Starbucks union strike in Chile

Update (Nov 13, 2013): this post has now been updated to include the formal announcement of the end of the strike.

Editorial Note:

In September of this year US based member of the IWW were able to meet and connect with members of the Starbucks Union in Chile. They are now waging a strike over the company’s refusal to meet a single demand of the union and calling for support and solidarity actions.

Beginning in one store in 2009 after workers wrote to Human Resources raising objections to a series of company-wide layoffs only to be fired, the union spread nationally to half the employees across the company in Chile (see the November 2013 Industrial Worker for a more detailed interview). The union remains self-organized, unaffiliated to any larger labor body and led by rank and file workers who work on the job. Since waging a strike and then hunger strike the union has continued on despite Starbucks continual refusal to negotiate or concede demands to meet common workplace standards (such as paid meals for instance) and even after numerous fines for violations of basic labor law.

This should all come as no surprise to US based workplace organizers and labor activists. For a number of years US Wobblies have waged an innovative campaign, first beginning in New York City, to demand basic rights only to be met with outright hostility. Rank and file led worker organizing was able to win many hard fought store level improvements as well as an increase in starting wages of NYC stores and recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a company holiday nationally. But after numerous firings and violations of labor rights, the campaign was able to prove a systematic effort by high level company officials to undermine and violate worker rights. So it should come as no surprise that Starbucks, which has been expanding to countries around the world and especially in developing countries, is taking these same labor practices around the world. This is a literal example of the global fight against multi-national corporations and their exploitative practices world-wide and the labor movement slogan “An Injury to One is An Injury to All.” Please read the below statements of the Starbucks Workers’ Union and support or initiate solidarity actions in your city. Use this form to send an email in support of the striking workers to Starbucks Chile.

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Posted on November 8, 2013

La Alzada: “The revolution must include the feminist struggle, with and inside the libertarian”

By José Antonio Gutiérrez D.

Note from translator:  The word “alzada” is the feminine form of the Spanish word that means rebel, instigator, or escalator. The term “territorial work” refers to community and neighborhood work.  In Chile territorial work can refer to community organizations within, as well as those who support and offer solidarity within a network of community organizing. The word “classism” or classist is used in Latin America as putting forward a class analysis.  When someone is described as a “militant,” it means that a person is politically committed to an organization or group.   Sometimes people are referred to as a “double militants,” meaning they are politically active in two groups.  The word “población” is best defined as shantytown or poor working class neighborhood.  But poblaciones around Santiago have their own political history since they evolved as land takeovers by people who migrated from the countryside to the city.  Some poblaciones have strong political and Leftist traditions, such as La Legua and Villa Francia.  An individual who lives in a población is referred to as a pablador/a.  The term “sexual dissidence” has a particular meaning and genealogy within Chilean feminism and activism.  Sexual dissidence is critique of patriarchy, heteronormativity, and the LGBTQ movement in its alliance with the state, which has ceased to question the socialization of violence and instead seeks reforms such as marriage equality and anti-discrimination laws.  It is important to remind the reader that the target audience in this interview was the Spanish-speaking community and those who understand or have followed Chilean politics.  There are some issues and terms that might appear strange, but remember that the speakers allude to a different set of experiences and meanings beyond your immediate/lived knowledge.
–Lyudmila Read more

Posted on October 26, 2013

President Maduro and the “Anarcho-syndicalists” in Venezuela

Editorial note: The subject of the short article below by the Venezuelan anarchist group El Libertario is of particular salience, as Maduro’s attack happens to parallel recent developments here in the U.S. where top Democratic politicians and the Chelsea Manning prosecution have both used the term ‘anarchist’ to slur their opponents.

As for the strike prompting Maduro’s outburst, a piece in Venezuela Analysis provides some context:

By El Libertario

President Nicolas Maduro, the self-appointed “President Worker ,” continues his campaign of criminalization against the SIDOR strikers. In a ceremony held at the Campo de Carabobo on Saturday October 5th, he showcased a group of armed workers to face down what he has called “economic warfare.” As could be seen on state television, groups of workers from Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and CORPOELEC, sporting uniforms of blue and red shirts, raised their rifles at the event.

The head of state criticized SIDOR workers for initiating the strike in the steel mill. He called the union leaders driving the strike in SIDOR “anarcho-syndicalists and populists” for demanding wage increases that the government claims it cannot afford. He warned that if the group does not call off the shutdown, he will take the mill “with the support of the people.”

“You are with the people, or you are with the oligarchy; there are no half measures,” he added. His declaration came in response to the shutdown led by workers of Siderúrgica del Orinoco (SIDOR), who are demanding the renewal of their collective agreement, already due three years ago, among other labor claims. President Maduro has insisted that the workers are be being manipulated by imperialism, as part of the “economic war” against his government.

Meanwhile, Wills Rangel, chairman of the Federation of Petroleum Workers of Venezuela, attended the event and declared that the working class will incorporate the Bolivarian militia “from now on.” Rangel assured Maduro that he can count on “this army of workers and employees” to deepen the fight against the “economic war.”

Working translation by Steven Fake. Corrections welcome.

Posted on October 13, 2013

A History of the Solidarity Federation

By Martin, South London SF

The Solidarity Federation was formed in 1994, at a conference in Blackpool, Lancashire, called by the Direct Action Movement, industrial networks and Norwich Solidarity Centre.

To understand why and how this came about, we need to look back into developments happening in the Direct Action Movement in the 1980s and early 90s.

The DAM was the British affiliate of the International Workers Association, or IWA, the anarcho-syndicalist international organisation. It had formed in 1979 from a conference involving the previous affiliate, the Syndicalist Workers Federation, and groups of anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists across Britain. At the time, there was no real current of organised anarchism in Britain, with previous initiatives having stalled or disappeared; and the other groups that came to the fore in the 1980s – the ACF and Class War – were yet to be established.

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Posted on October 13, 2013