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TechnoratiGlobal Trend for Sit-Ins and Occupations as Mass Redundancies Continue
Trade union leaders warned tonight that the direct action seen at the Vestas factory was likely to be repeated elsewhere as workers refused to "bend their knee and accept their fate" in the face of mass redundancies caused by recession.
![[A mini-climate camp is growing up around the protest at the Vestas plant. The sit-in at the Isle of Wight wind turbine plant was the latest in Britain, and is seen as a part of a wider trend of militant tactics being used as far afield as the US, South Korea and China.(Chris Ison/PA)
]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/banners_592001a.jpg "banners_592001a.jpg")
The
sit-in at the Isle of Wight wind turbine plant was the latest in
Britain, they said, and was part of a wider trend of militant tactics
being used as far afield as the US, South Korea and China.
In France, where such tactics have been more common, the manager of a British company was taken hostage by workers today in a dispute over redundancies. About 60 workers at Servisair Cargo at Roissy airport in Paris prevented the director, Abderrahmane El-Aouffir, from leaving the firm's offices after he refused to meet their demands in the latest case of so-called "boss-napping" to hit France.
The four day Vestas sit-in, which is an embarrassment both to the world's biggest turbine manufacturer and a government trying to launch a low-carbon jobs revolution, follows a similar occupation in April at three Visteon (car parts manufacturer) plants in the UK in addition to action at Waterford Crystal in Ireland and Prisme Packaging in Dundee.
Tony Woodley, the joint general secretary of the Unite union, whose members were involved at Visteon, said: "I think it is absolutely understandable and justified for workers to fight back where they feel there are no other alternatives and employers act badly." Asked whether he thought that Britain could see more sit-ins of the type seen at Vestas, where the staff are not unionised, Woodley said: "I would not be at all surprised. Labour laws do not protect people here and it's all too quick and easy for employers to sack people."
Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT union, who addressed Vestas workers yesterday, said: "The Vestas occupation, and the action at Visteon earlier this year, show that workers under attack can develop tactics that drive a coach and horses through the anti-union laws rather than just bending at the knee and accepting their fate.
"Occupations are immediate, focused and high profile and can force a dispute right into the headlines at short notice. "
In all cases of such action, the workforce came away with either improved severance arrangements or a reduction in the number of planned job cuts, trade union leaders said.
One of the more unexpected sit-ins outside the UK involved a company called Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago where a traditionally peaceful workforce bit back after managers announced a shutdown.
Workers, who assembled vinyl windows and sliding doors for a market hit hard by the housebuilding recession, refused to leave the premises, saying they were given three days instead of the legally required 60 days' notice of closure and were owed holiday and severance cash.
Even though the staff were breaking the law when they took action last December, they won support from Barack Obama, then president-elect.
"When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right," Obama said.
Union militancy of this kind in the US is rare but 500 staff at the Hartmarx suit factory in Des Plaines, Illinois, authorised a sit-in over a threat that the company's largest creditor may close it down.
In South Korea, up to 600 car workers are continuing with a two-month occupation of a plant in Pyeongtaek, south of the capital Seoul. They are in dispute with their employer, Ssangyong Motor Company, which has been in court-approved bankruptcy protection since February.
38 Comments so far
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teamsters used to serve the purpose of shutting down the country every once in a while to let the 'man' know who was boss..seems it has not happened since rr fired the air traffic controllers..i worked in italy back in the early 70' as a fix-it guy for electronics..one day i am in olivetti and the floor manager comes around and say you have to leave the building as a strike has been declared..2 hours later i was again allowed to work..as near as i could tell this strike was not local, it was national..don't know if this impressed the bossman, but almost 40 yrs. later the ability to make such a thing happen still impresses me..
ken
The owning class is in no hurry. Take your time. Starve to death occupying all the empty factories you want.
On Trying To Beat The Clock
"So many causes to fight with not enough time left to wage them one by one."
"The answer being?"
"Mass uprisings."
"Based on?"
"Yes we can."
"And then what sort of world?"
