ckaihatsu
31st January 2016, 19:16
France: 8 Goodyear Workers Sentenced to Prison
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http://socialistorganizer.org/france-8-goodyear-workers-sentenced-to-prison/
France: 8 Goodyear Workers Sentenced to Prison
By the Editorial Board of The Organizer newspaper
Eight former Goodyear workers in Amiens, France have been sentenced to 9 months in prison in a so-called "boss-napping" during the occupation of the Goodyear-Nord tire plant in January 2014. The sentences were originally set at 24 months, but a portion of the terms were suspended. Philippe Martinez, a leader of the CGT, called the decision "scandalous and unjust."
Workers at the facility fought for six years to stave off the plant closing after bosses had deemed the plant out of date and made modernization of the facility contingent on concessions in work rules and shift structure.
The fight came to a head when union members occupied the plant and temporarily detained two members of the plant management. The Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT) was able to negotiate a severance package for the almost 1,200 workers displaced by the plant closing. Fifteen percent of industrial jobs in France have been lost in the past decade.
The prosecution of the 8 Goodyear workers is politically motivated and comes in the context of a general offensive against workers in France, Europe, and worldwide. The "Socialist" president, François Hollande, used the aftermath of the Paris terror attack to impose a State of Emergency, which limits the right to speak and protest, as well as advocating for an anti-worker Labor Code "reform."
Claiming that the Code du Travail is overly complex and an obstacle to investment by foreign capitalists, Hollande is pushing for the gutting of traditional protections workers have won through decades of struggle.
Defending working-class methods of struggle
Factory occupations are a traditional method of working-class struggle, along with strikes, general strikes, and mass actions. In the United States, we look back to the Flint sit-down strike (1936-37), the Toledo Autolite strike (1934) and the Minneapolis Teamster strike (1934) for inspiration. Our class has to relearn the lessons of the past in order to reverse the retreat of our unions. We should also take inspiration from the example of the workers at Goodyear-Nord, who were not afraid to confront the power of the bosses and the state.
Speaking at a rally in Paris on January 23 against the State of Emergency, Daniel Gluckstein, a national secretary of the Independent Democratic Workers' Party (POID), stated:
"If we do no succeed in imposing our demands from the top, in the National Assembly, we will impose them from below.
"Yes, we will impose them from below -- that is, through the mobilization of millions and millions of people, through strikes, through mass protests around specific objectives. It will take the combat in unity in support of clear slogans and a clear objective -- to defeat this government in the service of the reactionary forces and the European Union, and to defeat it as it seeks to impose each and every one of its plans.
"We must defeat this government to force the release of our Goodyear comrades, to preserve the Labor Code and workers' rights. . . ."
Demand justice
The Editorial Board of The Organizer newspaper demands justice for the Goodyear workers. No prison sentences, not one day in jail! We call on U.S. unions to show solidarity with the workers of France as they resist the State of Emergency and the assault on the Code du Travail. We say no to the prosecution of Air France workers, who are under threat of prosecution for an incident where bosses were stripped of their shirts and forced to climb over a fence to escape angry workers.
* Free the Goodyear 8! Not one day in jail!
* No Labor Code Reform!
-- The Editors
* * * * * * * * * *
Call to Defend the Goodyear 8 Front and Center at the January 23 Rally in Paris to Lift the State of Emergency
At the conclusion of the mass united-front rally in Paris on January 23 to demand the immediate lifting of the State of Emergency, the 1,500 participants voted by acclamation an Appeal which, among its many points, "sen[t] a message of solidarity to the Goodyear workers who on January 12, 2016, were sentenced [to nine months in prison] for their trade union activity, and we demand an immediate halt to the legal proceedings against them."
One of the rally conveners, Jacques Cotta, underscored the importance of the fight in defense of the Goodyear 8 to the overall struggle to defend the Labor Code and to demand the lifting of the State of Emergency. In his speech to the rally he stated, in part:
"The [Hollande-Valls] government has now issued prison sentences to workers at Goodyear whose sole 'crime' was having organized a fightback to save their jobs, their factory, and their very lives.
"The State of Emergency is aimed at forcing workers and society at large to accept the terms of a disciplined and servile exploitation without complaining. It means accepting the destruction of 765 jobs at Alstom, former flagship of our industry, which has now been sold to the U.S. multinational General Electric. It means accepting the 3,300 job cuts at EDF [the electrical utility corporation]. It means accepting precarious jobs, flexibility, poverty, and the destruction of jobs in all sectors. It means accepting the new laws gutting unemployment insurance, lowering wages, decimating pension plans, and dismantling the Labor Code. It means accepting all the directives of the European Union that [French President François] Hollande is implementing, when he does not put them forward first.
