Prol-Position-News #1 out now!

You can download the newsletter as a printable pdf-file from www.prol-position.net (about 240 kB).

The contents of this issue:

Editorial: Why such a project now?
Wildcat strike at GM/Opel in Bochum, Germany
GM/Saab policies in Sweden
New wage-model at VW, Germany
Last note on VW
Protests against welfare-reform in Germany
Update on Hartz IV/welfare-reform
Struggles of migrant workers in Paris, France
Travel report: More struggles in France
Aviation: Two struggles in Britain and Belgium
Construction: Struggle at Laing O’Rourke/Britain

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EDITORIAL:

This is the first issue of the Prol-position Newsletter. The newsletter is an open project discussing and circulating articles from different regions, translated from different languages, and reporting on different spheres of exploitation and proletarian struggle around the world.

Why such a project now?

Today, many struggles have an international dimension. The people involved face a social and international context mediated by capital which is turned against them. Capital and workers themselves move faster than their struggles spread:
* Migrant agricultural workers are being replaced by other newer migrants,
* Workers in older core-industries are put under pressure by (threatened) relocation or closure,
* Workers in new factories and development areas are threatened by flexible work-rules and unemployment,
* The unemployed see themselves forced into more intense flexibility and into undermining work standards,
* Workers in many production units are being played off against each other by intensive transportion and new communication technologies...
If we want to understand these trends and support the struggles taking place under these circumstances, we have to acknowlege and analyse their international dimension - and organize an international debate about them.
Unions and other forms of workers’ representation clearly remain an obstacle for further development of struggles. By narrowly focusing on the interests of single companies, professions, nationalities etc., unions can do nothing but widen the divisions within the class. They need to stick to forms of representation and delegation to negotiate, and therefore have to suppress tendencies towards self-organisation and autonomy within the struggles. They do this, for instance, by retaining and manipulating information or by releasing reports merely glorifying struggles (whether lost or won).
There is also growing potential for links between the so-called social movements, the new forms of organizing they develop and the direct action of proletarian struggles. Some of these trends we could see within the so-called antiglobalization movement. We want to circulate reports about experiences of self-organisation within these conflicts, understand their material conditions, and acknowledge their potentials and difficulties.
Several projects, newspapers, etc. now operate on a regional or countrywide level, engaging in struggles and writing about them. Most only write in their own language. So far cross-national exchange on these experiences beyond one country is limited by language barriers or takes place individually between those who speak a couple languages and thus is rarely coordinated or has few practical consequences. Despite international meetings, the internet, etc., information on struggles in many countries is hard to get. We don’t expect to solve these problems merely by translating more articles into a more widely spoken language (English), but we think this newsletter can help by spreading inside views on some struggles and facilitating debates around them.

What will be the newsletter‘s content?

We will translate and write articles on struggles in different regions of the world. For the newsletter itself we will focus on reports on proletarian struggles analysing their material conditions, experiences and difficulties - rather than just announcing the mere existance of the conflict. Background information and other usefull material will be published in the archive section of the website (www.prol-position.net).
We want to collect enough material to publish the newsletter on a bi-monthly basis and in-between when necessary. We will hold an editorial meeting before each edition to discuss the proposed articles and the political issues, the class situation etc.

How can you get involved?

You can send us articles, interviews, reports. We wrote a rough questionaire on struggles which can (!) be used as a guideline (also on www.prol-position.net). We are also interested in background information relating to the conflicts, which we will archive or use for the introduction.
You can also help us by translating and proofreading material. Most of us aren’t native English-speakers (and we can only speak a couple of languages), so it would be great if people could volunteer to help with these tasks.
You can forward the newsletter-link to other people, and you can print out and photocopy the newsletter and give copies to friends, co-workers, strikers, and other workers. Or you can take copies to bookstores, hand them out on meetings and conferences...
Finally, you can take part in the discussion and exchange via Email. The newsletter will be our main focus for now, but if people feel the need to discuss and share material through an email list, we will consider setting another one up. Till then you can email us at:  ppnews@prol-position.net

About this issue!

The articles of this first newsletter address struggles in Western Europe in the second half of 2004. The articles about the wildcat strike at the automobile plant of Opel/GM in Bochum, Germany, the policies of Saab/GM in Sweden and the new wage model at VW, Germany describe the attacks on the (old) centers of workers’ power and capital accumulation, attacks that at least in Germany the automobile workers had previously been able to ward off. In 2004 Germany saw a major breakthrough for capital. Capital managed to impose longer working hours and lower wages in industrial strongholds and big companies like Siemens, Daimler Crysler, DB (German railways) and Karstadt. The wildcat strike at Opel/GM Bochum was an unexpected response by the workers; a response mobilising a united front of employers, politicians and union bosses which managed by heavy-handed tactics to quash it.
While the capitalists are using mass unemployment to put more pressure on both those who have legal jobs and those who don’t, so far we haven’t really seen any collective expression of resistance among those who are temporarily unemployed. The „Monday-Demonstrations“ in Germany against the welfare-reform Hartz IV in Germany surprised everyone and in the beginning at least were in large part self-organized. The protests captured international attention, but very few reports circulated abroad grasped the initial strength and spontaneity of the demonstrations, their internal dynamics and ultimate weaknesses. This article summarizes the different stages of the movement in various cities and describes its internal composition. We added a short update on the current situation around the introduction of the reduced unemployment benefit, the so-called One-Euro-jobs, and attempts to fight against this attack.
The analysis of the solidarity commitee supporting the strike of immigrants working in the kitchen of Frog Pubs in Paris quite clearly shows the interaction between immigrant communities, the strike itself, the union and external strike supporters. We think it’s important to reopen the debate on the question of external strike support, a debate that we saw raised on a more serious level during the strikes of Arcade, McDonalds and Pizza Hut workers in Paris in 2002, all strikes which took place in small shops and often led by immigrant workers.
The travel report from France discusses experiences at three different sites of struggle during Fall 2004. The trip starts at a picket line in front of a McDonald’s branch in Paris, goes south to an assembly on the day of action held against the Nestlé factory closure, and ends in the strike kitchen of the occupied software centre of Schneider Electrics in Grenoble.
The short reports from demonstrations of DHL-employees in Bruxelles and the picket line of baggage handlers at the airport in Gatwick describe two examples of conflicts taking place in the aviation sector over the past few years. In the introduction to that article you will find raised some questions on the increasing political importance of this sector in the globalized class struggle.
The final article describes the struggle of contruction workers in Britain working on some big sites like the cargo rail link through the Channel Tunnel. One company, Laing O’Rourke, tried to change the workers’ status by turning formerly self-employed workers into Laing employees. For the workers this change in status meant major pay cuts, worse working conditions and more leverage on the bosses’ side to pressure workers’ resistance. After meeting the workers, some activists from the so-called anti-capitalist movement supported the struggle by occupying cranes on one construction site.

Enjoy!

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