AMERICAN LABOUR CHICAGO:

SECOND PLANT OCCUPATION WINS IN WINDOW FACTORY:

About four years ago workers at what was then Republic Windows and Doors kept their workplace open by occupying the plant. This led to a reprieve which enabled an alternative operator to be found. At the time there was discussion about re-opening as a producer co-op, but this suggestion was lost in the shuffle, and a buyer 'Serious Materials' was found. The new owner, however, was rather lackadaisical about finding markets, and the factory was once more in financial difficulty. Serious decided to close and loot the plant. The workers responded once more by occupying the premises, ensuring the machines stayed where they are. In the end management relented and agreed to a 90 day extension in which it is hoped a new operator will be found.

The workers were joined by other UE, members and others from Occupy Chicago, and they called the bluff of a group of police sent to evict them. This demonstrates once again the effectiveness of workplace occupation as a tactic to bring stubborn bosses to the bargaining table. Such actions should be much more common than they are today. It is also an obvious conclusion that the most stable and enduring resolution of such disputes would be the establishment of producer co-ops. This would hopefully become a goal for labour in ordinary times and not just when a firm is in financial crisis.

For now here is the story of what happened from Labor Notes.

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UE Occupies Chicago Window Plant Again, and Wins Reprieve

Members of the United Electrical Workers won another reprieve for a Chicago window factory, re-occupying the plant they famously held in 2008.

UE Local 1110 members took over the Serious Materials plant yesterday after being told by local management that the factory would close immediately.

When they were confronted with the same news in 2008, workers voted unanimously to occupy their workplace, guarding the machines at the former Republic Windows and Doors for six days until the major creditor, Bank of America, released $1.75 million in wages and benefits owed the workers.

Republic sold the plant to Serious and workers celebrated as the first sit-down strike in years won a favorable settlement in the teeth of the great recession.

This week’s plant closing came with no warning. The union got a call from the boss that he wanted a meeting, but he wouldn’t say why. Officers and UE staff were summoned to the offices of the notorious union-busting law firm Seyfarth and Shaw at 9 a.m. yesterday.

There executives said they would close the plant, effective immediately. Workers would be put on leave while management dismantled the window-making machinery and shipped it to the company’s other plants in Pennsylvania and Colorado.

Workers would be paid what they were owed under the WARN Act, which requires employers to provide notice 60 days ahead of plant closings and mass layoffs. (The penalty for violations is up to two months of pay and benefits.)

But the provisions typically only apply to businesses that would lay off 50 or more.

Illinois has a stronger law, which requires notice when 25 or more full-time employees will lose their jobs, and gives the director of the state labor department the right to investigate the company’s books.

Management provided nothing in writing to back up its promises.

Union officers—Armando Robles, Ricky Maclin, and Vicente Rangel—and staffers spent three hours arguing with management that the closure was unacceptable. Serious had a legal and moral obligation to do more to try to save the jobs, they said.

“We wanted to find a buyer,” said UE rep Leah Fried, “but they were not interested. They said it was not an option.”

Meanwhile, the Serious workers were building windows inside the plant.

February is not a big time for demand for windows, and their numbers were down to 38 after a recent layoff. Only 75 of the original 240 workers had ever been called back after Serious bought the plant from Republic.


All Out

President Robles and Fried left the meeting with management Thursday and began calling laid-off workers, asking them to come to the plant. At 2 p.m., the end of the shift, 50 workers met to discuss their options.

Robles presented them soberly: Do nothing, or fight—stay and occupy the plant again. Without much hullabaloo, matter-of-factly, the members voted unanimously to occupy.

They had no food, no sleeping bags. Workers and leaders immediately started to phone fellow workers, allies, and the media. They called the local alderman and asked others to alert the mayor’s office. Occupy Chicago came with tacos. Stand Up Chicago arrived.

Workers from other UE locals, including recently organized railroad van drivers, were there. Republic workers who’d never been called back to Serious but who still came to union meetings were there. The crowd inside grew to 65 and outside to 100.

UE regional president Carl Rosen called Serious’s CEO Kevin Surace at headquarters in California and asked, “Do you really want to go this route? If it comes to it, we’ll be dragged out and arrested.”

Fried wondered if Serious understood who they were dealing with. “These are people who won’t take this lightly,” she said. “They take this personally. They need jobs. And the political climate has changed. Now there’s a whole Occupy movement that was inspired by us. We’re sort of ground zero of Occupy.”

Meanwhile, local management called the police. A half dozen cops informed the workers that they had five minutes to decide whether to leave peacefully or get arrested.

They didn’t make good on the threat, but they refused to let the pizzas provided by Stand Up Chicago inside until a local pastor intervened, as local TV news cameras whirred. “Let the workers eat!” chanted the crowd.

The cops backed off but wouldn’t let anyone leave and then go back inside.

By 5 p.m. a crowd had gathered outside. Occupy Chicago started to raise tents, showing how a culture to prepare and stick it out has developed since the last occupation, Fried said. The cold rain started to freeze.

