Sydney, Australia Paper of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Network 50cVol.27 No. 2 (199) April - May 2008

ORGANISE ON THE JOB TO FOIL THE

ALP/UNION BOSS SELLOUT OF POWER

WORKERS TO THE ROBBER BARONS!

NSW POWER INDUSTRY SELLOFF; STATE TRANSITNEWS; NSW RAIL NEWS; SYDNEY FERRIES NEWS;

SWEDEN; POLAND; EGYPT; GREECE; BRITAINTODAY; BOOK REVIEW CORNER “REBEL

ALLIANCES” BY BENJAMIN FRANKS; LETTER

2 Rebel Worker

Recently the Iemma State Labor Gov-ernment sent a letter to every pensionerin NSW, which contained a personalpromise from the Premier that the pri-vatization of the electricity systemwould not adversely affect them. Pen-sioner rebates would continue and thecost of electricity would not rise. A lot ofpeople thought this was a rather strangestep as they are accustomed to the gov-ernment just doing what it likes and donot put much trust in promises that anypolitician makes anyway.

Pensioners (and indeed working people)in NSW do have a lot to be concernedabout in the latest arm of the State Gov-ernment privatization push as such moveshave a long history of hardship for thoseon even the most moderate incomes. Ev-eryone would remember the fiasco cre-ated by the Kennett Governmentsprivatization of power in Victoria: Theprice of power DID go up, the grid did failcontinually due to poor or non-existentmaintenance and job slashing by the pri-

vate company responsible for it; businesscustomers DID get preferential treatmentand the sale of candles to working peoplewent through the roof!

What is perhaps most interesting is thatthis privatization push is coming from asupposedly “labor” government - indeedBuses, Trains and now the States ferriesare in their sights. Working people expectthis type of strategy from state or federalliberal governments as the provision ofservices to them is always the last priority,but from a state labor government it usedto be unusual…

One of the major concerns facing the ordi-nary power consumer is the recent signingof the Kyoto Protocol by the Federal LaborGovernment. Whilst this is very stylish ifyou live in a middle class glass-house, theneed for States to comply with reducedgreenhouse gas emission quotas to pro-duce power means that you and I are theones who will be made to payfor alternative energy produc-tion. Naturally I believe thatNSW should cut greenhousegas emissions for the overallbenefit of the planet; but all ofthe wide-eyed solutions pro-posed to do so are based onmaking energy use more ex-pensive. This means that work-ing people in Western Sydneywill not be able to afford (forexample) air conditioning inthe extremes of summer, butthe residents of the NorthShore will (albeit at a higherpremium). We will burn lesscoal and therefore produce lessgreen house gases and theplanet will thank us. Userssuch as pensioners at the bottom of the in-come scale will be placed in conditionsakin to Thatcher’s Britain during the coldwinter months. The problem naturally isthat what sounds like high-minded moralground inevitably results in the haves andthe have-nots when it comes to the powerdistribution.

The United Services Union (USU) has ofcourse beaten its chest in the press, criti-cizing the government’s plans without ac-

tually being seen to disagree with them toostrongly. Their criticisms are more con-cerned with the loss of jobs, which is fairenough of course, but do not address theimpact on the consumer. For example in arecent press statement they said:

“The USU has identified major deficien-cies in the proposed employment protec-tion arrangements with workers in thefemale dominated retail sector being ex-posed to the prospect of forced redun-dancy, the Government proposal does notprovide any guarantee against the off shor-ing of jobs overseas and does not providefor the retention of core employment in ru-ral and regional areas”.

What the USU have not told their mem-bers is that even if their jobs are protected,the gradual increase in costs of energy willeat into their pay packets regardless.

The power grid in NSW belongs to theworking people of NSW and, just like

Telstra, should remain in public owner-ship. This is the only way to satisfactorilyensure that power distribution is alwaysfair and affordable to all. The future of en-ergy supply in NSW can be ensured if theIemma government invests money in sus-tainable and environmentally friendly en-ergy production now, rather thanattempting to rely upon a private companyto do it for them.

Sean

Rebel Worker is the bi-monthly

Paper of the A.S.N. for the propo-

gation of anarcho-syndicalism in

Australia.

Unless otherwise stated, signed

Articles do not necessarily represent

the position of the A.S.N. as a whole.Any contributions, criticisms, lettersor

Comments are welcome.

REBEL WORKER

P.O. BOX 92

BROADWAY 2007 NSW

E-mail:

rworker@chaos.apana.org.au

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Privatization Push

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3 Rebel Worker

PORT BOTANY DEPOTNEWS

Rebel Worker: What’s been the biggestissue at the depot lately?

Port Botany Driver: The sacking of our un-ion rep Chris Mansergh on undisclosedcharges last year remains of great concernto us.

RW: What do you know about themoves to have Chris sacked?

PBD: In the end Chris was caught by asimple trick. A lot of driversmight not realise that new driversin their first year or two with STAare not ‘employees’, even thoughthey are in fact paid to work everyday like any other employee. Buttechnically they are not em-ployed, merely ‘trainees’.

Now one advantage of that, fromthe company point of view is thatgetting rid of trainees is much eas-ier than getting rid of employees.Despite having years of experi-ence as a professional driver be-hind him, Chris was still a newdriver with STA and when histechnical ‘traineeship’ periodended, he got a very sudden mes-sage that basically evicted himfrom the workplace!

No concrete reason given. This ispretty shabby treatment for anelected union delegate, but be-cause Chris was now barred from the pre-mises, there wasn’t much he could do to letother workers know what was going on.

RW: So Chris wasn’t exactly popularwith the bosses?

PBD: Ha ha, certainly not! He was a thornin their side. And there was nothingsneaky or underhanded about his tacticseither. As a union rep and negotiator,Chris’s style was always up front, he ham-mered the issues but he did everything bythe book, he made sure he read all the fineprint and he was a stickler for proper pro-cedure. That was his strategy, and you canimagine how infuriating it was.

RW: How was Chris regarded aroundthe workplace?

PBD: Attitudes seemed to be very mixed.Remember he was voted in as union dele-gate with a clear majority. This was afterhe put up notices around the workplacewith well thought out ideas for improve-ments. From that campaign, anyone couldsee he was passionate about workers’rights and had given a lot of thought tohow we would actually do the job if hewas given the chance. So he had a fair bitof support just for that reason. But once he

was voted in, it became apparent he hadenemies working to bring him down.RW: You mean the bosses?

PBD: No I mean amongst the workers, ac-tual union members. As soon as Chris wasin office a covert campaign got underwayto block his program and make trouble forhim generally. Chris kept asking for anymembers with issues to come forward andmeet and discuss the problem with him.Instead there was constant backbiting andbackstabbing, with union members evengoing direct to management to complainabout their elected delegate. Howanti-union is that?

RW: When the sacking crisis hap-pened, what was Chris’s response?

PBD: He decided to fight it every inch ofthe way.

RW: And the union bosses stood withhim to fight the case?

PBD: Obviously they should have.Around the workplace people were sayingthings like, if the union hierarchy doesn’tget behind a union delegate in a case likethis, then what hope is there for ordinarymembers, and what is even the point of be-ing a member? So it was most disturbing

when it turned out that the higher unionofficials wouldn’t lift a finger to help thecase, and instead were harming him bybadmouthing him generally.

RW: How was that?

PBD: For example, in a workplacemeeting immediately following thesacking, a union official came to addressthe members about what had happened.The explanation included quite a fewbald faced lies all of which put Chris in abad light, lies which were never later re-tracted or apologised for. In the face ofstalling tactics from the union, Chris

obtained his own legal advice and foundhe had a good case before the IndustrialRelations Commission (IRC) for over-turning the sacking and getting rein-stated. This law firm originally took thecase on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis. But thenduring proceedings, they flip floppedand said that while the case still had ex-

cellent prospects they were demandingtheir fees up front. Remember the otherside has whole teams of lawyers on a caselike this. No ordinary worker can afford tofight them on his own. Without the ‘nowin no fee’ arrangement Chris wasstuffed, basically.

RW: So that was the end for Chris?

PBD: Not quite, there was one dirty blowleft. When his lawyers turned round anddemanded fees up front, Chris went to theunion and asked again for backing, after allthis was a significant case for all trainees,all delegates, all workers, all union mem-bers. It was urgent too, there was a com-mission deadline approaching in days.

STATE TRANSIT NEWSFLASH

ALP UNION HIERARCHY HELPSTAB UNION REP IN THE BACK!

4 Rebel Worker

The union hierarchy told Chris, of coursewe will consider your need for assistancein this significant case, we will have an an-swer for you as soon as we put it to a meet-ing of the executive committee – inanother six months time. So there youhave it. Chris had no choice but to finallygive up and pull out of the case.

RW: So what do you think is the moralof the story?

PBD: All I will say is, there is a lot therefor us all to think about.

RW: What’s the situation with fare eva-sion?

PBD: Particularly in the southern suburbsand housing commission areas where weoperate there is tremendous fare evasionwhich management is failing to take anyserious action to tackle. The bus driver onhis or her own can hardly do a thing aboutit. Every bus driver in our area is awarethere are whole families of fare evaders,the parent gets on with five older kids andno one pays a cent. It is taken for granted,not just kids but adults will hop on the busand say ‘free ride please driver’. Thisleaves a bad feeling when you have ten lit-tle old ladies up the front of the bus whoeach get a bus ticket every day out of theirtiny pension income. But the driver has lit-tle choice but to let it go. Because refusingor even questioning someone about theirrequest for a free ride, could be inviting vi-olence. It has happened often enough. Forexample, not too long ago one of our driv-ers got spray painted - right in the face! - bya local kid, for just raising a question aboutthe ‘free ride’ the kid was asking for. Thisis what we face on the job!

RW: Can anything be done about theproblem?

PBD: The decision has to be made, eitherbus travel is free for everyone - which Imyself think is an idea worth serious con-sideration, or else there is a fare structurethat is reasonably enforced in all areas.Leave aside for the time being that the ex-isting fare structure is ridiculously com-plex and cumbersome, which BlindFreddy knows and which doomed theT-card system to failure in advance. If youhave fares, you have to enforce them.What you can’t have is self-selected peo-ple just opting out and getting away with itday after day, while paying passengerslook on and despair. Now the next point is,fare enforcement is not the bus drivers job.Driving is plenty responsibility by itself,and we also operate the trip by taking thefares that are given and keeping an eye onpassenger safety. That is why there is thatmini army of ticket inspectors on the pay-roll – to let people see that fare evasiondoesn’t pay. Those guys have impressiveuniforms with leather jackets, the full kitand regalia. You will see whole teams andsquads of these ticket inspectors at certain

bus stops, usually on Sundays for somereason. But what you never, never eversee is a handy little squad of ticket inspec-tors at any bus stop anywhere in those ter-ritories which we all know, have knownfor years, as being Sydney suburban fareevasion headquarters. Until that happensthe ‘free ride culture’ endemic in those ar-eas will just keep proliferating, the mes-sage to residents there from the buscompany is “this is a lawless area and wejust don’t care what you do”.

RW: How is the violence situation?