"It'll be up to us."
We need a short term general strike that will involve transportation, communications.commerce, industry and public services such as trash collection and sewerage treatment. If the French can do this on a regular basis we should also give it a try. The purpose, of course is to demonstrate to "those inside the beltway", on Wall Street and in the banks and insurance companies that we have had enough. Things need to change promptly and a general strike would demonstrate that, we the people, are not entirely without power. Those who wish to be in solidarity with such a movment should gather quitely in groups on the sidewalks so as not to provoke the police. As far as I know, the right to assemble peacefully has not been taken from us yet. The groups mentioned above are responsible, among other things, for unwinable wars in which our children are being injured and killed.
Here is a report from China. Province of Julin, part of the old industrial belt in northeast China during the communist era is undergoing massive privatisation a la Margret Thatcher. On the 24th of July the workers went on strike protesting the privatisation of Tong Gang Steel Factory because it would entail massive layoffs and poor compensation and retirement plan.
Some kind of provocation from the new management set off violent attacks by the workers on the new bosses and their toddies. The government department charged with this privatisation effort called off the privatisation deal until further negotiation.
Madame DeFarge is being cloned all over the world. She likes sharp things. She doesn't like rich pigs.
and maybe it's because people now have more time on their hands because they've been made 'redundant' or they had to have been 'let go' (the american version of redundant!).....
Don't you guys love the brit word for firings: redundancies.
I used to work for a company that had offices in Britain and they had an annoucement about people made redundant. I guess everyone has to have a PC term for everything. Just call it a firing and get it over with.
I'm curious: what is your definition of "redundant"?
Canned?
Well the way i learned it redundant is part of a system that does the same thing another part does so it can be removed without damaging the system.
The brits tho, look like found a different use for it. Kinda like here in the US we say "He got let go...". Yeah, like he he really wanted to go.
Yes, that's how we use it in civil engineering.
For the unscrupulous bottom-liners, workers are mere parts in a system.
at least they didn't get the 'firing squad'....................
The only reason I have time to comment on a Common Dreams article, such as this one, in the middle of the day, is because I'm doing a sit-in. I quit the University system, and my day job, 14 years ago this summer and decided to plant a garden.
Now I'm sitting in the middle of the garden, surrounded by ripe raspberries, strawberries, snap peas, snow peas, cilantro, basil, tomatoes, pumpkins, summer squash, winter squash, various melons, corn, sunflowers, lettuce, arugula, comfrey, onions, garlic, leeks, kale, chard, beets, radishes, carrots, borage, apples, pears, chestnuts, and more, more and more. It's really been a painless transition.
When I get hungry, I just go out there and pick something, and before I know it, I have a huge feast in front of me. Twice a week we sell the excess, and believe me, there's plenty of excess. A ton of this wonderful produce gets composted at the end of the season, because it's more than our family of four can keep up with.
We have faithful customers that wait eagerly each week to buy from our organic 2000 square foot kitchen garden. Thank the sweet Mother Earth and our good health for that!
Take my advise, QUIT YOUR CORPORATE JOB and quit buying worthless-plastic-made-in-China-shit from Wal*Mart, Home Depot and Target!
Well, don't just do something, sit there!
I love it, but where do we start? Is there a website like ''Quit your corporate job'' for Dummies?
Thanks.
Funny! You should ask GoldenMean that question. He has one about like that. But I would suggest a good place to start would be to do a web search on PERMACULTURE and go from there.
Goldenhomedesign.com
A Free educational website with philosophy, pictures and instructional videos on how to build your own home and earthen oven out of local & natural materials...
Thanks moondoggie...
What part of Montana do you live in...?
Deep in a fold in the earth, a wrinkle in time. A long, deep, heavily forested mountain valley that was filled with ice a mile thick a mere 10,000 or so years ago.
The glacier has retreated to just a few dozen remnant glaciers up in the high cirques of the headwaters. The snowfields that last through summers heat number in the several hundreds. The waters run a clear tourquoise and the rocks come in all colors of the rainbow.