Inside, workers played dominoes and tried to watch the coverage on an old, snowy TV. They had plenty of donated food—enough to share with their supporters outside.

Negotiations shifted when corporate decision makers got on the phone. Management in California took over, apparently deciding they didn’t want a big showdown.

At 1 a.m., a tentative agreement was reached that met all of the workers’ concerns. The plant will remain open, making windows, for 90 days. That’s in writing.

Serious is committed to finding new ownership. Local union leaders are also interested in the possibility of a worker-run enterprise and are talking with consultants who specialize in converting factories to co-ops.

Serious said it had never been able to get a foothold in Chicago and Midwest markets. Workers for years had offered help and suggestions, to no avail.

“We started the morning with the plant closing and ended the day with work and a chance to save our jobs,” said Robles. “We are committed to finding a new buyer for the plant or if we can, buy the place ourselves and run it. Either way, we are hopeful.”

CANADIAN LABOUR-SUDBURY:

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR THE SUDBURY STRIKERS:

Molly has mentioned the strike against Vale Inco in Sudbury many times before on this blog, and I have also expressed my opinion that this struggle is very crucial insofar as a "victory" on the part of Vale Inco management,will 'set the bar' as to how managerial power will be able to determine both working conditions and compensation for years to come. The Vale Inco strike is important far beyond the immediate disagreements in Sudbury. Others have recognized this. What follows is a pdf available at the Fair Deal Now website about the Sudbury workers are supported by workers across the world.

This is undoubtedly "comforting" to those who are on strike in Sudbury. Yet it has little effect "on the ground". While recognizing that I am not immediately involved in this strike and therefore being somewhat reluctant to offer "advise" what is happening in Sudbury now seems to cry out for an escalation of tactics as production is resumed more and more via scab labour. Perhaps it's time to consider occupying the workplaces in Sudbury. Yeah, I know just how illegal this is, but it is no less illegal than the previous proposal of union leadership to block the 401 in support of their NDP friends in the Legislature.

Occupying the workplace (ie the mines and the processing facilities) brings the whole matter to an "immediate question". Will the corporation be more be reasonable when their plans for hiring scabs become an impossibility ? Can government be better persuaded to come down on the side of the workers when an occupation hits the world news ? All these things are indefinite. Molly, however, says that something new obviously has to be tried. I suggest an occupation of the mines and the processing plants.

Are people will to defy the law that is stacked against them ? The alternative is to see the strike defeated.Think about it,

Here's the story about the international solidarity from the Fair Deal Now website.

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Declaration of Solidarity with the USW (Canada)
We the 80 organizations from Brazil and 13 other countries that took part in the North
and South fact-finding tours and attended the FIRST INTERNATIONAL MEETING
OF THOSE AFFECTED BY VALE in Rio de Janeiro, declare our repudiation for
Vale’s aggressive posture toward Canadian workers. They have been on strike for 9
months against the attempt by Vale to dismantle rights fought for and won decades
ago. In order to put pressure on workers, in disloyal and arrogant fashion, Vale has
announced it will restart activities in the mines with replacement workers, i.e., scabs.
We reject this attitude and declare our full support and solidarity for the members of
the USW, on strike for their rights. We demand the immediate re-opening of
negotiations, for bargaining to be conducted in good faith and lead to a fair deal for
Canadian workers!

Vale has used the global economic crisis to put pressure on workers the world over, to
reduce pay, increase hours, fire people and reduce hard-won rights. The strike, begun
by Canadian workers in June 2009, is an important example of struggle and
resistance against the arrogance and intransigence of the company. In Brazil, workers
suffer from unjustified dismissals, lack of workplace safety and pressures of various
kinds, which have often led them to suicide. The high rates of labour outsourcing at
Vale (out of 146,000 jobs, 83,000 are indirect) mean that the company sheds its
responsibility and obligation to provide its employees with better working conditions,
pay, health and lives. It thus makes labour relations more precarious.

More than ever before, we are energized by the fact-finding tours and by the
FIRST INTERNATIONAL MEETING, and identify with and lend our solidarity
to Vale Inco workers in Canada! The fight for dignified and safe work —
whose resulting wealth belongs to all of society — is a fight that belongs to us
all!
One day longer, one day stronger!!!
Globalize the Struggle, Globalize Hope!!!!

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-MEXICO:

STAND WITH MEXICAN MINERS:

The following appeal for solidarity with Mexican mineworkers in the 'Los Mineros' union comes from the online labour solidarity site Labour Start. Note that the workers have occupied the mine.

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Mexico: Support the Cananea miners

Some 1,200 members of Mexico’s National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union, or Los Mineros, have been on strike since July 2007 at the Cananea mine over health and safety and other contract violations. Grupo Mexico – the mining giant which operates Cananea – and the Mexican government have continuously tried to end the strike and crush the union. The Government of Mexico has threatened and jailed union leaders, illegally frozen union bank accounts and failed to investigate or prosecute assassinations of union members. On February 11, a federal court gave Grupo Mexico permission to fire the striking workers and terminate the labor agreement, effectively eliminating the right to strike in Mexico. The Mexican government has threatened to use armed force to gain control of Cananea. The Los Mineros members at Cananea are resolved to continue occupying the mine until a fair labour agreement is reached. Los Mineros is one of the strongest and most democratic trade unions in Mexico.For more information see the ICEM and IMF websites.

