POSIBILIDADES RADICALES-en la Huelga de Verizon
El pasado 7 de agosto, 45.000 em-pleados de Verizon fueron a la huelga por casi tres semanas sobre las demandas de la empresa a que los empleados con-tribuyan al pago de sus planes de salud, a que la companfa sea permitida a des-pedir trabajadores de manera mas arbi-trariamente, a lossalarios estar ligados al rendimiento laboral, y la suspension de intereses en pensiones por el resto del ano. Dos sindicatos, los Trabajadores de Gomunicaciones de America (GWA) y la Hermandad Internacional de Trabajadores Electricos (IBEW), de declara-ron en huelga para defender sus sala-rios y beneflcios. El dfa despues de un mitin en Rhode Island donde hubo 800 trabajadores representados por el IBEW. Vistiendo sus camisetas rojas del sindicato, y letreros huelguistas colgados de sus cuellos, empezaron la huelga con un planton de veinticuatro horas al dia.
Plantones, sin embargo, no fue todo lo que estaba sucediendo. Algunos trabajadores atacaron a la companfa a traves de ac-cion directa clandestina. Verizon informo de decenas de casos de sabotaje. Algunos trabajadores danaron o destruyeron lineas telefonicas de Verizon a traves de todo el noreste del pais. Esto fue conde-nado oflcialmente por la burocracia sin-dical. Grupos comunitarios fueron a la ayuda de Verizon tambien, organizando eventos como "Miercoles Inalambricos," donde simpatizantes de los sindicatos iban a las tiendas de Verizon y marcharon fuera de ellas para disuadir a el publico de apoyar financieramente a la empresa.
Despues de alrededor de tres semanas, sin embargo, la Union suspendio la huelga. El dfa despues de un gran mitin en Providence, Rhode Island al que mas de 400 personas en camisas rojas y otros con letreros sindicalistas asistieron, los trabajadores tuvieron que volver a tra-bajar sin contrato alguno,. iQue, enton-ces, fueron algunas de las limitaciones a la estrategia del sindicato que causo a el liderazgo a cancelar esta huelga con tan-to apoyo popular antes deganar primero el contrato?
Una de las mayores preocupacio-nes era la seguridad financiera de los mismos miembros del sindicato. Ni la GWA ni la IBEW tenfan un fondo de huelga dispuesto a aminorar la carga. Ademas, solo una parte de la fuerza de trabajo de Verizon esta sindicalizada, la parte que trabaja las lineas terrestres de la empresa. El servicio inalambrico y los empleados en sus tiendas no don parte del sindicato. Gon una mayor parte de la sociedad organiza-da, los sindicatos podrfan negociar con una posicion mas fuerte. Su estrategia de plantones no infligio dano financiero suflcientemente fuerte a la empresa, ademas que las medidas de accion directa fueron denunciadas por la dirigen-cia del sindicato, y por lo tanto no fueron hechas de manera suficientemente generalizadas.
La ineflcaz y minimalizada estrategia de plantones,y la falta de un fondo de huelga son tipicos de los sindicatos principales del pais, y su estructura an-tidemocratica y burocracia tampoco ayu-dan. Parecio como si el liderazgo prin-cipalmente deseaba permanecer cono administradores del trabajo, en algun lugar entre los trabajadores y la admin-istracion de empresas - y su resultado es que la tropas no tienen una estrategia ganadora. Lamentablemente, debido a la brevedad de la huelga, fue diffcil para los radicales realmente intervenir y par-ticipar con las tropas sindicalistas hasta el punto que poder haber influenciado el planteamiento de algunas medidas mas drasticas, aunque si hubo oportunidad de dejar ideas flotando alrededor de como ayuda a los trabajadores que se sienten impotentes en una sindicato de esta fn-dole.
Miembros de Lucha Gomun partic-iparon a traves de todo el noreste en las lineas de huelga para apoyar y de-sarrollar relaciones con los huelguistas de Verizon. Nosotros escuchamos y argumentamos por una estrategia ganadora al lado y para algunos de los trabajadores mas militantes, y vimos posibilidades radicales de potencial cre-cimiento de consensos de reforma, sabotaje, ocupaciones y plantones. Gon esta huelga ahora finalizada, lamejor manera de avanzar para cualquier radical es el conseguir organizar mas trabajadores para hacer el trabajo que los sindicatos de empresa no quieren, o no pueden hacer.
