Germany

Judge Upholds Boycott Ban on FAU Berlin

Submitted by akai on Feb 19 2010 10:51

On February 16, 2010, The regional labor court of Berlin confirmed that the FAU (Free Workers' Union) Berlin can't call for a boycott of the Babylon Mitte Cinema. In October 2009, the same court had issued an injunction against the boycott at the behest of the cinema's bosses.

The boycott was a part of a year-old labor dispute between the Babylon and FAU Berlin members who work there - their goal being better working conditions and labor contracts. The judge, Dr Rancke, found that the FAU Berlin was not allowed to call for job action in labor disputes because it was not "mighty" enough.

Summary of the global day of protest in solidarity with FAU Berlin

Submitted by robot on Feb 6 2010 19:09
Textile workers from Dhaka, Bangladesh

On january 29/30, 2010, there were protests in at least 56 cities in 20 countries against a verdict that prohibits workers in Berlin from affiliating themselves with the union of their choice. The bosses at the Babylon Mitte Cinema managed to find a court to ban the FAU Berlin workers association from calling itself a union and are now trying to get the FAU Berlin charged with fines or even imprisoned. The is a month-long labor dispute between the FAU shop-floor and the management. More information about the conflict can be found at the FAU German language special section and our English language special section.

We received reports about protests at Aachen (Germany), Berlin (Germany), Bonn (Germany), Darmstadt (Germany), Duisburg (Germany), Düsseldorf (Germany), Frankfurt/M (Germany), Fukuoka (Japan), Halle/Saale (Germany), Hamburg (Germany), Hannover (Germany), Karlsruhe (Germany), Kassel (Germany), Kiel (Germany), Leipzig (Germany), Moers (Germany), Münster (Germany), Nürnberg (Germany), Recklinghausen

Moscow And Us - Otto Rühle

Brief notes on the Russian revolution, the third International and their relationship with the German proletariat by council communist Otto Ruhle.

I

The First International was the International of the awakening.

Its role was to call on the world proletariat to wake up; it was to give it the great watchword of socialism.

Its task fell within the realm of propaganda.

The Second International was the International of organisation.

Extracts from the Leading Principles of the KAI

Submitted by Spassmaschine on Jan 27 2010 03:05

Extracts from the 1922 'Leading Principles' of the Communist Workers' International.

Introduction
When Rühle envisaged a Fourth International in Moscow and Us (September 1920), the political current of “council communism” had several hundred thousand adherents in Germany, a figure which would decline to 20,000 in 1923, and then would be reduced to a few hundred when Hitler took power.

Why workers' interviews? Kolinko

A leaflet from Kolinko attempting to find call centre workers to interview, 2000.

Happy on line?
We want to interview you and discuss the job in the call center. For this sounds more like a team-meeting we have written this flyer in order to explain our reasons behind it.

Who we are?

Kolinko interview by Direkte Aktion, 2001

Interview from January 2001 between Kolinko and anarcho-syndicalist magazine "direkte aktion" explaining their reasons for the call center-inquiry and are intervening in the workers' discussion through leaflets and websites.

1. Could you introduce your initiative shortly, please?

Leaflet on globalisation - Kolinko

Kolinko leaflet against 'anti-globalisation' that just wants to manage misery, for a global movement against everyday capitalism and crisis.

As the cloud of Genoan teargas clears, the WTC and a few Afghanistan towns already lie in rubble and ashes. Even the bourgeois media has to try hard not to speak out loud what connects these events: the crisis of capitalism. In the last few months the crisis of profits became global.

Seattle, Prague, Watford - what does the anti-globalisation movement do when it gets home?

A proposal for a workshop at the anti-globalisation-congress in Duesseldorf by people around the Kolinko group, in the winter of 2001/2.

It would be dull to chew over the event-hopping critique another 23 times. In this working group we will try to go a step ahead of that. We will look at:
Firstly a short critique of what is often touted as an alternative to event hopping: the 'localising' of the anti-globalisation movement.

Hotlines - call centre | inquiry | communism

German libertarian communist group Kolinko's detailed three-year investigation into work in call centres, restructuring and the possibilities for workers' resistance.

Taken from http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/kolinko/engl/e_index.htm

Bad vibrations at China's extended workbench, 2008

Submitted by Steven. on Jan 18 2010 12:53

A report on working life and the possibilities for struggle from a machine plant in Brandenburg, Germany in 2008.

"Of course, I am able to order three pints in Chinese! The only problem was when there were four of us. Well, we first went up north, the factories are really run-down there. Then we went to the special export zones in the south, to the Mazda plant. They have rather splendid avenues and palm-trees in front of the factories".