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The letter:

Please go to this link to send the following letter of protest to the Mexican government.

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We support Los Mineros in their fight for justice against the Mexican government and the attack on labor and human rights posed by Grupo México throughout the country, and specifically at Cananea. We call on the Mexican government to withdraw its threats to use armed force in Cananea and instead seek a peaceful solution to the conflict that respects the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike. Your government’s interference in union governance, its threatening and jailing of union leaders, freezing union bank accounts, declaring strikes illegal and failing to prosecute the killers of union leaders, are serious and unacceptable violations of basic human rights.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-IRELAND:

DUBLIN STRIKE SUPPORTERS INVADE DOCKYARD GATE:

Molly has often expressed the opinion that strikes are best carried out by the most militant methods possible, with the caveat that violence should be avoided if at all possible. In the long term view all strikes are episodes in a class war that demands both the greatest initiative on the part of the dispossessed and also the demonstration on their part of a superior moral sense.

A recent action in Dublin Ireland fulfills both these criteria. Supporters of the striking Dublin Port Workers have invaded the offices of Marine Terminals Ltd. Here's the story from the Irish Times.

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Supporters of striking port workers breach Dublin dockyard gates:

TIM O'BRIEN
IN an escalation of an eight-week dispute, supporters of striking Dublin Port workers breached dockyard gates in the south port yesterday, entering the offices of Marine Terminals Ltd.
Up to 600 marchers attended a rally in protest against Marine Terminals’ demands for compulsory redundancies and new pay and conditions at the cargo handling facility.

Marchers had heard that the owners of Marine Terminals Ltd, UK firm Peel Ports, had brought in outside labour, when about half of the attendance breached the company gates, shouting “Dockers in, scabs out.”

A number of people entered booking offices before a large crowd moved to the gates of a container yard, and then to Marine Terminals’ administration offices, where their way was blocked by a Garda.

Rally organisers asked the crowd to respect the Garda and not to cause any damage, while a number of speakers, including two members of Dublin City Council, addressed the crowd from the doors of the administration block.

Windows in the block were locked and blinds closed during the protest, but nearby cameras on Portakabins rotated to follow the crowd.(Oh really, I wonder how many of these cameras are set up to catch criminals in the rough areas of Dublin rather than protesters ?-Molly)

Earlier, Siptu general secretary Joe O’Flynn had told protesters that if a solution was not found to the dispute, damage to businesses in the port would spread to the wider economy.

He accused Peel Ports of “bullyboy tactics” against decent employees, many of whom had worked in the company for years.

Mr O’Flynn said the company has consistently set its face against serious engagement with the workers, “steamrolling through mass redundancies and threatening further job losses, as well as cuts in pay and conditions”.

Even before the strike began, he claimed, the company had brought in strike-breakers from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“I can tell them now that we do not need investors with that mindset in Ireland and if they are not prepared to change it, they should leave now and hand over the facility to a company that will behave within decent business norms,” he said. (Uh, say "duh", a much better "threat" would be to say something about handing the business over to a producers' cooperative of the dockworkers. This, of course, is beyond the present horizon of the official trade unions )

Peter Bunting, assistant general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said members would “name and shame” the “scabs” in their own communities and addressed his comments in personal terms to a Marine Terminals manager, John Rafferty.

He was also critical of the media, saying that if the unions had treated the State’s industrial relations machinery with the same disdain as Marine Terminals had, the unions would be “excoriated”.

Messages of support were read from dockers’ unions in Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands, where it was claimed members of the FNV union occupied the head offices of Peel Ports’ subsidiary BG Freight at Bondgenoten for three hours from 10am to 1pm Irish time.

FNV has also served three weeks’ strike notice on BG Freight, as required by Dutch law, to begin industrial action there if the Irish dispute is not resolved in the meantime, it was claimed.
In a statement issued after the rally, Marine Terminals Ltd said “encouraging a crowd, including children, to enter a busy industrial site is dangerous and irresponsible and as a negotiating tactic can only be counter-productive.”

The company said “unions must recognise that, for the port of Dublin to remain competitive in a deteriorating market, changes must be made. Their intransigence will only hurt their members’ interests.”

A spokesman insisted six workers had been offered in excess of €70,000, while 16 had been offered in excess of €60,000 and “the average payout is €35,000 to €40,000”.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-IRELAND:

THEY CAME AT FIVE IN THE MORNING:

A workplace occupation by employees of Thomas Cook Travel Agency was evicted by a police raid staged at 5:00 am this morning. The Thomas Cook occupation was one of the many such actions that are becoming increasingly common across the world as management takes advantage of the present economic crisis to attack their workers. Here's the story of the occupation from the Anarkismo website.

