Practical Approach to the Crisis: An Appeal to Share Information and a Presentation of Activities of Priama akcia – IWA Slovakia
Mar 19 2009 23:26
Practical Approach to the Crisis: An Appeal to Share Information and a Presentation of Activities of Priama akcia – IWA/AIT Slovakia
In November 2008 Priama akcia started to monitor the effects of the financial crisis on Slovakia. We hope our activities will inspire others to do similar things in their countries. We started with our first activities in November 2008 and the second phase was launched in February 2009. In addition to leaflets, posters and a questionnaire, we have also set up an online discussion forum which is unique because of its working class perspective, and created an interactive online map which illustrates how many people were or are planned to be made redundant since October 2008 (also where and by what firm). We have also written or translated articles linked to the crisis and posted them on our website (e.g. about temporary agency workers, direct actions, and more).
REQUEST TO THE LIBERTARIAN COMMUNISTS AROUND THE WORLD
We would like to appeal to all the IWA-AIT Sections and Friends to share and spread the information about:
* the actions of the workers against the consequences of the crisis
* their activities concerning the crisis
* spheres hit most by the crisis in your country (regionally as well as industrially)
PRIAMA AKCIA’s “We don’t intend to be the ones who will pay for the crisis!” ACTIVITIES
1st phase (November 2008 – January 2009)
In the last couple of months we have seen more and more feverish attempts of state governments and international organizations to “solve” the financial crisis. Several quite important meetings took place in USA, EU, and on the national level. Bail-out packages, stronger regulation, and other measures have been proposed in order to save capitalism.
And what has the anarchist response to the crisis been so far? As for Priama akcia, we have come with the aim to use the crisis to build and maintain a network of contacts, through which we can exchange information and experiences about the consequences of the crisis (such as people being made redundant or workers’ struggles). This network could also constitute a basis for future meetings, discussions, and concrete solidarity actions.
In November 2008 Priama akcia prepared:
* Leaflets (an excerpt of the leaflet is translated below), which we spread mostly in trains as travelling is also a good opportunity to read.
* Posters, which we place mostly around bus and train stations and plan to use also around factories hit by crisis.
* Questionnaire, which is part of the initiative of FAU (German section of IWA/AIT) and German Wildcat collective. It is currently placed online at our website (in Slovak). We can translate to English on demand. The questions are aimed at understanding the effects of the crisis in regions, workplaces, etc.
We have also asked people to post these information wherever possible (websites, forums, blogs, profiles, MySpace, hi5, Facebook, etc.).
2nd phase (since February 2009)
The key idea in the second phase is the participation of all the people we could reach. We have suggested a number of activities in which they could take part.
At this point, social networks are the most important thing that we have and can actively use. Family, friends, acquaintances, people we meet from time to time, people from different regions – they can all help or at least pass the information further via their social networks. It is vital to spread the information to everyone we know. This way we can get information from all over the country and maybe other countries as well.
There are several ways to reach the aims put forward in November 2008 (see above):
1) Contacting people who were made redundant or those threatened to lose their job
The idea is to form and maintain local contacts with these people. There are several means to achieve this, mainly spreading the information using social networks. This way we can get information about their situation, asking them to fill in our questionnaire, or other possibilities listed below.
We also wrote about best ways to approach people who we don’t know very well (how to begin, what to ask, how to explain why we are trying to get the information, etc.).
The purpose of collecting and connecting workers experiences is not “theoretical” but practical. At the same time we are able to find out how the employers and unions respond to the crisis (How do they act towards employers? What do they say to justify job losses? Who is being made redundant first? What do they offer? Are they doing anything to prevent the consequences of the crisis? What do they tell the workers? How are the workers treated and how do they respond to it? etc.).
2) Filling in the questionnaire (initiative of Wildcat and FAU, see above)
Since November we have received several dozens of questionnaires and we are waiting for more to come. We have also prepared a text version of the questionnaire, which can be printed out and given to people without Internet access, and sent to us by post or e-mail.
3) A map depicting all the areas where people were made redundant
After several weeks of processing the information from mass media about people being made redundant in Slovakia we have come up with an online map at kriza.priamaakcia.sk/mapaprepustania which is to be updated regularly. More than 15 000 people (0.57% of around 2.65 mil. working population) have lost their jobs since October 2008, and this number is expected to grow. People can help us updating the map by sending their information. The map is not 100% accurate because the media do not cover all the job cuts (e.g. agency/external workers are rarely mentioned) and there are job losses that occur without a direct link to the crisis. The map can also be used to promote our activities (it can be placed on web-sites, used as a signature on various online forums, etc.).
