1 00:00:00,789 --> 00:00:06,728 The Cycle of Struggles of Logistics Workers in Italy 2 00:00:07,837 --> 00:00:14,382 Interview during the meeting of European base unions | Berlin, March 17, 2014 3 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:21,880 Karim, student/logistics worker: I was a university student in Marocco. I studied in my last year. 4 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,800 Suddenly my father came and said: 5 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:36,240 "Look, I have found a work contract in Italy. If you want to go..." 6 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:38,480 I said: "But I still go to university, 7 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:41,160 and on TV I saw 8 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,680 that there is a terribly crisis in Italy and Europe, 9 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,960 and people do not find work." 10 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:59,320 He answered: "If there was a crisis then they would not send this work contract! 11 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:04,120 Then they would not look for people abroad. Are you joking? 12 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:07,120 The Italians do not want to work. 13 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:11,000 They do not want to do certain jobs. 14 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:20,520 There are jobs, but these people do not want to do them." 15 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,160 So he convinced me. "You are right," I said. 16 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:29,480 "If there was no demand, they would not ask me to come. 17 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,560 They would not come to Marocco to search for me." 18 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,160 So I agreed, but not just like that. 19 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,800 First I wanted to know what I would earn. 20 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,240 They showed me the contract. 21 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:52,920 The contract said: 1.200 euros basic wage 22 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,360 plus two monthly wages extra per year. 23 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:58,360 I calculated and thought, 24 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:05,280 if I go to Italy I need a few things, the rent, the first few days... 25 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:14,960 Therefore, I sold what I had in order to have at least 5,000 to 6,000 euros with me 26 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:17,160 so I could stay afloat at the beginning 27 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,480 when I do not speak the language and don't know a lot of things. 28 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:25,560 So I sold everything I had and came here. 29 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:31,040 When I got my first wages later, I realized 30 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:32,400 that the whole wage slip was wrong. 31 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:40,400 I earn 600 to 700 euros when there is not much work to do. 32 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:43,800 When there is nothing to do I work 4 or 5 hours. 33 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,800 When there is a lot to do I work 16 hours. That is obligatory! 34 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:55,240 If I did not work 15 or 16 hours they would fire me the next day. 35 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:59,160 That means I am being blackmailed, and there is no escape. 36 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,640 Then I started calculating and realized that I was getting cheated. 37 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:10,280 The wage was wrong, and at the end of the year I did not get the two extra monthly wages 38 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:12,600 no paid holidays, nothing! 39 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:17,800 So I am being cheated, and I cannot go back either 40 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,320 since I sold everything I owned. 41 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:23,240 So I am trapped. 42 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:30,120 When some of us come back people in Marocco often think 43 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:36,120 that they cannot work, that they don't want to work. 44 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:38,280 Therefore, they treat them very badly. 45 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,440 But the reality is very different: 46 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:45,200 It is impossible to cope with the situation here, the level of exploitation... 47 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:49,840 You are used to live in a certain way, 48 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,120 and suddenly you have to deal with the blackmail, by these wages 49 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:55,440 and the residence permit. 50 00:03:55,640 --> 00:04:02,960 This incredible arrogance of the foremen who treat you badly and insult you. 51 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:07,280 That way I spent 5 year in this warehouse 52 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:16,240 until the self-organization of the workers started initiated by S.I. Cobas. 53 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:23,400 That is when the struggle started, and now we are satisfied at work, 54 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:26,640 nearly without foremen, and nobody shouts at you any more. 55 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:30,280 All know what they have to do. 56 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,240 We get the two extra monthly wages, paid holiday. 57 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,600 I am not afraid anymore. 58 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:43,040 Because when someone got ill earlier and could not work 59 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,440 they still had to show up, 60 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:51,200 otherwise, if the boss heard that you could not work, he fired you! 61 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,320 There are people who work with two or three slipped discs! 62 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,760 Slipped disc, that is when you break your back and cannot work at all. 63 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:03,920 I know some peole in different warehouses 64 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:06,200 who do work with slipped discs! 65 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:12,160 That is a level of exploitation that is higher than in the times of the feudal labor service. 66 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:16,400 They have the doctor's certificate and show it to the employer and he says: 67 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:21,720 "If you want to work, work, if not, go home. I don't five a f**k." 68 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:24,920 Like with a lemon: I juice it, press out as much as possible; 69 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,120 and there is still something to squeeze out, that's good; 70 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:32,040 but if you are finished, then ciao and bye bye!" 71 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,040 I am the national coordinator of S.I. Cobas. 72 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,280 "Sindacato Intercategoriale Cobas" (intercategorical union base committees) 73 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,960 In Italian Cobas means "base committee". 74 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:52,800 Intercategorial union, because we have no trade union association. 75 00:05:53,000 --> 00:06:01,040 We represent all workers, whether they are mail carriers or whatever. 76 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:05,760 We don't think that it is important to divide the union according to sectors. 77 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:09,920 Because all proletarians are proletarians, in specific situations 78 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:12,680 but today, when capitalism is in crisis, 79 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,920 it creates the same conditions for all. 80 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:21,960 The labor laws are very similar everywhere. 81 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:28,880 There are small differences, but we tend to emphasize not the differences 82 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:34,800 but whatever unites the workers, not what divides them. 83 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:39,240 I began in '68 at the university, at the Politechnic in Milano. 84 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:41,440 I studied engineering. 85 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:43,800 After I worked in a school 86 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,600 I began to work in a metalworking factory 87 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,240 in order to connect to the workers and learn. 