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Thomas Cook workers arrested in Dublin occupation:
Tuesday August 04, 2009 14:56 by Jack Carrigan - WSM (personal capacity)
In the early hours of the morning dozens of Gardai (Irish police) sealed off a section of the city to smash their way into the Thomas Cook offices which were being occupied by the workers resisting the attempt by management to shut down the offices. The text that follows was written before the events of this morning,

Victory for the Thomas Cook Workers is a Victory for Us All

In a bid to close its outlets in Ireland, the Thomas Cook travel agents has begun by attempting to sack 44 workers at its two offices located on North Earl St. and Grafton St. in Dublin’s city centre.

Following the announcement to the workers of the planned closure of the outlets on September 6, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) balloted members of the union to strike. The proposed strike was approved with a 100% vote in favour.

The events that have led to the present occupation began on Friday July 31, with the revelation by the company’s UK management (brought in especially for the occasion) that the offices would be closing ahead of schedule. The North Earl St. staff were brought to the Grafton St. branch for a meeting with management. Thereupon the bosses produced a letter stating that the workers were out of the job and detailing their redundancy package (five weeks per year of service, dropping to two weeks unless workers accept their demands).

It was recalled by one of the Thomas Cook workers that someone shouted, “lock in,” at which point the workers rushed for the safe room within the building that the management could not enter for lack of the required security code.

The Occupation of the Thomas Cook offices on Grafton St. has been in progress since. On Saturday Thomas cook were granted an an interim injunction, this was upheld in a high court sitting on Monday afternoon. The workers, in defiance of the over paid judges, have voted to carry on the sit in.

The workers have been eating and sleeping in the building, with some taking it in shifts to return home to recuperate. According to a second Thomas Cook worker and TSSA member, “the atmosphere is good, people aren’t going anywhere. We’re tired and hungry, but we’re staying as long as it takes.” The workers have access to a television, however, they say it has barely been switched on as they are too excited to watch it. The occupying workers have been continuously supplied with food and drinks through an upstairs window, and small employers from the local area have also been providing some assistance.

The workers at Thomas Cook are fighting for a better redundancy package. Of the approximately €700,000 offered by the company, the workers are asking for an added €300,000. This is being asked in light of the fact that the Thomas Cook boss in Ireland, Manny Fontela-Novoa was given €7m during 2009, and company profits reached £400m profit in 2008.

Gerry Doherty, General Secretary of the TSSA has stated that “If Aer Lingus can give a redundancy package of nine weeks pay for each year, and Tesco seven weeks when it made 140 people redundant at Dun Laoghaire, Thomas Cook, whose chief executive, Manny Fontenla-Novoa, received a bonus of £5 million, can certainly afford a decent redundancy package for its workers.” Mr. Doherty, while representing the workers at the High Court today is also himself expected to face charges by the Gardaí for allegedly physically removing a photographer for the Thomas Cook company from the premises on Grafton St.

The occupying workers have been supported by most of the Left, with members of Eirigí, the Socialist Party, Socialist Workers Party, Sinn Féin and the Workers Solidarity Movement present at varying times since the start of the occupation. The culmination of this support, so far, has been the solidarity demonstration on August 3. Attended by approximately 200 people members of the Left, trade unions and the general public, the demonstration was prepared in order to obstruct a High Court order for the workers to leave the premises by 2pm on the day. While over 100 people remained on the demonstration throughout the afternoon in order to blockade the office from invading court bailiffs and Gardaí, the state’s agents failed to arrive.

According to demonstrator and member of the Workers Solidarity Movement, Donal ó Fállúin, “the fighting spirit of the Irish workers is alive and well. It’s still fresh in our minds how the Waterford Crystal workers took action, as well as the Ford / Visteon workers in Belfast, and now we see a similar occupation in the heart of the capital. It’s great to see people taking direct action and not relying on politicians.”

The workers at Thomas Cook in Ireland are simply demanding a larger redundancy package. The bosses, however, know that a victory for the workers means something greater than an additional €300,000, so they will fight the workers to the bitter end. They know that a victory for the Thomas Cook workers would set a precedent for workers everywhere, that you can take collective action and that direct action gets the goods. The workers are continuing their occupation until their demands are met. A victory for the Thomas Cook workers, is a victory for the working class and is a victory for us all.

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The workers arrested at the occupation have all been released without penalty by a judge no doubt aware of the political implications of their case. Here's the story from the Irish Times via the Labour Start website.

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Thomas Cook workers released:
IRISH TIMES REPORTERS
Former staff of Thomas Cook who were arrested this morning after staging a sit-in at the company's shop in Grafton Street in breach of a High Court order have been released without penalty after they purged their contempt of court.

The protesters appeared before Mr Justice Michael Peart as a large number of supporters staged a protest outside the Four Courts.

Mr Justice Peart ordered that group of 27 workers, along with officials of the Transport Salaried Staff’s Association be released from custody. People before Profit Councillor Richard Boyd Barrett, Socialist Party Councillor Matthew Waine and PBP volunteer Sara O’Rourke were also freed. The judge said that while the breach of the order was unlawful, given the undertakings the court received he decided it was not necessary to commit anyone to prison or to impose a fine.

