Sydney, Australia Paper of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Network 50c Vol.34 No.3 (227) Nov. -Dec. 2016

ONLY GRASS ROOTS DIRECT ACTION ON THE JOB CAN TACKLE THE EVER WIDENING BAIRD GOVT. ONSLAUGHT!

SYDNEY CABBIES’ NEWS P2

NSW RAILWAYS NEWS P3

STATE TRANSITNEWS P4

VIC. RAILWAY NEWS P7

ITALIAN LABOUR NEWS P8

USA TODAY P10

INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT

WORKERS’ NEWS P12

BRITAIN TODAY P13

BOOK REVIEW CORNER:

REBELLION IN PATAGONIA P15

DEBATE ON INDUSTRIAL

ORGANISING P17

ALFONSTHOMASZ PILARSKI P18

NEWS&NOTES P19 2 Rebel Worker

Cabbie: The TWU is pursuing a legalistic trial Relations Act- that gives bailee driv- Rebel Worker is the bi-monthly approach and is presenting a submission ers access to a whole bunch of industrial Paper of the A.S.N. for the propa- to the Industrial Relations Commission law in the first place and that’s where it has gation of anarcho-syndicalism in (IRC)based on 5 major advances to work got butt ugly. Australia. conditions. It involves such demands as a RW: Oh why so? safety net of $22 - 25/hour for bailee driv- Cabbie: Many drivers are familiar with Unless otherwise stated, signed ers and the provision for a range of greater Articles do not necessarily represent TODA- the Taxi Owners And Drivers As- access to the entitlements of Holiday Pay sociation the group Michael Jools and the position of the A.S.N. as a whole. etc, Superannuation for everyone, a rever- other broke away from when it was the Any contributions, criticisms, letters sal of the onus being on the driver to pay TDA, it was a driver’s advocacy group in or for fuel (to the operator) and state ( as op- those days. These days it is little more than Comments are welcome. posed to just Sydney) Award coverage. an echo chamber for the Taxi Council. RW: What has been the reaction to the REBEL WORKER TODA submitted to the parliamentary in- actions of the TWU? P.O. BOX 92 quiry- that was dealing with Cabbie: The TAXI the Uber issue- that drivers be BROADWAY 2007 NSW COUNCIL has de- expelled from Chapter 6 of the E-mail: Via our web site ployed the full force Act. The chronology of how www.rebelworker.org of its industrial rela- all this came about in terms of SUBSCRIPTION RATES: tions arm - the Taxi the TIA pushing for the identi- AUSTRALIA: $12 a year Industry Association cal thing that TODA has also OVERSEAS (TIA) to fight the pushed for involves much TWU in the Indus- $25 (Aus.) by Air stealth- but suffice to say the trial Courts- in fact Pres. of TODA signed a docu- $20 (Aus.) by Sea mail the TIA on one occa- ment purporting to have been Free to Prisoners sion came close to presented to the parliament- it Supporters Subs. $40 pa admitting that a siz- was up on TODA’s website- Receives copies of RW & ASN able portion of the yet there is no mention of the bucks that it had lev- Pamphlets as published. same document on parliamen- ied the taxi operator tary disclosure. In fact they Send to the above.Postal Notes some time ago to used an analogy to argue their made out to Rebel Worker. fight the UBER IS- case (their document) involv- SUEHADBEEN ing a plumber and a well DEPLOYEDTOFIGHTTHETWU known equipment hire firm to make the when at a meeting of all and sundry at the case for bailees drivers getting SFA- and it Sydney Cabbies’ Cyprus Club- the CEO of the TIA pointed was repeated by the Chairman of the par- at a TWU member at the meeting and indi- liamentary inquiry as though he thought it rectly attributed the TWU as soaking up up. Anne Turner is the President of TODA News the TIA’s counter Uber war chest ... God and she signed the document. knows what! Cabbie: ... and on top of all RW: We’ll wait developments. that the TIA has manoeuvred to have the Rebel Worker: What has been the im- NSW parliament bring in legislation to pact of Uber on the Sydney taxi indus- have bailees expelled from the very chap- try? ter of the act of parliament the NSW Indus- Cabbie: I feel that Uber planned to wipe out the conventional taxi industry but have only been partly successful. I have noticed a 30% cut in my income- contributed by among other things- the advent of Uber. ASN APPEAL RW: What have been those other fac- tors? The Anarcho-Syndicalist Network Cabbie: Since the Keneally ALP govern- ment and in years subsequently there have requires suitable cost effective perma- been 100’s of lease hold taxi plates gener- ated and thus ever more taxis put on the nent premises. A$750,000 is urgently road. The industry mafia has encouraged sought to buy premises for the proposed drivers to bid up the lease values at auc- tion. With the pressure from Uber, the Rebel Worker-Anarcho-Syndicalist Lock out Laws and the dilution of ever more taxi plates over the last 5 -6 years, Network Media Centre. both those working in the industry and much of the investor sector is floundering financially. Please make out Cheques to Black Cat RW: What are the measures that the Media & send to P.O. Box 92 Broadway TWU (Transport Workers Union) has been taking to tackle this crisis for 2007 NSW. bailee drivers? 3 Rebel Worker N.S.W. RAILWAYS NEWS

Why have we been on the back foot in re- or to those that elected them, but would be A New Agreement is a Chance cent years rather than taking the initiative able to represent their local committee to Right the Wrongs in bargaining? views to the Central Bargaining Commit- One of the most important failings lies in tee. This could then form a two way street the lead-up to a bargaining round. It comes with a report back to the Local Bargaining (But only if we do it together) down to the real lack of workplace democ- Committee on the outcomes from the Cen- racy. Although staff “briefings” are held tral Committee at regular intervals. By Crimson Coconut during negotiations they are always stage Something must change, as the current managed affairs with management often process of bringing in outsiders from Un- sitting in with union delegates to put down ions NSW, who have a poor understanding Another bargaining period is upon us in any dissent. The ideas and questions of the of what is happening in particular the lead up to the 2017 Enterprise general membership is not taken seriously workplaces or bringing their own political Agreement. The last Agreement saw the at these meetings. It is a process whereby agenda is not working. It is also very un- old Rail Agreements split up into their their bureaucracy’s obligations are ful- democratic. component parts. You now have sepa- rate agreements for Sydney Trains, NSW Trains, Transport NSW, etc. This in our opinion is not a good thing for workers, as the collective strength of the membership is divided. Manage- ment wanted it this way for no other rea- son except than that it favours them. All the talk about different business divi- sions requiring different agreements is nonsense. It will now be possible for people doing basically the same task to be on a different award and having dif- ferent conditions and wage rates. With that in mind we need to look ahead to the next agreement. What is it we want out of a new agreement? In the past there have been union surveys and delegate discussions on a new log of claims before bargaining has been intro- duced. However the final log of claims filled, yet it involves no real consultation Politically it is far more expedient for the has never matched the aspirations of the with the membership. Unions to just say “You elected us - we’ll general membership of the unions in- From the Union and Membership point of do the bargaining for you”. volved. The final log of claims put for- view the whole process must start much That approach is not good enough and ward has always reflected the political sooner than this. Unions and their Mem- leads to poor outcomes since it does not al- aspirations of the Union’s bureaucrats. bers must have regular meetings to thrash low the combined strength of the member- Who can remember a past ridiculous claim out the important issues well before nego- ship to be utilised in a dispute. Maybe for the sale of Martin’s Creek Quarry as a tiations begin. Heaven forbid, many of our that’s the way some people on both sides condition on a log claims for an E.B.A.? fellow workers do not know or care how or want it? Members must be the ones who We all know who was the beneficiary of why the bargaining process takes place. decide what goes into the Log of Claims. that process in N.S.W. The A.L.P.? This is not their fault. They must be The Union and Union Leadership should The Log of Claims is always rubber brought into the bargaining process and be the conduit through which the wishes of stamped by handpicked delegates at a spe- become owners of it. That’s possibly the the membership is articulated and acted cial meeting. There is little or no input best way to share knowledge and experi- upon. from the general membership. So in reality ence across the broad spectrum of the gen- For our Agreement we need to think hard any Log of Claims in the past had little or eral membership. Loyalty and solidarity and long about what is important to us col- no relevance to those at the shop floor. would be the main by-product of a more lectively as a workforce. We also need to The outcome of presenting the log of representative and diverse process. think hard about how we ensure that any claims to Management and getting up a Why not, for instance, start Bargaining Log of Claims that we put forward is seri- few favourable concessions for the Committees in every workplace run by lo- ously considered and implemented. We workforce has largely always been a fail- cal union members, (not handpicked should never contemplate Management ure. Management have hammered home stooges)? These then could feed into a cen- removing the totality of our claims from their advantage on what has substantially tral bargaining policy committee. Made up the table as they have in the past. We also been their austerity agenda and downsiz- of elected representatives from each work- need strategies for mounting a defence of ing for privatisation. The Unions have had place it would help pull policy and bar- these claims if they look like being dis- to play the defensive game of not giving gaining together. The local elected carded. As I’ve discussed above, only a too much away. representatives would be only answerable to the people in their immediate workplace 4 Rebel Worker general mobilisation and democratic or- * Full consultation with the affected * Examine the logistics of setting up re- ganisation can help with that. Without it workforce (not just the union) before any gional (i.e. City Circle, Parramatta, we are back on the defensive from the workplace changes brought about by new Bankstown, Sutherland, etc.) publicly run boss’s agenda of cuts and privatisation. technology or economic requirements. workplace child care or minding facilities We at Sparks would like YOU to put for- in order to full fill a promise of a 50% fe- ward some of the issues that YOU think * A pay rise above the imposed Govern- male workforce. are important enough to be included in ment cap. (See latest ABC Staff Agree- E.B.A. 2017. You can send your sugges- ment for what can be achieved). * Although privatisation should be re- tions to: sisted by the Unions, helping halt the * Savings through technological change spread of privatisation is also beyond the EMAIL: [email protected] and workplace change to be passed on in scope of an E.B.A. We can call, however, or alternatively drop us a note to: the form of wage increases and generous for parity of wages and conditions for any redundancy payouts. employees transferred to the private sector Sparks at the substantial rate of pay. Where the P.O. Box 92 union has coverage of employees in the Broadway 2007

If we get enough suggestions we can compare it with the final Log of Claims put forward by the Combined Unions. To get you thinking here are a few sug- gestions that we would like to see in the next E.B.A.

