£6,150) untaxed wage for a union member and a longer blockade was begun. Since the restaurant is in the same neighbourhood as the Swedish right wing government parties Moderaterna and Centerpartiet, it was soon filled daily with "solidarity eaters" specifically eating there to break the blockade. Leading right wing politicians, led by the daily paper Svenska Dagbladets editorial Maria Abrahansson, were ranting on blogs and in media, calling the blockade an 'mafia tactic' and comparing the SAC with Hell's Angels and Bandits. They have also demanded that police should arrest all the union activists involved and that union rights allowing blockades to be launched be repealed.

After 2 months off daily blockades and the SAC paper Arbetarens explaining that Lilla Karachi owners have threatened the SAC member's family in Pakistan, don't pay the minimum wage in their deal with the social democratic union and have used a fake book-keeper as a witness of innocence in the media, the opinion shifted and a lot of the right wing politicians officially regretted their solidarity eating. After a couple of weeks with hardly any evening customers, the Lilla Karachi restaurant agreed to pay out the wage.

The SAC has also started a conflict against McDonalds who have used an employment agency with illegal immigrants for an hourly pay-rate of 33 Kronor (£2.50) when the union deal is 90 Kronor (£6.90). The same right wing politicians called it mafia behaviour, but McDonald's paid the salaries after only a week off conflict.

So far, the syndicalist register has been dominated by illegal Latin American workers, however, its hoped that these two victories will be a breakthrough for the SAC in organising illegal south Asian workers in Sweden.

MORE SOLIDARITY APPEALS:

A number of appeals for solidarity from union groups and social activists have crossed Molly's desk in the last few days. Here are a few:

A. The Swedish syndicalist union, the SAC, is planning a campaign against the international furniture company IKEA because their section in the city of Jonkoping is engaged in an industrial dispute with IKEA. If you have an IKEA outlet in your city the SAC would be happy to hear from you at ikea-sektionen.jkpg@sac.se as to what you can do to help. To check if you have such an outlet go to the IKEA website.

B. The online labour solidarity group Labour Start has launched a campaign to protest the murder by Chilean police of forestry worker Rodrigo Alexis Cisternas on May 3rd. More than 7,000 subcontracted forestry workers have been on strike in Concepcion since early May demanding a monthly raise of $38 US. Most of the workers make less than US$100 per month. The shooting of Cisternas took place during a battle between police and striking workers during a road blockade on the night of May 3rd. To learn more and to participate go to http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=247 .

C. The Jobs With Justice organization began a campaign on Mothers' Day in solidarity with workers at flower plantations in the country of Columbia. Mothers' Day, the biggest flower buying day of the year was an appropriate time to begin the campaign, but it is still ongoing. The management of the Dole Company who run the Splendor-El Rosal and Splendor-El Corzo flower plantations refuse to negotiate in good faith with the workers of the independent union Sintrasplendor. The El-Corzo farm was shut down last October, as a company response to unionization, and the workers' demands include salary increases, job security and employment for the 10% of workers who still remain at the El-Corzo farm at the El-Rosal location. To learn more about this campaign and to participate go to http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/dole_mothersday/wukd7sdrhbxbexw?

More appeals later,

Molly

THE 23RD CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKERS ASSOCIATION:
A LITTLE HEAT BUT PRECIOUS LITTLE LIGHT:
The 23rd Congress of the International Workers' Association (IWA-AIT) was held in Manchester, England last December. The Congress was hosted by Solidarity Federation, the British affiliate of the IWA. In the public press releases the present IWW secretariat, based in Norway, was pretty non-committal about the decisions that were actually taken at the Congress. The Secretariat was to be taken on by the Serbian Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative, and the next Congress will be organized by the COB-AIT of Brazil in December of 2008.
Despite being the "official" International the AIT/IWA represents a small minority of active anarcho-syndicalists in the world today. To a large extent it is the creation of the Spanish CNT, and even in Spain the CNT is outnumbered by the CGT by at least an order of magnitude. In countries where the policies of the AIT have led to a split in anarcho-syndicalism, such as France and Italy, the "unofficial" anarcho-syndicalists also outnumber the official affiliates of the AIT.
The original split in Spain between the CNT and the CGT was over the issue of standing in "union elections", which the comrades of the CNT saw as "reformist". Similar splits in France led to the CNT-Vignoles becoming very much the public face of anarcho-syndicalism in that country while the purists of the CNT-AIT have been reduced to a propaganda group of only 100 to 200 members. The Italian USI-AIT also split over the same issue, but the remnant in the USI-AIT ended up participating in the "works councils" of that country anyways(1). Thus they are not in the same minoritarian position as the French purists are. In Spain the CGT has gone on to become the 3rd largest union in the country while the official CNT languishes with afew thousand members.
The REAL issues at stake in this latest Congress were not discussed in any public press releases. Anxious to avoid the loss of their Italian section the AIT avoided the question of the USI's participation in the councils, but this decision will undoubtedly come back to haunt them as it is the be-all and end-all of the whole split in international anarcho-syndicalism. The question of why the USI, which unlike the other sections of the AIT outside of Spain, actually functions as a real union, can "get away" with what others have been expelled for will come back.
The question of the German section, the FAU, and its planned participation in the upcoming I-07 conference in Paris, sponsored by the CNT-Vignoles of France was also "put off" with a reference to deciding whether they should be expelled at some future date. The question of the status of the American ex-affiliate, the Workers' Solidarity Federation(expelled in 2000), was also apparently on the agenda, but efforts by American comrades to gain access to the decisions concerning this matter have born little fruit to date.
Once more very little light. The larger Spanish CGT, along with the French CNT-Vignoles and the Swedish SAC, along with others, have begun a regroupment process in International Libertarian Solidarity and the European Federation of Alternative Syndicalism. The IWW tries to maintain friendly relations with both sides of this dispute, but they generally meet a much more fraternal response from the unions outside of the AIT.
This dispute is a sad reflexion on the present state of international anarcho-syndicalism. The purists, headed by the CNT, would be much more effective in debates within the growing anarchosyndicalist unions across the world. In their present state of isolation they cannot advance the cause of syndicalism at all, but they would be a much needed corrective to more opportunist tendencies in those organizations that have taken a more realistic approach.
For more on the 1979 split in Spain see the Wikipedia article on 'Anarchism in Spain' . The Congress and its "non-news" have been discussed extensively in the forums on Libcom and in the comments section of Anarkismo , often with little light being shed on what actually happened. Molly wonders if the actions of sending the Secretariat to Serbia and the date of the next Congress 2 years into the future and to the other side of the globe may be something of a "pulling a Marx" where the Spanish CNT would rather see the AIT destroyed than fall into the hands of its "competition". Marx did a similar thing when he maneuvered to transfer the First International to the USA rather than see his control of it challenged. This is, of course, just speculation, but it is something to think about.
MOLLY NOTES:
1)In Italy both of the two USI's claim the name of the AIT/IWA even though only the "official" one named above, also known as the USI PRATO-Carnico, has the approval of the AIT as a whole. The other USI, the USI-Roma, is present in many areas of Italy where the "officials" are absent, and vise versa. BOTH appear to be functioning unions, unlike most of the groups in the AIT outside of Spain. Should the "official" USI be expelled from the AIT there would be little to prevent a reunification with the other USI.
The use of the name "AIT" has not degenerated into the legal wrangling stage that the use of the name "CNT" did at the time of the CNT/CGT split some years ago. Not that such a course hasn't been suggested, but the Italians have demonstrated a little more sense in this regard.