PBD: It seems that provision of securityguards has increased along one of the trou-blesome corridors, with a guard riding onbuses after dark and stationed along theway in cars at certain spots. Still I’m notaware of driv-ers ever get-t ing anybriefings onexactly whatthese securitypersons’ du-ties are, whatis their job andhow are theymeant to do it.For example,the driver willpull up at a busstop, securityperson gets on,puts a specialcard in thedriver’s con-sole, takes it out and hops off the bus again– what is that all about? Also I have seenguards in some confusion about which isthe bus they are supposed to be riding on.Reminds me of an illustrative incidenthappened on one trip I was doing a whileback, there was loud arguing going ondown the back, and it turned into a sloppyfistfight then temporarily quietened downas we were pulling into Maroubra Junctionwhere there is a bus security guard wait-ing. At the bus stop I told the security guyabout the problem down the back of thebus, and he said “Sorry mate, I’ve got towait for some other bus and ride on thatone.”

Ha ha, the downfall of the system. Downthe road the fighting started

again up the back, in the end I just pulledthe bus over and opened the back door,they all rolled out of the bus, yelling andhitting each other, and I was on my wayagain. Nice quiet night for that securityguard I guess. Maybe it’s amusing, but youcan see a situation like that might easilyhave turned very nasty indeed, and thatwas with security on hand but just not will-ing to do the job. So there you go.

WAVERLEY DEPOT NEWS

RW: What are your thoughts on theIemma Govt’s foreshadowedprivatisation rampage whose majortarget is the electricity industry?

Waverley Busie: Major figures in the capi-talist world are likely to be behind thispush. Such as the robber barons from For-tune 500 which held a conference in Syd-ney two and a half years ago. At thisconference which was attended by politi-cians from state and federal Govt’s and allmajor parties, it’s likely these figures putpressure on key members of the NSWALP Govt. to get cracking on theprivatisation agenda. Hedge Fundsheavily involved in the money markets arealso likely to be heavily involved in thepush. Here we have a situation of the econ-omy being dictated to by a few robber bar-ons who get richer while most suffer.

RW: What do you think are the ramifi-cations for the buses in regard to theIemma Govt’s plans to privatise theFerries?

WB: Recently, on the ABC TV current af-fairs program State Line after the 7.30 pmNews which explores state news, therewas a program focusing on Cab Charge, avery cashed up concern. It has a very ag-gressive outlook and is a major businesslobby group particularly in NSW, but alsothroughout Australia. Whilst it takes avery hard line attitude toward cabbies whoare obliged to process Cab Charge vouch-ers without any remuneration. It’s a majorcontender to purchase a juicy slice of theFerries after its carve-up. After its gobblesup much of the Ferries, will its bosses havetheir eyes on State Transit? We need to ur-gently organise on the job to meet thischallenge.

One serious effect of privatisation wouldbe a major cut in our pay. In the case ofSouth Australia, when the Govt. buseswere sold off, and private companies tookover, drivers lost between $10,000 and$15,000 p a in pay. As a number of fulltime permanent drivers were replaced bymore casuals and part timers. In this way,the private bus companies in Adelaide canprovide cheaper bus fares than exist inSydney.

The STA’s carve-up by private companieswill also affect our job security, with thelikely move against permanent jobs.These moves will not just affect the 3,500drivers employed in the STA but the entireworkforce of 4,000 to 6,000, and if youtake account of flow on effects in regard toour families and other sectors, overall100,000 people could be affected.

RW: What are your views on thetraineeship system for new drivers inthe STA?

5 Rebel Worker

WB: The new drivers are effectively puton 2 year trials and they are not guaranteeda job at the end. They are so vulnerable. Ifyou don’t fit the bosses’ pro-corporateoutlook you can get the flick. ChrisMansergh from Port Botany was one suchtrainee who was sacked due to his goodwork as union rep at the depot. Urgent ac-tion needs to be taken to return to the 6month trial period for new drivers.

RW: What are your thoughts on theGreen House Gas Crisis?

WB: The current move of the NSW Govt.to selloff public transport in the case of theferries and parts of the railways, just goesto show their short sightedness in regard tothe environmental crisis. Under privateownership of public transport, there willbe much less accountability to the public.Whilst, the robber barons are likely to cutservices due to greed for profits. The Govt.doesn’t want to take on such critical envi-ronmental issues and the likelihood thatwe have only 10-15 years to tackle globalwarming, before we face dire straits.

Associated with this outlook, is the Govt’slack of seriousness in cutting the numberof motor vehicles. Together with Paris,Rome and Los Angeles, Sydney is one of 4largest car using cities in the world. If allmotorists had a taxi meter attached to theircars, I’m certain they would be discour-aged in their car usage. Whilst if moreparking areas were provided near stations,I’m sure motorists would take up this op-tion and avoid driving into the city. Be-hind the Govt’s lack of action on the issueis the pressure of the robber barons such asShell which last year made well over $34billion on profits and virtually congratu-lated the Australian public for assistingthis profit making.

One measure to tackle the traffic gridlockin Sydney is to have one car free day ayear, like the Columbian Govt. has initi-ated. A great day. A clear quite day. Peace-ful and tranquil. However, it appears theGovt. doesn’t want it to happen, due to itscorporate connections and hasn’t the moti-vation to pursue the extensive planningsuch an initiative would require. A car freeday would be a big step toward curbing theexisting dependence of many on their cars.Just as many have felt they can’t do with-out their plastic bags at supermarkets.

RW: What are your impressions of STAmanagement?

WB: The STA executives give the impres-sion of viewing us as a type of machinery.They disregard the enormous resourcewhich exists in the case of the collectiveexperience of drivers. They could take ad-vantage of our ideas for transforming thepublic transport system and improve busservices, without cuts to the STA budget.Some of them behave as megalomaniacsand squander vast sums on consultants’

contracts. These senior STA bosses on$200,000 p a salaries make crappy deci-sions based on the advice of consultantswho have little understanding of bus oper-ations. I feel sad for the STA in its failureto listen to people and take up good ideas.RW: How have the Govt’s neo liberalpolicies affected bus operations?

WB: I was recently speaking to a Pt. Bot-any driver who mentioned that inspectorsare severely restricted in their ability to af-fect the supply of buses to cater for in-creased demand. In contrast to the old dayswhen inspectors had the authority to orderin more buses to cope with trouble spots,now they have lost this power. Due to ser-vice obligations associated with the con-tract system imposed on the STA by theDepartment of Transport, the frequencyand number of buses on runs can’t be al-tered at all.

RW: What’s the latest with the mobilephones?

WB: This issue has heated up lately withthe sacking of several drivers who havebeen caught just grabbing their phoneswhilst operating their buses. The union hi-erarchy has of course been beautifully use-less in regard to defending these drivers.It’s very unclear where we stand with mo-biles. Can you be sacked when the cameracatches you taking your mobile out of yourpocket and putting it in your bag? Thebosses are jumping over the deep end onthis issue to further terrorise us. The mediahas also been leaping on the issue to harassus. There seems to be a double standard onthe issue. While we are being targeted,there is no general crack down by theGovt. and police on motorists who arecaught using their mobiles. If you ap-proached motorists generally on the issueof mobile usage whilst driving, I’m sure80% to 90% would agree they are at faulton occasion. Recently I came across agraphic example of the problem in the caseof a female motorist whose car was wob-bling along near Anzac Parade, whilst shewas busily texting on her mobile.

An important explanation for this lenientattitude of the Govt. toward this misbehav-iour by motorists is the major influence ofsuch robber barons as the Telcos on theirpolicies. If the Govt. is serious and genu-ine about the issue, why doesn’t it spendsay $3-4 million on an advertising cam-paign to educate motorists that usage oftheir mobiles while driving their vehiclesis illegal. It should make clear that if theyare caught, they would face losing theirlicences.

RW: What’s happening with thebendibuses?

WB: Passengers are continuing to congre-gate in the dangerous concertina area inthe bendies. The passive approach of theSTA bosses on the issue involving putting

up “no standing signs” in the area, is com-pletely inadequate. They are just draggingthe chain. The STA’s failure to develop apolicy on the issue of passengers standingin this dangerous area in the bendies alsoallows the bosses to evade legal responsi-bility in the event of an accident and pas-sengers are injured. This issue is a foggyarea full of legal minefields. What re-course will the driver have?

RW: What are your thoughts on healthand safety issues?

WB: Many are unaware of the effects ofthe considerable amounts of stress we ex-perience in doing our jobs, and on otherparts of our lives. Whilst many on the jobthrough daily conflicts with passengersand angry motorists, develop a negativeoutlook. This outlook which is very de-structive for our lives and relationships,needs to be urgently tackled, so we can seethe positive aspects of our jobs and enjoyour job. From my experience of over 20years on the job I’ve often seen how youcome home tired from the job and are un-able to contribute 100% to family life. TheSTA is largely oblivious to this whole is-sue. Every two years they provide for youto go to a seminar, but that’s grossly inade-quate.

RW: What’s the latest on the road?

WB: A dangerous new issue has emergedin the case of gangs of young kids particu-larly in the Maroubra Beach and Rand-wick areas, who often wear white caps andare engaging in bizarre and dangerous an-tics on buses. They also try to intimidatedrivers and take free rides. Will the STAback up drivers who stand their groundagainst this intimidation? There is an ur-gent need for the STA to liaison with thepolice to tackle this serious issue. Latestnews is that the STA has advised that it hasbeen investigating the situation and will beusing cameras on the buses to these troublespots, to monitor these gangs and only hasa few more buses on these routes to havethe cameras installed. These cameras areof course a double edged sword and are be-ing used against us by the STA in the caseof disciplinary action and are likely to posea serious threat to civil liberties in the fu-ture. The disks of digital film producedfrom these cameras are easier to be ac-cessed than the footage from the previousvideo cameras and can be rapidly issued tothe police to assist their investigations intothese mischief makers. Will the STA showsome integrity on this issue and take effec-tive action to make our jobs easier?

6 Rebel Worker

Rebel Worker: What’s been the mostimportant news lately in RailCorp?

Station Assistant: Lately, managementhas been provided with some astronomi-cal pay rises lacking any connection to theCPI of between 8% to 27% per annum andin the case of members of parliament a 61/2% p.a. pay rise. Whilst we are only be-ing offered a 2.5% per annum pay rise aspart of our enterprise agreement. The CEOand senior executives which are helpingthemselves to all this cream are politicalappointees and secured their cushy jobsfrom their ties with the ALP Govt. andwere never promoted from the lowergrades. Consequently, their role isas a buffer for the Govt. when facingpublic criticism of the railways op-erations. They lack the on the jobexperience to contribute to im-proved rail operations to merit suchoutlandish pay rises.

The insulting meagre rise offered tous doesn’t even match the CPI of 3½% p. a. Consequently there ismuch hatred of managementamongst the grass roots for this dou-ble standard. The bosses are also de-manding major cut backs to ourconditions in exchange for the payrise. This stance of the bosses in re-gard to the wages issue strikes me asthe old school management approach. Itfails to take into account the need to com-pensate us for the increased responsibili-ties associated with our jobs and ourdifficulties in keeping the rail system func-tioning. Currently throughout RailCorpthere is short staffing and we have beenobliged in many cases to work multiplerosters to cope with the situation. The un-ion has made clear its opposition to any ofthese cut backs in conditions.

RW: What’s happening with rail infra-structure?

SA: Some important news is that the Rail-ways will again be manufacturing trains.The new Eveleigh is to be located nearClyde. It’s unclear as yet who will be op-erating the facility. However its likely toinvolve a PPP (Private Public Partnership)concept.

RW: What’s happening on the stations?