The most pressing issue that we have to deal with today is that of job security. How we shore up our jobs in an era of privatisation, austerity, downsizing, au- tomation, part time and casual work and other forms of insecure work is not an easy task. Short of full revolutionary change and redistribution of wealth, that we advocate, it is well beyond the scope of anything that can be put in an Enter- prise Agreement. * Delays to the implementation of new newly transferred private business it is So here we go with a few suggestions: procedures, processes and technological hoped that conditions and wages would be changes if they don’t work or if manage- on par with those in the public sector and * Agreed limits on the use of part-time and ment has not implemented them properly. vice-versa casual work. (i.e. computerised pay and sign-on). Get active on your EBA now. Demand a say in drawing up a Log of Claims. Follow * Automatic conversion of part-time and * Real progression through the ranks it through to the best of you ability to see it casual workers into full time workers after based on ability, time served and dedica- implemented. 6 months. tion rather than cronyism and who you There’s no doubt that management are al- play golf with. ready putting the finishing touches to their * Paid leave for sufferers of Domestic Vio- E.B.A. proposals. They always have a lence. * Employer contributed insurance cover march on us since that is their full time job. for journey claims to and from work at ri- Together we can do better. Unlike them, diculous hours. we have a whole world to win.

cles will run on the new ex- tensions from 2019. Whilst STATE TRANSIT NEWSFLASH a recent Channel 9 report has confirmed the informa- tion in the last Sparks, that constructed? The reason is to provide a the Light Rail will carry tool for the Baird Govt’s developer and much less passengers than the existing bus WAVERLEY DEPOT NEWS builder mates to make short term windfall services in the Eastern Suburbs. The exist- profits and for the Baird Govt. to increase ing buses will also be much quieter than RW: What are your thoughts on the revenue via stamp duty on property sales. the Light Rail vehicles. It’s not true that hidden agenda behind the Light Rail To get from point A to B, the Light Rail is a the Light Rail will cause less cars in the Extensions? white elephant. The existing bus services city. People will still be using the same Waverley Busie: Why are the Light Rail in the Eastern Suburbs are quite sufficient. amount. However, there will be several extensions in the Eastern Suburbs being Latest news is that the first light rail vehi- hundred less bus drivers. The extensions 5 Rebel Worker will have a domino effect in terms of open- Govt., which has severely affected its op- coming on to the job and remaining on it, is ing up the area to massive high rise devel- erations. Despite promises from the Baird not meeting the number of drivers leaving opments and the selloff of public housing Govt. of expenditure. With this rampage due to them going overseas, retiring and in such suburbs as Daceyville. Already at of the Baird Govt. there seems a lot of “se- other reasons. I can’t put my finger on the East Gardens where the Light Rail vehicle lective hearing” on both Liberal and ALP main cause. yard is to be located, Meritons are con- sides of politics. Too many crooks are be- I was recently speaking to someone from structing 10 to 15 storey apartment blocks. ing allowed to do what they want. Hanson Concrete Mixers. He mentioned According to a friend of mine who some RW: What are your impressions of the that his company has the same problem months ago bought a smallish place in “disconnectedness” problem in the rail- with a severe shortage of trained concrete Kingsford for $1 million which is close to ways and the buses? mixer drivers. the extensions, the property has now in- WB: I’ve noticed a lot of new staff appear- In the case of workplace injuries, I have creased in value by $100,000. So with the noticed many drivers are developing RSI related upper shoulder injuries associated with the straining of tendons. Resulting from applying the hand brake and steering. Despite the widespread nature of the in- jury, most won’t speak up about the issue as it seems they don’t want to rock the boat and fear for their jobs. RW: How is management viewing the problems of drivers? WB: 2 months ago management sent out a second questionnaire to us about on the job problems. The bosses say they have learnt quite a bit from the response. Whilst in a recent DVD starring Peter Rowley and Jamie Sinclair even admitted that drivers in the STA are doing things tough. How- ever they are doing nothing to remedy this situation. In fact, the bosses are worsening extensions, real estate owners and devel- ing at stations. They seem to be quite timid opers in the Kingsford and Kensington ar- and don’t know how to handle groups of things for us with the constant push to im- eas are getting a windfall. It also seems commuters. There also seems a big decline pose more cutbacks and ignoring the im- that the Baird Govt. has given a lucrative in the number of old timers. On the buses pact of this onslaught upon us. They are deal to the builders, as they can take as as part of “Optimisation” there seems a milking more from us and establishing long as they want to complete the project. similar problem developing. I’ve noticed more control with constant restrictions. As Is this the Sydney that we would want? at the Bronte Beach terminus drivers from part of the 6 monthly GPS “cosy little chats,” the bosses are down loading per other depots who are doing the run, are - RW: What are your impressions of the sonal on-line data collected to check on Baird Govt.’s projects? staying locked up in their buses and are un- willing to communicate with other drivers. various aspects of our situation. A gung ho WB: A nasty “secretive” underside is be- boss could use this info to turn the screws coming apparent with the It seems they are on another planet. At the Bondi Junction Interchange, where under on you. The bosses are cutting our pay by WESTCONNEX project. It has been re- imposing fines over trifles. Some areas ported that soil filler containing asbestos Optimisation there is now drivers from a range of different depots such as the Nth they target are drivers exceeding the 10 has been sold to the WESTCONNEX kph speed limit and not wearing the vest in builders to be used in the construction. Re- Shore, Tempe, Kingsgrove, Leichhardt, Waverley, Randwick and Port Botany. It the yard and running late. At Waverley, al- cently the Transport Company Moir, has legedly 5-7-8 drivers have been fined in been caught dumping asbestos contami- seems many feel alienated and don’t see the interchange as part of their heartland recent times over this speed limit issue. At nated soil in various locations. It just goes a recent union meeting we were warned to show how in Baird’s NSW bending the and just want to remain in their buses and not socialise with other drivers. that if we get fined over this issue, we rules by big business such as illegal dump- can’t claim from the traffic fine fund. The ing is out of control. With the Govt’s reli- RW: What’s the latest with the high bosses shouldn’t be making money out of ance on South Korea and China to turnover of drivers on the job and inju- us on this pretext. There is no need for this manufacture equipment for the projects, ries on the job? extra layer of “Code of Conduct.” We ap- there are serious issues of corruption asso- WB: We are continuing to see the situation pear to be heading for the draconian re- ciated with the companies involved in the where the STA never gets enough drivers gime which occurred during the Greiner manufacturing in these countries. Overall for the job. Outside Waverley Depot there Govt. years. billions are being squandered on these pro- is a large banner advertising vacancies for Twenty years ago the Depot was a much jects, some of which are completely un- fulltime, part time and casual drivers. The more family friendly place and there was a necessary such as the Light Rail high turnover seems associated with a great social life. Today this has largely dis- extensions, WESTCONNEX and tunnels. range of factors such as the job becoming appeared, with ever more restrictions im- However, public services and associated too difficult and stressful, low morale, the posed by management. The bosses have infrastructure which are in urgent need of wages of up to $85,000 pa at Waverley also savagely cut training. The latest train- expenditure are being neglected. Recently which is the best paid depot in the STA and ing I can recall attending was 18 months I was speaking to someone from at other depots wages of between $65,000 ago concerning how to get about in North-West country NSW, who men- to $75,000 pa, being inadequate. I was re- Rozelle. Whilst the STA is constantly tioned that the hospital in a major medium cently speaking to someone from milking money out of us with various sized city in this area has been completely TransDev. He seemed much less stressed neglected in regard to funding from the by his job. The numbers of new drivers 6 Rebel Worker ploys and constant corner cutting, the RW: How is the situation with the uni- BD: At our depot all buses have had fire Baird Govt. is using these funds to splurge forms? suppressers installed. So far we have not on unnecessary projects like the Light Rail WB: We still haven’t received the new received any more information on the sub- Extensions and big bonuses for the bosses. uniform. Latest news is that it’s been ject from either management or the union RW: What are your impressions of promised to be issued early next year. hierarchy. Despite the importance of the Randwick Depot? With this delay, it seems the bosses are try- issue, there has only been small articles in WB: Despite its great history, the Govt. in- ing another ploy to save money. On offer the papers. tends to sweep it away. These days it has a are two types of uniform: a nylon hot and RW: How are you finding the new man- very lost and forlorn look. I’ve noticed that crappy one favoured by the bosses and a ager? the canteen has been closed, and there is no cotton uniform, which most drivers want. BD: We are getting on very well with him. cafe type area for drivers to socialise, en- The on-line distribution of the last uniform He seems to make snap decisions which couraging a disconnection amongst them. was fraught with problems. Only 10 to favour drivers such as in regard to leave. In Whilst various items of equipment are un- available. By 2019 the depot will be gone and the area will disappear in high rise overdevelopment. RW: How is the situation with bus maintenance? WB: I was recently speaking to a bus dis- patcher at the depot. He was very upset about the number of buses breaking down on the road. He considered a major contri- bution to the problem has been the outsourcing by the bosses of different sec- tors of bus maintenance such as tyres and electronics to different contractors to save money. Whilst, as in the case of drivers there is a disconnectedness amongst me- chanical staff contributing to oversights in work done. Other contributing factors are the metal fatigue and other problems caused by the buses being on the road for between 12 to 18 hours per day in the inner west. When we first get to our bus at the start of our shift, we have to check for any obvious problems. However, this is insuf- 15% of drivers were confident with it, the case of part timers he has been very ficient, a comprehensive inspection needs whilst the rest struggle. It has led many helpful in responding to concerns. In re- to be conducted on each bus by the me- drivers to miss parts and get the wrong gard to one driver’s complaint about a chanics to detect and remedy problems. size. There needs to be people to people short shift, he has somehow intervened Such inspections are not occurring. There contact in the uniform distribution to avoid and extended the length. Those at the de- needs to be 3 extra mechanics employed at these problems. The Uniform supplier pot who have become part timers have each depot. It seems the bosses are just should be made to take the responsibility done so because of personal and family spending the bare minimum to keep the to come out to the depots with the uni- considerations. Despite these drivers be- buses moving. forms of different sizes so it can be prop- ing affected by considerable pay cuts. One RW: How are you finding the Opals? erly distributed. driver I know has been quite hard hit with WB: The bosses say the Opal system is not short shifts, but considers next time shifts our problem. They are lying to us. It is our BURWOOD DEPOT NEWS are reorganised he will come out better. problem. I have noticed some continuing RW: What has been the response at LEICHHARDT DEPOT NEWS niggly problems such as “sticky” buttons Burwood to the new shift changes ad- on the console and the GPS not turning off. vised as of Wed. 19/10/16? Sparks: What are your impressions of the Police raid on Leichhardt on 18th Whilst, the Opal software is getting older Burwood Driver: I have noticed a gener- and likely to be prone to more malfunc- ally favourable impression amongst those August? tioning in the future. As a result of these drivers I have spoken about it. In regard to Leichhardt Busie: It appears a disgruntled problems, we are undergoing more fa- the normal shifts, new lines of work have journalist who had an unhappy experience tigue. We need relaxed drivers. Cubic been added to both the AM and PM shifts. on an STA bus had some role in causing which supplies the Opal system needs to The extra work for the PM shifts is con- the caper. 48 vehicles were checked and all be advised of these problems and have nected to the M41 running until after 1am drivers who were around at the depot at the techs conduct regular services of all buses. from Burwood to MacQuarie Park due it time were drug tested by the cops. How- With the lack of ticket issuing, associated seems to work on the Nth Western Rail ever, only minor problems with the buses with the Opal system, the bosses are now line. Whilst those displaced from rosters were detected involving such issues as seizing the opportunity to further cut our last time the shifts were changed have now seats not screwed properly. running times between 5 and 10 minutes. got back on. Generally, it’s been quiet, RW: What is the biggest issue at the de- Commuters are being hard done by with seems neither the STA or the union offi- pot lately? the loss of free Opal trips. Public transport cials want to make waves at the moment. LB: Our continuing major issue is the is becoming ever more expensive and RW: What is the situation with buses shortage of drivers. Every day at Leich- more bus stops are being cut out. bursting into flames? hardt we are at least 11 drivers down for runs. Consequently, drivers on their day 7 Rebel Worker off are continually called in and many of came through and did a snap audit in re- PRIVATE BUS NEWS us are becoming worn out and burnt out. sponse to several incidents with STA. We Wildcat Mass Sickie Contributing to this situation is that train- had a front wheel hub bearing collapse and According to the Sydney Daily Telegraph ees can’t cope with the full on nature of the the wheel and hub came off in Balmain. 25/10/16, a wildcat mass sickie occurred job and ferocious speed up and soon get Also, there was a Burwood bus that at the Northmead depot of Hillsbus on fed up and leave the job. crashed into a house, drivers fault. So the Monday 24/10/16. It involved 83 of the cops came out and tried to defect buses. RW: How are you finding the new man- 240 drivers at the depot and caused the But we already had RMS or RTA come ager? cancellation of 185 services. Resulting in and inspect our buses for registration. So LB: We don’t see her much. She is that many commuters being stranded at bus the highway patrol response was pointless. type of manager. stops. The TWU union bosses denied any All of it was orchestrated by the Liberal responsibility for the action. Mechanical Section News State Govt. Cause they want to give us bad The most significant news has been the po- publicity and try and privatise our buses. lice raid at the depot on 18/8/16. In regard to the raid, basically the highway patrol VICTORIAN RAILWAY NEWS