4) An online discussion forum about the crisis
We have created a web forum http://kriza.priamaakcia.sk, which aims at provoking discussions about the situation in the workplaces, situation of those who were made redundant, and possibilities to help each other and solve the problems in a way that will benefit the workers. Theoretical discussions about the causes of the crisis, deeper political and economic context, and the consequences for the workers are also welcome. The forum can also serve as an archive of information (articles from mass media, etc.).
5) Spreading the information about our activities via posters, web forums, banners, MySpace/Facebook profiles, etc.
It is vital to use as many information channels as possible, mainly alternative media and social networks that we have. We have updated the poster (which can be placed in the surrounding area of a company that plans or has made some workers redundant or close to crowded places, such as bus and train stations, etc.) and are currently working on a new leaflet/bulletin. We have also prepared a couple of online banners (promoting the questionnaire and the forum). They can be placed on a website, used as a signature, added to a MySpace/Facebook profile, etc. The same goes for the map.
6) Asking for help with translations of foreign articles and interviews
There have been strikes and other activities against the consequences of the crisis in the world. They represent experiences of workers, and can be an inspiration the current situation. There are some valuable articles waiting to be translated, and people can help also with that.
7) Instant messaging
Instant messaging is a quick and effective form of communication. Therefore we have created not only an e-mail account, but also an ICQ and jabber account and a Facebook profile.
2008 LEAFLET (excerpt)
...
Our main aims in the situation of crisis is creating a network of contacts, which could lead to:
• Exchange of information about the consequences of the crisis
• Exchange of experiences from conflicts in workplaces or elsewhere
• Future meetings, discussions and solidarity actions
Certainly this is just one of the possibilities. However, it is vital to start relying on ourselves.
Let’s mind our own “business”
No one promised us anything in this crisis. No one will give us a generous compensation if we lose our job. We will get only what we fight for. On the other hand, the banks and businessmen are being saved by the state.
Some of us will turn to the unions for help, others will rely on the solutions proposed by the politicians, yet others just accept grudgingly whatever comes and think that there is little we can do about it. However, some might start solving their problems (not only) in the workplace together with their colleagues.
Politicians, bosses and bankers mind only their own business. And that is what we should be doing as well, minding our own “business”. Our problems will not just disappear, no matter how, when or even if the system is saved. They will remain here, provoking our discontent and the effort to solve them ourselves.
That is why we have to be informed about each other’s situation, maintain contacts and help each other. We hope that this crisis will be a huge incentive to do that. No one else will solve the problems according to our needs and interests. Only we ourselves.
English section of Priama akcia website: http://www.priamaakcia.sk/index.php?action=view_category&id=200
E-mail: info(at)priamaakcia(dot)sk
Mar 20 2009 11:12
#2
is the Slowak IWA section still promoting its sectarian crap about the Mario Bango case: http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/inter/groups/solidarita/mario_case_june.html ?
Mar 20 2009 12:13
#3
Glad to hear your truly antisectarian offtopic but as you obviously couldn't resist - there is no position on this case at the moment after those years. Hope you'll sleep well now.
Mar 20 2009 18:02
#4
You can find and use our contacts here:
Mar 21 2009 03:12
#5
waslax wrote:
Excellent initiative. Kudos to Priama akcia.
Yeah, we got the a-infos email and posted it on the internal WSA-members list. maybe something might come of it.
Mar 21 2009 08:50
#6
We also have created a map, but it is very hard to keep it up to date. About 140, 000 jobs lost so far. We will start a page with information. Right now we are trying to create an international analysis and financial analysis. There was major currency speculation which fucked lots of people and we are trying to understand the scale of related problems such as default on loans. We understand that this can be quite high although many banks are deferring payments since there is no real foreclosure market here and prices are too high anyway.
The other important thing is how the fucking Tripartite unions have agreed with the bosses to allow companies to lower wages and to reduce working hours. There have been ammendments to the labour law which allow firms now to apply different accounting periods for overtime. Now this is calculated on a yearly basis (!) in order to allow firms to cut down working hours in "down periods" and make people work a lot of overtime in other times. So for example, in one three-month period, they can have you working 20 hours per week and in the next 60 hours, but they won't have to pay you overtime unless you go over 40 hours average over the course of the year. I think this has to be in contradiction to a number of working hour directives.
Mar 21 2009 12:37
#7
In Slovakia unions have a pact with the ruling social democracy party and they signed Memorandum on social peace in February.
There was also an ammendment to the labour law which introduced flexikonto. So besides the short week option for bosses (paying workers 60% - 100% (vastly 60%) of their wage when they stay at home) the bosses can also use flexikonto - workers get 100% of the wage but they will have to work overtimes later to work off those "minus hours" when they were at home and received 100% of the wage. Practically it means for example that the workers lose their usual overtime hours (which are paid more). It was first introduced in Volkswagen factories in Bratislava and Martin and in February the government introduced it nationally through the ammendment. Actions of the unions are totally crazy in Slovakia, perhaps we will write about it in the future also in English.