SA: According to latest information, thesenior rail bosses aren’t very impressedwith Australian station managers and areintending to recruit a dozen or so Britishgeneral managers, no doubt on high sala-

ries to check up on station mastersthroughout the network. It will create anew layer of bureaucracy in the railwaysand will result in more rules and regula-tions being imposed on us to justify thejobs of these fat cats and more squanderingof the RailCorp budget.

RW: What’s your outlook for the rail-ways?

SA: The railways needs a big shake up. Inparticular an improved ticketing systemneeds to be introduced, improved ways of

dealing with the public, more destinationsand more information provided to thepublic. To facilitate these improvementsmore positions need to be created. The se-nior rail bosses who fancy themselves asbusiness men are opposing any such im-provements. Whilst, the Govt. has a veryshort sighted approach involving just pur-suing policies to help them secure furtherterms in office and so secure their mealticket.

RW: What’s been the response on thejob to the campaign to oppose theprivatisation of the electricity industry?

SA: A contingent from Central attendedthe Rally outside the NSW Parlia-ment on Tues. 26th Feb. There havebeen leaflets distributed on the issueand also a poster has been put up inthe station on the issue. There is agreat concern regarding the negativeimpacts of electricity privatisationfor workers. Most significantly beinglikely higher power charges and mas-sive blackouts as occurred in NewZealand several years ago followingthe privatisation of its electricity in-dustry associated corner cutting onmaintenance.

RW: What’s happening with thesenior executives?

SA: Latest news is that Vince Graham ourcurrent CEO is leaving the job to becomethe CEO of the Intergral Energy. It’s ru-moured he will be replaced in the positionby a former railways CEO Simon Lane,who has been on a jaunt in the SingaporeRailways in recent years. He left his posi-tion in the NSW Railways several yearsshort of the end of his contract and re-ceived a massive golden handshake.

N.S.W. RAILWAY NEWS

There had always been a unionsub-branch at Central Station. That was upuntil a few years ago when the RTBU nolonger saw it as “convenient” to hold elec-tions anymore. The previously electedmilitants were seen by union officials asdisruptive and proved a thorn in the side ofthe union sell out merchants.

Recently a petition campaign was startedto have the union positions reinstated. Theresulting signatures have been presentedto the union who has agreed to the holdingof elections for four positions. Althoughthe election process is flawed, since noelection date has been fixed and voting eli-gibility is unclear, nominations have beenkeenly submitted to the union.

So who should Central Sparks readersvote for? They should NOT vote for selfinterested apolitical management croniesor union hacks that have traditionally onlylooked after themselves. Votes should befor representatives that strictly have the in-terests of all of the workers at Central atheart. They must be prepared to listen andto consult with members on the job andtake their concerns to the union and man-agement.

In this regard, two candidates stand out asbeing worthy of your vote.

Saade Abdallah is well respected on thejob and has a very good understanding ofthe contemporary Australian political con-

Central Workers Finally

Granted Union Representation

7 Rebel Worker

text and issues as well as having a keen in-terest in overseas political developments.He always always sought to democrati-cally progress the conditions of workersand has not been afraid to voice their con-cerns to management.

John Coleman is a Booking Clerk at Cen-tral with vast political experience in theAustralian and International context. Johnwas a union secretary of the Eveleighworkshops until the 1980’s who foughthard against the Labor government of theday to prevent its closure. Those whoworked at the now defunct Eveleigh work-shops still talk of John with some admira-tion. He has always sought to broaden thehorizons of workers and is committed to awider project of workers international andlocal solidarity and therefore participateson many independent trade union commit-tees. John has recently returned from a tourof Vietnam and Cuba.

Good luck to all candidates!

EBA Update

Although RailCorp EBA 2008 is setto be finalised by the middle of Aprilmuch of it has yet to be agreed to. TheEBA document is a rewording of pre-vious conditions of employment to fitwith current Federal industrial legis-lation plus it adds compliance for theNSW Public Sector Wages Policywhich contributes further Draconianworkplace reforms.

There has been little participation ofgrassroots workers in the negotiationprocess. In an earlier Sparks Mag westated that a rank and file log ofclaims was not up for discussion andno alterations to the unions log ofclaims were allowed. Despite unionsclaims of rank and file consultationthere is a distinct lack of informationand exchange in the workplace. I know ofonly one informal meeting where a fewrail workers attended.

Draft copies of the EBA which were sup-plied on the RailCorp website show no in-clusions of any of the rank and file claims.This EBA is purely a management instru-ment for workplace reform and cost sav-ing.

However paid maternity leave has beendoubled to 14 weeks, something which wewhole heartedly applaud. There is littleelse to be happy about in the EBA docu-ments.

So far 2.5% pa is the only pay offer on thetable but this is contingent on the EBA be-ing agreed to unconditionally. This is notsurprising since the rail unions ambitclaim only amounted to a paltry 5% pa.

Many of the measures such as the endingof indefinite salary maintenance will not

get full support from employees who havebeen displaced from other areas. Likewisethe reductions in casual sick pay from 6 to3 days pa will be unwelcome.

The sneaky inclusion of a family leaveprovision extension in the EBA is despica-ble. It will be paid now primarily from paidleave such as long service leave, grantedpublic holidays, holiday pay or sick leaveif no paid leave is available. Thislegitimises an already practiced breach ofthe current award which had been ignoredby the unions.

In the proposed agreement there are otherreally mean clauses, such as not paying theBank Holiday or granting a day in lieu ifan employee is on leave or absent for anyreason on this day.

Workers need to be completely informedabout their EBA and be prepared to voicetheir opposition to some of its worst as-pects. If all else fails they should foregothe pitiful wage rise of 2.5%, by rejectingEBA 2008, then start a separate campaignfor a wage rise that trades nothing yetgrants a realistic cost of living pay deal.

NSW Public Sector WagesPolicy Worse Than

WorkChoices

The framework for our EBA negotiationsis firmly rooted within the bounds of theNSW State Governments Public SectorWages Policy 2007. This is a strange ar-rangement. For although RailCorp isbound by NSW Government policies theirworkers are not. Workers are covered by aFederal Government registered award.

The Wages Policy is an imposed policythat is not written into law (commonlycalled Costanomics after State Treasurerand ex union boss Michael Costa).

How would a challenge to the policy standup in a Federal Industrial Court?

The RTBU and other rail unions have nofight in them at all and have gone a long

way to appeasing their State Governmentmasters by agreeing to most of the tenetsof the Wages Policy which are included inEBA 2008.

Worst aspects of the NSW Public SectorWages Policy include:

Holding wages to a 2.5% p a increase un-less there is some trade off in working con-ditions or further worker productivity.This is despite inflation currently runningat greater than 5% and workers experienc-ing greater financial stress than at any timein the last 10 yrs.

Setting the parameters in which negotia-tion takes place including limiting mattersup for negotiation.

The wages policy is tilted towards reformand uses a carrot and stick approach to getworkers to comply by limiting rises unlessthey are prepared to give something away.According to the policy papers “Thewages policy is predominantly about driv-ing cultural change...”

Like the Accord days it Co-opts the Un-ion movement “in a cooperative and prob-

lem solving manner.”

Back pay is not allowed even ifa previous agreement has ex-pired before a new one has beennegotiated. Back pay will onlybe considered “in exceptionalcircumstances and only whereapproved by the Cabinet Stand-ing Committee”

“Clear no extra claims clauses”.

Every step of the EBA negotia-tions is stage managed by Gov-ernment Committee such asCabinet Standing Committee onthe Budget, Wages PolicyTaskforce and the Public SectorWorkforce Office. So much fordemocratic unionism and adher-ence to democratic internationallabor standards. Basically the

whole package is a abrogation of workers’rights over which the State Government isprepared to ride roughshod. Not even aquasi independent umpire such as the FairPay Commission here.

Potential areas of reform according to theNSW Wages Policy paper include, but arenot limited to:

“A flexible, mobile and highly perform-ing workforce”.

Reductions in sick leave and overtime.Reducing leave liabilities. (RailCorp em-ployees will no longer be able to accumu-late leave to a later date and will be limitedto 4 or 5 weeks annual leave only, depend-ing on work classification. All other leavewill be “cashed out”.)

Using less qualified staff “that are easierto attract” into “redesigned” jobs. Obvi-ously they will also be paid less.

8 Rebel Worker

Flex time not to be “excessively accumu-lated and used as a substitute for recreationleave”.

The wages policy should have been re-sisted by all of the union movement inNSW, its more than a shame how easilythey have rolled over. I believe they (theunions) have legal grounds for resisting,but they lack the will.

A few unions such as the NSW Nurses As-sociation have advised their members toreject the “simplistic” 2.5% policy. TheFire Brigade Employees Union on theother hand has already won wage risesabove the State imposed 2.5% just bythreatening to flex a little muscle. As far asI know the Teachers Federation has notcommitted itself at this stage.

The way that most unions have dealt withthis issue dishonours their own members

and is a huge blow to the workers that theysupposedly represent. Workers have anobligation to let their unions know, in thestrongest possible manner, that they (theworkers) must placed ahead of any crazyeconomic agenda imposed by MacquarieStreet. Union leaders can and will be re-placed just like their political masterswhen the time comes, if needs be.

By Shane Bentley

Twelve months ago transport and electric-ity sector unions campaigned for a LaborParty victory in the NSW state elections.

Workers were told to support the“worker-friendly” Labor Party against theNSW Liberals who fully backed JohnHoward’s WorkChoices laws.

The re-elected Iemma government is nowrepaying this support with plans to priva-tise the Sydney Ferries service, the railnetwork and the electricity grid. Iemmaand Co. are on a privatisationbinge that will result in job losses,the undermining of currentwages, conditions and safetystandards, higher prices andfewer services.

Many would be excused forthinking that NSW Labor hasonly recently floated the idea ofprivatising Sydney Ferries. Noth-ing could be further from thetruth.

The NSW Labor governmenttook the first step towards priva-tising the ferries back in 2003when it pushed the Transport Ad-ministration Amendment (Syd-ney Ferries) Bill through stateparliament.

This Bill corporatised the ferryservice in 2004 by restructuringthe State Transit Authority andsetting up the Sydney FerriesCorporation as a separate entity.

After this initial step, Labor’sprivatisation plans had been lying dor-mant for the last few years - until twotragic accidents put the Sydney Ferriesservice back under the spotlight.

In January 2007 a RiverCat and a fishingdinghy collided under the HarbourBridge, killing a 72-year-old man. TheFerry Master was charged with culpablenavigation and currently faces trial.

Two months later - and again under theHarbour Bridge - four people were killedwhen a HarbourCat ferry collided with a10m wooden cruiser.

These tragic events provided the cover forthe Iemma government to establish theSpecial Commission of Inquiry into Syd-ney Ferries. With Bret Walker SC at thehelm, the Commission began its work inApril 2007 just weeks after Labor’sre-election.

Many believed that the Walker Commis-sion inquiry was nothing more than a pub-

lic relations stunt to enable the NSWGovernment to privatise Sydney Ferries.They were right.

The 430 page report was handed down onNovember 1, 2007. It suggested the cutback or winding up of unprofitable ser-vices such as the Parramatta RiverCatsand the high-speed Manly JetCat. It notedthe failure to integrate ferry times with thebus and train networks and recommendedthe replacement of the aging ferry fleet.

