FT-CI

Dockworkers’ strike

Chile: The Bosses break off talks

26/01/2014 For a national stoppage of all workers · For an open National Strike Committee

[1/1]
[1/1]

Thirty days ago workers at the port of Angamos, in Mejillones, in the north of the country, began a heroic strike for the recognition rights of temporary workers (“eventuales”), who are excluded by law from agreements between the employer and the union. Fifteen days ago, workers at the port of San Antonio, on Chile’s central coast, joined the strike. They are demanding full back pay from 2005 to 2013 for their half hour meal break (“colación”), a right they finally won in 2013 but the company still does not recognize. The strikers’ just demands have unleashed a flood of solidarity stoppages by workers in other ports in the north and south of the country. The stubbornness of the stevedoring bosses, that now counts on the support of the State and its repression and intimidation of the workers, has been met with the determination of the dockworkers, the sympathy of other sectors of workers and important support from sectors of youth, such as the university students who have taken part in years of struggle for free, quality public education. The strength of this strike from one of the fundamental battalions of the Chilean proletariat has stopped the bourgeois stevedores, mine operators and fruit and other exporters in their tracks; the combativity of the dockworkers has tended to overcome the limits imposed by the bureaucratic union leaderships, even though they have been able to so far ignore the strikers’ central demands, such as the recognition of the “eventuales” in Mejillones. The State has been forced to intervene and call for a round of negotiations, having to give recognition to strikes that have been deemed illegal by the pro-employer justice system. At the close of this edition, negotiations have fallen through due to the refusal of the stevedoring bosses to negotiate with the strikers. The bosses are insisting on the illegal character of the strikes and demanding that they end before any talks begin. We reproduce below the statement, written before this new display of intransigence by the port bosses, from our comrades of the PTR, who have actively intervened in the conflict. For coverage of this important struggle, visit www.prt.cl

On Wednesday 22, the Labour Ministry held a tripartite roundtable meeting with the Government, the leaders of the Unión Portuaria (Dockworkers’ Union) and the bosses. The Government, which had previously refused to summon such a meeting, has relented in the face of the strength of the strikes - 18 paralyzed ports, shut down for 30 days in the case of Mejillones and for more than 15 days in San Antonio and the rest of the ports.

They want the workers to negotiate on their knees

That afternoon, the bosses announced that they would break off talks: “As a country we cannot allow a small group of people to give validity to the use of such pressure to impose their demands”, they declared. But the workers are maintaining their strikes and their mobilizations. With this strength, they have forced their way to the negotiating table.

But now the bosses are hardening their stance, for they cannot reach their goal without imposing a de facto state of siege in the ports to break the strike, and they have not achieved this yet. But that is what they want to go for.

The Triple Alliance against the workers: the boss class closes ranks

First of all the Government, which has already sent in the Special Forces to repress the dockworkers, now persecutes them with legal actions, criminalization, threats and blackmail.

Second, the owners and bosses, grouped in their associations such as the Society for Industry Development (SOFAFA) and the Confederation of Production and Commerce (CPC), complained at the start of the meeting that all the meeting would do is “legitimize” the strike.

Their media describe the situation as a “no man’s land” and demand an end to the stoppage. They try to turn public opinion against the workers and create a climate that is against this legitimate strike.

They are closing ranks to move to a new attack.

The workers need to redouble their forces.

Unite the ranks of the working class

This is the time to demand that the CUT [Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile, the main Chilean union federation], the national union federations and union branches, take a step forward to unity in struggle. Leaving aside our differences, we must come together under the banners of the dockworkers’ strike, their just demands, and for the repeal of the Labour Code of the dictatorship that is still in force.

The CUT leadership until now has not lifted a finger. It must call for a National Strike Committee open to union branches, assembly delegates, student and popular organizations, and the left.

In Antofagasta, the strike camp should send delegates to the regional CUT, the Miners’ Federation, the Copper Workers’ Confederation (CTC) and all the unions of Codelco [the state owned copper mining company], the public sector and other industries, and call for a meeting of leaders that convenes an open Regional Strike Committee that completely shuts down the region, as a first step towards a national stoppage of all the working class.

For the unity of the working class under the banners of the dockworkers’ strike!

For full back pay, no negotiation without the “eventuales”!

Down with the Labour Code of the dictatorship!

For the establishment of an open National Strike Committee!

For a stoppage of all workers in the Antofagasta region, as a first step towards a national stoppage of the working class!

