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Communique from the Internationalists of Battaglia Comunista

Since 10.00 p.m. Thursday April 10^th the Fiat Factory of Pomigliano has been forced to halt production

A workers committee formed independently of the trades union apparatus organised the mobilisation.

Until Sunday the workers’ pickets had ensured that the strike was supported by 99% of the workforce

It was only decided on Monday April 14^th to block the passage of goods which would force the factory to shut down.

The dispute is about 316 workers claimed to be “awkward” by the firm which has decided to farm them out to the logistical centre at Nola which everyone knows is just a waiting room to redundancy.

The capitalists and their government reinforce the anti-workers’ attacks in Greece — Total war against the working class!

Letter from a young comrade from Greece

In the last few months the Greek capitalist government has carried out a great massive on the social security rights of the working class. The government party presented a bill which effectively plans to reduce pensions, the prolongation of work to 68 years for working men and women, the reduction of the supplementary benefits and of wages. That’s a terrible shock for the workers, especially the young and women. It’s very important to remember that in Greece 25% of the population live below the poverty line. With this bill the capitalists and their government want to force the workers to work until they die.

The announcement of the government’s plans provoked a considerable resistance from many sectors of the workers.

On the first of February, thousands of shop workers from the large stores came out on strike for a wage increase and better working conditions. Their situation is certainly not great, in fact besides not having an adjustment to take into account inflation, these workers are threatened with more Sunday working and the introduction of automatic tills which will lead to heavy lay offs.

Whilst being supported by the major French unions for their own purposes, (with the CGT at the head) the participation of the workers is nevertheless very high, with figures over 80% amongst the cashiers at the hypermarkets.

This strike assumes greater importance if previous episodes of struggle in the sector were much more isolated and modes. Now a significant sector of the modern European proletariat, mostly female, has shown a first important indication of reaction.

Instead of the conservative motto, “A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work!” they ought to inscribe on their banner the revolutionary watchword, “Abolition of the wages system!”

Marx, Value, Price and Profit

Reformism, as the old saying goes, is a great idea in theory, it just doesn’t work in practice. It has now been thirty eight years since the introduction of the Equal Pay Act and inequality is as widespread as ever in both the public and private sectors. Capitalism may be many things but you could never accuse it of being fair. Despite having the right to equal pay under the law, 75% of women workers in Government run councils are still underpaid and inequality in the private sector is as rife as ever. The legislators of the Equal Pay Act would no doubt be horrified to learn their law has been completely ineffectual. The trouble is, as soon as the bourgeoisie pass a law for equality they find a way to get round it.

The following article was inspired by the paper of the Italian affiliate of the International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party, Battaglia Comunista (January 2008). It reported on the dangers faced by miners around the world, every day. Much of what follows is directly translated from the article. However, the very direct threat of working underground and relying on the capitalist bosses to ensure one’s safety is only a more visible manifestation of a general reality that faces all workers. The fact that our work is directly related to an early grave is not only a problem for miners, construction workers, blue-collar labourers et al.

Murderous mines

The job of the miner is still one of the most dangerous in the world; in December several serious incidents took place in China and the Ukraine that caused the death of hundreds of workers.

These are only two amongst the most dramatic cases of recent times, death in a mine is still an everyday fact all around the world.

Striking is the Only Language the Bosses Understand!

We translate below a leaflet produced by the GIS (Gruppe Internationalister SozialistInnen), a group in Germany with which we have fraternal relations. It concerns a strike on the BVG (Berliner Verkehrsgesellschaft, which runs local transport in Berlin). In Germany, as elsewhere, the bosses use all sorts of tactics to push down wages and worsen conditions, and the unions help, rather than hinder, them in this. In this particular instance, the KAV (Kommunale Arbeitgeberverband — Municipal Employers’ Organisation) and the Senate of the City of Berlin are trying to split the workers by treating new workers differently to long term ones.

The job of the miner is still one of the most dangerous in the world, in December several serious incidents took place in China and the Ukraine that caused the death of hundreds of workers.

These are only two amongst the most dramatic cases of recent times, death in a mine is still an everyday fact all around the world. In South Africa, where the mining sector is still very important, there have been almost 200 victims over the last year and has led to the first mobilisation of miners to press for an adequate level of security. The latest slaughter of Chinese coalminers happened in the province of Yunnan and caused 18 deaths and 43 “missing” which can be added to 2.163 dead workers in 1.320 “incidents” in he first seven months of the Chinese year. The mortality rate of the Chinese coal workers is the highest in the world and is directly proportional to the growing energy needs of Chinese industry.

In Colombia the mining sector is the setting for ever more dramatic events. On the 13^th of October at Suarez, a gold mine collapsed, trapping 50 workers 21 were killed, 26 seriously injured.

The plant was ordered to be closed by the government at the beginning of September, declaring it dangerous and a health hazard. But suddenly the apparent discovery of new deposits of gold brought many of the town’s inhabitants to work in the mine, even though an imminent collapse was almost certain.

The extreme poverty in which the proletariat of the town lives is the real cause of so many people working in the mine in inhuman conditions and where above all women are often victims of serious accidents.

Even in Italy where the poverty is not so extreme as in South America, deaths at work are a daily occurrence, usually ignored by the media or used for their own ends by various national politicians.

Comment on the recent Telekom Strike from Gece Notları

The massive strike by over 26,000 Türk Telekom workers is over. After 44 days the strikers went back to work. At 1,100,000 working days lost it makes it the biggest strike in Turkish history after the 1991 miners strike. It is time to draw up a balance sheet of the events.

The first and most important lesson to be learned from this is that workers can protect their living conditions by struggling. Türk Telekom’s original offer of 4% was well below the forecasted end of year inflation figure of 7.7%. In effect Türk Telekom was offering a pay cut to its workers.

The settlement of 10% for this year, and 6.5% plus inflation next year is certainly a massive victory. Following shortly after THY workers winning a 10% increase by only threatening to strike, it gives a clear message to all workers in Turkey today. The only way to protect salaries against inflation is by unity, and collective action.

The protest of 1500 mine workers from Cananea, in Messico, is still ongoing, from the 11^th of September, and has been followed by strikes in other mines, in Zacatecas and Taxco.

Thousands of miners have been striking since July to have more decent working conditions, a minimum of security and against the repressive measures the government has taken in the confrontation with the most militant workers.

The entire town depends on the work of the miners and at the moment it is living through ever more difficult conditions; there are serious shortages of food and medicine and almost all the workers have no wages.

Nevertheless, the strikers are not giving up. They say they have no choice because they can no longer live and work in those conditions and will continue the fight.