Not surprisingly, the report calls for theferry service to be opened up to increasedinvolvement of the private sector. Variousprivatisation options were outlined, in-cluding a “public private partnership(PPP)” that would keep the ferries andwharves public but privatise the operationof the ferries.

Despite the disasters with current PPP in-frastructure schemes like Sydney’scross-city tunnel and airport rail link, thisappears to be NSW Labor’s preferred op-tion. It is also how privatisation works in

the public transport systems inMelbourne, Brisbane and Lon-don.

The Maritime Union of Australia(MUA) submission to the Walkerinquiry used the example of theBritish rail system to show justhow wrong privatisation can go.

PPP has lead to the ludicrous sit-uation where government spend-ing on the British rail networkhas sharply r isen afterprivatisation. Spending on Brit-ish Railways has more than tri-pled from £563 million in 1990 to£1.8 billion after privatisation.On the London Underground ithas gone up 20-fold, from £44.1million in 1997 to £1.48 billion in2005.

The overall profits of the Britishrail companies grew by 20 per-cent in 2004 to just under £300million.

It is no wonder that the corporatesharks have already begun to cir-

cle around Sydney Ferries.

One company that is keen is theFrench-Austra l ian par tnersh ipTransdev-TSL, who already operate Mel-bourne’s Yarra Trams, the privatised Bris-bane Ferries, Sydney’s ShoreLink busesand other public transport in Europe.

NSW Labor prepares to privatise Sydney Ferries

9 Rebel Worker

Another is Veolia Transport who currentlyrun Melbourne’s trains, Sydney’s mono-rail, light rail, 250 buses as well as ferryoperations in Europe are keen. MacquarieBank is also hovering.

The different unions that cover SydneyFerries workers have come out against theprivatisation of the service. Unions includ-ing the MUA, the Australian Manufac-turing Workers Union (who cover themaintenance workers at the Balmain ship-yard) and the Australian Institute of Ma-rine and Power Engineers have releasedjoint anti-privatisation media statements.

In July last year morning peak hour com-muters were given leaflets issued jointlyby the various unions and copies of the10,000 anti-privatisation postcards thatwere mailed and sent to Premier MorrisIemma.

MUA members also leafleted the thou-sands of people that watched the tradi-tional Australia Day ferry races at CircularQuay in an effort to raise communityawareness about the privatisation threat.

There has been no definite announcementfrom the NSW Labor government aboutthe future of Sydney Ferries. That is onlybecause Iemma has put the privatisation ofSydney Ferries on the backburner while heconcentrates on selling off the state’s elec-tricity grid.

The unions at Sydney Ferries could havesent Iemma a powerful signal on the day ofthe February 26 rally against electricityprivatisation.

On that day thousands of blue and whitecollar electricity workers took part in a24-hour strike across the state. The rallyoutside parliament house has anywherebetween 4,000 to 10,000 people (depend-ing on estimates).

Solidarity action by workers at SydneyFerries would have demonstrated toIemma and NSW Labor that all workersand unions that are threatened by futureprivatisation are willing to unite and act inthe defence of those who are currentlyfighting privatisation.

Unions such as the MUA and the AMWUdid send contingents to the rally (whichfell on the same day as the MUA’smonthly stop-work meeting).

But a concrete act of solidarity action -ranging from a fare free day to a snap striketo coincide with the start of the rally –would not only send a warning shot acrossIemma’s bough.

It would also point to the need for joint in-dustrial action by all those threatened withprivatisation as the way to victory for theelectricity workers who are under fire to-day.

[Shane Bentley is a member of the Mari-time Union of Australia and publishes aregular Sydney maritime industry job bul-letin. Visit .]

Call for solidarity action for fired63-year old against union busting com-pany From: tyreso.ls@sac.se

Comrades in Poland and theUnited States and worldwide!

Arta Plast spits on workers’ rights - work-ers are worn out and thrown out.

The Swedish company Arta Plast (AP),has fired more than 30 employees, amongthem a member of the Swedi shanarcosyndicalist union SAC, Jorge PerezSalvo, originally from Chile. Jorge willhave to leave his job in August 2008, not aday more than the law demands, and with-out any economic compensation. By thenhe has worked for AP for 11 years, and hasonly 2 years left before retirement. He isthe only one over the age of 60 who haslost his job and many of those who willstay have worked much shorter periodsthan him. The MD of AP, Helge Steg, saidhimself at an informal information meet-ing that Jorge has had poor health andheart-problems the lately, as answer on aquestion about Jorge’s chances to keep hisjob.

Arta Holding owns AP, manufacturer ofplastic products with about 80 employees.Until October 2007 they also owned thecompany Haemedic, without its own pro-

duction but owner of the patents of a medi-cal product (and the production process)called blood lancets. Those were made byAP. Due to hard competition all ofHaemedic was sold for 23,000,000 Eurosto Polish competitor HTL Strefa, whichwill take over both patents and productionof the lancets. HTL Strefa’s new factory issituated in Lodz Special Economic ZoneIndustrial Park with special privileges un-til 2017.

Jorge’s union, the Local Federation ofTyresö (neighbouring Stockholm) of SAC(Central Organization of Sweden’sWorkers) has demanded that Jorge keephis job or that AP pay him severance paycorresponding to two years wages, whichwould be only a small part per thousand ofthe amount that Arta Holding got forHaemedic.

In negotiations the company AP has re-fused to give anything at all. That is whywe now are taking offensive actionagainst the company.

This is not only about one single comradebeing treated badly, the company has aknown history of union busting, and mostof the workers are afraid to do or say any-thing against their bosses. AP is also wellknown at the local health service withmany workers suffering from physicalpain related to wear damage due to thehard work, as well as stress related syn-dromes.

Now is about time to fight back! On tues-day 25 of March at 7 o’clock in the morn-

ing when day shifts workers come andnightshift workers leave, we will have ourfirst action at the AP facility in Tyresö,Sweden.

The companies involved also have facili-ties in Poland and the United States, whichis why we now ask for international sup-port. You can help us by sending protestletters to Arta Plast, Haemedic and HTLStrefa. You can spread this informationand ask others to protest as well. Or, bestof all of course, if any of you have the pos-sibility to organize protest actions of anykind at the facilities of Haemedic and HTLStrefa, you can use the text above to put onleaflets. Also, any information that youmight have or find about those companiesthat can be used against them will be use-ful and appreciated.

If you feel this is a case worth supportingwe will be deeply grateful for any action ofsolidarity.

Revolutionary greetings

Peter Forsberg

Tyresö LS

SAC

Companies in Poland:

HTL-STREFA S.A.

Headquarters

ul. Adamówek 7

95-035 Ozorków

T: +48 42 270 00 10

F: +48 42 270 00 20

SWEDEN - ATTACK ON WORKERS’ RIGHTS

10 Rebel Worker

Illegal firing of a union memberin Lionbridge Poland

- case update

In December 2007, a trade union wasformed in a multinational corporationcalled Lionbridge Poland*. Lionbridge isa translation company that translates thecontent of web sites, technical manualsand software applications. It has offices onseveral continents, notably in Europe,USA, India and China.

The union was inspired by the ideas ofZSP (Zwiazek Syndykalistow Polski), thatis direct-democracy, recallable delegates,lack of head of the union (only delegateslimited to executing specific mandatesand with no decision making power).All financial information have to bestrictly accountable to union members.The idea to create a union came fromsome of the workers in the company,who were getting tired of more “costcutting” and fewer and fewer benefitsfrom the company, longer overtime, latepayments for some of the workers, wagediscrimination and no perspective ofgetting raises.

The employers were trying for a longtime to pretend that something is beingdone for the workers by creating a “rep-resentative of the crew” (they are actu-ally obliged by law to do it). Of course,the representative could not obtain anybenefits for the workers and was treatedonly as a puppet.

The creation of the union came as ashock to the management, because thiswas something that they did not control.The first reaction of the bosses was:“it’s such a shame for the workers “ nowthe workplaces will move to India andPolish workers will be worse off be-cause of the union". The managementwas actively looking for an excuse to dosomething about the emerging organiz-ing in the workplace.

They found a pretext in the form of an arti-cle published on different web sites, called“Lionbridge: globalizing low wages” inwhich some generally known and publiclyavailable information about Lionbridge

was presented (about how wage levels ofinterpreters in Ireland have fallen sinceLionbridge took over a big contract withthe courts, about how Lionbridge madesure that the workers of a company they

bought in India were treated as“non-workmen” by Indian law (meaning

they have no labour rights) and about thecreation of a trade-union in Lionbrige Po-land).

All of this was public information (someof it must be made public by a corporationtraded on the stock exchange likeLionbridge). However, it seems that somepublic information can at the same time besecret!

One of the founders of the trade-union inLionbridge, Jakub Gawlikowski, was ac-cused of “leaking secret information” in anarticle published on the web, despite thefact that the authorship of the article couldnot be proved and that the article containedonly a number of facts that were publishedbefore and readily available on the net for

anyone looking for “Lionbridge”. It seemsthat unconnected pieces of informationavailable on the internet are not “secrets”,but once someone puts the pieces togetherand shows the logic of greed and cynicismbehind the actions of a corporation, thenthese pieces of information become “se-crets”.

Polish law protects trade-union membersagainst being fired. Still, many companies,such as Auchan, Nestle , and nowLionbridge have decided to break the lawand fire trade-union organizers in the hope

of breaking the back of the trade-unions. Inmost cases, such attempts have backfired,the bosses lost in the labour courts andwere forced to reinstate the fired unionmembers. In the case of Lionbridge, the

trade union quickly gathered many newmembers, and now 50 out of 300 workersin the Polish subsidiary of Lionbridge areunionised. The tactic of scare-mongeringdid not really work. What the bosses tried

to do at the same time, was to give theworkers some concessions that the official“representative of the crew” was trying toobtain for a long time: free coupons worthabout 100$ per person, additional vacationbenefits, etc... All those small concessionswhich seemed impossible to obtain beforethe union was formed - suddenly were“generously” given by management.

The union has expressed solidarity withthe fired union co-founder and has sentan internal letter stating that the companydid not provide any proof of Jakub’s guilt(he is being accused of such ridiculousthings as “influencing the stock exchangeto the detriment of Lionbridge" because -according to the bosses, and this is a di-rect quote from the firing notice, “finan-cial markets all over the world arelooking very carefully on anarchist andantiglobalist sites and any article that ispublished on those sites can have a deepinfluence on the stock market" - this isnot a joke!). The management replied tothe letter by saying that all this should bebetter kept secret for the good of all in-volved parties (it just shows how scaredthey are of publicity and revealing thetruth).

The current situation is such that thecourt case against the illegal actions ofLionbridge will cost about 2000 USDand some additional money will beneeded as deposit in the court (about1600 USD). The court case will almostcertainly be won, but it might take over ayear.

All donations would be very welcome, asJakub’s financial situation is quite diffi-cult at the moment, as he has lost the job atthe company and needs to cover high legalexpenses.

Jakub Gawlikowski

In Solidarity,ZSP

* An antiauthoritarian anticapitalist

POLISH LABOUR NEWS

11 Rebel Worker

STOP PRESS

Dear comrades,

The members of ZSP owe a great thankstoday to our comrades in Slovakia (andIWA sec) for what we understand was asuccessful action in Zilina at the Slovakoffice of Lionbridge Technologies (whichis under the same boss as the Warsaw of-fice). That company sacked our comradefrom the Warsaw office shortly after form-

ing a union, but even more people joinedup after that. We understand that the com-rades in Slovakia encouraged the localtech workers to organize themselves andalso protested against this dismissal bygoing to the office and not just picketingoutside, but actually going inside the of-fice and talking to the workers and man-agement. We are sure this made a goodimpression on everybody and hope that theworkers will start to contact each otherwith the goal to organizing internationally

because that’s how the struggle has got tolook in such international firms where ev-ery worker is used to compete against theother in the race towards the bottom.

