Solidarity with the FAU Berlin!
Dec 16 2009 10:49
from http://www.fau.org/verbot
Grassroots Union: Prohibited!
On December 11, 2009, the Berlin District Court decided that the Free Workers' Union Berlin (FAU-B) could no longer call itself a union or grassroots union. This is the culmination of a series of attempts by the Neue Babylon Berlin GmbH to legally hogtie the strongest and most active form of workers' representation in the company.
This attack on the basic right of freedom of association is a de facto ban of the union. The way we see it, it is the workers who decide how they want to organise. If it isn't overturned, this verdict will not only represent an affront against the FAU-B but also against any form of independent grassroots organising. Also see the article: How to support us?
Media contact: Lars Röhm | faub5@fau.org | 01577-8491072
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from http://www.fau.org/verbot/art_091216-010818
How to support us?
Get involved: Solidarity is our weapon!
English: Here you find every information you need to support the FAU Berlin.
Deutsch: Hier findet ihr alle nötigen Informationen, um die FAU Berlin zu unterstützen.
You can help us – amongst your own ideas – by:
* Carrying out protest actions in front of German diplomatic missions (embassies, consulates) or other institutions that represent the German state.
* Sending protest letters to German embassies in your country, including a carbon copy to the management of the Kino Babylon Mitte.
* Sending protest faxes to the responsible Berlin court.
Here you find a list of all German diplomatic missions. Look if there is an embassy or consulate in your city. This file also includes information on how to contact the embassy in your country. The listed country names are given in German. Here you find – if necessary – a table to find out how your country's name is in German.
Here [soon to come] templates for protest letters you can direct to the German embassy.
The contact to the Management of the cinema Babylon Mitte is:
Fax: +49 - (0)30 - 24727-800
E-mail: grossman@babylonberlin.de | hackel@babylonberlin.de
The contact to the competent court (Landgericht Berlin) is:
Fax: +49 (0)30 90188 - 518
Here [soon to come] templates for protest letters you can direct to the Landgericht (court).
Dec 16 2009 21:20
#2
Robot.... the WSA email machine is working overtime to get the word out (wink,wink).
Dec 17 2009 10:25
#3
Dec 17 2009 10:25
#4
Wll there be any changes in their content too?
Dec 17 2009 11:01
#5
No changes, just a technical issue that has to be fixed.
Dec 17 2009 18:07
#6
The PDF files are now available for download again. There was a technical problem with. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Dec 17 2009 22:14
#7
Do you want these in other languages? We have a translation.
What I am wondering is if ver.di should also get a letter.
Dec 17 2009 22:33
#8
akai wrote:
Do you want these in other languages? We have a translation
Of course we want. Whoever has more translations may send them to the email adress that appears in the text. They will be put on the website together with the existing ones.
Dec 18 2009 05:24
#9
Tom Wetzel published an article about the conflict on his blog at ZNet.
Dec 19 2009 14:07
#10
Portuguese translation of FAU solidarity appeal here:
http://ait-sp.blogspot.com/2009/12/apelo-urgente-solidariedade.html
Dec 19 2009 16:51
#11
Does anyone know if the legislation used here is just a German thing, or could it be used against, say, the IWW or a SolFed industrial network (though it'd be less damaging in the latter case cos they're not meant to be unions anyway, as I understand it)? Also, could someone explain exactly what the justification for the court's decision is?
Dec 19 2009 17:15
#12
Live news from the Berlin demonstration on the FAU twitter channel. Some three hundred, temperature as low as -12 °C, demonstration makes its way from the FAU local to the Kino Babylon Mitte and the central office of the "Die Linke" party. Speeches during several stops. International solidarity messages. Some 200 cops loitering around.
Dec 19 2009 17:31
#13
Farce wrote:
Does anyone know if the legislation used here is just a German thing, or could it be used against, say, the IWW or a SolFed industrial network (though it'd be less damaging in the latter case cos they're not meant to be unions anyway, as I understand it)? Also, could someone explain exactly what the justification for the court's decision is?
There is (yet) no centralized labour legislation within the European Union. They are working on it, putting together the worst aspects from several countries. But they are still far from that. The legislation used against the FAU ist very unique in what I know about the labour legislation in several countries. But it can (and will) of course be applied to the small German language IWW ROC once they at time should have a bargaining conflict. The same is true for any kind of small union in Germany that tries to develop against the monopolist DGB trade-unions.
Dec 19 2009 22:02
#14
Farce, I don't know what the laws are in the UK, but I suppose this must exist all around.
In Poland there are dozens of things that can get you delegalized as a trade union - I can PM anybody who might be interested.
Dec 19 2009 22:52
#15
There is already a report up on the FAU site. Looks like a decent turnout.
