Orignal article, written by the workers of Zanon-Sindicato Ceramistas in Neuquén, Argentina and subtitled "After 9 years of struggle we have achieved the definitive expropriation of our factory." Via In Defence of Marxism.
After 9 years of struggle we have achieved the definitive expropriation of our factory.
The path taken by the workers at Zanon would not have been possible without previously seizing our union representation from the trade union bureaucracy.
Lesson 1: A union can turn out to be a bad thing. Notice I didn't say unionization. The workers at Zanon stayed as unionized workers, but they broke away from their original union's bureaucracy. How many union locals in the US have backed away from struggle because their national union's bureaucracy told them not to fight? How many jobs have been lost because there was no struggle?
Firstly, in 1998 we recovered our internal committee to struggle against sackings, poor treatment, humiliation and for safe working conditions, against multiple positions of workers, for our wages etc., but above all to establish a new form of work – direct democracy in order later, in 2000, to recover our union and to place it at the service of the workers.
Lesson 2: Workplace democracy works (yes, perhaps not in all instances). A workplace is much more likely to have high morale when all of the workers have a say in the actions that they, as a group, are going to take. A top down approach will probably have less morale in most instances.
Over the past almost 9 years a lot of water has passed under the bridge, and we value greatly the support we have received throughout this struggle – from the community of Centenario, Neuquén, Plottier etc., who at the end of 2001 arrived with a packet of noodles at the tents that sustained us for 5 months to the members of unit no. 11 who are just a few metres from the factory who gave us their food rations for 3 days so that we could continue our struggle.
And...
We also learned how to stand in solidarity with other workers, creating a permanent strike fund. We believe that coordination is fundamental for the victory of workers in their struggles. From the miners of Río Turbio, oil workers from Las Heras, workers from factories from Neuquén and Río Negro, Garrahan Subterráneas, aeronautical workers, railway workers, including workers from the unemployed movement occupied factory movement and dozens of occupied factories.
Lesson 3: Solidarity with your fellow workers is a key. Isolated workers will have a greater amount of trouble in industrial actions than if they receive the support of other workers. The workers at a Starbucks will have more in common with workers at a McDonald's or a Wal-Mart than not. They'll have common cause with the workers who deliver their raw products. They'll have common cause with the workers of the transportation system that gets the product to the warehouses to be delivered. They'll have common cause with the workers who grow or make their raw products. And they'll have common cause with most of their customers. All of these links hep to strengthen workers and workers should be aware of them. Workers who are united with other workers and their community can have a great effect for the good in our economy.
I'll let you read the rest of the article. Each of these lessons are ones the workers at Zanon have learned and hopefully will keep close to their hearts. These are lessons we can learn and put into play in our struggles at our jobs.