Our best wishes to the Slovakian com-rades of Priama Akcia!

Laure (on behalf of ZSP Warsaw group)

warsaw@zsp.net.pl

Railway, agricultural workersprotest and walk out

March 13th, 2008

by Joseph K.

Recent weeks have seen a continuation ofthe workers’ unrest in Egypt, with over2,000 agricultural workers going onall-out strike at the end of February and100 railway workers protesting their payand conditions at the start of March.

Agricultural workers strike & sit-in 2,200workers and employees at the RamsisCompany for Agricultural Projects and theSouth Valley Company for agriculturaldevelopment in Toshka went on openstrike Feb 27 and staged a sit-in at the com-panies’ management. They protestedagainst the decision by the Constructionand Development Holding Company toreduce variable wages by 20% after the In-vestment Minister’s decision to shutdown the Trade Holding Company (THC)and make the two previous companies af-filiated to the Construction and Develop-ment Holding Company.

The strikers affirmed they would not goback to work even if this led to the loss ofcrops, unless the management backeddown on its new decision and improvedtheir situation. According to them, the cur-rent management had already decreasedtheir wages by 20% last year. The workersmentioned that the management had sent anote to Cairo calling for the dismissal ofsome of the workers’ leaders who wereonly demanding their rights.

On top of their requests was to ensure theworkers (80% of the total manpower is notensured), give them annual raises likepublic sector workers, and provide medi-cal insurance for them and their families oradequate health care. They pointed outthat the government had reduced the

wages for highly qualified workers fromLE 700 to LE 550 and paid extra-labour ef-fort (LE 150) only to workers who hadmade 100% efforts.

This percentage, though, is subject to thedepartment chief’s mood, as they said, andthe chief often runs the company based on

the workers’ clan of origin.

There is an ongoing conflict betweenworkers from the north, who take on lead-ing posts at the company, and workersfrom the south, who work in agriculture.Yet, most of these workers are highlyqualified or are average. Moreover, 100%effort is recognized only to those having a100% attendance rate, with no exceptionfor ordinary leaves and absence due to ill-ness. A year ago basic wages were reducedby 20%.

Railway workers protest

One hundred employees of the EgyptianRailway Authority from El-Wosta, BeniSuef, protested against pay and conditionsMarch 1. The five-hour protest, which be-

gan at 10 am in El-Wosta,was intended to draw atten-tion to a number of demands.Railway drivers are callingfor the payment of withheldhousing allowances and otherbenefits, increased pay andhealth insurance, which theysay are received by employ-ees based in other areas ofEgypt, but not by them.

They are also calling forbetter maintenance of rollingstock whose neglect poses asafety risk, according to traindrivers, and demand that theybe based in central Cairo,rather than the Upper Egyptgovernorate of Assiut .El-Wosta is 90 km fromCairo and yet we report toAssiut, which is 300 km awayit’s illogical, a train driverAhmed Ramadan explained.

Ramadan told Daily NewsEgypt that further action isplanned.

We will hold another proteston March 10 if management does not re-spond to our demands, he said.

Thanks to:

Libcom

EGYPTIAN LABOUR NEWSFLASH

12 Rebel Worker

March 23rd, 2008

by Ed

Greek unions promise to continue protestsagainst the government’s pension reforms,passed on Thursday.

The pension reform raises the retirementage for women to 65 and workers in haz-ardous industries will have to work an ex-tra two years. Many accuse theconservative government of going back onpre-election promises not to cut pensionrights.

Wednesday saw 2.5 million workers walkoff the job, grounding flights, closingschools, ports and tourist sites as well asbringing public transportation to a stand-still. Power was cut, rubbish piled up in thestreets and ATMs also ran out of money aselectrical, refuse and bank workers allstopped work.

Students in Thessaloniki occupied theiruniversity’s administration building in themorning, forcing strike breaking employ-ees to walk-out. Electricity in the buildingwas also shut off by the students in solidar-ity with workers from the public electricity

company. Protesters also threw rubbishbags into large shops or banks which hadremained open and threw red paint over

the Bank of Greece.

In Athens, picket lines formed outsidelarge shops to stop them from opening andthere was also a blockade of the Protoporia

bookshop by 60 people in support of a cou-rier who had been sacked for participatingin the strike. Skirmishes broke outthroughout the day between strikers andpolice who used teargas and rubber bulletsagainst protesters. Over 100,000 peoplealso took part in a rally organised by theGSEE (private sector) and ADEDY (pub-lic sector) unions.

Several hundred protesters remained out-side parliament throughout much of theevening vote on Thursday, some clashingwith police.

Bank workers,teachers and law-yers remained onstrike on Friday,while electricalworkers at statepower companyPPC, on strike formore than twoweeks, said theywill meet later todecide how to con-tinue their action.Bin staff have goneback to work andhave started clear-ing up the moundsof refuse piling upin the streets,though it is esti-

mated that it will take over a week for rub-bish levels to return to normal. However,the bin workers’ union, POE-OTA, prom-ised it would soon resume strike action.

More strikes expected asGreece passes pension

reforms

Edinburgh rail workers inwildcat strike

February 6th, 2008

by Ed Rail

Signallers in Edinburgh went on wildcatstrike, bringing the station to a standstillfor an hour on Monday. The action atEdinburgh’s Waverly station was takenin a dispute over the provision of coverfor breaks. David Simpson, of NetworkRail in Scotland, said the “deliberatelydisruptive, unprovoked action” was“completely unacceptable”. Ian MacIn-tyre, the RMT’s (rail union) regional or-ganiser for Scotland, was reported assaying: “Our members took the action inthe interests of safety. ”They felt they hadbeen working intensively, looking atscreens to ensure the safe movement oftrains, working in the same way as air traf-

fic controllers. After four hours, they feltthey had to have their personal needsbreak." Mr Simpson said the workers lefttheir posts at about 1225 GMT, returningto work at 1335 GMT. Their action re-sulted in all services being brought to acontrolled and safe stop, with no services

running through the station for an hour. Headded: “We understand that this actionwas taken due to a disagreement within thesignalling centre over arrangements forcover during breaks. Failed discussion MrMacintyre, the RMT’s regional organiserfor Scotland, told the media: ”Our mem-

bers took the action in the interests ofsafety. “They felt they had been workingintensively, looking at screens to ensurethe safe movement of trains, working inthe same way as air traffic controllers. ”Af-ter four hours they felt they had to havetheir personal needs’ break." He added thatthe signallers had been trying to reachagreement with management over coverfor breaks but this had failed to happen.

Quit Buggin’ Me!

5th Mar.

There has been uproar this pastmonth because Sadiq Khan, aLabour MP, had his conversa-tion recorded by the police whentalking to one of his constituents,an inmate at Woodhill prison.The whole thing comes fromsomething called “the Wilson

doctrine”, a 40 years old policy that bansthe secret services or the police from tap-ping MPs conversations. Obviously, thisdoctrine has been breached in this case.But should we worry? MPs are exemptfrom the level of surveillance that the rest

BRITAIN TODAY

13 Rebel Worker

of us are subjected to because their conver-sations with constituents are consideredconfidential. Does that mean that commu-nications between us “commoners” is notprivate? Apparently so. Make no mistakeabout it. Up to 600 agencies can bug you,follow you undercover, intercept your let-ters, and more. These can include your lo-

cal council, the royal mail and even the firebrigade (let alone the secret services or thepolice). Every year a quarter of a millionapplications are made to bug or followpeople. Think of the “no ifs, no buts” ad-verts that local councils have put up. Theyare saying it very loud and clear: if you re-ceive benefits of any kind, chances areyour local council are going to investigateyou and most likely put you under surveil-lance. There are even new plans to fitchips in wheelie bins to keep track of howmuch rubbish you put in. Where’s thelimit? Cameras in your kitchen to fightobesity? After all, it kills more people ev-ery year than terrorism. Will MPs be ex-empt from this snooping as well?Probably.

On the frontline

Postal workers in Oakham, Leicestershire,walked out in defence of a sacked col-league in February. The 57 workers wereangry that a postal worker had been sum-marily dismissed. After two days on wild-cat strike in February, refuse workers at

Brighton’s Hollingdean Depot won theirfight against management bullying. Thestriking bin staff had been complainingabout management bullying after staff re-fused to double their workload due to lackof vehicles and under-staffing. As part ofwhat workers called management’s “bullytactics”, four refuse workers had beenmoved onto different crews sparking an-ger amongst the depot and leading to thewildcat action. The four workers havebeen allowed back onto their old crewsand management have started negotiationsover staffing levels and vehicle numbers.Around 20,000 council workers walkedout in Birmingham. A new pay structure

(single status pay) would lead to pay cutsfor around 4,000 members of staff, withsome seeing their pay slashed by as muchas 18,000 pounds a year.

National science museum staff have votedoverwhelmingly to strike over pay andplans to close the civil service pensionscheme to new members. Members of the

Public and Commercial Servicesunion (PCS) are furious that abelow inflation pay offer hasbeen imposed on them at a suc-cessful time for the museum.

Pensions rip-off

The government has refused toaccept responsibi l i ty fo r125,000 pensioners ruined whentheir company pension schemescollapsed. When an appeal con-firmed the High Court’s judge-ment against the government,James Purnell, Secretary of Statefor Work and Pensions, appealedin his turn to the House of Lords.

During the 1990s, ministers made falsestatements about protection for pensionfunds introduced by new legislation. TheParliamentary Ombudsman took twoyears to investigate and in a report inMarch 2006 said the government had mis-led workers about the safety of occupa-tional pension schemes and called for fullcompensation. The government refused topay. Under pressure it created a ‘FinancialAssistance Scheme’, which so far has paidout tiny amounts and which provides a farlower level of compensation than today’sworkers have. After a High Court rulinglast year, the government reluctantlyraised the level of FAS compensation, butnot by much. The pensioners have suf-

fered, not just in terms of pensions,but with the stress of the situation af-fecting their lives and health, withsome losing their homes. There is nocompensation for this in the FAS.That is why the pensioners havefought on. The Government knowsthat it will probably lose its appeal.They are deliberately obstructingany payouts in a deeply cynicalmove, banking on more pensionersdying before they have to makecompensations.

Thanks to

Resistance Bulletin

14 Rebel Worker

This is the text of a leaflet produced byNottingham Defy-ID in February 2007,group in which Anarchist Federationmembers are involved. It was also re-produced in the ‘No Borders reader’distributed at the No Borders camp atGatwick in September where a work-shop was held on ID and Border con-trol. The leaflet examines the linkbetween the introduction of identitycards and databases resulting from theID Cards Act of March 2007, and theBritish state’s intention to introducemuch stricter border controls though anew UK Borders Bill ...

Defy-ID

Groups and individuals in the Defy-IDnetwork have for the last few years beencampaigning against the introduction of anational ID scheme, biometric upgradingof passports, and the surveillance societyin general.