Related articles

No hay comentarios a esta nota

Newspaper

  • PTS (Argentina)

  • Actualidad Nacional

    MTS (México)

  • EDITORIAL

    LTS (Venezuela)

  • DOSSIER : Leur démocratie et la nôtre

    CCR NPA (Francia)

  • ContraCorriente Nro42 Suplemento Especial

    Clase contra Clase (Estado Español)

  • Movimento Operário

    MRT (Brasil)

  • LOR-CI (Bolivia) Bolivia Liga Obrera Revolucionaria - Cuarta Internacional Palabra Obrera Abril-Mayo Año 2014 

Ante la entrega de nuestros sindicatos al gobierno

1° de Mayo

Reagrupar y defender la independencia política de los trabajadores Abril-Mayo de 2014 Por derecha y por izquierda

La proimperialista Ley Minera del MAS en la picota

    LOR-CI (Bolivia)

  • PTR (Chile) chile Partido de Trabajadores Revolucionarios Clase contra Clase 

En las recientes elecciones presidenciales, Bachelet alcanzó el 47% de los votos, y Matthei el 25%: deberán pasar a segunda vuelta. La participación electoral fue de solo el 50%. La votación de Bachelet, representa apenas el 22% del total de votantes. 

¿Pero se podrá avanzar en las reformas (cosméticas) anunciadas en su programa? Y en caso de poder hacerlo, ¿serán tales como se esperan en “la calle”? Editorial El Gobierno, el Parlamento y la calle

    PTR (Chile)

  • RIO (Alemania) RIO (Alemania) Revolutionäre Internationalistische Organisation Klasse gegen Klasse 

Nieder mit der EU des Kapitals!

Die Europäische Union präsentiert sich als Vereinigung Europas. Doch diese imperialistische Allianz hilft dem deutschen Kapital, andere Teile Europas und der Welt zu unterwerfen. MarxistInnen kämpfen für die Vereinigten Sozialistischen Staaten von Europa! 

Widerstand im Spanischen Staat 

Am 15. Mai 2011 begannen Jugendliche im Spanischen Staat, öffentliche Plätze zu besetzen. Drei Jahre später, am 22. März 2014, demonstrierten Hunderttausende in Madrid. Was hat sich in diesen drei Jahren verändert? Editorial Nieder mit der EU des Kapitals!

    RIO (Alemania)

  • Liga de la Revolución Socialista (LRS - Costa Rica) Costa Rica LRS En Clave Revolucionaria Noviembre Año 2013 N° 25 

Los cuatro años de gobierno de Laura Chinchilla han estado marcados por la retórica “nacionalista” en relación a Nicaragua: en la primera parte de su mandato prácticamente todo su “plan de gobierno” se centró en la “defensa” de la llamada Isla Calero, para posteriormente, en la etapa final de su administración, centrar su discurso en la “defensa” del conjunto de la provincia de Guanacaste que reclama el gobierno de Daniel Ortega como propia. Solo los abundantes escándalos de corrupción, relacionados con la Autopista San José-Caldera, los casos de ministros que no pagaban impuestos, así como el robo a mansalva durante los trabajos de construcción de la Trocha Fronteriza 1856 le pusieron límite a la retórica del equipo de gobierno, que claramente apostó a rivalizar con el vecino país del norte para encubrir sus negocios al amparo del Estado. martes, 19 de noviembre de 2013 Chovinismo y militarismo en Costa Rica bajo el paraguas del conflicto fronterizo con Nicaragua

    Liga de la Revolución Socialista (LRS - Costa Rica)

  • Grupo de la FT-CI (Uruguay) Uruguay Grupo de la FT-CI Estrategia Revolucionaria 

El año que termina estuvo signado por la mayor conflictividad laboral en más de 15 años. Si bien finalmente la mayoría de los grupos en la negociación salarial parecen llegar a un acuerdo (aún falta cerrar metalúrgicos y otros menos importantes), los mismos son un buen final para el gobierno, ya que, gracias a sus maniobras (y las de la burocracia sindical) pudieron encausar la discusión dentro de los marcos del tope salarial estipulado por el Poder Ejecutivo, utilizando la movilización controlada en los marcos salariales como factor de presión ante las patronales más duras que pujaban por el “0%” de aumento. Entre la lucha de clases, la represión, y las discusiones de los de arriba Construyamos una alternativa revolucionaria para los trabajadores y la juventud

    Grupo de la FT-CI (Uruguay)