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Direct Action #46 Spring 2009

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Direct Action #46 Spring 2009 Direct Action www.direct-action.org.uk Spring 2009 contents Direct Action is published by the Solidarity Federation, British sec- tion of the International Workers Inside this issue: Association (IWA). DA is edited and laid out by the DA Collective, and printed by 4: Beyond the Usual Union Structures Clydeside Press. 6: PFI: The Economics of the Madhouse Views stated in these pages are not necessarily those of the Direct 8: The Dead End of Nationalisation - how state owner- Action Collective or the Solidarity ship does not, never has, and never will serve our class Federation. We do not publish contributors’ 11: Breeding like Rats - the professional middle classes names. Please contact us if you under new labour want to know more. 12: The Crisis Factory - the roots of the global ecological Subscriptions crisis (for 4 issues ) 14: A Killer at Work / Have your Say - single status / Supporters – £10 g20 / sapphire Basic – £5 (Europe – £10; 16: 1976 and all that rest of the world – £15) 18: Looking back at the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike cheques payable to “Direct Action” – return to: 21: If Voting could Change the System... - the liber- DA, PO Box 29, S.W.D.O., tarian case for direct democracy Manchester, M15 5HW. 24: The Union or the Party To contribute 27: International - argentina / spain / germany / guadeloupe If you would like to help out or contribute articles or photos, work 28: Reviews - flat earth news / the dirty thirty / liberal fas is entirely voluntary. cism / the matthew herbert big band / the common place We welcome articles of between 31: Anarchism and Crime 250 and 1,500 words on industrial, social/community and international 35: Contacts Directory issues; on working class history; and on anarchist/anarcho- syndicalist theory and history. Articles may be sent as hard copy, on a disk or by email, and can only be returned if accompanied Aims of the Solidarity Federation by a request (and SAE if appropri- ate). he Solidarity Federation is an organi- which arise from our oppression. We recog- sation of workers which seeks to nise that not all oppression is economic, but Tdestroy capitalism and the state. can be based on gender, race, sexuality, or Contact us Capitalism because it exploits, oppresses anything our rulers find useful. Unless we DA Collective, PO Box 29, South and kills people, and wrecks the environ- organise in this way, politicians – some West PDO, Manchester, M15 5HW ment for profit worldwide. The state claiming to be revolutionary – will be able to 07 984 675 281 because it can only maintain hierarchy and exploit us for their own ends. privelege for the classes who control it and [email protected] their servants; it cannot be used to fight the The Solidarity Federation consists of locals oppression and exploitation that are the which support the formation of future revo- Bulk Orders consequences of hierarchy and source of lutionary unions and are centres for working privilege. In their place we want a society class struggle on a local level. Our activities AK Distribution, PO Box 12766, Edinburgh, EH8 9YE, Scotland based on workers’ self-management, soli- are based on direct action – action by work- darity, mutual aid and libertarian commu- ers ourselves, not through intermediaries 0131 555 5165 nism. like politicians or union officials – our deci- [email protected] sions are made through participation of the That society can only be achieved by work- membership. We welcome all working peo- www.akuk.com ing class organisation based on the same ple who agree with our aims and principles, or direct from the DA Collective principles – revolutionary unions. These are and who will spread propaganda for social not Trades Unions only concerned with revolution and revolutionary unions. We ‘bread and butter’ issues like pay and con- recognise that the class struggle is world- ISSN 0261-8753 ditions. Revolutionary unions are means for wide, and are affiliated to the International working people to organise and fight all the Workers Association, whose Principles of issues – both in the workplace and outside – Revolutionary Unionism we share. 2 Direct Action www.solfed.org.uk Spring 2009 editorial The Green Shoots of Class Consciousness? LL PREDICTIONS ing the first signs of this. While More recently, there’s been a num- point to how the bosses and the state expect us sim- ber of workplace occupations, current crisis ply to roll over and meekly accept attempts by workers to press for their decrees without so much as a improved redundancy terms or to Awill hit Britain murmur of protest, some workers prevent job losses and closures. much harder than Brown have been showing us there is Workers at Prisme Packaging in and Darling care to another way. Dundee and at Waterford Crystal in admit. Understandably, Ireland are notable examples of working people are angry Back in February the Lindsey oil this. As we go to press (mid-April) at the loss of security, refinery