At the same time, No Borders have beentirelessly protesting against maltreatmentand incarceration of asylum seekers in de-tention centres and against repression bygovernment (and privately run) immigra-tion ‘services’.

It’s becoming clearer than ever that thesecampaigns should be working closely to-gether ...

Because ID has already been tested onasylum seekers and will also be used firston other ‘foreigners’.

The Home Office is now much more openabout its intended use of a biometric ID da-tabase scheme to control Britain’s borders.This is not completely new — we knowthat II) technologies have always beentried out first on asylum seekers.

For example, the ARC ‘smart card’ that iscarried by asylum seekers is used for theirregular reporting and to obtain NASS pay-ments from the post office. It is an ID cardwhich goes hand-in-hand with their digitalphotos and fingerprints being stored by theHome Office. Asylum seekers are finger-printed when they report to their reportingcentre or police station. Non-EuropeanUnion visitors will soon be made to havebiometric visas, including those already inBritain. Plus, the European Commissionhas already put in place a plan to requirechildren to be fingerprinted and photo-graphed for passports from at least the ageof 12 years old (EU member states can de-cide to make this even younger). What is

perhaps less well known is this was trialledon asylum seekers in Britain. Children asyoung as five are known to have beenfingerprinted at asylum centres in Croy-don and Liverpool, for example. Plus weare starting to hear about police mobilefingerprinting units being used to furtherharass people in cars and on demonstra-tions.

The plan for a new National Identity Reg-ister has also been dropped in favour ofcombining three existing databases to cre-ate a ‘meta-database’: The Home Officeasylum-seeker database; The Identity andPassport Service database, and; The De-partment of Work and Pensions ‘NationalInsurance’ database. Although the even-tual plan is to extend ID cards and a meta-database to everyone in Britain, thischange of policy makes it dear that asylumseekers and other ‘foreigners’ are first inline for more repression.

Because of the new‘UK Border Bill’

The government seems to have put thepowers given to it by last year’s IdentityCard Act on the back-burner (atleast for now), whilst biometricpassport and visas are coming verysoon. A new UK Border Bill intro-duced by Home Secretary JohnReid on 25 January 2007 now aimsto formally bring together bordercontrols and compulsory ID.

With relation to Biometric regis-tration the Bill (amongst otherthings): “confers a power to makeregulations to require those subjectto immigration control to apply fora ... ”biometric immigration docu-ment"; and to require a biometricimmigration document to be usedfor specified immigration pur-poses, in connection with speci-fied immigration procedures, andin specified circumstances where aquestion arises about a person’sstatus in relation to nationality orimmigration."

Solidarity

Exposing the governmentplan to get a national IDscheme accepted

The single issue campaign No2 ID has pre-viously attempted to keep the right- wingon board by telling them they can beagainst a national ID scheme because it“won’t work to stop illegal immigration”.Countering this, the Defy-ID network hasseen that the government’s ID system willwork against immigrants. ID cards and da-tabases will be used against ‘foreigners’ ingeneral as a central part of the govern-ment’s plan, before they extend thescheme to everyone. The fact that ID cardsand fingerprinting technology has beentested on asylum seekers shows that thestate is prepared to impose ID on thosepeople with the least voice to oppose it, be-fore rolling it out to the whole population.Together, Defy-ID and No Borders couldhelp get the message across that the gov-ernment is trying to get its ID plans ac-cepted by cynical scapegoating ofimmigrants and asylum- seekers. Thiswould hopefully make for a strongeranti-ID campaign that is based on solidar-ity rather than fear.

U.K. ANTI-ID CARD CAMPAIGN

Thanks to “Organise”

15 Rebel Worker

Anarchy In The UK # 2 byGraham Purchase

This is an analysis of the Introduction andfirst two chapters of Frank’s long, com-plex and scholarly book. A concluding ar-ticle covering chapters 3-5 is forthcoming.

Introduction: Post Anarchismand Carnivalism

Franks now believes the anti-globalizationmovement has been a fizzler. He admits inhis Introduction that the initial inspirationand long since discarded first draft of hisbook focused upon the forgottenevents surrounding the CarnivalAgainst Capitalism protests ofJune 1999. (p.11) Like other re-cently published British academicbooks inspired by these protests(Kina’s and Sheehan’s recentwork are considered in Anarchyin the UK # 1) Franks regards hisanalysis of British anarchism ascompatible and influenced bypostism. (p.17)

I personally found a refuge frompostism within anarchism and fer-vently prayed that some academicbright-spark wouldn’t start pro-moting a silly and bewilderingterm likepost-structuralist-anarchism orpost-anarchism. But alas, we nowhave a small number of UK theo-rists whom in some sense identifythemselves with such unnecessary and in-timidating proliferisms.

Postism describes a generalized apostasy;the embracement of no-sign-postism withthe corresponding rejection of any notionof essential truth. But a quintessentialqualification of a post-whatever-ist is auniversity post or aspirations to secureone. Postist’s conclude that we are nowpost-everything but can never hope tohave any sign-post to anything. Accordingto Postism all goal posts are meaninglessbecause we are in a post-game philosophi-cal situation where no viewpoint won andcan never can win because, the ball ofknowledge has been irretrievably kicked

out of the stadium of ideas by a handful ofFrench academics whose philosophicalopponents ridicule and dismiss them onaccount of foggy thinking and stylisticflatulence.

The answer as to why the anarchist move-ment concerns itself with trendy Frenchintellectual sophistry must be sought in anexamination of the deep malaise of anar-chist thinking in particular and contempo-rary philosophical enquiry in general. Idon’t believe we exist in either apost-capitalist or post-anarchist environ-ment and the concept of a post-modern so-ciety is a purposelessly meaninglessphraseology. I’m not too dumb or unfash-ionable to understand or embrace postism.I simply reject it as a conceptual vacuum; a

philosophically and politically emptypost-box. The assertion that there is notruth is a paradox explored by Plato whounderstood that the holder of this beliefmust assert the truth of their belief in therebeing no truth. Extreme relativism of thissort is a contradiction and doesn’t leadanywhere. Postism is a postlude orlast-post intellectual position from whichnothing of philosophical value can be ex-tracted or expected. In practice postismrests not upon relativist sophistry but uponacademic vulturism. This involves thepost -g radua te , post-doc toral andpost-mortem dissection and separation ofthe leading insights of anarchist thinkingfrom the corpse of the workers movement

during an era when the worker has beenshackled to the Thatcher-Regan whip-ping-post and endured a 30 year lashing byAnglo-American style state-capitalistmadness. The result is oil and water wars,depressed wages, rising food prices and aglobal environmental backlash that threat-ens the very basis of civilization. Mean-while Franks earnestly tells us that: “classstruggle anarchism is consistent with con-temporary poststructuralist anarchism,somet imes referr ed to as‘post-anarchism’, ‘postanarchim’ orpostanarchisms that, reject a universalvanguard and assert a prefigurative ethicin agreement with the non-essentialist the-ories of Foucault.” (p. 17)

Chapter 1 British AnarchistHistory

Chapter 1of Franks’ book provides a briefhistorical overview of anarchy in the UK.The inordinately dull history of British an-

archism is little more than a pho-tocopy of the Europeanmovement. The British may begreat for many reasons but anar-chism hasn’t been one of them.British anarchism has been as-sured a footnote in the history ofthe movement only because anumber of prominent Europeananarchist personalities reluc-tantly resigned themselves to ex-ile in the UK “beginning in the1880s” (p.31) . Kropotkin ,Malatesta and Rocker are themost famous members of theseimmigrant groups of continentalanarchists that founded revolu-tionary organizations whilst set-tled in the UK and introducedtheir ideas and tactics to the Brit-ish people in the late Victorian

and early Edwardian periods. By the endof World War I (1914-18) these Russianand Jewish émigré communities hadlargely evacuated. Anarchy in the UKwould undoubtedly have gone extinct, ornever have taken root at all, were it not forthe arrival of fresh influxes of continentalanarchist refugees fleeing from the Fascistvictory in the Spanish Civil War (1936-9):“providing a core of activists to revitalizewhat seemed to be more of a monumentthan a movement”. (p.49-50)

By 1944 Franks suggests the “character ofBritish Anarchism” had, “changed from aworking class based revolutionary move-ment to a more liberal-pacifist, intellectualand artistic centred avant-garde.” (p.53)

BOOK REVIEW CORNER

Rebel Alliances: The means and ends of contemporaryBritish anarchisms, by Benjamin Franks, Edinburgh &

California, AK & Dark Star 2006

16 Rebel Worker

This is far too rosy an assessment.Kropotkin in 1904 grumbled that Britishanarchism was “Anarchie de salon—epi-curean, a little Nietschean, very snobbish,very proper, a little too Christian”. The de-cline of autonomously organized massBritish working class activity in my opin-ion began with the end of the Great DockStrike of 1899. The Parliamentary LabourParty established in 1893 drew the mass ofBritish workers down a social-democraticpath the utter bankruptcy of which was notfully revealed or contested until the arrivalof Thatcherism followed by the torpor andphonyism of the New Labour sell-out.Contrary to Franks optimistic account theBertrand Russel school of British anar-chism was fully entrenched by 1920 andits dominance was carefully and expertlynurtured during the 1960’s by Ward’s An-archy magazine catering to liberal aca-demic and student audiences.

British liberal-academic-anarchism wasinvoluntarily jolted into a copycat repeti-tion of ideas and approaches emergingfrom the unanticipated student-worker up-risings of Paris 1968. British academic an-arch is t’s fawning obsess ion forcontemporary French postism is a contin-uation of the post 1968 copycatism offashionable continental writers. Frenchpostism has nothing to do with Britain orwith worker’s struggles and I personallystruggle to see that it has any original con-tribution or insight that might improve orsupplement traditional anarchist critiquesand their vision of a free society.

Miniscule groups of revolutionarysyndicalists or ‘class struggle’ anarchistscontinued to exist and function in the UKfrom the 1940’s up until the present day.These groups rather than finding inspira-tion in fluffy French philosophie focusedtheir attention upon the Spanish Civil Warexperience. Because Franco’s dictatorshipsurvived well into the 1970’s British activ-ists could usefully busy themselves sup-porting the numerous imprisoned andimpoverished Spanish comrades. BlackFlag , the most consis tently readanarcho-syndicalist orientated paper ofthe 1980’s originally grew out of a Spanishprisoner support group founded by“Meltzer and Christie” (p.65).

In the late 1970s British youth achievedwhat the French are famed for doing best.Brand UK swept the globe with the noveland imaginative Punk fashion statement.Though only an artful anti-statement itwas arguably the first indigenouslybrewed and original expression of thespirit of Anarchy in the UK. After a cen-tury of foreign colonization Punk was awelcome and uniquely British youthmovement unrelated to competing groupsof émigré origin or focus and the bleatingof liberal academia. Though punk rapidlyand predictably became chic it clearly had-

n’t originated in middle class fashion insti-tutes, modelling schools and coffee tableliterature. It emanated from working classmusic subculture that sought to findself-expression and DIY fun without reli-ance upon an entertainment industry dom-inated by the inane or pallid offerings ofcommercial disco-pop and aging middleclass hippies. Though ostensibly a culturalor pop-art phenomena its sources were de-tached from the clutches of immigrant ide-ologies, bearded professors and middleclass university drop outs sportinglong-hair and sandals.