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There is an endless chain of peaks running from Yellowstone to the Yukon and beyond. We're somewhere in the middle of it all. When you stand atop the peaks you are confronted with an endless sea of peaks in every direction. The heart of the Northern Rocky Mountains, the crown of the continent, the big wild.
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Thank you for the key word. I am looking right now at some very interesting PERMACULTURE websites. There is a lot to learn!
Moondoggy July 25th, 2009 2:28 pm Absolutely wonderful. You are a truly brave person and an individual. I'm trying my best to do the same, although I live in the woods and the squirrels got my garden last year. I built a greenhouse and will enlarge it if all goes well. My soil is extremely acid from the Live Oaks which predominate, but within the greenhouse, I can control the conditions, keep out the creatures and lengthen the season.
Thanks easydoesit. Look, you see that? The word "sit" is in your name. Beautiful.
I still haven't broken into the greenhouse phase yet. I just plant all kinds of things, always experimenting, finding microclimates... growing whatever cold tolerant crop that can survive our four season climate. Every year we encounter new challenges and make new discoveries, learn new lessons (and relearn old ones we forgot).
Plans are drawn up and materials are being gathered for our passive solar garden house (greenhouse), which will be the next major project on our little Montana ranch. It's going to have 16 inch thick west, north and east walls, a glass and timber south wall and a living roof. We plan to move our subtropicals out there and into a more favorable environment than our wood heated/semi-passive solar log cabin.
We too have pests, but more than just squirrels. We also have chipmunks, gophers, badgers, deer, elk, bears, hornets, wasps, aphids and mosquitoes to contend with. But we plant for diversity to attract beneficial insects. And we fence for the deer, which are about as numerous as people in some cities. I squirt cold water on the critters, which is quite effective as a deterrent; the water coming out of our well is barely a few degrees above freezing.
For the mosquitoes, we've built 2 bat houses (so far), and we wait for late July when the dragon flies magically appear to fly around gobbling them up.
Trouble is, everyone, or even a majority, can't do what you are doing.
I assume you use tools in your garden and home - probably even IC or electric powered ones. Your house probably is connected to electric power, or uses manufactured solar panels, a wind or micro-hydro turbine, and batteries. Then there is plumbing and maybe a pump, if you don't use a gravity setup from an uphill spring or such. Even if your home is hand-hewn wood from on-site trees, you probably didn't make all the nails and hardware. I presume it at least has a cast-iron wood-burning stove for heat and/or cooking.
And you use your of someone else's truck to go into town or to deliver your produce.
Also, since I'm reading your words, you even own a PC that is connected to a phone line or cable.
At some point you will probably have used or will use medical facilities.
And now you are talking about greenhouses - who will make the plate-glass and framing?
A lot of people are required to design and manufacture all the stuff that even someone living very simply uses. This means productive enterprises and factories of some sort, preferably organized on a worker-owned cooperative model, but factories and offices with people working in an organizational setting nonetheless.
So, enjoy your simple life, but don't suggest that it is a solution for a whole society.
So, pjd412, what is your point? I'll bet you use all those things you talk about. Of course we use technology. I'm typing this to you on a PC (sorry Mac users, next time it'll be a Mac) and yes, connected to a phone line. We drive to the farmers market in our 1990 Subaru rust bucket burning fossil fuels. We're humans, living in the 21st century in the United States of America.
You have to look at where I started. I was born in 1960 in suburban Southern California. So I was brought up in a manufactured environment in a middle class family of six. Like the typical American family, we watched TV, shopped at a supermarket and drove everywhere in a station wagon. My parents raised us as best they could, making sure we got a good public education and went to church on Sundays.
My life today is so far from my upbringing. Far in miles, far in years, far in so many ways I can't even begin to count the ways it is different. But much of what I learned in my early years brought me to where I am today. I learned how to garden, growing much of our own food, and how to write, draw, plan, relate to other people and more.
