Outsourcing of workers at the ABB factory in Cordoba is currently being used as the pretext to get rid of militant workers, leading to 34 workers being fired.
The strikers claim that the redundancies are not valid and considered them a clear retaliation for the strike. They demand to be reinstated by ABB or outsourced by ADECCO - EUROCEN.
On Wednesday EULEN fired all the workers on strike since November 28.
EULEN has claimed that it fired the workers because of the loss of its contract with ABB, where it was replaced by ADECCO - EUROCEN.
Among those dismissed is the entire Strike Committee. Nine of it 12 members already had been dismissed on 31 December.
For the strikers and their unions, this nothing more than the culmination of ABB's strategy to get rid of the workers on strike, with the collaboration of EULEN and ADECCO - EUROCEN.
These dismissals just hide a strategy of repression against union organizers and workers who had struggled for a long time against arbitrary dismissals, for a more equitable agreement and greater job security.
Significant progress had been achieved in these struggles with the effect of a increase in service for ABB. ABB has been using EULEN all this time so as not to assume its working relationship with these employees, many of them who have worked for ABB for 10-15 years.
The workers consider that the replacement of EULEN by ADECCO-EUROCEN was triggered by the possibility of resolving the appeal of EULEN before the Andalusian High Court of Justice, about the possible implementation of the metal workers' collective agreement, which would be favourable to the workers and the recent complaint about the movement of large transformers at the ABB factory, in breach of safety standards, which caused the intervention of the Labour Inspectorate. The replacement of EULEN by ADECOO - EUROCEN was a way to get rid of an inconvenient staff, with seniority, rights and organization.
So since January 1, Adecco has come to play the same role of labor intermediary, and scabbing against the strike, in the service of ABB.
The strikers soon expect a trial date for claims brought for infringement of the right to strike, which would allow us to return to the situation existing before December 31.
Knowing about the dismissals, the workers held an assembly in which it was decided to continue the struggle, with constant presence at the gates of the factory, as well as to plan several actions and demonstrations in the center of the city to demand their reinstatement by ABB or being outsourced by ADECCO-EUROCEN.
Next week they hope to intervene in the Municipal Plenum on January 17, which local groups and the mayor committed themselves to during the earlier protest at the Municipality.
Likewise, the call continues for solidarity demonstrations on the national and international level. These have already taken place in different cities and countries.
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This is an English version of
This is an English version of the leaflet for today's demo in Warsaw:
ADECCO: WORSE WORK, WORSE LIFE
The working conditions of people who work on temporary contracts or are hired through intermediaries such as temp agencies tend to be worse than when they have a permanent job in the company. Often their wages are lower, they have no guarantee of work, fewer rights and worse working conditions.
ADECCO, as one of the world's biggest temp agencies, in one of the businesses that profits from ensuring that there is also a fresh and abundant supply of human meat to the bosses who do not want to pay to much or have any real obligations to their workers.
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE ABB FACTORY
The main reason we are here leafletting at ADECCO in Warsaw is that we are protesting against its role in a labour conflict that is taking place in Cordoba, Spain. There, members of our sister union, the CNT, have been on strike since November 28 but have been replaced by workers provided by ADECCO. This is their story.
The workers in question were employed by a company called EULEN, which is another agency providing ¨temporary workers”. They were working in the factory of the multinational ABB doing skilled labour – using cranes, forklifts and other equipment to move heavy transformers and other tasks which can be dangerous if done improperly by inexperienced workers. But these people cannot really be considered ¨temporary workers¨. Some have been working for the same company for 10-15 years. Despite this, they had no real job security and worse working conditions than people who would have been employed directly. So the workers from the agency in ABB decided to organize to improve their working conditions and even formed two unions.
As we all know, the real reason that many companies use temporary agencies like EULEN or ADECCO is not because the workers are meant to be TEMPORARY, but because the bosses want to give them worse conditions and fire them any time they like, without taking any responsibility. So our colleagues in the union started to have trouble with the bosses.
One way that companies deal with this type of situation then is to simply change the agency. The same work needs to be done and we see how in Poland, when agencies are changed, sometimes the workers are even transferred to the new service provider – but often on worse conditions. Only when the workforce is really organized can they manage to avoid the worst – but still they are stuck on temporary contracts and are not considered to be employed directly in the place they actually do work.
ABB decided that they would start using ADECCO and hopefully get rid of the workers who had decided to organize themselves and to try to get better working conditions. When the workers found out about this, they decided to go on strike. Since November 28, they have been camped out in front of the factory. They have taken much action, organized meetings, legal cases and protests on both the national and international level. Locally, about 500 people came out to support the strikers in a mass show of solidarity in Cordoba.
Unfortunately ABB responded by hiring strikebreakers, violating their right to strike. On December 31, EULEN fired the majority of the strike committee and on January 11, they fired everyone who had been working at ABB.
All of this constitutes violations of the right to strike.
We are here today, because we condemn ADECCO´s role in providing strikebreakers and in opportunistically replacing the staff who had always done their done properly. There is no reason that these people should still not be employed – except for corporate greed.
WE ARE NOT TRASH
This is not the first time we have come here to ADECCO. We are also here because, in general, we object to the increased use of such agencies to lower working conditions and hence the quality of life of millions of workers in this country and around the world.
The ADECCO webpage has many articles boasting about the huge increase in the use of temporary work agencies, but for us, this is nothing to celebrate. Temporary workers typically have fewer benefits and less job security and simply are treated as disposable.
No matter what PR spin they put on it, ADECCO´s slogan ¨better work, better life¨ is nothing more than an obscene manipulation of the truth.
To all temporary workers reading this, and to all those on trash contracts or who are really employees at our workplace, but forced to be on a civil contract or pretend you are self-employed – this is not right and you cannot spend your whole life waiting for the axe to fall on you. Know your rights, get informed and get organized!
For information on the rights of temporary workers and how to establish your working relationship, consult the downloads section of our site: pracownik.net.pl (Polish)
Związek Syndykalistów Polski
info [AT] zsp.net.pl zsp.net.pl
Admin edit: email broken to avoid spam.
They'll be stuff happening in
They'll be stuff happening in the UK around this. More info to follow.
Update: CNT is organizing
Update: CNT is organizing more solidarity actions.
http://www.zsp.net.pl/eulen-abb-strike-upcoming-days-solidarity
sorry for cross-posting but
sorry for cross-posting but since it is about solidarity, i hope no-one minds if it is in two topics:
the protest letters which you can send via email form on PA website have been updated:
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