In this issue of RW, we will discuss the is- Dexter: You are correct. This happened at Sheona: The two employees were looking sues of employees on short term contracts. Miloura. forward to obtaining an interview but it Drivers, Conductors and Staff from Head RW: Could you give a background was not to happen. Office will discuss the issues. As in previ- about this location. RW: What happened? ous issues of RW names have been Sheona: This workplace is at least 240 Sheona: But out of the blue one of the em- changed. kilometres from the next V/Line Station ployees received an email from the West- RW: Why are daily paid employees em- which is Swan Hill. ern Line manager saying that she was to ployed on contract? Rastus: When the passenger train ceased train a successor for the position. Once the Sheona: Employees are employed on six in 1993 V/line Freight employees sold person was trained she was terminated. to twelve months contracts to cover for tickets. In 1997 this was outsourced. Due She did not get the interview. employees seconded to other positions to complaints from the public in 2006 Roscoe: Didn’t this manager have the guts during major projects, employees on long V/Line took control of term illness, Maternity Leave and if extra the agency. Thus it be- employees have to be recruited to cover came a V/Line station. for employees who need to be trained for a Penrod: Two employ- new work skill. ees were appointed Clarence: An example of this occurred with annual leave relief when the MYKI ticketing system was in- covered by relieving troduced to V/Line and platform staff staff from Bendigo dis- were recruited. Due to retirements and res- trict. It was later trans- ignations remaining contract employees ferred to Ballarat were absorbed into V/Line. district. Penelope: This was the same for Conduc- Penelope: The station tors and for the last twenty years, the ma- functioned for a num- jority of Conductors whose work was ber of years and the lo- satisfactory were appointed to permanent cal populace were positions. pleased that V/Line RW: I think of the stress an employee was running the sta- faces toward the end of the contract. tion, but sadly one of Those who want the position worry the employees passed whether they will have a job. away. Dexter: The issue that Conductors think Sheona: This em- stinks is where a person on a contract ap- ployee was replaced by an employee on a to go to Miloura and explain why she was plies for a permanent position. They have contract. Later the other employee was not given an interview. to apply along with other applicants. Years promoted to a position in the Bathurst Penelope: We have heard the person has ago, if a vacancy occurred the Regional area, so another employee was employed had a nervous breakdown over the email. Manager placed the Contract Employee in on a contract. RW: What of the other employee? the position. Dexter: The station was operating Dexter: The other employee not knowing Clarence: Another issue facing Contract smoothly then V/Line advertised for full what had happened rang up the Line Man- Employees is that a Supervisor could take time positions. ager asking when he was to have an inter- a dislike to a Contract Employee making it Penelope: The two employees applied for view. The Line Manager informed him his difficult for them to obtain a permanent the permanent positions hoping to be made work was not up to V/Line standard and he position. permanent. would finish up when his contract expired. RW: I understand this happened at a Penrod: The employee was upset with country location. what happened, that at 1.30 pm on the 8 Rebel Worker same day he shut down Miloura station, Roscoe: We wonder if the Line Manager’s RW: Once again we have run out of went home got changed, returned to the mates were lined up for the positions? space. People employed on contract if station that night and placed his uniform RW: Is this the Line Manager who told their work is satisfactory should be of- on the night bus to Melbourne. a Union Delegate at a Disciplinary fered a permanent position without Rastus and Roscoe: One of our drivers was Hearing that he was to observe and not having to go for another interview. at Ballarat when the Miloura bus arrived defend the member he was represent- Rastus and Roscoe: In having the final say and saw station staff retrieve the uniform ing? the two employees at Miloura were treated with the resignation pinned to the uniform. Roscoe: Yes. shabbily. We drivers hope the employee Sheona: Miloura station remained closed RW: Where does this individual come who had the nervous breakdown sues and the previous employee who was pro- from? V/Line. As for the Line Manager, this is a moted to the Ballarat area was sent back on message from V/Line drivers. Get out of Rastus: He was one of these WH122 kids the industry. If any employee has to front expenses to man the station. Later on an employed by V/line from outside so as to employee from Ballarat was sent to relieve this manager for disciplinary hearings give V/line some expertise. All this person DON’T TURN UP. at Miloura. has achieved is to be hated by employees. RW: Think of the expenses. Even the Local Trades and Labour Coun- Rastus: V/Line doesn’t care about ex- cil hate the person. penses. If they want to terminate a person Roscoe: These are the types of individuals they waste large amounts of money to ter- being employed by V/Line. They have no minate a person. rail experience. In fact the drivers now have supervisors with no rail experience. complete stand-still. Not to mention that both bike and phone are provided by the ITALIAN LABOUR NEWS courier, with all the related costs of main- tenance and repair. In some interviews workers even men- harsh weather conditions and usually in- tioned privacy issues as continual volve moving a lot (60-80 kilometres per geo-localization goes against privacy FOODORA STRUGGLES shift in Foodora’s case). Nor is it new that law, especially if done by an app from the there are long waits for the food to be Apple and Google Play stores. 1. Foodora in Italy ready or the next delivery. All of this for Ç500 a month, working 25 There are, though, completely new as- hours a week. pects connected to the digital nature of the It’s been sold for a figure of several tens work relationship. Working time is 24/7 of millions of euros yet Foodora has the 2. New conditions and first meaning there is no such thing as typical appeal of a startup: young and work/non-work division. Riders can theo- strikes friendly international people working retically decide when they are available, in an open space office in Berlin and though they do not know whether they young students delivering food by bike Riders demanded better working con- as an easy side-job. It landed in Turin as a mirror image of the Berlin base.The managers, all under 30, meet every so often in a co-working space in the city centre, are informal and speak using English words. The fleet of couriers are also young, educated, and are paid Ç5 per hour. —— This image started to crack when in August Deliveroo couriers in London went on strike and a month later their counterparts in Paris also protested. The reason was, oversimplifying, that once the company had attracted enough “workers”, pay shifted from a fixed scheme to per-delivery compensation only. Ever since the company opened in Italy, workers had been meeting and talking to one another informally, especially where they are waiting for new deliveries. They had held informal assemblies, sometimes will actually work as the management de- ditions. In May 2016, they wrote a letter even meeting with management in order cides to accept, modify or even delete the signed by 85 out of 100 workers, but to discuss many issues. When a change in shifts, at any time, even during the shift it- the requests were answered with a mix contract similar to London and Paris hap- self. of procrastination and excuses, such as pened at Foodora in Turin, the protest As an algorithm decides in real time the that the head of the company was else- flared up. work rhythms (according to volume of re- where at the time. Finally, in July, a meeting took place but management said The usual problems affecting all delivery quests and positions of the couriers), there workers are that deliveries may be in are hours of absolute rush and hours of 9 Rebel Worker the contract could not be modified. What sages of solidarity. The over-exposure of change of the representative speaking turned dissatisfaction into protest was that Foodora’s brand on these platforms made with management, use of fake names and the contract could actually be changed, them a great place to show digital solidar- distorted voices. Once Foodora identified and the company did that. ity. All this was linked to local assemblies who it thought were the leaders, they were In September Foodora issued a new con- and street action: going to each restaurant completely banned from any communica- tract, applying to all new riders, and from to give out leaflets and speeches. The mes- tion, although not officially fired. There November 30, to all riders. This new con- sage spread wider, a proper boycott was are, though, interviews where workersá tract eliminates the fixed income and re- launched, and restaurants started to join it. who were ready to accept the new contract places it with a variable one: Ç2.70 per In the end a meeting with the managing di- were subjected to the same sanctions, justá delivery. The number of deliveries per rector to discuss their requests was fixed because they took part in assemblies. How shift is not a factor that riders can influ- for October 10. At the end of this meeting the management knew about their partici- ence, as if they were factory workers, but it the management, both Italian and German, pation is a matter of speculation. will still determine their income. For an promised to issue a statement in response Meanwhile labour inspectors are investi- income of Ç500, they will have to make a to every point. It’s worth mentioning that gating and the workers have been received delivery every half hour, at any hour, re- during the meeting a group of people from by both the municipality and the Labour gardless of the day, time or period of the the co-working space used by Foodora Ministry. Since both occasions proved un- year. came together to show solidarity and that fruitful (Foodora failed to attend the meet- The managing director, Gianluca Cocco, the co-working space dissociated itself ing with the municipality), the strikers refused to discuss the new terms with the from any connection to Foodora. kept on organizing several public meet- base union, SiCobas, that the workers had While management was deciding how to ings. The role of social centers and squats chosen to represent them, saying that au- answer, an indirect answer came through a cannot be underestimated: media report- tonomous workers have no right to union- ærather strange layoff’. Two promoters ing and coverage as well as practical soli- ise. The management agreed only to who went to a riders’ assembly to under- darity and support came immediately face-to-face meetings with individual stand and show solidarity were excluded from local grassroots movements. Public workers and many were removed from the from the app. Their contract was not over, assemblies in Milan were held at social group used to communicate with them or but they were effectively laid off as they center COX, and in Turin assemblies were blacklisted. were not being given any shifts. The clear promoted by activists at the local univer- The informal connections between riders written answer to the protesters arrived at sity and at the social center Cavallerizza, turned into the platform for a strike: on Oc- 00.02 of the 14th (despite a deadline of the while a solidarity dinner was held in anar- tober 8th in Turin there was the first strike 13th): not Ç2.70 euro per delivery but chist squat Asilo. in Italy of workers employed through an Ç3.70. The same morning the riders went app. Around 50 riders blocked the service to the Turin office but found it empty. No 4. Flexibility and the Italian la- for the whole Saturday, biking through the one from management showed or picked city distributing leaflets in the restaurants up the phone. Two labour inspectors were bour market affiliated to Foodora. There were basically sent directly from the Ministry of Labour, threeá demands: though, to check the legality of the situa- Further reflection should be given to the tion, while the Minister himself expressed Abolition of the “temporary collabora- bigger picture. The truth is that solidarity with the riders. Unfortunately Foodora was able to offer such low sala- tion” contract described above, as well as more and more riders were locked out of the per-delivery pay, and introduction of a ries (compared, for instance, with the app as they spent their day giving out France where a rider gets Ç7.20 an flexible part-time (20 hours minimum) leaflets about their protest. A group went contract. This kind of contract guarantees hour + Ç2 per delivery) because the to the main HQ in Milan twice, once find- Jobs Act and previous reforms have de- sick leave, insurance and vacation. a basic ing it unexpectedly closed and the next salary (Ç7.50 per hour) with a variable bo- regulated the Italian job market and re- time forcing the management to lock moved general protection for workers. nus (Ç1 per delivery). halting of any threat themselves in the office for three hours. towards and disciplinary sanctions of the When the deregulated market meets the Both occasions were used to meet some hyper-fragmented employment form of protesting workers. Further demands in- colleagues in the city, organizing clude a proper formal communication Foodora it results in a terrible mix. Fur- info-events for the coming week and thermore, Foodora has been accused of channel with the employer (rather then a spreading the strike. whatsapp group and an app), fair assis- taking advantage of the high youthá unem- tance from the company towards the cost Under the pressure from the workers the ployment rate in Italy (around 40% in of bike and phone, and proper insurance company decided to answer at least one of 2015, according to ISTAT): what the com- covering not only accidents but also recov- the demands. It issued a statement that pany terms a “side job” is, for the riders, ery days and illness. three bike shops were authorized to give one of the only ways to have an income. 50% discount. According to the riders, Luckily the struggles of the riders and no-one has ever received such a discount. many others keep our eyes open and our 3. Evolution of the struggle The company’s real reaction, though, was hopes high. to employ a massive number of new riders, You can find info and statements (in Ital- The protest was so successful that it car- promising them at least two deliveries per ian) about the striking riders on their FB ried on all day, was joined by many lo- hour, a promise that has been broken by ei- page: Deliverance Project. Feel free to ex- cals andá was immediately reported by ther fewer deliveries per hour or fewer press your solidarity to them, or on the newspapers, mainly because of the new- hours per week, and blame laid at the door Foodora FB page. of the striking riders. ness of the technologies involved. There Original article from the Struggles in Italy was significant disruption of the brand im- Two weeks after the first strike not only blog age: modifications’ of the company logo workers but even restaurants that ex- (from a hand carrying a tray to one carry- pressed solidarity have been denied ac- ing an iron ball with chain) and a cess to the app. From the beginning the “shitstorm” on social media where the striking riders have used different meth- company had to delete insults and mes- ods to decentralize their struggle: frequent 10 Rebel Worker

