Solidarity with French strikers!
- France (from Workers Liberty)
Above: French striking workers block the entrance of the oil refinery of Grandpuits, east of Paris, October 19 , 2010. Credit: Reuters/Benoit Tessier
Below: Labourstart‘s “Photo of the week”
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The following motion has been passed by Lambeth Unison. It is being put in a number of other union branches this week. Please put it to your branch (or adapt it for another organisation) as soon as possible!
This branch notes
1. The huge strikes taking place in France, sparked by the Sarkozy government’s attack on pensions.
2. That transport, road haulage, petrol and chemicals, ports and docks, gas and electricity and state television are on “reconductible” strike – workers meet every morning in General Assemblies to vote on continuing. There are also strikes in education, hospitals and the post, and school and university students are entering struggle. 3.5 million demonstrated on 12 October.
This branch believes
1. That this is most important battle against cuts to take place in Europe since the crisis began, and should inspire our fightback here.
This branch resolves
1. To publicise these struggles as widely as possible among the membership;
2. To send solidarity messages to the CGT branches at the Austerlitz rail station in Paris; all thirteen oil refineries in France; Line B of the RER (Paris overland rail); and the SUD branch in the Paris region District 92 post.
3. To donate £100 to one of the groups of workers mentioned above.
4. To invite a French worker, or a British activist who has been in France during the strikes, to speak at the next branch committee and/or branch meeting.
Jenny said,
October 19, 2010 at 10:44 pm
American Leftist has a different take:
http://amleft.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html#5205461813372223505
jim denham said,
October 19, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Zizek and ‘Counterpunch’ don’t get working class politics, do they?
Jenny said,
October 20, 2010 at 12:58 am
The main issue it seems is that all the workers want to go beyond the negotiations that the union leaders want.:
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/report-on-the-french-struggle/
http://socialistworker.org/2010/10/18/french-workers-strike-back
saeed said,
October 20, 2010 at 8:22 am
Jim I thought you were middle class
Steve said,
October 20, 2010 at 12:34 pm
We need to fully support the French workers.
Just a note on the Zizek issue – It is too early to say if these protests will chrystalise into a challenge against the power of the ruling class, the point is that they could. For ‘anti Stalinists’ the question is what if they do succeed? Are the economic conditions in place to prevent some form of top down state socialism?? If the answer is no then these protests either create top down state socialism or they become a defence of ‘social democracy’, albeit a watered down version of ‘social democracy’.
In which case, which way do our ‘anti Stalinist’ comrades jump? What exactly are these protests trying to achieve? Basically what should be the limitations of these struggles? I think these are fair questions.
P.S. When I say ‘anti Stalinist’ I mean there is a tendency to label every state socialist nation Stalinist, which is effectively hostile to all such state socialist models. So which model is preferable to ‘anti Stalinists’ and how does that model develop in reality.
Andrew Coates said,
October 20, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Good points here.
I’ve been making the links in the Suffolk Coalition for Public Services:
http://tendancecoatesy.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/tuc-rallies-against-cuts-france-the-street-explodes/
Sarah AB said,
October 21, 2010 at 5:47 am
I haven’t followed this very closely (as a lecturer I’m currently rather preoccupied by collapse of HE funding) but is there much more to this than raising the pensionable age by two years because, if so, I see that as a fairly reasonable response to demographic change.
Steve said,
October 21, 2010 at 8:12 am
“I see that as a fairly reasonable response to demographic change”
That old chestnut! Productivity in the last 100 years has way surpassed life expectancy, so we should actually be working less.
Sarah AB said,
October 21, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Steve – but so has spending on education and health etc I assume. 102 years ago a state pension (I’ve just found out) was introduced which only helped those aged 70 or over.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2488513.stm
Steve said,
October 22, 2010 at 11:30 am
But not by enough to make these changes reasonable!! The logic of working longer is very much a logic of the current economic system and in some capitalist nations workers get to retire earlier than here!!!
HP Sauce Statement of Solidarity with French Workers said,
October 23, 2010 at 9:04 am
“Raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 doesn’t seem so intolerable, especially when people are living much longer and healthier lives than they once did.”
Sarah AB said,
October 23, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Steve – I have no particular axe to grind in relation to this issue – to me, it seems not unreasonable to raise the pension age – I agree with Gene from HP, quoted in the above comment. But I don’t actively *welcome* such a rise – so I’m receptive to other points of view, such as those raised in the Guardian editorial here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/23/french-lessons-pension-protests-editorial?showallcomments=true#comment-
I did check out retirement ages and it seemed that Italy and Greece offer a lower (early) retirement age but it is quite difficult to interpret the data.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement
For example does the fact so few people in their late 50s work in Italy mean that they are living in prosperous retirement or long term unemplolyment – or does it perhaps partly reflect the fact fewer women work outside the home??
maxdunbar said,
October 23, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Why is it that people with a thing about HP attack HP in our comments, rather than HP comments directly?
Brian Sullivan said,
October 23, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I think this post could be of interest
http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/2010/10/qe-2-alternative-to-bailing-out-banks.html
Steve said,
October 24, 2010 at 9:37 am
Sarah,
I think you have what Zizek would call a failure to see beyond the Bourgeois horizon. I accept that in society as it stands making people work longer, extending their wage slavery and generally lowering their living standards seems a better option than for example taxing the assets and stocks of the wealthiest. But therein lies the power of power. Being a socialist I see a radically different way of organising society and the surplus products created by production, I would argue that this radically different way of organising society would lead inevitably to a reduction in the general working hours.