workers kick started a the Visteon (aka Ford) car parts wave of unofficial strike action in plants in Belfast and Enfield are livelihoods and, for some, the energy industry as a response also under occupation by workers even their homes. Beyond to the deployment of foreign work- responding to Visteon’s attempts to doubt, however, is the fact ers. At the time, those bastions of rob them of unpaid wages and that this cost will rise conservatism, the right (and not so proper pension contributions. even further in the years right) wing press welcomed the to come as the state tries walk outs, opportunistically …class consciousness overemphasising the “British jobs to force us to pay for the for British workers” undercurrent Lindsey, Prisme, Waterford and billions it has borrowed to launch yet more attacks on Visteon are all signs that workers and is still doling out to migrant workers. In reality, the can and will resist the bosses’ the rich and powerful. Lindsey strike committee’s efforts to trample over us; that, in demands were noth- doing so, they can and will ignore In what will ing of the sort, and the anti-strike laws and go beyond amount to a are best summed up trade union structures that time gigantic wealth by one committee and again have only acted as a transfer, the member thus: “Our brake to frustrate workers’ militan- state bails out action is rightly cy. For workers to successfully the bosses with aimed against com- resist the coming attacks as the one hand, pany bosses who state seeks to cover its borrowings while with the attempt to play off such actions are not only inspira- other it calcu- one nationality of tional, they are also necessary. In lates how best the face of a totally discredited and it might claw anti-working class Labour Party, this back in the this crisis presents us the perfect future. One thing is certain; no gov- opportunity to begin to reverse the ernment, whether Tory or Labour, rolling back of class consciousness will inflict undue pain on the so witnessed during much of the last called “wealth producers”, the capi- century. talist class. So the tax rises, cats in wages, attacks on services and ben- efits and the rest will fall dispropor- tionately on us, the working class. green shoots… worker against the other…” Unless, that is, the British working Attempts to whip up nationalist class can once more forge itself fervour and play the race card into a force capable of resisting the have always been suited the boss- bosses’ and the state’s attacks. es and the state, intent on divid- Encouragingly, we may be witness- ing and ruling us. occupation at Visteon, Enfield 3 Direct Action www.direct-action.org.uk Direct Action www.solfed.org.uk Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Beyond the Usual Union Structures ORKERS AT METRONET, THE FORMER LONDON attempt to break the union, but a 48 made sure that Metronet and LUL agency workers crossed picket Underground (LUL) engineering contractor, hour strike, coordinated via the knew what they were doing, as it lines. Another factor was their abil- have developed their Strike Committee as a Shop Stewards Network to coin- put pressure on them to back down. ity to have big mass meetings, as Wform of rank and file organisation that rep- cide with planned bus workers’ the workforce is dispersed and has resents an interesting step beyond the confines of the strikes, forced management to Widening involvement maintains to come back to the depot. The RMT usual trade union structures. Now that the track con- cave in; rank and file control and provides also has a “short structure” where tract is back in house, they are rolling this organising an anchor for the Negotiating there are not too many layers o a new dispute is brewing after Team, who could easily become iso- between the rank and file and the model out across the whole of the underground to LUL announced 1,000 job cuts, lated and open to the suggestions of national leadership, which makes it become the London Underground Strike Committee. threatening the “jobs for life deal” management and full timers at easier to pressurise the leadership. Here we look at the background of struggle against and seeking compulsory redun- ACAS. The Strike Committee had The small number of full timers which the strike committee has been built up, and the dancies and a five year pay even considered giving also worked in the reps’ favour. bottom up tactics that have been vital to its successes. formed the Strike Committee to cut; with the Metronet organ- the Negotia-ting Team widen rank and file involvement – ising model now becoming a mandate that would This organising model shows the Historically, the RMT’s strength on During this period, the RMT leader- 25 to 30 delegates came from all the London Regional Trans- be flexible but with a possibilities for building a culture the underground had been among ship was overstretched and couldn’t parts of the workforce, a Litera- port Strike Com-mittee, the bottom line beyond of resistance in any workplace, if train drivers and station staff.
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