which is clamping down on housing and National Committee were the No-TAV GENERAL STRIKE social occupations. The demonstration Movement, the Communist Refoundation ended up in an ‘acampada’ (tented occupa- Party, the Social Center Cortocircuito, as On 21 October, over 1.3 million workers tion) in San Giovanni Square, renamed for well politicians and artists, such as Moni took part in a general strike called by a this occasion ‘Abdelssalam Square, after Ovadia, Naples’ mayor Luigi de number of base trade unions (USB, S.I. the worker and trade unionist who was Magistris, writer Valerio Evangelisti and Cobas, Unicobas, Adl Cobas, Cub killed very recently. former partisan Lidia Menapace. Lazio) and joined by many organisa- In Pontedera, near Pisa, the workers of the The ‘Social No’ is particularly endorsed tions and local groups throughout Italy. Piaggio plant blocked the railroad, while by Giorgio Cremaschi, former President The strike was a political one, and it was students in Palermo also marched through of the CGIL-affiliated Metalworkers called to protest against the Bossi-Fini mi- the city. City marches were also held in Trade Union, FIOM, who left CGIL be- gration law, EU policies and Matteo Florence and Rome. cause of the management of its current Renzi’s government’s most contested The strike and the marches were not cov- Secretary Susanna Camusso. He traces the measures: the Labour reform known as ered by national radio, national television origin of the reform of the 1948 Jobs Act, the Constitutional Reform, the or the main newspapers, with the excep- post-fascism Constitution to the neoliberal ‘Good School’ reform of primary and sec- tion of Il Manifesto and a few others. Usb, policies which have played such a central ondary school, and the 2016 Budget Law. Unicobas and Usi complained to both role in Italy since 1980. Cremaschi be- The main aim was to block the centers of Agcom, the regulator and competition au- lieves that the 1948 Constitution of the Re- the biggest Italian cities and to disrupt the thority for the communication industries, public has its roots in the antifascist normal operations of the logistics Resistance, while Renzi’s reform is based sector, still in uproar after the on Italy’s social shocking death of worker and trade and cultural re- unionist Abdelssalam Eldanf, gression over the killed the night between September last 30 years. The 14 and 15 during a strike in reform would be Piacenza. In whichever square or the summary, con- street logistics workers have assem- clusion and settle- bled, this has been the main subject. ment of this None of the three main Italian trade authoritarian pro- unions (CGIL-CISL-UIL) joined ject. It is impossi- the strike in any way, confirming ble, according to the growing distance between them Cremaschi, to sep- and the more combative base trade arate the constitu- unions in how they struggle for tional reform from workers’ rights as well as a different this government attitude towards the upcoming ref- and its political erendum (CGIL has shyly taken the leader Renzi. It is ‘No’ side while CISL has sided also misleading with ‘Yes’ and UIL is still undecided). and Rai national television about the not to understand the economic and social targets of the re- As usually happens when the Italian base ‘cloak of silence’ hiding information form, the ones asked for by the bank JP trade unions call a strike, around 60% of about the strike from the public. Morgan. He claims that voting ‘No’ to the logistics and transport workers came out, The general strike was extended on Satur- reform would respect the 1948 Constitu- with peaks in the urban transport services day 22nd: in Rome, for the national “No tion, and this ‘No’ must be a social one as of Rome, Bologna and Naples. The air- Renzi Day” demonstration, a total of well as a political one. ports of Rome, Pisa, Bologna, Milan and 40,000 workers marched through the city. Naples were affected. The demonstration was the first organised The Social No National Committee will hold its next national demonstration on 27 The participation of the logistics workers by the ‘Social No National Committee’, a November, and is encouraging a popular stopped operations in Padua, Rome, group of parties and movements that link and general mobilization against Renzi’s Piacenza, Milan, Turin and Verona. the proposed constitutional reform to the neoliberal policies of Matteo Renzi’s gov- constitutional reform. In Rome the strike was joined by those ernment. Original article from the Struggles in It- who are protesting against the newborn aly blog. Movimento 5 Stelle local government, Among the movements and political par- ties that joined the demonstration and the

campaign; the incredible numbers and di- versity of people attending his rallies; the U.S.A. TODAY simple fact that Bernie had no problems of character (unlike both Trump and Clinton). For much of the campaign it was Hillary Clinton could have saved the clear that Hillary’s efforts were not fo- country from impending disaster, simply cused on winning. She was tired. She was The New Caesar by withdrawing from the campaign late absent-minded. Self-absorbed, last winter. All of the normal indica- she wanted to win but she did not want to Don’t mourn! Do not attach yourself tors then demonstrated that Mr. Sanders struggle to win. She refused absolutely to to the destiny of other people! had become a very viable candidate (the learn new ways of doing things. sheer amount of monies collected from or- dinary people to support the Sanders’ 11 Rebel Worker

Wikileaks and other sources revealed that suffer greatly as the extreme Centre-Right The critics of the regime. the Democrat Party machine was not even experiments with their “new” vision of a And how many liberals bought into the fair with Mr. Sanders. The DFL machine “new” Utopia, a plebeian and élitist if not school bullying “crisis” of the past several in Minnesota, especially, cannot learn fascist Utopia. years? anything new; they just keep repeating However, even in the time of Hitler or Sta- * Most government statistics - FBI hate their limited rituals from out of the past. lin, people could still think and act cre- crime statistics particularly, courtesy of Always, they are obsessed with nothing atively and positively in the world. Do King James of Comey, but also unemploy- but “control.” They are the worst example not allow yourselves to become demoral- ment and insurance rates - are going to be of machine politics in the country today. ized or depressed! (That is the real devil; heavily manipulated, and this probably be- How do they stave off the inevitable col- not Trump!) Act and think for your- fore the White Terror takes full hold. The lapse? They can’t, and they won’t! selves! In the collective context of so- liberal conceit that all socioeconomic Mr. Sanders was the first person in na- cial responsibility, act and think now for a problems can be resolved by appeal to the tional political life in the United States better future! experts is going to be utterly discredited, since the 1930s and 1940s to openly use I’m sure you will find many opportunities to the extent it isn’t already, by the use of words like “socialist” and “socialist de- in the near future for constructive direct Shadowstats in the incoming regime. Be mocracy,” and to do so in positive con- action. heavily sceptical of sudden, rapid im- texts. Considerable numbers of people provements in reported economic condi- had no problems with his efforts, thus putt- tions. Fortunately, most workers distrust these statistics in- tuitively. * YouTube, the outlet de rigueur in the Bush Ad- ministration for Opposi- tion activities, will be heavily censored, particu- larly once footage docu- menting the brutality of the fascist reaction begins emerging in earnest. I sug- gest keeping a cache of these videos downloaded to an external hard drive or flash drive. In the coming years truth will itself be- come a battlefield. Don’t wait. Save it now so that, in the future, they’ll have to ask “who do you believe, me or your lying eyes?”. * I reiterate that the capital- ist media relies on capital- ist market mechanisms: Trump, the biggest draw ing the big lie to all the secret “socialists” In solidarity, ever to hold the office of the Presidency, and secret “communists” of several gener- will be in a position to dictate the terms of ations. What did Proudhon and Kropotkin The activists of SAN, (Syndicalist Action his coverage without any overt coercion. say about acting in our own right, and in Network) in the U.S.A. He will be relentless in freezing out the our own name, and for ourselves? “biased, liberal media” whenever they Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, two contradict him, which is going to be in- Centre-Rightists portraying a ritualized Trump Regime & Censorship creasingly less common. dispute, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, af- I cannot repeat this enough: the news is ter furious verbal battle set down their Some specifics I think we ought to re- going to be captured without a single gun weapons and quietly agreed to “peace- member to look for in the coming re- being drawn. Make sure others understand ful” and friendly transition of “power.” It gime. this, and understand why. It isn’t the result doesn’t matter to either of them; one Things to consider in the coming weeks: of a conspiracy; it’s the natural function of thoughtless Centre-Rightist is as good as * Melania Trump intends to take on the market at work. another! “Internet bullying” as her pet project, the Stimerian 13/11/16 We are witnessing the malaise of way Michelle Obama approached nutri- Thanks to Libcom late-stage capitalism. It is nothing but a tion or Laura Bush assumed literacy as her spectacle of dysfunction and chaos. pet cause. Trump, the first truly Imperial President, http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/11/1 the new Caesar, the new Bonaparte, pro- 0/magid-helping-melania-trump-combat- poses to accomplish what Aaron Burr, in cyber-bullying/ the long ago, could not. Many people will Who do you think will be the bullies? 12 Rebel Worker