Punk was purely a teenybopper movementabsolutely detached from the traditions ofthe organized working classes that by thistime was a graveyard of timid or compla-cent Laborites and mad supporters of deadRussian dictators (Trots, Leninists andStalinists). The syndicalists or class strug-gle anarchists were hardly more attractive

or influential. The remnant UK workerorientated cells exhibit sectarian divisionto this very day on account of individualadherence or rejection of The Platform—adocument on anarchist revolutionary or-ganization composed by Russian exilesfleeing the Bolshevik dictatorship in 1922.(p.19, 83, 219-24)

There is no basis to Franks’ implicit thesisthat, UK punk anymore than blues, reggae,jazz, world music, mods, rockers or hip-pies have had any real political signifi-cance or anchorage. Popularmusic-fashion maybe fascinating, but it isusually youth led and orientated with agenerationally unique, unrepeatable andvery limited expiry date. Fashion is tran-sient, historically ephemeral and also, of-ten an ethnocentric and geographicallydefined aspect of cultural change and evo-lution. There may well be Chinese, Sene-galese, Turkish or Indian Punks but Punkcertainly didn’t originate or influence any-thing in these places. American’s gener-ally have no experience of UK punkbeyond costume caricatures in goofy UScollege movies.

Franks plausibly suggests the most signifi-cant political or literary product of punkwas the satirical news-rag Class War,founded in 1983. Class War brilliantly ex-ploited the bloodthirsty luridness of nativeBritish working-class comic staples likeThe Beano and The Sun in a then fashion-able punk-zine style & format conveyingaggressive class confrontation andworker’s revolution.

Class War was over ridingly just a bunchof bored and angry people having somefun. Their paper may not have achievedmuch circulation, readership or influencehad its launch not coincided with majorhistoric struggles involving massself-organized working class opposition toThatcher’s state-capitalist agenda as re-corded by Inner City Riots, The MinersStrike and Poll Tax Rebellion.

The Miners Strike is perhaps the most sig-nificant and best-known struggle of thisperiod. At the local village and regionallevel the Miners were supported by a plen-itude of truly inspiring community basedand international autonomous initiatives.(I with other anarchists at this time fund-raised for the Dover and UKC miners sup-port groups). But the National Union ofMineworker’s Leaders were acolytes ofthe soviet empire and their stunted politi-cal vision could only have taken Britaindown an unattractive economic and socialroad mirroring the dull, discredited anddoomed former East European So-viet-Communist States. These dictator-ships were overthrown during the populardestruction of the Berlin wall only a fewyears after the Strike’s failure.

The destruction of the Typesetters, Minersand Seaman’s Unions by Thatcher’s para-military forces and the successful resis-tance to the imposition of a nationwidePoll-Tax heralded “the decline of the ClassWar Federation that had thrived during thebuild up of opposition to the Poll Tax”.(p.80)

I personally thought Class War antics andliterature hysterically funny at the timeand gleefully sold copies of their rags to 14year old boys who’d cadge the 20 pencecover price from their harassed and bewil-dered mothers accompanying them atbookstalls held at colleges, local events ordemos. But Class War’s founder TimBone’s self-indulgent autobiography is inmy opinion informative and useful only tothe extent that it gives some insight intothe silliness and organizational hopeless-ness of Class War’ s imaginativeself-promoting stunts and timely comicnews-sheet. This is not a criticism so muchas a statement about a group of people whohad a lot of fun spreading the word of anar-chy in a humorous way.

Franks post doctoral-level study with 100pages of footnotes is designed to help poli-

17 Rebel Worker

tics students better understand the subtlenuances and critical discourses containedwithin Class War’s intellectually unde-manding ideology for their social philoso-phy assignments upon post-whatever-ism.Frankly Class War poster politics and for-mat doesn’t require a post-obit andpost -paint gloss of Francophilepost-fartism (or any knowledge of politi-cal theory at all).

Franks history of British anarchism moreor less ends with Class War’s demise. Hecorrectly regards Class war as having beengenerally focused upon community at theexpense of industrial perspectives and ac-tions. We are then told that SolFed the lon-gest surviving syndicalist cell in the UK:“no longer attempts to create separateanarcho-syndicalist unions but create in-stead networks of militants within sectorsof industry” (p.82). Franks also makesnote of the fact that: “class struggle group-ings have increasingly involved them-selves in environmental actions.” (p.87)

Franks historical chapter fizzles out byfeebly observing that, the “continual fluxof groups appearing and dissolving” in re-sponse to local and global issues are find-ing “new internet forums for sharinginformation and planning mutually sup-portive actions”. (p.91) Despite the poten-tial of the net many contemporarycyber-ghetto discussion groups obtain nolarger contribution, involvement or audi-ence than if they’d conducted their dis-course in the real-life ghetto by means ofyellow sticky paper Post-it notes on thedoor of a communal refrigerator. Indig-nantly blowing off about the virtues, stu-pidity or elitism of post-fartism withinInternet postings to anonymouscyber-post-anarchists is surely merely apostponement of the Day of Reckoningwith Capitalism. Franks book is arguablythe best of a large but conceptually PrettyVacant crop of post 2000 post-fartistes ona University Bus to Nowhere with No Fu-ture.

Chapter 2 Ethical Anarchismand “Non-Essentialist

Prefigurism”

Essentialism:

In the first half of chapter 2 Franks pres-ents a passable and pretty much standardundergraduate introduction to moral the-ory by considering the ideas of Aristotle,Kant, Mill and Hegel. Then with the usualpost modernist arrogance Franks con-cludes: “classical anarchism” as with allpast philosophers was, hopelessly“essentialist” with its “fixed, benign, hu-manist” ideal of “human nature” (p. 112).

Kropotkin entirely contrary to Franks con-clusion believed that, the essential lessonof systems science is that nature has neverbeen constant, fixed or predictable.Kropotkin’s scientific investigation of iceages and recent climate changes led himbefore becoming a revolutionary to con-clude that, there is “nothing permanent innature” it has “no fixed laws” and our“perception of stability” in nature is but a“provisory” and ever-changing “equilib-rium” out of which new orders emergecontinually from “everywhere and no-where” (Anarchism: Its Philosophy &Ideal).

Kropotkin’s ‘classical anarchism’ clearlystates that human nature isn’t fixed and ca-pable and susceptible to change and evolu-tion like everything else in nature.Kropotkin believed humans are a “resultof the environment” in which they “growup”. Kropotkin wrote several pioneeringbooks and some brilliant pamphlets uponPrison issues. He anticipated the superfi-cially original insights of Foucault whofirst acquired notoriety for his work onprisons. Kropotkin believed that the “arti-ficial environment” of the prison led to aperverse situation where it became diffi-cult to discern whom the real criminalsare: The inmates or the keepers? This is thefundamental point that Foucault’s prisonmusings continually seek to underscoreand Kropotkin illustrates this idea with hisobservation of an inmate who “shows dis-gust in the keeper’s trafficking in tobaccoas he divides his bread with his neigh-bour”. Appoint saints in a prison officer’suniforms, suggests Kropotkin and, the “in-stitution” will soon make them “petty,mean persecutors” (Prisons and Influenceon Prisoners). Kropotkin is arguing thatthere is no fixed or essential human natureand that it is the constantly changing, infi-nitely and locally variant natural or artifi-cial environments or contexts where,people are born, raised, live or work that,shapes their ethical outlooks and moral be-haviour.

I’m unconvinced that this sort moral rela-tivism helps in our search for collectivemoral guidelines and practices that mightimprove society and better inform our ac-tions, but it’s certainly at the heart ofKropotkin’s classical anarchist thinkingand not something that postism uncovereda century or so later.

Prefigurism:

Prefigurism is Franks’ very intimidatingword for the simple idea that: Our actionsshould be consistent with or reflect ourideals in terms of organizational methodsor lifestyle choices. A vegetarian interestgroup could not consistently serve meat-

balls at a fundraiser and, would automati-cally prefigure and promote their collec-tive dream of a vegetarian society withsumptuous culinary offerings of fruit, nutsand vegetables.

Both Franks and anarchists generally areright to focus upon the questions of meansand ends in response to the ghastliness ofStalinism or Pol-Pot’s Cambodia. In thelight of these monstrosities committed inthe name of socialism and collectivism ithas been vitally necessary to carefully ex-amine the tactical failures and human mis-ery that authori ta r ian utopianexperimentalism has caused in overridingethical values and considerations in thename of a grand revolutionary Project im-posed by intellectuals from above throughthe agencies of a police state.

In my view there is a certain amount ofmethodological validity and desirable in-te l lec tual ob jec tives in Frank’s“prefigurative” analysis/approach/per-spective/method of understanding, recon-ciling or making practical political activityand propaganda consistent with the broadtheoretical ideals of the activists and withthe goals of their actions. Politicians con-tinually and blatantly act in ways that arein principle contrary to their stated idealsand the desire to better or more consis-tently conduct the affairs of anarchist pro-paganda and direct action groups isadmirable.

But the misdirected and obsessive applica-tion of prefigurative thinking within andbetween propaganda cells in the anarchistmovement over the last 40 years hasyielded small, isolated, unhealthy, ineffec-tive, self-centred, insular, cultish cliquesconnected with part icu lar mi-cro-ideologies, subcultures and lifestyleswhose energy is expended by inwardly fo-cused cri ti cal (Maois t- l ike)self-examination of the group’s internalprocesses, members and relationships and,correspondingly exhibiting unrelentingacrimony or intolerance towards differentlifestyle groups; all of which shun or fail toengage with the broader society they saythey want to change. Their activity is fo-cused upon themselves and their propa-ganda group to the exclusion of anythingmuch else.

Anarchist propaganda groups try to en-courage and educate poor people to auton-omously self-organize work without andin resistance to capital and state. Clearlypropaganda groups should (but oftendon’t) act in a comradely and co-operativeways. But they can’t prefigure or createdetailed model examples of their mem-ber’s social daydreams. Because they arejust the dreams of a handful of likemindedpeople who have yet to convince the rest ofthe world that theirdream is worthy ofconsideration (let See Page 18

18 Rebel Worker

Dear RW

I would like to make a suggestion. I thinkin order to connect to more people, weshould address to the unemployed as well,especially during recession times like this.Economically welfare states such as Aus-tralia has lesser potential towards a mili-tant workers action. Working class inAustralia have loose chains tied to theirworkplaces and mortgage brokers whichmakes them feel privileged.

As a naturally unemployable workingclass person, I find it easier to discuss mili-tant action with someone whom doesn’twork in a critically important industry. AsI said before, the rest feel lucky and privi-leged. I also would like to point out the ex-ample of the Argentine unemployedworkers autonomous movement. Al-though recession in Australia will not be assevere as it was in Argentina, we stillshould develop tactics to inspire widercommunity towards a radical action.

In solidarity,

A. Australian IWW (Industrial Workersof the World) member

Reply

The point is that workers in critically im-portant industries can play a very impor-tant role in turning the tide against theemployer offensive. By means of direct

action at the favourable time they wouldseriously affect the profit making of thecorporate setup and exert major pressureon the state apparatus. The major victoriesthey could win and the large scale of theiractions would inspire workers in less im-portant sectors to also take action toachieve their own demands. Some impor-tant historical examples of this action isthe public sector strike waves in Francewhose origins were in the railways in late1986/early 1987 and December 1995.

In NSW in early 2004, we witnessed thespectacular action of the militant “under-ground” train drivers movement “DriversFor Affirmative Action Group ” whichwon large bonuses via direct action in-volving a “work to rule” style campaignand inspired less strategic rail sectors suchas train guards to consider taking similaraction.