Anyway, hopefully this topic will not be only about unions but about all those 3 points mentioned in the appeal.
Mar 21 2009 14:17
#8
http://www.zwolnienia.zsp.net.pl
This is our map. It's not comprehensive - there are too many dismissals now.
The another side of this is how the government is under pressure to spend more and more tax money and give more and more incentives to foreign companies to move here. Usually at the cost of other people. We wrote about Dell in our last bulletin - now Dell is trying to get more breaks from the government and threatening to go to Slovakia. Yesterday was a big strike / demonstration of Indesit workers who will lose their jobs to Poland. And in Poland conditions in IIndesit are horrible (even one guy was killed on the job a couple of years back).
I think it's also worth pointing out what the firms are doing during this time and how they are trying to profit.
Mar 22 2009 06:20
#9
Great project! As to the anti-crisis strategies of the capital-state, in Germany there are two focusses. Like in Poland or Slovakia some unions of the "official" trade-union federation DGB startet to negotiate wage-cuts for the big companies. This goes especially for the chemical industry where the IGBCE union agreed in cutting wages up to 15% in a mixture of direct and indirect wage-cuts in many big corporations. Workers in smaller companies (often not subject to collective bargaining) are as well effected, we know of wage-cuts of up to 30% in the media sector for instance. Until know there is little resistance. This is propably due to two things. The first one is that people are awfully afraid to loose their jobs and therefor accept wage-cuts as long as they think the can deal with them.
Even more important is probably a tool within the German dole system. It is called "Kurzarbeitergeld" (roughly translated into "short-time work payment"). Enterprises can order workers to stay at home either for some shifts or for an entire period. The company then pays the procentual wage for his or her effective hours. Out of the difference between what he or she gets due to short-time and the normal wage, the dole authority compensates another 60%. Thus a worker that is on "Kurzarbeit Null" (100% short-time) gets no wage from the company, but 60% of the wage from the dole authority, for the others it is a mix. The idea is to prevent companies from firing workers and let society pay for that.
In february some 700.000 workers were under Kurzarbeitergeld. Without this most of them would propably add to the 400.000 people that lost their jobs within the past 4 month (many of the temp workers). Until november 2008 there was a restriction, that Kurzarbeitergeld must be limited to a maximum of 6 month. Then the government changed it–hardly unnoticed–to maximum of 18 month. Thus they prepared for the crisis while publicly telling everyone that the German economy will not be affected by it at all. One important question will be, how long they dole system can stand a further increase in short-time-work without collapsing.
Due to the Kurzarbeitergeld, the complicity and co-management of the trade unions and the fear to loose job, the situation is still calmer than it should be. But not only the English press is speaking of a "summer of rage". Some German papers speculated about rising tensions and the possibility of "social unrest" to come lately.
Mar 22 2009 09:47
#10
Interesting. I wonder how long they will maintain so many people on the system.
Here the unions have agreed to some scheme whereby some employers who do not eliminate jobs can lower the amount of money they pay the employer and get a subsidy from the Labour Fund. Thus, the Labour Fund, instead of being used to create new jobs is helping the companies to retain profits. But people look at this as keeping jobs.
But nothing much is done for the over about 140,000 people who lost jobs (which is probably much higher because it doesn't include the people who didn't have a temp contract extended).
There is also here the "mandatory holiday" and unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits as of today is 550 zl. per month. If you have been employed less than 5 years, it drops to 441 zl. That's just over 100 euros a month. It's impossible to live on that in most cities in Poland - maybe it's possible in some small town if you don't have a lot of rent but it's quite miserable. On top of that, you have a limit of time you are entitled to it - depending on where you live. They have regions and they calculate the amount of unemployment in each region. Based on this, you are entitled to 6. 12 or 18 months benefit and the 18 month period is only possible if your region has twice as high unemployment as the national average AND you have at least 20 years documented work experience with all the proper payments. And there are lots of small requirements that mean that many people don't get the full 6 or 12 months. In any case, what this ultimately means is that many unemployed people who cannot find regular work wind up on the black market.
We were at a neighbours meeting yesterday and were quite amazed to find out what's happening on a large scale, even in my own house. (I noticed it, but didn't get the whole situation.) Poor people, who cannot afford anything, are renting out their basement space - usually 2X2 meters - to street peddlers. It's supposed to be for storing their goods - but the peddlers are living there. There was some big fire in one house because they are cooking down there. It's really awful. When you see this and you realize that so many people are already completely fucked over, it's quite amazing that there is such a lack of reaction. But this is a problem of the mentality of many people. Despite so many labour conflicts, there are too few expressions of outrage.
Excellent initiative. Kudos to Priama akcia.