Mr Justice Peart, acknowledging that the workers had felt badly treated by their employers, said that in a democratic society the rule of law “cannot be broken” or else there would be “anarchy.”(and we can't have that now can we ?-Molly) However the Judge said that he was satisfied that the undertakings given by all parties was sufficient to purge their contempt.

Mr Justice Peart had ordered their arrest when they refused to obey a court order issued on Saturday for them to vacate the premises. The staff, who are in dispute with the company over a redundancy package, had ignored advice from lawyers and their union to comply with the terms of the court order.

They were arrested at the Grafton Street premises before dawn this morning and taken to the Bridewell Garda station.

A Garda spokesman confirmed that a woman who is eight months pregnant was the first person to be removed from the branch. She was admitted to the Coombe hospital on the advice of a doctor, where she later gave birth to a girl named Chelsea.

The ex-staff occupied the premises after being told by management on Friday afternoon that the shop would be shut immediately as a result of actions taken by the TSSA which included a public protest against the terms of a redundancy deal offered to 77 Thomas Cook staff.

The shop and another, Direct Holidays, a subsidiary in Talbot Street, were due to shut on September 6th, but the closure date for the Grafton Street branch was brought forward.

The staff were holding out for a redundancy deal which would give them eight weeks per year of service. The company is currently offering five weeks per year of service.

The former workers claim that Thomas Cook is a hugely profitable company which paid its chief executive £7 million last year and can afford an enhanced redundancy deal.

Unite - the union whose members staged a seven week occupation at Waterford Crystal earlier this year - called this morning’s removal of workers from the Thomas Cook store as “a dark stain on the history of industrial relations in Ireland.”

“These are ordinary working people standing up for their rights”, said Unite regional secretary Jimmy Kelly. “They have a right to be treated with respect and for their employer to hold to a standard of engagement that in this case has merely been cast aside.

CANADIAN LABOUR-SOUTHERN ONTARIO:

CIVIC WORKER STRIKES IN ONTARIO:

The strike of city workers in Windsor Ontario has now now entered the realm of "months" while that of city workers in Toronto is working towards the one month post. The provincial government of Ontario has been reluctant to legislate the workers involved back to work. Molly suspects that this is because, in a climate of economic crisis, the province hopes that the end result of the strike will be the "breaking" of the unions involved. Perhaps the conservative provincial government is more realistic than the so-called "leftist" administration of Toronto who no doubt would welcome any face saving intervention from the provincial government.

As these strikes drag on and more are threatened (see below) Molly's main question is how can the workers involved bring the situation to a successful conclusion, and do more "radical" tactics have to be employed. Molly is a "libertarian socialist". What that means in plain English is that she believe that the majority of the economy should be "socialized", not by nationalization, but rather by converting it to producers' cooperatives. I have often harped on this blog about the utility of "workplace occupations", and there is little doubt that these tactics are much more effective than traditional picketing and strike action in bringing the bosses to heel. can these be used in a 'public service' situation ? I'm agnostic about this, but it is something to consider. On a greater note, is it possible that the public services of various cities could be better delivered by self-managed workers' cooperatives ? Could garbage collection, for instance, be better managed by a cooperative in which the workers are the "shareholders", rather than having it managed either as a government enterprise or a private business ? It may be a thought to consider as these strikes drag on and on.

Could a producers' cooperative be "competitive" with private enterprise. First of all it would be better for the consumer than a government monopoly simply because it would automatically shed hugely expensive layers of bureaucracy. Its costs would also be transparent, unlike present municipal operations. I personally believe that, in the end, it would also be competitive vis-a-vis private contractors because there would be no need to produce profit for non-workers.

Is such a "solution" in the interests of the workers involved. I am not too sure of this. Setting out on your own as a cooperative involves the same sort of willingness to take risks as is involved in setting out in business on your own. Could the benefits so far gained from previous city contracts be preserved ? Maybe yes. Maybe no. The balance of whether taking such a risk is worthwhile depends upon just how savage the city administrations want to be. What Molly suggests, without demanding any ideological certainty from the people involved, is that the workers in these situations do some calculations as to the costs and benefits of trying something quite different. Not being immediately involved it is hard for me to suggest any firm way to go. All that i suggest is that there is an alternative to simply holding out on strike. Should people want to "take the risk" the FIRST action would be workplace occupations.

OK, that's the ideological prologue. Here's the news from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) about the latest offer from Windsor city workers to resolve the dispute in their city.

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CUPE puts settlement to City of Windsor:
Negotiations between locals 82 and 543 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the City of Windsor have been adjourned today.

The union has put forward a proposal to resolve the labor dispute and have requested the employer bargaining committee to bring the proposal for settlement to City council members.
No details of the proposal will be released by either party at this time.

CUPE local 82, representing outside workers, have been on strike since Wednesday, April 15th. Their colleagues of local 543, the inside workers, joined the picket line on Saturday, April 18th.