THE GENERAL STRIKE IN SWEDEN: THE MISSING REPORTS:
Molly has previously reported on the attempted general strike that the Swedish syndicalist union SAC (see AnarchoSyndicalist Links in the contact section of this blog) called for Nov. 15th. This call was, of course, widely publicized in the press and electronic sites of the world's anarchist movement. Numerous messages of solidarity were sent to our Swedish comrades. The strike, of course, has come and gone, and what is missing from the public face of anarchism is any analysis of what the strike call actually achieved. The SAC may have reported on the results, but little or none of this of this has been published in languages other than Swedish. The exception is an article published in Royo Y Negro, a journal of the Spanish CGT. Published on Nov. 17th, two days after the strike, it was entitled, 'La Huelga de la SAC asusta a patronal y sindicatos mayoritarios en Suecia' (Molly trans: The SAC's strike frightens management (or the bosses' organization) and the majority unions in Sweden).
Royo y Negro made no estimates of the total number of people who heeded the call of the SAC, but they made three observations about the benefits of the strike call. The first was that many affiliates of the majority union, the LO, were so disgusted by the manoeuvres of their union bosses that they joined the SAC demonstrations on their own initiatives. The second benefit was that the strike call reawakened public interest in the existence of the SAC in Sweden. The third is that the call reinvigorated the activity of the locals and industrial sections of the SAC.
All of this is undoubtedly true and to the good, but actual numbers would be much more to the point. Without them one relies on factors that are more than a little subjective. When and how to issue a strike call is an important question as international anarchosyndicalism competes with bureaucratic unions across the world. Success should be judged by objective criteria so that lessons can actually be learned. subjective criteria should be followed over time to see if initial impressions were indeed true.
Still waiting for same...
Molly
PS:The graphic above is the logo of the SAC.

SWEDISH SYNDICALISTS CALL FOR GENERAL STRIKE
The Swedish anarcho-syndicalist organization Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (Central Organization of the Workers of Sweden- the SAC) have called for a general strike against planned government legislation for tomorrow, Nov. 15th. The government will introduce a bill on Nov. 16th on unemployment that will reduce unemployment benefits. The SAC's call has gone out to 2.5 million private sector employees as political strikes in the public sector are banned. The SAC only represents 7,000 of these people, but they are hoping that their call will "catch fire" with other workers represented by the 'official' unions in the LO. Anyone interested in this strike can follow developments on the SAC website at http://www.sac.se . See also the links section in this blog. The site has summaries in English and Spanish, but the "meat" of the matter is only in Swedish. Developments will also be followed on the Anarchismo site (also see the links on this page) in various languages.
The efforts of the Swedish comrades will be supported by a number of the unions affiliated with International Libertarian Solidarity such as the CGT of Spain, the CNT-f of France, the ESE of Greece, the ACI of Portugal and the CKL and AIP of Poland. These unions plan solidarity actions on the 15th in support of the SAC. Various platformist groups have also expressed solidarity with the SAC.
Swedish law permits political strikes in the private sector, but these are generally prohibited by the collective agreements that the major labour federation, the LO, enters into with employers. The bosses of the LO have even threatened to sue their own members if they participate in the SAC call. Quick spelling-bee question. How do you spell "t..r..a..i..t..o..r" in Swedish ? But what more can one expect from union bosses, with their good "socialist" careers at stake ?
Molly wishes the SAC well, but she is doubtful about the effectiveness of the call given the opposition of the major union bosses. Hopefully enough Swedish workers are disgusted enough by the actions of their "leaders" that they will desert the LO for the SAC in the near future.