International Transport Workers News

Schools in Philadelphia are remaining above: “Over the past three years a lot of USA: TRANSIT WORKERS open on Tuesday, The Associated Press antisocial “reforms” have been brought in, STRIKE reports. neo liberalisation, Russian style, which is “[School officials] are saying that those very closely linked to corruption. That is who don’t make it in will be given an ex- what truck drivers in Russia criticise. 1/11/16 cused absence, but parents are urged to However this doesn’t only affect truck Around 4,700 public transportation find a way to bring their children to school drivers. It affects the healthcare system, workers in Philadelphia went on strike or get them there, one way or the other,” schools, which must now operate accord- at midnight, shutting down many of the MacDonald reports. ing to new economic criteria. It affects city’s transit options. The strike was initiated after negotiations hospitals, doctors are now trying to form a The members of the Transport broke down over issues including health ‘wild’ union, which is fraught with many Workers Union Local 234 and the South care costs, pensions and worker rest, problems...also teachers.” (from the Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation WHYY has reported. video) Authority, or SEPTA, were unable to SEPTA says the union walked away from The truck drivers appreciate any messages agree on a new contract. “pay raises, enhanced pension benefits, of solidarity. Please write to them here: The strike is causing widespread disrup- maintained health care coverage levels solidarity_trucker (at) yahoo.com tion, and raising concerns that if the situa- and continued job security.” tion is not resolved it may interfere with The union says SEPTA’s representatives Election Day next week. “refused to address non-economic issues UK: Deliveroo Drivers on “All Philadelphians—not just regular affecting operator and public safety.” Wildcat Strike SEPTA riders—should prepare for signif- If the strike lasts a week or more, SEPTA icant disruptions to their commutes, espe- plans to file an emergency temporary re- 17/8/16 cially the evening rush hour,” member straining order to suspend the strike for station WHYY reports. “The strike shut Election Day next Tuesday, to ensure that Wearenowonthesixthdayofstrikeac- down all of SEPTA’s city transit services: all voters will be able to access the polls, tion by couriers from the delivery firm Buses, trolleys, trackless trolleys and sub- WHYY reports. Deliveroo. Triggered by new payment ways that operate in the city, which usu- terms imposed by management, drivers ally handle 884,000 trips a day, will not In 2009, a SEPTA strike lasted for six are calling for a national boycott of the run.” days. company until the new pay scheme is Regional rail is the only service still oper- - NPR opt-in rather than opt-out, the threat of ating, SEPTA says — and even before the dismissal is lifted from its workforce strike, rail services were operating “at near and the company implements the Lon- capacity.” RUSSIAN TRUCKIES SET UP don living wage. So far this remarkable, WHYY reporter Tom MacDonald spoke NEW UNION TO FIGHT PUTIN non-traditional industrial action has seen with NPR from a suburban rain station in non-unionised drivers organise them- downtown Philadelphia, where he said the GOVT. selves in physical meetings and on trains that were running were struggling WhatsApp, a crowd funded strike fund of over £10,000 raised online and consumers with large quantities of riders — many of Video interview with a supporter of the and restaurants call for an end to driver ex- them unfamiliar with the trains. truck drivers’ industrial action in Rus- ploitation . “We’ve got delays as much as 99 minutes sia. However, to fully understand on some of these rail lines,” MacDonald 11mins, German with English subs., 2016 said. “Everything is behind ... the riders the Deliveroo strike dispute, it is impor- http://en.labournet.tv/video/7049/strike-a tant to realise that the two foundations of are frustrated. I mean, they want their reg- nd-self-organisation-truckers-russia ular way of going to work.” our present gig economy, freedom and June 2016, interview with a supporter of flexibility, in practice mean exhaustion MacDonald notes that the union had been the truck drivers’ industrial action in Rus- and exploitation. This is not only a dispute warning Philadelphia residents for weeks sia - After the introduction of the new over pay, but a conflict over the nature of that a strike was in the works. But many “Platon” road toll, truck drivers who drive language and our vision of the economy it- residents are used to deadlines being ex- their own trucks feel that their livelihoods self; do we want an economy where “free- tended in situations like these — a few are under threat. Since November 11, 2015 dom” means exploitation or where it days’ delay as the union and SEPTA try to they have continued with their protests. means security and liberty? work out a deal. On 30 April, 2016, at a meeting of 300 del- The Independent Workers’ Union of Great “The union went on strike at exactly the egates, the “Union of Transport Workers Britain (IWGB) is raising this question as strike deadline and that’s caught some of Russia”(OPR) was formed. a trade union facilitating and supporting a people off guard,” MacDonald says. “This experience, simply sitting together campaign that is fundamentally It’s also left students in the lurch. NBC in a huge room, and to realise that we were worker-led. Without being members of Philadelphia, citing school officials, said many, was really inspiring. People told me any union Deliveroo drivers have organ- around 60,000 students public, private and afterwards, ‘this is the happiest day of my ised effective action to bring the world’s charter school students rely on public tran- life’.” attention to their inspirational struggle. sit to get to school. However, attacks on truck drivers are just We have realised this is the moment when one part of a generalised attack from the social network strikes back against 13 Rebel Worker the gig economy. This is why we are back- Many reporters have failed to note that ing out hundreds of pounds for bike re- ing the drivers’ autonomous action to the Deliveroo lets workers opt out of a scheme pairs, scooter insurance and tax account- hilt, liaising with management and provid- that leaves them with no guaranteed in- ing. Shu states Deliveroo is a partner of ing crowdfunded cover for the many strik- come only if they work in a delivery zone two road safety charities, but he does not ers who have signed up to the IWGB over where this scheme is not already in place, mention that when drivers are injured on the past few days. even if this means moving from the job they do not receive a penny in sick Deliveroo’s deal offers drivers neither se- south-west London’s Kingston to Hack- pay. Nor does he mention that Deliveroo curity nor liberty; it will make life harder ney, on the other side of the city. This does not contribute to pension payments. for them and their families. forces drivers to leave neighbourhoods This is the “freedom” drivers are given. For Deliveroo chief executive and where their local knowledge helps them This dispute highlights the danger that co-founder William Shu, “freedom” make fast deliveries for unfamiliar parts of arises when the buzzwords of zero-hours town. Deliveroo has also made clear Britain become detached from workers’ everyday reality. What would offer couriers genuine freedom is a guaranteed London living wage of £9.40 per hour with an extra £1 per delivery and a com- mitment by Deliveroo to cover the costs of insurance and re- pairs. Many other courier firms have done this after negotiations with the IWGB, so why not Deliveroo? This is what the striking drivers are asking for. It is a modest demand, to give them the freedom to provide for themselves and their families, and the flexibility to take a day off work when they feel ill. This is the modern economy we want to see. • This article was amended on 17 August 2016 to remove an clearly means exploitation. Responding to in emails to workers, as seen by Channel 4 incorrect reference to whistle- the strike on BBC Radio 4 on Monday, he News, that while workers are not blowers. claimed to offer couriers a wage guarantee “obliged” to sign the new agreement, it is a of £7.50 “during peak hours” for “a limited “compulsory requirement” for all riders in Thanks to the Guardian time” and a “choice” to opt out of his new the area who wish to continue working for piece rate pay scheme. While this was the company. Some “choice”. Some “flex- trumpeted as a concession to our demands, ibility”. it has been widely misrepresented. Shu’s Note that when Shu speaks of couriers deal offers drivers neither security nor lib- making an average of £9.20 to £9.30 per erty; it will make life harder for them and hour (a figure disputed by many drivers), their families. this does not consider that drivers are pay-

tack on ordinary workers decimated lives and let those responsible off scot-free. The BRITAIN TODAY rest of the country wasn’t going to stand idly by. Current and former workers at Byron, in- Earlier in the year, Byron had called doz- cluding some who had quit in disgust at the ens of their London staff to a ‘health and deportations, called for action. The first Solidarity with all workers: safety’ briefing. Instead of the mundane demonstration took place at a central Lon- meeting the staff were expecting, immi- don branch at the centre of the scandal, Byron Burgers face gration officers burst into the room, before with hundreds of protesters forcing the workers’ anger detaining everyone present and deporting restaurant to close. Actions quickly 35 people. The company attempted to ex- spread, with pickets, protests, and occupa- tions across the country - there was even a This August, Byron Burgers was at the cuse itself by saying it was a legal require- ment - a claim that was quickly debunked ‘biblical plague’ of locusts released in sev- centre of a dispute around their dodgy eral London outlets. Online, the com- ethical practices, leading to a spontane- by legal experts. Sources from within By- ron suggested the actions only made sense pany’s social media presence also took a ous campaign of demonstrations across battering. The Bristol restaurant’s the UK. Unlike similar campaigns, this if they were part of a ‘back-room deal’. This could have been to enable bosses to Facebook page is still offline after being one didn’t have any key demands - it hijacked by a supporter of the protests. It was simply about teaching the bosses a dodge fines for breaching employment and immigration law. Either way, this at- was all an awesome display of work- lesson. ing-class unity and self-organisation in the 14 Rebel Worker face of an attack by the bosses. Far from their workers, migrant or otherwise, we Workers’ Union Branch Secretary being divided by the discourse of migrants hope they look back on what happened to Chris Rye, based in Swindon, who had ‘stealing jobs’, people came together to Byron and think very, very carefully about been suspended following a row with a deliver a blow to Byron’s profits. it. manager. As well as the significant short-term im- The first walkout took place at the huge pact on the owners’ profits caused by the Thanks to Resistance Bulletin Dorcan Sorting and Delivery Office at campaign, the damage dealt to their image 6am. Chippenham Delivery Office work- will grossly effect the company in the long ers walked out in solidarity later that morning. Back in Swindon, workers picketed until the start of the late shift at the sorting office, when the whole of that shift refused to go into the building to work. Later that afternoon Royal Mail agreed to lift Chris’s suspension, and the work- ers agreed to return to work. Chris is currently on ‘house arrest’, in the sense that he has to stay for the whole of his shift at the CWU Union room at Dorcan, and not wander about talking to members. The Branch’s posi- tion is that if Chris is formally charged with any offence, or if the soon-to-be-published enquiry into in- dustrial relations at Dorcan does not completely vindicate the CWU, then further strike action is likely. The initial success of the Swindon strike is entirely due to the lightning-fast re- sponse of the ‘illegal’ walkout. Many Royal Mail militants up and down the term. This isn’t just due to the actions al- country will be encouraged, as many ready mentioned, but to others that came Postal workers’ wildcat fear that the era of regular wildcat strikes to light as a result, including the millions in strike throughout Royal Mail, endemic up to a profits the company rakes in from its few years ago, were a thing of the past. over-priced burgers being rooted via off- Thanks to Resistance Bulletin by Bridgwater postman shore havens, to avoid paying UK tax. Hundreds of Royal Mail workers car- The next time a company has to make a de- ried out a wildcat strike on 24th August cision on whether to screw up the lives of to defend their Communication