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The antagonism between city administrations and their workers is hardly confined to the cities-Toronto and Windsor- in which there are active strikes. Many other cities, in Ontario and elsewhere are presently in conflict with their workers, either in contract negotiations or in a "propaganda war". The claims of city adminstrations actually have very little to do with the present financial crisis. In some cases, such as here in Winnipeg, they are the long standing result of a "tax freeze". In some cases there is no "crisis whatsoever. In some the "crisis" is the result of civic give-aways to private interests In others there is no "crisis" to speak of, and the "crisis" is only a bargaining excuse. Where there is not a strike situation Molly's "radical remedy" of a producer cooperative obviously has less appeal- to say the least. I would, however, like to implant this idea as an alternative to consider.

Here's another story from CUPE about yet another city in southern Ontario where the city is trying to download a real or fictitious crisis onto its workers.

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Open letter to the Mayor and Council of the City of Brantford:

Dear Mayor Hancock and Councillors Littell, Kinneman, Sless, Bucci, McCreary, Martin, Carpenter, Calnan, Bradford and Ceschi-Smith:

We are writing on behalf of over 500 Brantford city workers who provide vital public services to the residents of our city.

The unions representing public works, housing, welfare, libraries, water and hydro, city transportation and parks and recreation workers have formed a Labour Coalition to stand up to the City’s public positions against unionized workers and their collective agreements.

Collectively we are requesting that city leaders stop using the recession to target workers and our collective agreements. As city workers and long-time residents of our community, we are happy to work with senior elected officials and management to overcome this global economic downturn. But we will not participate in any actions that undermine the collective bargaining process including the City’s request to open up existing collective agreements.

We are fully aware of the global economic downturn that is affecting everyone. We remind you this global recession was not caused by workers. We expect the leaders of this city to show leadership and work with us to find innovative ways to overcome this downturn. Targeting unionized workers and undermining the collective bargaining process is simply a non starter and could set back labour relations for years to come.

As city workers and full-time residents of our community we know intimately the strength, vibrancy and the current and potential growth of City of Brantford. So it came as a surprise and disappointment when senior management shared the City’s ‘Economic Position and Budget Direction’ report with us.

We question the ‘doom and gloom’ picture the report tries to portray. This predominantly negative report seems to be missing important sections including current stimulus activities (such as the approved federal stimulus plan for the re-build of the Wayne Gretzky Arena and others that create local jobs) and a pro-active strategy by the City to combat this economic downturn. Surely a report of this nature should show a full and complete picture including jobs created in growth sectors and what the leaders plan to do to attract new investment to lead us out of this economic wilderness.

As public servants, we are happy to help senior leaders and work with management to outline the current growth in our diversified economy (a pro-active diversification strategy adopted by the City to combat the recession from the early 90’s) that is not identified in the report and help you find savings including bringing back many public services that have been contracted out to private companies that cost more to the city. This is an opportunity to bring these contracted services in-house so the city can have cost savings with more control and greater accountability over public services.

As requested by the City, we are in the process of identifying savings that will help the city finances and will be happy to share this with you once our report is completed.

In closing, this coalition is urging elected officials and senior management to work respectfully with city workers. As city workers begin negotiations on Monday, July 13, 2009 we expect a fair bargaining process that will lead us to fair collective settlements.

Working together, like we have done with our coalition, is the positive solution to move the City of Brantford forward.
Respectfully,
The City of Brantford Labour Coalition
Phil Hotte, President of Amalgamated Transit Union 685

Ryan Hantz, Vice-President of International Brotherhood of Electrical (Power) 636

John Longo, President of International Brotherhood of Electrical (Water) 636

Jeff Van Wyk, President of CUPE 181

Jane Davidson, City Hall Unit Chair of CUPE 181

Angelo Mancini, Parks, Cemeteries and Recreation Unit Chair of CUPE 181

Glen Quackenbush, Public Works Unit Chair of CUPE 181

Karen Gamble, Library Unit Chair of CUPE 181

Shawn MacKeigan, Ontario Works Brant Unit Chair of CUPE 181

Anne Derosse, Housing Unit Chair of CUPE 181
cope491

CANADIAN LABOUR:

TORONTO HOMECARE WORKERS OCCUPY OFFICES OF COMMUNITY ACCESS CENTRE:

Since initiating strike action workers employed by the Toronto Community Access Centre have gone on to occupy the offices of the organization in the face of massive layoffs. As has been predicted here at Molly's Blog such workplace occupations are indeed becoming more and more frequent in these tough economic times as workers look for extra leverage as traditional methods fail to pressure the bosses. The workers involved are represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1. The following story is from a press release by the SEIU, via the Ontario section of the Anarchist Black Cat discussion forum.

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TORONTO, ONTARIO-- Home care workers and their supporters occupied the headquarters of the Toronto Community Access Centre today after learning that 350 women and men who work for Red Cross were going to lose their jobs because they exercised their right to bargain for a better contract.

