Workers' FIghtback - Czech Wildcats/Greece On Fire Again/California Fighting
Workers' Fightback | 16.12.2009 00:31 | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements
We believe... workers know how to run our workplaces far better than business people, the government, or trade union leaders!
We aim for... workers' control over our own jobs and our own lives!
One group of car workers in the Czech Republic seem to have made a temporary gain (

"The other day my wife came home, locked herself in a room and cried. When I came to her and asked what had happened, she told me little by little how things work there and what they have to endure. She’s been bottling it up inside her heroically for almost 7 months. I can’t understand how something like this is possible in our country. When I read statements of [Czech Hyundai spokesman] Petr Vaňek I feel like I’m about to vomit. Chicanery, humiliation, threats = this is where Mr Rakovský and Mr Vaněk are heading to."
On 1st December, the pressure erupted, and twenty workers left the welding shop, taking unofficial wildcat action against compulsory overtimes, cuts to bonuses, and workplace harassment. The next day, staff at the nearby Hyundai subcontractor struck ever hour in solidarity. There was a much larger one hour strike on the 9th.
At the time of writing, it appears that Hyundai have abandoned the practice of compulsory overtime for the rest of the month (

Twelve months ago, large areas of urban Greece were ablaze, as a spontaneous uprising of young people saw massive fights with police. It was touched off by the police killing of fifteen year old Alex Grigoropolous, but the movement had its roots in the desperate conditions facing many working class Greek youths. The 6th December anniversary of Alex's death saw more conflict (


The 'conservative' government of Kostas Karamanlis did not survive the aftermath of the uprising, and was forced into an early general election. This was largely because the Greek elite did not believe his party could implement the drastic cuts needed to balance the budget in one of the economies worst hit by the economic collapse. Now 'socialist' PM George Papandréou has allowed the European Union to dictate a drastic austerity programme, which will ferociously tear into jobs, wages and conditions (

In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is talking tough on student resistance to his cuts agenda, and has labelled students' behaviour as "terrorism" (

As has been reported previously, students have staged numerous protests and occupations. Last Friday however, up to seventy-five demonstrators are said to have surrounded Berkeley Chancellor Robert Bergenau’s mansion following a violent campus eviction, and eight were arrested for allegedly causing property damage, as well as fighting police (


This provocative use of the 'T-word' has inflamed press coverage of a relatively minor incident, obscuring the reality that his policies - and those of elites around the world - are part of anunprecedented attack on working class living standards. If the beginnings of a global rebellion this year are any guide, it will not go unanswered in 2010.
Workers' Fightback
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