Showing posts with label victory to the verizon workers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label victory to the verizon workers. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
From The "Libertarian Communist Federation " Newspaper #6- RADICAL POTENTIALS IN THE VERIZON STRIKE-Victory To The Verizon Workers!
Markin comment:
While it is the duty of every pro-labor militant to support striking workers ( picket lines mean don't cross) it is extremely hard to intervene and agitate from the outside as we find out every time a strike happens (far too few of late). Thus the immediate necessity is to create rank and file caucuses of the militants inside the unions to fight the union bureaucracy's do-nothing strategies and to fight to to extend the union's reach by organizing the whole industry in one industry-wide union. Easy enough to say but hard work ahead if the communications unions are to survive in this tough global tech market.
RADICAL POTENTIALS IN THE VERIZON STRIKE
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Common-Struggle-Libertarian-Communist-Federation/292180050829038
Starting August 7, 45,000 Verizon employees were on strike for nearly three weeks over the company's demands that employees contribute to healthcare premiums, the company be allowed to more easily fire workers, wages be tied to job performance, and pension accruals be halted for the year. Two unions, the Gommunication Workers of America (GWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), took to the picket line to defend wages and benefits. In Rhode Island there were 800 workers represented by IBEW. Wearing their red IBEW shirts and picket signs around their necks, they began the strike with twenty-four hour picket lines.
Picketing, however, was not all that was happening. Some workers attacked the company through clandestine direct action. Verizon reported dozens of cases of sabotage. Workers were damaging and destroying Verizon phone lines throughout the Northeast. This was officially shunned by the union bureaucracy. Community groups went to the aid of Verizon was well, organizing events such as "Wireless Wednesdays" when supporters of the unions would go to Verizon stores and picket to discourage people from financially supporting the company.
After around three weeks, however, the union called off the strike. The day after a large rally in Providence, Rhode Island, to which over 400 people in red shirts and union signs attended, the workers were back to work without a contract. What, then, were some of the limitations to the union strategy that caused the leadership to call off the largely-successful and popular strike without winning the contract first?
One of the biggest worries was the financial security of the union members themselves. Neither the CWA nor the IBEW had a strike fund prepared to ease the burden. Only part of the Verizon workforce is in the union - the landline part of the company. Wireless and retail are left without a union. With a larger part of the company organized, the unions would have been in better positions. Their strategy of picketing did not inflict enough financial damage onto the company and direct action measures were denounced by the union leadership and thus were not widespread enough.
The lack of a strike fund and narrowed strategy of picketing are typical of business unions, alongside their bureaucracy and undemocratic structure. It appeared as though the leadership mainly wanted to remain managers of labor, somewhere in between the workers and the companies management - the result being the rank and file were kept from creating a winning strategy. Unfortunately due to the shortness of the strike, it was difficult for radicals to really intervene and engage with the rank and file to the point there some action could be taken, but still there were ideas floating around on how to aid workers who felt powerless in a business union.
Members of Common Struggle all across the Northeast participated in the picket lines to support and build relationships with the striking Verizon workers. We listened and agitated for a winning strategy with some of the most militant workers, and saw radical possibilities in potential reform caucuses, sabotage, occupations, and sit downs. With the strike over, the best way to go forward for any radical is to get more workers organized - to do what the business unions will not or cannot do.
While it is the duty of every pro-labor militant to support striking workers ( picket lines mean don't cross) it is extremely hard to intervene and agitate from the outside as we find out every time a strike happens (far too few of late). Thus the immediate necessity is to create rank and file caucuses of the militants inside the unions to fight the union bureaucracy's do-nothing strategies and to fight to to extend the union's reach by organizing the whole industry in one industry-wide union. Easy enough to say but hard work ahead if the communications unions are to survive in this tough global tech market.
RADICAL POTENTIALS IN THE VERIZON STRIKE
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Common-Struggle-Libertarian-Communist-Federation/292180050829038
Starting August 7, 45,000 Verizon employees were on strike for nearly three weeks over the company's demands that employees contribute to healthcare premiums, the company be allowed to more easily fire workers, wages be tied to job performance, and pension accruals be halted for the year. Two unions, the Gommunication Workers of America (GWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), took to the picket line to defend wages and benefits. In Rhode Island there were 800 workers represented by IBEW. Wearing their red IBEW shirts and picket signs around their necks, they began the strike with twenty-four hour picket lines.