found Uber has acted unlawfully by not One of the reasons the left is so excited LEGAL DECISION AGAINST providing drivers with basic workers’ about the outcome of this tribunal is be- UBER IN THE UK CRITIQUE rights. This could lead to Uber drivers get- cause people think it will bring about the ting basic workers’ rights but it might not end of the ‘gig-economy’. The idea being and shouldn’t been seen as a victory. companies across the country who use bo- 28/10/16 All that has happened is a tribunal has gus self-employment will now all be The recent employment tribunal ruling found Uber drivers at the moment are ef forced to end the practice. Hundreds of against Uber is not the end of the - fectively employees and not thousands of workers could now get the ‘gig-economy’ and might not change self-employed. This means Uber will have minimum wage and have access to paid anything. to pay the two drivers who bought the case holidays and sick pay. But that doesn’t One in seven workers in the UK today is money for the period they were working look very likely. self-employed. Self-employed workers and not getting the rights they would have The law provides a framework within earn less than other workers. Pay for done if they were employees. But Uber which capitalist firms have to operate, this self-employed workers fell nearly a fifth will appeal this and may not end up having framework cares more about profit than during the financial crisis. Many of these to change anything at all. workers’ rights. Companies across the UK workers are actually working for them- If Uber exhausts it’s appeals and can’t are going to be working out ways of selves, but a significant amount are work- overturn the ruling then it has two choices. changing the way they operate so they fit ing for employers who use It either takes on its drivers as employees within that framework. Every firm which self-employment to avoid giving workers giving them the wages and conditions they can see a way of making sure its workers the pay and conditions full time employ- should be getting. Or Uber can change the are legally self-employed will take it if it ees are guaranteed under the law. way it operates so its workers are legally costs less than making the workers regular This is why today’s ruling against Uber is self-employed. Given Uber’s global busi- employees. being welcomed by many on the left. The ness model is based on it not employing No doubt some workers somewhere will trade union GMB bought a case on behalf drivers, it looks likely it will change the benefit from this ruling, but this is unlikely of two Uber drivers against the company way it operates to meet the law. to be the cause for widespread change. at an employment tribunal. The tribunal When the Deliveroo strike was taking 15 Rebel Worker place people told me this tribunal case Thanks to Jim’s Blog statutory right (like holiday pay), workers could be more significant than the strike Comment: are not. So I would have thought at least on action. They were wrong. Legal action can I haven’t seen the full details of the legal the minimum wage front there would be compel companies to change the way they ruling, also I’m not 100% sure of ev- protection. operate but it cannot guarantee improve- erything with regard to this area of em- But of course Uber are challenging the tri- ments in working conditions. The best ployment law (employment law in bunal outcome. And in any case tribunals way of doing that is workers organising general is also mostly pretty vague). don’t set legal precedent, only at the level collectively and taking direct action to However it looks to me like the tribunal of Employment Appeal Tribunal or above force companies like Uber to respect our determined they were “workers”, is legal precedent set, so at the moment the basic rights. rather than employees. This does give only Uber drivers who technically have If the class struggle is fought through the them some basic employment rights, “workers’ rights” are those two who legal system, workers are fighting without like holiday pay and the minimum brought the case. our most effective weapon, our ability to wage, however they have no rights So if others did, Uber could sack them, and stop work. Fighting and winning legal against unfair dismissal. they would have to try to take the company cases is good for left-wing legal firms but They do have the protection from “detri- to court and prove that they were workers it does nothing to build up working class ment” for raising a claim about all over again, before even demonstrating power. Plus the legal system can be non-payment of the national minimum any detriment. This would be pretty long changed by politicians. With a govern- wage, but while “employees” are pro- winded and expensive… ment in power which is keen to attack tected from unfair dismissal for challeng- Steven Thanks to Libcom working conditions don’t be surprised if ing an employer who is denying them a the law gets changed because of this ruling to legalise the way companies like Uber operate. BOOK REVIEW CORNER

power of life and death, some use it to Rebellion in Patagonia by Osvaldo Bayer, Translated by Paul save lives and some use it to settle scores: ‘The commanding military offi- Sharkey and Joshua Neuhouser, Published by AK Press cer himself admits that the judgements as to who was guilty and who was innocent were made by the “ranchers and fore- In Rebellion in Patagonia Osvaldo sprinkled with patriotic rhetoric. Political men.”[...]Many accounts state that Bayer rescued this tragedy from histori- pressure is applied to the reformists. The the ranchers didn’t just point out the “ring- cal oblivion. army is encouraged - this time - to return leaders” but also any peons that had been ‘The 1921 massacre of the rural work- things to ‘business as usual’. In other slightly insubordinate or to whom they ers of Patagonia is no longer a taboo words, to massacre the strikers. Not sim- owed wages.’ (p241) Beyond that, the un- subject, mentioned as if it were but a ply to break the strike, but to drown it in known and unclaimed only had hope, and legend.’ (p467) Patagonia, in the far blood. not a lot of that. ‘The ranchers decided south of Argentina, dominated by the The Anarchists of the Workers’ Society whose lives were to be saved and if no- livestock runs of large landowners, is a put their faith in solidarity that doesn’t body claimed them they were executed or long way from Buenos Aires. It may be come. taken to prison. The same thing hap- a long way from where you are, but this They know which side the army are on. pened to the men nobody knew, the mi- is a story that resonates. Not so the rural workers. ‘As far as they grant workers.’ (p247, quoting Antonio Rebellion in Patagonia tells how the anar- are concerned, the real enemies are the po- Tiznao) chist-organised rural workers strike in lice officers who beat them and shake them Bayer records the protest of the prostitutes 1920-21 and win historic concessions, af- down for the few pesos they have. But of the La Catalana brothel (in San ter the army and reformist politicians opt fighting the army, no, they don’t want to Julián) who strike themselves: ‘Patient re- for compromise. The landowners are in- get involved in that. This is the moment search has allowed us to discover the tent on destroying the workers’ organisa- when Antonio Soto realizes his biggest names of these five women, these five tion and resist implementing the mistake: organizing a strike that is abso- whores who were the only ones brave agreement, which leads to the second lutely anarchist in form - authentic, sud- enough to publicly say that the perpetra- strike (of 1921). The owners want a solu- den, unexpected, impulsive - without the tors of the bloodiest massacre of workers tion, one that leaves them in full control. support of a rank and file that understands in our history were nothing more than ‘If the military doesn’t intervene, “there the basic notions of human freedom and its murderers.’ (p338)[1]And the protests will be nothing but ruins and desolation."’ enemies.’ (p267) spread. At first it’s the anarchists but then, (p148 quoting La Nación) Why is there a The killing isn’t random. Once the strikers ‘When La Vanguardia - the newspaper of problem? surrender (defeating your enemies is eas- the Socialist Party - learned that the dead ‘"Outside agitators, the aftertaste of unre- ier if they think you’re neutral!) the sorting included Albino Argüelles, secre- stricted immigration, profess doctrines in starts. The army calls it ‘assigning respon- tary-general of the San Julián Workers’ which those who were once slaves will sibilities’ (p221). Anyone singled out as a Society and a card-carrying party mem- take the place of their oppressors."’ (p121, strike leader is killed, usually after being ber, they began attacking[Presi- quoting La Unión) Class interests are beaten. Strikers can have their lives saved dent]Yrigoyen and Commander Varela by being claimed by their bosses. Given day after day.’ 16 Rebel Worker