"The State of Emergency is about attacking the trade unions that demonstrate their independence in relation to the bosses and the State and that uphold their mandate to defend the material and moral interests of the wage-earners."
The January 23 rally in Paris also received a message from Mickael Wamen, the CGT secretary-treasurer at the Goodyear plant in Amiens-Nord. Wamen is one of the 8 Goodyear workers sentenced to nine months in prison for his trade union activity. His message, titled "Not one of the 8 Goodyear workers is guilty of anything!', reads in part:
"Never has a government lied to us as much as this government has; never has a government so violated the rights of the workers.
"Hollande promised us change. He promised to be on the side of the workers to stop plant closings. Instead, what he has done is jail those workers to whom he made these promises.
"We must unite so that the day that our Appeal is heard in the courts in Amiens, we have the largest number of people possible at our side to say, 'Stop the financial dictatorship and those who govern our country at their behest!'
"Not one of the 8 Goodyear workers is guilty of anything. We all lost our jobs, we all suffered for years from constant harassment by an archaic and vengeful management. We filed more than 700 grievances of harassment over the years, but these were all ignored by the same arbitrator who welcomed the court decision to sentence eight of our members on January 12!
"The reality is scary, but it must produce a massive reaction of resistance by all those who wish that France remains a country of freedom and not a country where the corporations and the powerful have the right to do as they please. . . .
"The bankers and financial elites have all become 'socialists'; they even applaud the speeches of government ministers who claim to be on the left. . . . Never has a government attacked our rights like this one has: They are hell bent on destroying the Labour Code, capping compensation in the workplace tribunals, removing 'burdens' for the corporations, generalizing Sunday work, or removing the CDI!
"And now this government is sending to prison those workers who are mobilizing against the plant closures! . . . So, yes, it has become urgent to take action because we have never seen as much destruction of our rights. The State of Emergency does not help resolve the global geopolitical situation; it just gives more power to those who want to crush us. The State of Emergency must be lifted immediately and replaced with a State of Social Emergency!"
* * *
[tTo susbscribe / unsubscribe, contact [email protected]]
http://socialistorganizer.org/france-8-goodyear-workers-sentenced-to-prison/
France: 8 Goodyear Workers Sentenced to Prison
By the Editorial Board of The Organizer newspaper
Eight former Goodyear workers in Amiens, France have been sentenced to 9 months in prison in a so-called "boss-napping" during the occupation of the Goodyear-Nord tire plant in January 2014. The sentences were originally set at 24 months, but a portion of the terms were suspended. Philippe Martinez, a leader of the CGT, called the decision "scandalous and unjust."
Workers at the facility fought for six years to stave off the plant closing after bosses had deemed the plant out of date and made modernization of the facility contingent on concessions in work rules and shift structure.
The fight came to a head when union members occupied the plant and temporarily detained two members of the plant management. The Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT) was able to negotiate a severance package for the almost 1,200 workers displaced by the plant closing. Fifteen percent of industrial jobs in France have been lost in the past decade.
The prosecution of the 8 Goodyear workers is politically motivated and comes in the context of a general offensive against workers in France, Europe, and worldwide. The "Socialist" president, François Hollande, used the aftermath of the Paris terror attack to impose a State of Emergency, which limits the right to speak and protest, as well as advocating for an anti-worker Labor Code "reform."
Claiming that the Code du Travail is overly complex and an obstacle to investment by foreign capitalists, Hollande is pushing for the gutting of traditional protections workers have won through decades of struggle.
Defending working-class methods of struggle
Factory occupations are a traditional method of working-class struggle, along with strikes, general strikes, and mass actions. In the United States, we look back to the Flint sit-down strike (1936-37), the Toledo Autolite strike (1934) and the Minneapolis Teamster strike (1934) for inspiration. Our class has to relearn the lessons of the past in order to reverse the retreat of our unions. We should also take inspiration from the example of the workers at Goodyear-Nord, who were not afraid to confront the power of the bosses and the state.
Speaking at a rally in Paris on January 23 against the State of Emergency, Daniel Gluckstein, a national secretary of the Independent Democratic Workers' Party (POID), stated:
"If we do no succeed in imposing our demands from the top, in the National Assembly, we will impose them from below.