What we need to strive for is improvements on where we've been. As far as my carbon footprint, mine is way down from my parents. So there's an improvement. My parents use chemical fertilizers in their garden, I grow organically. My parents drive every day, I get in a car once or twice a week. My parents eat meat, I'm a vegetarian. My parents eat conventionally grown foods, I eat wild, homegrown, and organically grown foods.
My parents buy a new car every 5 years or so, I never buy a new car. I live in a 900 square-foot log cabin (logs from this land), my parents live in a 1800 square foot modern suburban house. My parents go to church on Sundays, I go skiing or hiking or biking or canoeing on Sundays, or Tuesdays, or whatever day I can. My parents had 4 kids, I've produced no kids, and helped my wife raise her daughter. My parents always vote Republican, I vote my conscience (usually Green).
The point being, I'm making improvements on my parents way of life, and that's a big step in the right direction. That's really all we can do is progress, and do a little better than those who came before us.
And as for technology: What do you suggest, I live in a cave eating grubs and clothe myself with cattails? I like technology. And so do you. We all do. We just need to learn how to make it less harmful so we don't cause so much needless suffering. We can do it. We can take the stuff our parents and grandparents invented and learn how to make it better, more organic, more biodegradable, less toxic.
And I have faith we can do it. But it would help if we weren't sending our kids off to billion-dollar-a-week wars in distant lands...
Hang in there, I'm going to give you a big reply as soon as I return from picking huckleberries in the local mountains. My ride is leaving, and I don't want to keep them waiting. Stay tuned!
With global recession begetting sit-ins and occupations, what will global recession + U.S. military stalemate (ie defeat) in Afghanistan give birth to?*
*hint, see Russian & Chinese revolutions, also Falkland Islands War.
redundant
In US-English, to call a worker "redundant" is a bit insulting. Almost as bad as calling the worker "obsolete" - which reminds me of an old "Twilight Zone" episode where obsolete people were executed on live TV. "Redundant must have a different shade of meaning in the UK.
The more polite word in the US is "laid off" or in the US government you get "RIFed" (reduction in force - yes, US government agencies really do lay people off - even bust unions).
Then there is the old "getting the pink slip" I've never seen such a pink slip though.
cute
sit-in, piss-off, split--leaving them a reminder that you are not going to take it anymore without getting pissed off again.
my dog does it all the time, and it seems to work for him.
On a more serious note--you don't think that this could be the work of the oil industry trying to sabatage the wind industry--Have you ever considered the beauty of a wind turbine--I have and it's truly awesome!
Onecaptjim,
On your serious note,I would think that if it had been oil companies laying off and giving no notice to the workers. I imagine you're thinking off the top of your head about that, because I'm guessing that being intelligent enough to self-advocate in this manner, they would also be able to discern being dupes for big oil. Remember it is not just big oil that has us by the nads, our dependence on oil is a symptom of corporatism/fascism. Worker solidarity is the only way out of this mess. And being a lowly worker does not make us intellectually incapable of grasping the BIG PICTURE>
Taking people prisoner is called kidnapping in this country. And if you do it you become a criminal.
Occupy, sit in by all means, but depriving someone else of their freedom for your political motives just makes you a criminal.
Henry8 July 25th, 2009 11:24 am...Many of these workers were deprived of their rights through a criminal government. This is not a political statement. These people are trying to survive. Fight fire with fire. They took their unions. Take one of their freedoms for a bit...let them feel the pain. The entire damn government is runaway criminal trainwreck.
The Devil likes it and laughs a hearty laugh when you get all huffy but then just tickle his feet in protest...cutting off his nuts on the other hand, has a different effect entirely.
This is worth noting.
A castration knife for use on the rich is what is needed. Make 'em all into eunuchs and we solve a hell of a lot of our problems. Just like that.
We need an International general stryke & lifetime boycott of multinational corporate products...
This newer comment utility does not automatically remove your comment
if you call for a general strike. You can use the word Zionist too.
Yes, strange isn't it?
I may get to stay TJ for a while!
TJ
NATIONAL BOYCOTT
NATIONAL STRIKE