(p339) And they wore their Sunday suits, That these proletarians - most of them illit- Yrigoyen will say - and will keep saying - But we knew the work they had been at, erate - took such a risk to commemorate nothing. The government will refuse to in- By the quicklime on their boots. the founder of the Modern School!’ vestigate. A compromise is arranged. (p480-1) ‘When the repression began, there were There is bitter irony, though, for three categories of strikers: the bad work- But there was no quicklime: some bodies self-serving lies: ‘It’s strange that ers, who “died in combat”; the suspicious were burnt, many were just left on the Paladino was able to make a confession workers, who were imprisoned in Río pampas. It was left to the local people to after dying, taking the time to accuse him- Gallegos after being punished and humili- bury them properly. self of being “one of themost blood- ated; and the good workers, who were res- Despite the brutality, this is a very humane thirsty."’ (p330) cued by their employers.’ (p366) The book because Bayer is determined to There’s a very strong sense in Rebellion in prisoners will be released: the task has bear witness and writes with a clear grasp Patagonia that the past has never gone been accomplished anyway. ‘And what of what’s at stake. It’s also a model for away, that the massacres are simply a about Varela’s argument that these people writing history from below. Starting fifty dress rehearsal for Argentina’s twenti- were bandits, arsonists, thieves? Now, eth-century agony of dictatorship. with one stroke of a pen, the judge ad- Bayer was forced into exile during the mits that they shouldn’t have been ar- 1970s dictatorship and his books (in- rested. What one hand writes is erased by cluding the first version of this one) the other.’ (p373) were burnt. So he not a ‘neutral’ ob- Commander Varela asks Yrigoyen to server. But he is a very perceptive one. support him, to explain he was following There’s an awful lot to think about in orders. It doesn’t happen. this book. The rural workers were left to Since there will be no justice, inevitably fight alone. The ‘pure syndicalists’ of the anarchists think about revenge. An- the FORA IX will protest about the mas- archist political violence has thrown up sacres, but not too much. Bayer unpicks many remarkable characters. Just look at the nationalism used by the bosses, Simón Radowitzky or Severino di where the flag really is a blindfold: Giovanni, both of whom Bayer has writ- ‘Without any need for a red flag, ten about. Patagonia was already internationalized Kurt Wilckens - not just by foreign landowners, but Kurt Gustav Wilckens is possibly the also because all of her raw material most remarkable and least fierce anar- wealth was sent overseas. In other chist avenger. ‘He has never even been words, the intervention of the Argentine to Patagonia, but neither has he received Army did not occur to defend the na- so much as five centavos in payment for tion’s interests, but to preserve the sta- the assassination. His name is Kurt tus and privileges of foreign companies Gustav Wilckens. A German anarchist and to protect an unjust feudal regime of the Tolstoyan persuasion, he is an en- that still chokes southern Argentina, emy of violence, but he believes that, in slowly turning it into a desert.’ (p33) extreme cases, the only response to the Bayer isn’t shy about condemning the violence of the mighty should be more killings carried out by Varela, but he violence.’ (p18) doesn’t ignore the forces that used him: Wilckens assassinates Commander ‘It seems as if the responsibility of all Varela, ‘the butcher of Patagonia’. years after the events, Bayer interviews those who owed something to Varela, Wilckens is then murdered in prison in a eyewitnesses (strikers, neutrals and sol- of those who benefited from his actions, right-wing plot, which triggers massive diers) as well as the children of victims and ended with his death’ (p403). It’s as if protests and cements his place as a work- perpetrators, visits the execution sites and he’s sowing seeds of doubt, asking the ing class hero. ‘If we hadn’t personally sees the bullet-marked rocks for himself. army if they’re happy to be ‘the tools of collected the testimonies, flyers, He also makes good use of the written re- those who already had everything and still communiques, etc., we wouldn’t have be- cord, like the flier that catches the moment wanted more.’ (p235) lieved that, even in the most remote cor- when it’s being typeset: ‘While we went to Tragic though it is, Rebellion in ners of the country, there were people press, we were informed that the bakers Patagonia is written with style as well as who felt the need to express their support had just voted to go on strike.’ (p414) heart: for the anarchist avenger and their anger When Bayer talks about illiterate workers, ‘we can imagine those two tiny Fords trav- at his murder.’ (p433) Bayer follows the there’s no sneer, simply admiration that elling through the desert, carrying eight story to the bitter end. those who had so little would risk it all for madmen drunk on the ideas of social jus- Perez Millán Temperley, the killer of an ideal. They strike to commemorate the tice and human redemption. What pos- Wilckens, is given a light sentence and execution of the Spanish anarchist Fran- sessed three Spaniards, one Pole, one serves it in a mental hospital - until he’s cisco Ferrer: ‘This is typically anarchist. Argentine, and three Chileans to set off killed in an anarchist plot. Just think about the riskiness of a strike in through this wasteland to bring the gospel Rebellion in Patagonia is not cheerful a place where jobs are extremely scarce, of Bakunin to those illiterate, reading and might leave you asking ‘What where all the bosses know each other, and God-forsaken peons? They were crazier can you do but weep?’ It reminded me of where nobody will hire a disobedient than any characters dreamed of by worker. And that these sombre men - pe- Roberto Arlt, beyond the imagination of ons, bellboys, and stevedores - would take even Maxim Gorky. A former stagehand, Wilde’s Ballad of Reading Gaol: such a risk on behalf of someone who had a stevedore, a mechanic, a former tele- Their uniforms were spick and span, died eleven years before in a far-off land. graph operator, three shepherds, a former 17 Rebel Worker electrician, and a hotel valet go off to fight ger acted on them publicly. Towards the thirty-one years old, Argentine, married, for social justice and human redemption in end of his life, he purchased a small hotel seamstress and prostitute; Amalia the depopulated expanses of Patagonia. A in Punta Arenas that became a gathering Rodríguez, twenty-six years old, Argen- shame that the conversations between place for journalists, artists, freethinkers, tine, single, prostitute; María Juliache, these eight messengers of dynamite and and Spanish Republicans. His body was Spaniard, twenty-eight years old, resident fury weren’t recorded. If Jesus had hap- accompanied to the graveyard by a siz- of Argentina for the past seven years, pened upon them in the desert, he would able entourage, led by the flag bearers of prostitute; Maud Foster, Englishwoman, have shook his head sadly and told the Spanish Republican Centre, the Red thirty-one years old, single, resident of them, “Brothers, you are exaggerating the Cross - of which he was a member - and the Argentina for the past ten years, a woman teachings of the Gospel.”’ (p156-7) Galician Centre. They were followed by from a good family, prostitute.’ Bayer’s book is a memorial to them: student groups, who honoured Soto as the ‘flowers for the rebels who failed’ as anar- inspiration behind the first student strike in Rebellion in Patagonia by Osvaldo chists like to say, a tribute based not on a Punta Arenas, which secured an increase Bayer; AK Press/Kate Sharpley Library, sense of nostalgia but a love of freedom. in the meagre pay of the town’s teachers.’ 2016.[Originally posted It’s also a reminder that the past is impor- (p491-2) KSL at http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/90 tant: how can we change things if we don’t 5rp9] understand how we got where we now Note R e l a t e d are? Finally, in a footnote, Bayer reminds Link: https://www.akpress.org/rebel- us that some never gave up: lion-in-patagonia.html Antonio Soto 1. ‘Here are their names as they appeared on the yellowing pages of the police re- ‘Here we should add a few words on the port: fate of Antonio Soto, the man who refused to surrender at La Anita.[...]Soto re- Consuelo García, twenty-nine years old, mained faithful to his libertarian ideals Argentine, single, prostitute at the La until the day he died, although he no lon- Catalana brothel; Angela Fortunato,

volved when some- thing big happens but is too late and Debate on Industrial Organising churning out a bit of abstract propa- ganda - and per- Hello fellow workers! To: Happyanarchy: haps having a bit of excitement and an As a unionist from Adelaide, the clos- The reality in regard to the Ipswich excuse for a social occasion. In the case ing of Holden’s, as well as the selling or stuff - is that your mob was not inter- of the notorious “Hutchison Ports” dispute potential closure of the Arrium ested in doing the long range “serious” of 2015 - in fact, certain of these sects and Whyalla Steelworks presents a poten- organising in this sector prior to the activoids were used by the union bosses of tial massive working class struggle. It’s sackings. You had an important tool, the the MUA (Maritime Union of Australia) my opinion that if these businesses close ASN transport paper - your mob - refused in a despicable “smoke and mirrors” per- down the workers should take control of to get behind it!!! With it you could have formance. Where a fake victory was the factories for themselves. What I want made contacts with workers who wanted claimed but a real defeat of workers was to know is how to plant that seed and insti- to do something, did stories/interviews or achieved by the MUA bosses and the em- gate that struggle? Any suggestions on even made contact with a militant workers ployer/Govt.(1) where to start and what to do? I don’t know network which may have existed behind In regard to the Laverton, Victoria, much about Holden’s and even less about the scenes. Helped them with their agita- Baiada Poultry processing plant strike of Arrium Steel, the sheer size of these opera- tion, networking, countering manage- 2011, the National Union of Workers tions would make organising a workers ment propaganda, etc. Developed a Qld (NUW) hierarchy used the services of occupation a major struggle. rail section (you in fact did have at least leftist activoids and sects together with Radelaide-the-tragic one of your group in Qld Rail at this time) NUW officials for a fake community and even later on other sections in the pa- picket. Instead of mobilising meatworkers per. So not just 6 months earlier, you Well that’s a huge task to be honest. across the state and nationally to help the could have helped get the grassroots or- Laverton workers strike for improved In Brisbane when Campbell Newman ganising ball rolling years earlier! You conditions. Again the activoids were sacked masses of Railway workers, a could still do something like this now. But “lured” into a “smoke and mirrors” perfor- few years ago, BSN (Brisbane Solidarity is your mob serious about industrial or- mance by the union bosses. After a few Network) went out to the train yards in ganising? weeks, the union officials closed down the Ipswich to set up stall with info flyers to struggle claiming a “fake victory”. encourage general strike action, and talk to people during shift change over. The Bankruptcy of Leftist It included a pay rise which barely met in- flation and the guarantee of making work- General response was, ‘Thanks mate, but Activoidism and the “Smoke & ers after 6 months on the job permanent, should have started doing this 6 months Mirrors” Technique of the but this clause had been in the previous ago. Bit late now’. So guess it’s the old agreement. It had never been imple- path of finding a few like minds, getting in Union Bureaucracy mented. Subsequently the NUW officials there, start sharing the idea, with the collaborated with the bosses in the phased means that you have. What you wrote above does look like cutting of hundreds of jobs over succes- Happyanarchy the type of pointless stuff left sects and their activoids get up to. Getting in- 18 Rebel Worker sive years. Until only 100 workers were forced the union bosses to call - to oppose workers to agree to the cutting of their left, prior to announcement by the com- restructuring of the Sydney railway sta- wages and conditions. This may indicate pany of the closure of the plant on tion network for privatisation. To out ma- the activity of an above “behind the 17/10/16. noeuvre this grass roots success, the union scenes” militant network. So there may be bosses called a lightning state wide rail time to assist them, if a way can be found strike in Sept. 1999, in the week prior to a to determine if it exists and make contact. What “Serious” Syndicalist national ALP conference held in Sydney. They would need help re putting out a Industrial Organising All this had far reaching consequences in workplace paper etc. Would Look Like? Stop Press: Latest news is that the AWU (Australian Workers Union) officials We actually did something ex- and bosses have been suc- actly along these above lines cessful in pressuring the (re serious long range work) in Steel workers to agree to the NSW/Sydney railways - in the cutbacks. the years of the lead up to the Olympics in 2000. It involved Mark “strategy and analysis” based Notes: on industrial experience and 1. See “Hutchison Ports Dis- historical research, taking ac- pute” in RW Vol.34 No.3 count of the need for the preci- (224) Nov.-Dec. 2015 on web sion deployment of limited site www.rebelworker.org resources and personnel. Not 2. See aimless activism, “running “Anarcho-Syndicalism: Cat- around like headless chickens” terms of slowing the general privatisation alyst for Workers or cooking up stunts to deceive gullible push and the tempo of the employer offen- Self-Organisation” and overseas people via the internet. sive. (2) “Anarcho-Syndicalist Strategy for Aus- After some years we did make contact In regard to Whyalla - there has been a me- tralia, Today”, in the archive section of with such a militant network. Helped them dia report of workers there opposing a www.rebelworker.org with their stuff and assisted them to win a push by the union bosses/the bosses for the Thanks to Libcom key union mass meeting which they