Dec 20 2009 05:21
#16
Dec 20 2009 07:45
#17
Report about the rally at the German embassy and the «Goethe-Institut» (A German state-sponsored cultural institution) in Madrid on saturday.
The French CNT-AIT did a translation of the text about the demonstration. It will be on the FAU website later today and you can already read it on their website. The french comrades told us that someone else posted the solidarity appeal to the website of the parti de gauche francais, with a comment that it is very uncomfortabel for them that their German sister party appears in such an negative context 
There are more photos here.
We received –among many others– solidarity statements from regional youth groups of the UNIA union in Switzerland (I guess they are sister union to ver.di) and from a from young unionists within the IG Metall (the metall workers union within the DGB trade union federation ver.di is a member of).
There is lots of letters and news flocking in, so it may take some time to publish it. FAU Berlin is very happy with your and others response and is already planning the next steps. They are as well happy with the demonstration held under difficult wheather conditions where snow and ice prevented many comrades from making it to Berlin at all or to reach the town in time.
Dec 20 2009 11:04
#18
List of Goethe Institutes around the globe http://www.goethe.de/Ins/en21152.htm. Try also http://www.goethe.de/Ins/en21152.htm and look for cities separately because the first link doesn't contain all the cities. For example. The first link says that in Czech there is an institute in Prague, but the second link says that also in Pardubice and Ceske Budejovice.
Slovak call for solidarity is being prepared atm.
Dec 20 2009 12:41
#19
There was some modest protest in Wroclaw at the consulate yesterday. Some internal miscommunication somehow occurred, other cities decided to postpone demos til later, not on Saturday, but some people were not informed, went and apparently protested anyway. There were some mail and telephone actions yesterday. ZSP also is protesting to ver.di.
I suppose in Prague there is an embassy and it makes more sense to do there than Goethe Institute.
Dec 20 2009 12:49
#20
The French CNT-AIT article is now online UNE PREMIERE DEPUIS 1933 ! LA FAU DECLAREE ILLEGALE EN ALLEMAGNE ! autotranslated to English, Spanish and Polish
Dec 20 2009 13:16
#21
The Polish version of the PDF:
http://zsp-msp.blogspot.com/2009/12/pilny-apel-o-solidarnosc-miedzynarodowa.html
Dec 20 2009 20:02
#22
We have a e-mail sending machine up again. If you would like to send an email to Kino Babylon, go to http://fau.zsp.net.pl/
We were thinking about putting an embassy address there, but as we weren't sure which embassy in which country, we didn't do it. So far we can only have one letter per page. Maybe we will be able to have more later in the week.
You can change the text and recipients if you like.
We will put some different text and recipients up in a few days.
If anybody wants a wordpress plugin for their page, contact warszawa@zsp.net.pl The content and recipients are easily modified. We don't know yet for formats other than wordpress.
Dec 20 2009 20:31
#23
cheers for the links, Entdinglichung, akai and everyone else.
Petitioning is obviously very limited in what it can achieve, but it is a way to express solidarity for those who can't otherwise actively support these comrades.
Dec 20 2009 23:34
#24
for anyone who uses social networking, please support and invite people for this page (with website feeds) http://facebook.com/pages/fau-iaa-solidarity/251774517994 and group (where you can leave messages of support) http://facebook.com/group.php?gid=242808586214
Dec 20 2009 23:55
#25
greek translation : http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1114825
Dec 21 2009 08:36
#26
akai, yes, embassy is in Prague, it was just an example. GI is a good place to protest for people in other towns without the embassy. btw, in GI institutes have holidays till around 5th January.
Dec 21 2009 12:40
#27
Yeah, of course emails and faxes are limited in what they can achieve, but it someone gets a few hundred or thousand, at least he will have a messy mailbox and see that people care. It is also a way for people who cannot go out and make a protest to do something.
Yes, we can look for other targets than the embassy, OK.
Dec 21 2009 17:03
#28
post deleted
Dec 21 2009 15:20
#29
I would recommend to first try if it works. We've had bad experiences with online free fax services when we tried to use them for solidarity purposes.
Dec 21 2009 17:03
#30
I agree
post deleted
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Information about the court ban against the FAU Berlin and its implications and backgrounds
ENGLISH: PDF file
SPANISH: PDF file
GERMAN: PDF file
Just in case you planned a trip to Berlin anyhow: There will be a public meeting informing about the situation at the FAU Berlin office (Straßburger Strasse 38, Subway station Senefelder Platz) on friday, december 18 at 7 p.m. and a demonstration starting at the same location on saturday, december 19 at 4 p.m. Of course you can feel free to call your friends, relatives and comrades at Berlin to join in.