"These women and men are trying to improve their lives and the quality of the home care system. No one should lose their job for that," said Louise Leeworthy an SEIU home care worker. "We've been taking strike action for over a month and not a single person with essential health needs has gone without support. Home care workers in Toronto haven't missed a day of work."

Last night, SEIU was informed by Red Cross management that they would be firing 350 home care workers in the Toronto-area after the Toronto Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) declared that they would be switching to other providers. Camille Orridge, the CEO of Toronto CCAC, claimed that they decision was a result of Red Cross home care workers decision to take strike action.

Members of SEIU Local 1 Canada employed by Red Cross have been in a legal strike position since March. Rotating one-day strikes have taken place in communities across Ontario. All clients with essential health needs have received the same regular care. No strike action has been taken in Toronto.

Home care workers have chosen to take strike action after years of poor work conditions. While the government has set a "minimum wage" of $12.50 an hour - home care workers are only paid for a fraction of the hours in their work day. Home care providers spend as much as a third of their day travelling from client to client - time that no home care agency provides real compensation for. Statistic Canada calculates a "low income cut off" annually. In 2006, a single mother in Toronto with one child had to earn $21,384 a year to be above that cut-off. Many home care workers don't earn this much. By contrast, Camille Orridge, the CEO of the Toronto CCAC, receives over $180,000 in annual compensation.

"I'm not asking for a six-figure salary," said Leeworthy. "All we want is to be able to do our job."

CANADIAN LABOUR:

FOURTEEN MONTH LOCKOUT SETTLED AT LE JOURNAL DE QUÉBEC:

As promised in the last post there are a few matters arising from recent events in Québec City that I'd like to expand on. The first is the present situation of my source Media Matin Québec . This link is the website and online version of a free newspaper that has been distributed since April 22, 2007 by the locked out workers of Le Journal de Québec five days a week. This dispute pitted the workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) against the Sun Media Corporation and its parent company Québecor. When the workers were locked out they began to publish their own newspaper, Media Matin Québec, and they eventually launched an online version. As of today the online version is still operating.

Why did Molly describe this initiative as "hopeful" ? First of all because it went beyond the usual round of tactics that happen during most strikes and lockouts into the sort of moves that Molly considers to be necessary preliminaries to the building of the sort of libertarian socialism that she favours. What was proven was that the workers at Le Journal de Québec could do the work of producing and distributing a newspaper without the direction of the bosses. If there is to be any real socialism it has to be a socialism that not only has no private owners but much more importantly has no managers as well. The workers at Le Journal proved it could be done. It is true that the paper produced by these workers was considerably less "weighty" than the Le Journal that management continued to produce during the lockout with the help of scab labour. The "means of production" are, after all, the "means of production", but the efforts of these people showed that it is indeed possible to set up an alternative even without the ultimately more effective tactic of plant occupations and resuming production during the occupation.

The contrast between the "somewhat" successful alternative that the workers produced and what they could have done if they had occupied the workplace also points the way to what should be done in future disputes. As Molly has expressed ad nauseum on this blog her approach to anarchism/libertarian socialism is gradualist. It holds much room for the initiation of producers' coops from scratch, but all such initiatives are, of necessity, small scale. It also holds a lot of room for buyouts of firms using pension funds and such that would turn private firms into workers' cooperatives. The tactic of occupying workplaces and resuming production during the occupation could be a very good bargaining tool for workers to gain ownership of their own working lives. To put it at its crudest, the price goes down when the person you are bargaining with holds a bigger gun than you do. Companies unwilling to sell at anything resembling a reasonable price may see reason when the workplace is occupied and merrily chugging away without their control. Sometimes, when conditions of public support are sufficient the price may go down to zero dollars and zero cents. Yes, it can happen !! It all depends on political conditions amongst the population.

Such occupations would also be the method whereby state owned enterprises would be converted to real socialist workplaces, with a blend of worker and community control. Such a "

long march" requires vision, and the socialists who are willing to agitate, organize and educate for it over the course of decades. A long term interplay that would gradually make such occupations an accepted fact and then gradually introduce resolutions other than minor concessions on the part of the employers or better buyouts in the situation here plants are closing has at least a chance of producing a free society. The history of "revolutions" in the past century and a half has consistently shown that such a path produces no such thing. It is also a way whereby large segments of the economy could be gradually brought into the cooperative/socialist sector as opposed to the almost trivial startups of new and tiny coops. Once a cooperative/socialist sector with real financial clout was established the process would accelerate as the existing coops with resources would be able to effectively support new initiatives.

All of this precludes any militaristic fantasies of "violent revolution". Violence would undoubtedly occur during this transition when the ruling class (usually managers rather than owners) could prevail upon their drinking buddies down at the local elite clubs to send in the police. The political cost of such actions, however, could be made progressively more prohibitive by the gradual education of the population by anarchist/cooperative/socialist organizations willing to do the dirty work of long term organization and what should be an almost automatic reflex action on the part of workers involved in such disputes to make immediate and strenuous efforts to swing the local community (and beyond when needed) to their side.