In this context of raised morale within theworkers’ movement, anarcho-syndicalistapproaches involving advocacy of directaction, grass roots control of union deci-sion making and mandated and recallableunion delegates/officers would makemuch more sense to militant workers andour agitation would be greatly assisted. Incontrast to the current situation today oflow morale, where many workers go along

with the various betrayals of the unionbosses and their various rorts and high sal-aries and feel helpless to resist many at-tacks of the bosses and the State.

Rather than worrying about the bosses’ploys of dividing workers on the basis ofpetty privileges, the way to go is to assistworkers in these strategic sectors in theirunited self organisation, helping raise theirmorale. Such activity would have little todo with churning out a bit of militant pro-paganda or criticism of the capitalist set,but be practical and “strategically fo-cused” work such as helping with the dis-tribution of workplace newspapers inthese key sectors and helping acquire in-terviews and articles from correspondentsand contacts on the job. Unemployed mili-tants are well placed to help out in all thisactivity. Such nitty gritty work is particu-larly important today given the difficultyworkers have in such critical sectors in or-ganising themselves due to long shifts, theintense pace of work and increased sur-veillance and networks of bosses’ stoogeson the job. This activity would play a cru-cial role in short circuiting these obstaclesand assist networking of militants, countermanagement and union boss propagandaand misinformation, etc and help createthe basis for militant action and self or-ganisation.

Ed.

LETTER

alone possible).The effor t tospread our

dream has been hindered by inwardly mis-directed and self-destructive attempts bysmall groups of dreamers to prefigure theirdreams within their own dream factory.The attempt to prefigure anarchism withinthe processes and identity of the propa-ganda organization or group is relativelynew. Kropotkin was the editor of Freedombecause it was his newspaper not that hewasn’t perfectly able to secure the cooper-ation of numerous other likeminded peo-ple over several decades. Le Revolte wasthe French equivalent to Freedom forwhich Kropotkin contributed articles con-tinuously for 30 years. Le Revolte was aproduct of Kropotkin’s greatest disciple,Jean Grave, the paper’s individualfounder, owner, editor, publisher andprinter. The fact that these historic propa-ganda outfits were not collectives and did-n’t aspire to become collectives is becausetheir purpose is to convince people to cre-

ate collective approaches in their everydayworking l ives in opposi t ion tostate-capitalism and, not a daft attempt atfiguring out some utopian configuration ofcollectivized organization out of the pro-paganda effort. The widespread practiceof prefigurism since the 1970’s has failedbecause it puts the cart before the horse. Aserious lapse in temporal logic has re-sulted in ineffective weak anarchist orga-nization and individual demoralization ofcomrades when their propaganda grouphasn’t transfigured into the utopian modelprefigured or all-figured-out in their anar-chist dreams. These preoccupations havepredominated because anarchist ranksover this period have been weakened by avery large percentage of disillusioned andpsychologically damaged refugees fromLeninist party cults.

Despite the centrality of the anarchistbookshop in recent anarchist organiza-tional history in the UK (and Australia)Franks makes no mention of these institu-tions in his long book. This is a serious

omission because prefigurist navel-gazingand ensuing acrimony has led to the down-fall or stagnation (relegated to small mu-seum and hobby or pastime affairs) of allanarchist literary sales establishments.These still often serve as the base-supportapparatus for the conception and produc-tion for some of the journals upon whichFranks bases his study.

I will never forget how a German comradeonce bitterly complained how their shopfront was destroyed by incoming memberswhom vehemently objected to the sale ofhoney on account of exploiting Bees. Thisis far from an isolated example and per-fectly illustrates the self-destructive stu-pidity of fanatical prefigurist holier thanthou approaches to anarchist propagandaventures conceived as operating accordingto perfectly figured out utopian collectiveprinciples and processes that even includeconcern and provision for the psychologi-cal welfare of insects.

It is also no wonderthat people aren’t at-

Cont From Page 17

See Page 20

19 Rebel Worker

NEWS & NOTES

Some of the most important news latelyhas been the mass protest outside the NSWParliament on Tues, 26th Feb to protestthe Iemma ALP Govt’s plans to privatisethe electricity industry, organised by Un-ions NSW. Such protests are purely sym-bolic and are unlikely to seriously worryIemma Govt and its corporate masters.However, it cetainly provides a means forthe union bureaucray to divert grass rootsattention from taking the type of hard hit-ting direct action which would discourageprivatisation. The privatisation of the elec-tricity industry will certainly have a dom-ino effect, encouraging the Iemma andother Govts to privatise other Govt ownedutilities and industries., and moves by theunion bureaucracies to merge and formnew more centralised unions.

One sector which has already beentargetted is the Sydney Ferries. Whilst theMUA (Maritime Union of Australia) hier-archy has opposed industrial action tofight the attack, and is spreading somelame story that the Govt isn’t seriousabout selling off the Ferries. See articlepage 8.

An important supporter of the Iemma GovtPrivatisation rampage on the Federal levelis the newly elected Rudd ALP Govt. Itsalso spurring on the employer offensivewith planned major staff cuts to the Com-monwealth Public Service and itsAgencies. Particularly focusing onCentrelink with plans for 2000 job losses.Another nefarious Rudd Govt initiative isthe likely move to introduce a welfare IDCard.For an analysis of the campaign in Britainto resist the Labor Govt’s plans to intro-duce an ID Card , see article page 14.

Currently in an important sector in theNSW Railways there is a significant re-vival of militant activity, the ASN is as-sisting militants in this work. See articlepage 6.

Rebel Worker has an internet web site. Itsaddress is www.rebelworker.org

Many articles fromback issues of RW areavailable on the site.

Help Build Rebel Worker! Your Help isparticularly sought with distribution. Sowhy not order bulk copies to distributeand sell at your local shopping centre onSaturday mornings, leave at the lunchroom at work and at your local café or li-brary.

Your assistance on the financial plane isalso very welcome.

A.S.N. DIRECTORY

ASN Sydney Local

PO Box 92

Broadway 2007 NSW

ASN Melbourne:

J.Dixon

E-mail:

jeremytrewindixon@yahoo.com.au

The Anarchist Age

PO Box 20

Parkville Vic. 3052

Newcastle Anarchist Group

PO Box 532

Newcastle 2300 NSW.

SPARKS

(Anarcho-Syndicalist Transport Paper)

PO Box 92 Broadway

2007 NSW

Web site: http://www.sparksweb.org

JURA BOOKS

440 Parramatta Rd

Petersham 2049 NSW

Ph. (02) 95509931

SPARX

DIRECT ACTION

FIRE FIGHTERS’ PAPER

Sparx@firehousemail.com

WORKING CLASS

UNITED

http://workingclassunited

Googlepages.com/home

Grassland Infoshop

207B Nicholson St.Footscray

3011 Vic.

Where we stand:

1.Our aim is to create a free and equal so-ciety

2. We are a revolutionary labour move-ment that uses as its only means of strug-gle, direct action in all its forms –occupations, strikes, boycotts, sabotage,etc. We are independent from all reformistand hierarchical unions and political par-ties, and we are creating an alternative tothese and to existing society. We do notseek to gain political power, but rather tosee it distributed amongst all.

3 .We are a network o fanarcho -syndical is t s prac tis ingco-operation and mutual aid. We have anequal part in the making of decisions. Re-sponsibilities within the network are sub-ject to agreement by the members.

4.We are engaged in struggle where wework and where we live, to develop selfmanaged production, distribution and ser-vicing for the world community, to meethuman needs rather than profit. We givesolidarity to others in these struggles.

5.We are fighting to abolish all authoritar-ian institutions such as the State (includingits communist variety), capitalism, all hi-erarchical and oppressive divisions be-tween people.

6. We have no country and are organisedon an international basis in opposition tooppression everywhere. The ASN is striv-ing to build a viable revolutionarysyndicalist movement in Australia as partof a world wide movement able to meet thechallenge of the global employer offen-sive.

TO FIND OUT MORE

I would like more information about theAnarcho-Syndicalist Network. Pleasesend me information.

Name ..............................................

Address............................................

General Secretary

PO Box 532 Newcastle 2300 NSW.

t rac ted togroups withb o y - s c o u t

constitutions and impressively pompousbut hardly credible claims to be a function-ing example of an anarchist ‘collective’. Inthe real world everybody disregards thecompany’s statement of ethical and corpo-rate principles. People want to collectivizesomething in the real world of work andare put-off by the imaginary Hokum con-jured up by a handful of argumentativedreamers with their boy-scout promise toprefigure the best collective business prac-tice in the production and distribution ofanarchist propaganda.

Franks usefully explores the idea that an-archist social goals are prefigured by Di-rect Action. The non-hierarchical andegalitarian principles of anarchism areprefigured in virtuous or courageous “di-rect actions” of the “oppressed”, “subject”or “effected” groups and classes (whetherconsciously anarchist or not) autono-mously se lf-organizing to resiststate-capitalism. There is an obvious

chasm between political and ethical theoryor ideals and the actual practice of politicsin general. All politicians have filthyhands because they specialize in makingunethical compromises with some awfulconsequences in pursuit of glorious andgreater ends. The Direct and unmediatedActions of workers and other oppressedgroups in their collective struggle againstinjustice, Franks argues, unlike the secretpolice forces and representative hierar-chies of the state, employ means that arecompatible and prefigure their vision of afree and equal society.

Franks is correct in recognizing that, his“book analyses anarchist tactics throughmoral categories developed in Aristotle’sEthics” (p. 101). The viewpoint that virtueis learnt and expressed by individualsthrough their own concrete moral practiceand activity is a currently fashionablemodern Aristotelian approach to reconcil-ing abstract theoretical principles and ac-tual political practice in the attainment ofsocial happiness. An Aristotelian ap-proach is consistently applied by Franks’

in his lengthy consideration of anarchistprefigurative ethics and the use of violentor non-pacifist tactics by anarchist or op-pressed groups in pursuit of social justiceor ultimately peaceful ends and goals. Inopposition to the pacifist cult that hasdominated British academic anarchism fora century Franks argues in a predictablepost-modern fashion that violence isn’twrong or right and that, depending uponthe context it may be perceived as morallyoutrageous or supremely courageous. Thevirtuous, just or courageous use of vio-lence in pursuit of social happiness is rela-tive and depends on participants knowingor having learnt what is tactically respon-sible, useful, acceptable or appropriatewith respect to the situation and commu-nity in question.

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Continued From Page 18

Solidarity of Cavite Workers(SCW)

From: International Labor Rights Forumhttp://www.laborrights.org/

“Another Labor LeaderMurdered in the Philippines”

On Monday March 10, Gerry Cristobalwas killed in an alleged ”traffic alterca-tion" by the Philippine police. Before thisincident, there had been 2 previous at-tempts on Gerry’s life. Gerry was a leader

with the Solidarity of Cavite Workers(SCW), an alliance of labor organizationsand unions. Gerry’s murder is the latest ina string of murders and violence that laborrights advocates in Cavite have enduredfor the past few years."

Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW) TheSCW is an alliance of labor organisationsand unions based in Rosario, Cavite. TheSCW was then a programme of theWorkers’ Assistance Center Inc. (WAC)before it became an independent organisa-tion. http://scw-philippines.blogspot.com/

PHILIPPINES