"Yes, we will impose them from below -- that is, through the mobilization of millions and millions of people, through strikes, through mass protests around specific objectives. It will take the combat in unity in support of clear slogans and a clear objective -- to defeat this government in the service of the reactionary forces and the European Union, and to defeat it as it seeks to impose each and every one of its plans.
"We must defeat this government to force the release of our Goodyear comrades, to preserve the Labor Code and workers' rights. . . ."
Demand justice
The Editorial Board of The Organizer newspaper demands justice for the Goodyear workers. No prison sentences, not one day in jail! We call on U.S. unions to show solidarity with the workers of France as they resist the State of Emergency and the assault on the Code du Travail. We say no to the prosecution of Air France workers, who are under threat of prosecution for an incident where bosses were stripped of their shirts and forced to climb over a fence to escape angry workers.
* Free the Goodyear 8! Not one day in jail!
* No Labor Code Reform!
-- The Editors
* * * * * * * * * *
Call to Defend the Goodyear 8 Front and Center at the January 23 Rally in Paris to Lift the State of Emergency
At the conclusion of the mass united-front rally in Paris on January 23 to demand the immediate lifting of the State of Emergency, the 1,500 participants voted by acclamation an Appeal which, among its many points, "sen[t] a message of solidarity to the Goodyear workers who on January 12, 2016, were sentenced [to nine months in prison] for their trade union activity, and we demand an immediate halt to the legal proceedings against them."
One of the rally conveners, Jacques Cotta, underscored the importance of the fight in defense of the Goodyear 8 to the overall struggle to defend the Labor Code and to demand the lifting of the State of Emergency. In his speech to the rally he stated, in part:
"The [Hollande-Valls] government has now issued prison sentences to workers at Goodyear whose sole 'crime' was having organized a fightback to save their jobs, their factory, and their very lives.
"The State of Emergency is aimed at forcing workers and society at large to accept the terms of a disciplined and servile exploitation without complaining. It means accepting the destruction of 765 jobs at Alstom, former flagship of our industry, which has now been sold to the U.S. multinational General Electric. It means accepting the 3,300 job cuts at EDF [the electrical utility corporation]. It means accepting precarious jobs, flexibility, poverty, and the destruction of jobs in all sectors. It means accepting the new laws gutting unemployment insurance, lowering wages, decimating pension plans, and dismantling the Labor Code. It means accepting all the directives of the European Union that [French President François] Hollande is implementing, when he does not put them forward first.
"The State of Emergency is about attacking the trade unions that demonstrate their independence in relation to the bosses and the State and that uphold their mandate to defend the material and moral interests of the wage-earners."
The January 23 rally in Paris also received a message from Mickael Wamen, the CGT secretary-treasurer at the Goodyear plant in Amiens-Nord. Wamen is one of the 8 Goodyear workers sentenced to nine months in prison for his trade union activity. His message, titled "Not one of the 8 Goodyear workers is guilty of anything!', reads in part:
"Never has a government lied to us as much as this government has; never has a government so violated the rights of the workers.
"Hollande promised us change. He promised to be on the side of the workers to stop plant closings. Instead, what he has done is jail those workers to whom he made these promises.
"We must unite so that the day that our Appeal is heard in the courts in Amiens, we have the largest number of people possible at our side to say, 'Stop the financial dictatorship and those who govern our country at their behest!'
"Not one of the 8 Goodyear workers is guilty of anything. We all lost our jobs, we all suffered for years from constant harassment by an archaic and vengeful management. We filed more than 700 grievances of harassment over the years, but these were all ignored by the same arbitrator who welcomed the court decision to sentence eight of our members on January 12!
"The reality is scary, but it must produce a massive reaction of resistance by all those who wish that France remains a country of freedom and not a country where the corporations and the powerful have the right to do as they please. . . .
"The bankers and financial elites have all become 'socialists'; they even applaud the speeches of government ministers who claim to be on the left. . . . Never has a government attacked our rights like this one has: They are hell bent on destroying the Labour Code, capping compensation in the workplace tribunals, removing 'burdens' for the corporations, generalizing Sunday work, or removing the CDI!
"And now this government is sending to prison those workers who are mobilizing against the plant closures! . . . So, yes, it has become urgent to take action because we have never seen as much destruction of our rights. The State of Emergency does not help resolve the global geopolitical situation; it just gives more power to those who want to crush us. The State of Emergency must be lifted immediately and replaced with a State of Social Emergency!"
* * *