Another thing that was shown by the workers of Le Journal was that decisions can be undertaken democratically- without management directions. If we are to produce a socialism worthy of the name the class power of the managers has to be addressed. Any new enterprises have to be as thoroughly democratic as possible. It would be an useless expenditure of energy to produce a sea of coops that basically reproduce the managerial ruling class of present state (and most corporate) enterprise. That can, unfortunately, happen, especially if the socialists/communalists/anarchists are blind to the viper in their midst, if they are deluded as to the nature of our present class society-managerial in Molly's opinion- and fail to set up barriers to its reproduction in the new institutions they build.

Pheew! That was a long rant. Anyways, here's the article from CUPE that began this tirade. It should be noted that, whatever the state of this tentative agreement Media Matin Québec continues to publish as of today. I personally hope it will continue.

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Settlement at Journal de Québec
CUPE members at le Journal de Québec have voted 96 per cent in favour of a tentative agreement reached late last night with Québecor.

Leadership of the three locals involved in the 438 day work stoppage had recommended their members vote for the deal.

The agreement ends the longest contract dispute ever at a french-language daily in Canada.
The tentative agreement was reached at 1am, July 2 after a 24 hour, high-level negotiating session.

Some highlights:

*Agreement goes for five years from signing date
*2.5 per cent per year salary increases
*Classified ad services brought back to Québec City (from Kanata)
*37.5 hour, four day work week (37.5 hours over five days for classified ad employees)
*One more week of vacation for temporary employees with more than 10 years service (Molly Note- "temporary employees" with "more than 10 !!!!! years of service" ????)
*Introduce a floor for the number of journalists and photographers to maintain local coverage while allowing multimedia
*Changes to press room work rules in exchange for investment in new equipment
*Early retirement program: four weeks salary per year of service up to 18 months
*Possibility of jobs at Vidéotron for affected office employees

About 280 employees of the Québec City tabloid have been on strike or locked out since April 22, 2007, the first work stoppage to hit the paper since it started in 1967.

LABOUR IRELAND:
WORKERS' OCCUPATION OF WORKPLACE PAYS OFF IN IRELAND:
According to the Irish Platformist publication 'Workers Solidarity' # 99 (see the Workers' Solidarity website for access to the original article in their magazine) an occupation of the workplace by Irish workers at the Reilly Bookbinders in Wicklow paid off for the workers involved. Last summer the boss, Richard Geraghty, told the workers at the plant that the lease was up on August 1, and that the work was to be moved to the Czech Republic. He also announced that the firm was bankrupt anhd counldn't pay them their redundancy payments as rfequired by law. All but one of the workers had 15 years service, and some had over 20 years. In previous bankruptcy manoevers Garaghty had always managed to come off in the black.



The 14 workers at Reilly Bookbinders responded with a workplace occupation on July 18th, an occupation that lasted a month. They refused to allow any equipment or customers' orders to leave the building. The workers refused some rather pathetic offers from management, and in the end they received the payments that Garaghty calimed there was no money for. the company in question had been the recipient of 900,000 in previous government largesse. It may be that the government gave one final bail-out to their dear friend by paying the workers what was owed them.



Molly has blogged on the subject of workplace occuptions her in Canada previously(see our archives for Jan 28, 2008), and she sees no reason to change her opinions. This sort of tactic is to be encouraged for many reasons, both short term and long term. In the short term it is a very effective way of putting pressure on the employer and safeguarding the bargaining position of the workers involved. In the long term it acts to draw out the idea that workers have property rights in their jobs, just as local communities have property rights in the workplaces situated in them. While individual occupations may succeed to one degree or another (understanding that it is an more effective tactic at some times rather than others) the long term effect of people adopting such tactics is beneficial for society as a whole. This is in contrast to the underhanded proposals of certain Leninists who use such events to promote the idea that such failing enterprises should be "nationalized under workers' control" (as if ANY Communist regime has EVER acceded to the sort of "workers' control" present in many so-called "capitalist" enterprises today). The Leninists who offer such things are FULLY aware of the unrealistic nature of their proposals, but they think that raising unrealistic demands (they DEMAND everything from the social-democrats and union leaders that they hope to replace) will somehow "educate" the workers involved. and thereby bring them to the sort of "radicalism" that their favoured party espouses. This is called a "Transitional Program", and its fundamental dishonesty flounders on the rocks of one simple fact. The people that such parties hope to propagandize are at least as intelligent as their would-be manipulators (often much more so), and they recognize the unrealistic nature of such "demands" from the get-go. It would be far better to be totally upfront and honest from the very beginning, and not try to turn each and every labour struggle into a recruiting drive. Yeah, the gains that can be made by certain tactics may indeed be limited, but in the long run it is better to be honest about this fact and not engage in leftist bullshit. But honesty is hardly the strong suit of communists.



In any case see the original reference for an example of how such tactics have been effective in one instance. May they be repeated to the extent that they become "normal" not just when plants are closing down but in other labour disputes.