Picketing, however, was not all that was happening. Some workers attacked the company through clandestine direct action. Verizon reported dozens of cases of sabotage. Workers were damaging and destroying Verizon phone lines throughout the Northeast. This was officially shunned by the union bureaucracy. Community groups went to the aid of Verizon was well, organizing events such as "Wireless Wednesdays" when supporters of the unions would go to Verizon stores and picket to discourage people from financially supporting the company.
After around three weeks, however, the union called off the strike. The day after a large rally in Providence, Rhode Island, to which over 400 people in red shirts and union signs attended, the workers were back to work without a contract. What, then, were some of the limitations to the union strategy that caused the leadership to call off the largely-successful and popular strike without winning the contract first?
One of the biggest worries was the financial security of the union members themselves. Neither the CWA nor the IBEW had a strike fund prepared to ease the burden. Only part of the Verizon workforce is in the union - the landline part of the company. Wireless and retail are left without a union. With a larger part of the company organized, the unions would have been in better positions. Their strategy of picketing did not inflict enough financial damage onto the company and direct action measures were denounced by the union leadership and thus were not widespread enough.
The lack of a strike fund and narrowed strategy of picketing are typical of business unions, alongside their bureaucracy and undemocratic structure. It appeared as though the leadership mainly wanted to remain managers of labor, somewhere in between the workers and the companies management - the result being the rank and file were kept from creating a winning strategy. Unfortunately due to the shortness of the strike, it was difficult for radicals to really intervene and engage with the rank and file to the point there some action could be taken, but still there were ideas floating around on how to aid workers who felt powerless in a business union.
Members of Common Struggle all across the Northeast participated in the picket lines to support and build relationships with the striking Verizon workers. We listened and agitated for a winning strategy with some of the most militant workers, and saw radical possibilities in potential reform caucuses, sabotage, occupations, and sit downs. With the strike over, the best way to go forward for any radical is to get more workers organized - to do what the business unions will not or cannot do.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Victory To The Verizon Workers-FIGHT FOR GOOD JOBS—AND STAND UP TO CORPORATE GREED
FIGHT FOR GOOD JOBS—AND STAND UP TO CORPORATE GREED
Send a message to Verizon: Stop assaulting the middle class.
Verizon has made tens of billions in profits and its top executives walked away with $283 million in salary and bonuses in the last four years. But when it comes to the 45,000 workers who have made their success possible, Verizon cries broke.
Verizon has sent thousands of American jobs overseas and wants to outsource even more, gut pensions, charge current and retired employees thousands of dollars more for health benefits—even cut disability benefits for workers injured while doing their jobs.
It's wrong. But together we have the power to make it right.
HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Call Congress NOW: 888-768-6167
Tell them to support the the U.S.Call Center Worker and Consumer
Protection Act (H.R. 3596)—and stop allowing companies like Verizon
to ship good jobs overseas.
Help spread the word:
Visit StopVerizonGreed.org to learn how to take action.
Don't stand by—stand up. It's time for Verizon to stop trying to destroy the-middle class.
A message from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
www.StopVerizonGreed.org
Send a message to Verizon: Stop assaulting the middle class.
Verizon has made tens of billions in profits and its top executives walked away with $283 million in salary and bonuses in the last four years. But when it comes to the 45,000 workers who have made their success possible, Verizon cries broke.
Verizon has sent thousands of American jobs overseas and wants to outsource even more, gut pensions, charge current and retired employees thousands of dollars more for health benefits—even cut disability benefits for workers injured while doing their jobs.
It's wrong. But together we have the power to make it right.
HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Call Congress NOW: 888-768-6167
Tell them to support the the U.S.Call Center Worker and Consumer
Protection Act (H.R. 3596)—and stop allowing companies like Verizon
to ship good jobs overseas.
Help spread the word:
Visit StopVerizonGreed.org to learn how to take action.
Don't stand by—stand up. It's time for Verizon to stop trying to destroy the-middle class.
A message from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
www.StopVerizonGreed.org
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