anti-fascist combat organizations under this name, with the purpose of protecting Alfons Thomasz Pilarski 1902 -1977 workers meetings from the Nazis who they intended to fight by all means. In November 1929 a Schwarzen Scharen A biography of Alfons Thomasz Pilarski, a Silesian FAUD put a great emphasis on was set up in Beuthen followed by German anarcho-syndicalist who took propaganda. In 1925 they had produced Rosenberg, Katscher, Gleiwitz and part in the German and Polish anarchist the Workers Voice, an agitational paper, Bobrek Karf. Sometimes as many as 1,500 and anti-nazi movements. which had to close for lack of funds. In were mobilized and usually between 1928 he was one of the editors of the anar- 300-400. The Schwarzen Scharen wore Alfons Thomasz Pilarski (alias chist paper Befreiung (Liberation) in black shirts and black berets, with the Kompardt) was born in Upper Silesia, a Breslau and Ratibor. This was a weekly for anti-militarist symbol of the broken rifle part of Germany with a 30% minority Silesia and Upper Silesia. It called itself on their berets. The photograph above is of of Poles, on 6th July 1902, the son of a “the only revolutionary paper in the dark members of the FAUD Ratibor at the fu- working class family in Leschnitz near east”. It had an aggressive tone and spoke neral of a comrade. Some members of the Stehlitz. in the language of the street, particularly Schwarzen Scharen are visible on the right interesting itself in exposing scandals in in berets and Pilarski is one of the men From 1917-1921 Alfons worked as a the establishment. Two of the seven first draughtsman in building administration of wearing a hat in the centre of the picture. issues were seized by the authorities, who Basing his views on the previous experi- the municipal authorities in Ratibor. In also banned it for a month. It had a circula- 1921 he completed his Abitur final exams ence of the German working class with the tion figure of 7,000, very high for a radical reactionary Freikorps, Pilarski believed (roughly equivalent to an educational di- provincial paper. ploma) as an external course at the that if fascism triumphed, the workers Mathias High School in Breslau. He had Alongside Franz Nowak (Gypsy) and movement would be set back by 30 years. joined the Communist Party Theodor Bennek, Pilarski stood out as one Accordingly the Upper Silesian FAUD (Spartakusbund) in Upper Silesia dur- of the most capable militants of the Upper prepared itself for combat. The Schwarzen ing the revolutionary ferment of 1918. He Silesian FAUD. He was regarded by the Scharen in Ratibor had a machine gun and left the KPD after the Heidelberg Con- police as its “intellectual leader”. He was a several pistols. In May 1932 the police dis- gress of October 1919, when the left com- stirring orator, a talented journalist and a covered a secret training camp of the munists and syndicalists broke away. capable commercial artist. Between Schwarzen Scharen in Beuthen. 4 mili- 1919-1932 he was arrested several times He joined the anarcho-syndicalist Freie tants were arrested and sentenced to 10 and served 19 months imprisonment alto- years each in March 1933. Three others, Arbeiter Union Deutschland (FAUD) and gether. he became a very active propagandist with Paul Czakon, Alfons Molina and Bernhard it. He worked from 1921 to 1927 as a Besides Befreiung, Pilarski was involved Pacha managed to escape to Spain (where draughtsman and trainee for the in organizing the Schwarzen Scharen (The later they fought in Black Crowds). In October 1929 members anarcho-syndicalist publishing house of See Page 20 Fritz Kater. Pilarski and the Upper of the FAUD in Ratibor created 19 Rebel Worker

Where we stand: NEWS & NOTES A.S.N. DIRECTORY 1.Our aim is to create a free and equal so- One of the most important developments ciety in the NSW Railways next year is EBA ASN Sydney Local (Enterprise Bargain Agreement) 2017. The ASN is doing the hard yards on the PO Box 92 2. We are a revolutionary labour move- job to assist militants to develop a grass Broadway 2007 NSW ment that uses as its only means of strug- roots log of claims and on-the-job organi- gle, direct action in all its forms – sation to pursue a campaign of direct ac- ASN Melbourne: occupations, strikes, boycotts, sabotage, etc. We are independent from all reformist tion to achieve important conditions J.Dixon improvements. Whilst out manoeuvring and hierarchical unions and political par- the ALP aligned union hierarchy and the [email protected] ties, and we are creating an alternative to bosses/Baird Govt. which would use the these and to existing society. We do not EBA to further cut jobs and conditions ASN Newcastle seek to gain political power, but rather to and achieve major steps toward PO Box 532 see it distributed amongst all. privatisation. (See article Page 3.) Newcastle 2300 NSW. 3.We are a network of In the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, the anarcho-syndicalists practising Light Rail extensions, which are in reality co-operation and mutual aid. We have an Anarchist Media “Heavy Rail” extensions are increasingly equal part in the making of decisions. Re- becoming obvious to be a pretext by the Institute sponsibilities within the network are sub- Baird Govt. to assist its developer busi- PO Box 20 ject to agreement by the members. ness mates profiteering and the associated Parkville Vic. 3052 privatisation of public housing and land. 4.We are engaged in struggle where we Whilst providing a means to raise further SPARKS work and where we live, to develop self Govt. revenue via stamp duty on real es- managed production, distribution and ser- (Anarcho-Syndicalist Transport Paper) tate sales. (See article Page 4.) vicing for the world community, to meet PO Box 92 Broadway human needs rather than profit. We give Currently Uber together with other factors 2007 NSW solidarity to others in these struggles. is causing a major crisis for Sydney cab- Web site: http://www.sparksweb.org bies, contributing to significant declines 5.We are fighting to abolish all authoritar- in their incomes. In this edition we throw SPARX ian institutions such as the State (including new light on the role of the Baird Govt. in DIRECT ACTION its communist variety), capitalism, all hi- worsening this situation, through bra- FIRE FIGHTERS PAPER erarchical and oppressive divisions be- zenly assisting the machinations of the tween people. taxi bosses with new outrageous proposed [email protected] legislation . (See article Page 2.) 6. We have no country and are organised In this edition we throw new light on Uber on an international basis in opposition to in the UK and a critique of a new legal de- Members’ Voice oppression everywhere. The ASN is striv- termination concerning Uber drivers’ em- Grassroots NSW Public Transport ing to build a viable revolutionary ployment terms. (See article Page 14.) Workers’ Organisation syndicalist movement in Australia as part Web Site: of a world wide movement able to meet the Help Build Rebel Worker! Your help is challenge of the global employer offen- Users.tpg.com.au/retepsni/MembersV particularly sought with its distribution. sive. oice So why not order bulk copies to distro. Sell at your local shopping centre on Saturday Email: mornings, leave in the lunch room at work [email protected] and in your local café, library or cinema. Facebook.www.facebook.com/pages TO FIND OUT MORE Your assistance on the financial plane is M e m- also welcome. bers-Voice-RTBU-rank-and-file-Grou p/531240043571323?fref=ts I would like more information about the Anarcho-Syndicalist Network. Please send me information. Grassland Infoshop REBEL WORKER 207B Nicholson St. Footscray Name ...... 3011 Vic. WEB SITE: Address...... General Secretary www.rebelworker.org PO Box 106 Kotara 2289 NSW. If undeliverable, return to PO Box 92, Broadway NSW 2007

the fighting ment, believing, as he wrote in a letter to abroad for these actions. Helmut Ruediger Continued From Page 18 against the Souchy in 1937 that the “patri- believed he had gone too far in adjusting Francoist in- otic-revolutionary” mentality should not himself to Polish nationalism and in par- surgents and then in anarchist militia col- be opposed and that it was as much a waste ticular its expulsion of 8 million ethnic umns). of resources as the fight against religion. Germans from their homes. Because of his involvement Pilarski fled At the congress of theInternational In January 1945 he worked as a secretary across the border to Poland in September Workers Association in 1938, he argued 1932, after an arrest warrant was put out as the Polish delegate against the interna- Grassroots Syndicalist Organising for him. His forced emigration was not as tionalist positions of the Dutch delegate Drive amongst Storemen & Packers difficult for Pilarski as for others fleeing Bart de Ligt. He argued for the “armed de- & NUW members in Sydney & NSW Nazism. He spoke fluent Polish and had a fense” of Czechoslovakia to the applause Contact: [email protected] of the Spanish delegates, who had them- legal right to live in Poland. He studied in or POBox 92Broadway2007NSW Warsaw between 1933/1934 as a scholar- selves fallen under the spurious thrall of ship holder of the Polish Institute For the anti-fascism. Study of National Problems (Instytut After the German occupation, Pilarski fled for propaganda for the Krakow district Badan Nardowych). From 1934 to 1936 he to the part of Poland occupied by the Rus- committee of the unions, and from June was a district secretary of the Polish 1945 to June 1947 he worked as an em- syndicalist union the ZZZ in the ployee in various enterprises in Silesia. Dabrowa basin and then up to June From January 1948 to June 1950 he 1937 he worked in the head office of worked as a civil servant in the Ministry the metalworkers unions. From June for the Western Areas, later in the Ministry 1937 until February 1939 he was on for Public Administration. After that he the editorial board of the Workers worked up to his retirement in 1969 in the Front and in June 1939 he was National Centre for the Book Trade as a co-opted on to the leadership of the publicity manager. ZZZ. He organised a secret He was expelled from the PPR in 1950 and anarcho-syndicalist opposition in April 1954 he was arrested by the Polish within the ZZZ. The Swedish anar- secret police for political reasons and chist Helmut Berner, who main- again on 30th November 1954. tained links with the German It appears he began corresponding with anarchist underground, also visited sians. He got a job in Wilna. In 1942 he se- old Upper Silesian comrades living in Po- Pilarski in Warsaw. The secret cretly returned to Warsaw and was active land and East Germany at the beginning of anarcho-syndicalist opposition had col- in the secret syndicalist organisation the 70s, as well as with another FAUD vet- lected funds for Spanish children and Wolnosc (Liberty). He took part in the eran, Max Von Piechulla who was living Berner offered to smuggle these to Barce - Warsaw uprising as a member of the so- in Canada. He also had contacts with lona. cialist military group the Polska Armia Souchy in Munich and was able to make The German anarchist Augustin Ludowa (PAL). After 8 days of fighting, visits to Western Europe, although very Souchy had asked Pilarski to come to he was seriously wounded. After the often the bureaucracy thwarted any re- Spain as one of a team of international co- crushing of the uprising he was evacuated quests for such visits. workers. The ZZZ was reluctant to let such with his family to Krakow, only escaping He refused any medals or decorations a capable organiser as Pilarski go, al- Auschwitz by luck. from the Polish state and after his retire- though his younger brother Richard did After the war, as far as it was possible, ment lived in a shabby two room apart- go, as did two other Upper Silesian Pilarski maintained contact with the sur- ment. In his correspondence with von anarcho-syndicalists, Heinrich Freidetzky viving comrades, corresponding Piechulla, he affirmed that he remained and Max von Piechulla. In 1937 he mar- with Rudolf Rocker in the USA and committed to libertarian socialism, and ried his wife Halina who came from a Pol- Helmut Ruediger in Stockholm. In 1947 that it alone was the only worthwhile form ish working class family and had studied he joined the Polish Labour Party (Polska of society for humanity. philosophy at Warsaw University. Their Partia Robotnicza) and the PZPR (Polska child Joanna was born in 1944. He died on 3rd February 1977 in Warsaw. Zjednoczona Partia Robotncza). He was Thanks to Libcom In this period he broke with the interna- fiercely criticized by German comrades tionalist outlook of the anarchist move-