88 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:56,720 Then I was a unionist for two years, at the trade union associations. 89 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:04,040 Then I realized it was all about control, and I went back to the school. 90 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:13,560 After that, starting in 1972, I was more activ politically than in a union. 91 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:20,120 Then me and some other comrades 92 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:27,760 started to develop a practice of intervention inside companies. 93 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:33,080 We set up the most important workers' groups, 94 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:36,280 above all in the metal industry in Italy. 95 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:41,680 We made most of our experiences in the auto sector. 96 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:48,800 At FIAT we had the strongest and most important delegates in the auto sector. 97 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:53,560 We had the majority of the delegates - against the main trade union associations. 98 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,560 That's where we made our first experiences, 99 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:02,200 since we won the first battle against the trade union associations there. 100 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:10,680 Then, in the 90s, we started to expand our critique 101 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:18,520 of the trade union associations which are more integrated into the state. 102 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:23,760 And then the base unions were formed. 103 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:26,120 Around 1990, 1993, more or less. 104 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:33,560 That was my start in a base union, which was called Slai Cobas 105 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:39,200 and was present mostly in the metal industry, the auto sector. 106 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:48,400 Over the years I had a lot of experiences with the Romani people 107 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:54,320 because I organized mainly Romani migrants. 108 00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:03,400 For three or four years I organized around 1,000 Romanis in Milano. 109 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:05,600 At the time we worked mostly with migrants. 110 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:16,760 In Italy, the Romanis were mostly seasonal workers at the time, 111 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:24,920 from Romania, Yugoslawia, Albania; they worked on the fields. 112 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:29,440 But they were not the Romanis of the "old type". 113 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:38,560 This experience gave us an understanding of the situation of migrants. 114 00:09:44,680 --> 00:09:47,680 I became a communist when I was young. 115 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:58,200 I went inside the factory because of a political decision for social engagement. 116 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:03,960 I spent nearly ten years there, in a big metalworking factory. 117 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:09,480 I was a shopfloor delegate, and we played an active role in many struggles, 118 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:11,680 even though the restructuring 119 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:20,320 between the late 70s and early 80s 120 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:25,600 led to defeats of this movement. 121 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:28,480 After that I was politically active for 20 years 122 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:42,040 until I finally broke with a political organization 123 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:45,120 that had turned into a sect. 124 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:52,880 I searched politically and in the movement for a way, 125 00:10:53,080 --> 00:11:00,160 at the beginning mostly with migrant workers, 126 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:03,840 by setting up schools for teaching Italian to foreigners 127 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:08,040 and by participating in the movement of migrants that existed in Milano. 128 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:12,400 Still, there was a weak point: 129 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:23,560 Either it consists of migrants' organizations with national and ethnic characteristics, 130 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:35,120 which often stay confined to the countries of origin 131 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:40,000 and often have links to the governments there, 132 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,680 or it tries to be a movement uniting all migrants, 133 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:49,840 but that never worked in Italy. Strong organizations were never founded, 134 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:56,120 like those that have existed, for instance, in France at certain times. 135 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:05,680 It is a fact that a migrant is also a worker 136 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:12,600 and, therefore, experiences capitalist exploitation. 137 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:18,000 Still, struggles explicitly for their rights as migrants, e.g. the right of residence, 138 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:22,040 are translated into symbolic actions, 139 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:25,200 but without generating any strength. 140 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:29,200 In contrast, the struggles in the logistics sector 141 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:34,840 which were started by migrants as exploited workers 142 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:39,240 immediately expressed considerable strength and energy, 143 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:44,440 and they even became a model for Italian workers. 144 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:55,120 Last year I devoted a large part of my time to these struggles. 145 00:12:55,320 --> 00:13:01,040 I participated in the blockades 146 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:07,240 and organized open consultations of S.I.Cobas in Piacenza. 147 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:17,160 Most of the time workers come alone to speak about their problems. 148 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:28,760 One was fired, another one got a low wage or was mobbed at the workplace. 149 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:37,560 As long as they are alone, it is difficult to find a militant answer. 150 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:43,000 Then you have to use all available legal means. 151 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:48,800 Or you exert pressure by using the fact that you have accumulated power in some places. 152 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:56,120 It is interesting to see how the exploitation breaks ground: 153 00:13:56,320 --> 00:14:01,280 The exploitation is increasingly organized illegally, 154 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:06,520 contracts are not respected, wage calculations are wrong, 155 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:11,800 and in order to avoid paying social insurance premiums and overtime 156 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:17,800 many working hours are not listed on the wage slips. 157 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:27,240 Some of these hours are noted as commuting time, so that no premiums have to be paid. 158 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:31,960 When these people retire they will not get a pension. 159 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:37,680 It is also possible that groups of workers show up. 160 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:41,280 That happens nearly every day or week, because they realize they were robbed. 161 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:50,080 And then they can found a new Cobas. 162 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:54,600 A group of workers says: "Okay, then we enlist in S.I.Cobas." 163 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:58,480 We tell them then: "Look for others, because as long as you are alone 164 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,360 we can go to court 165 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:04,440 but you need to know that you will most probably be fired then! 166 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:08,560 They will make it impossible for you to work there. 167 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:10,760 But if you get 10 others like you, 168 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:16,400 then we can fight against a dismissal, 169 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:21,480 we can build up power and then push through our rights." 170 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:39,240 The logistics sector is vital for capital, 171 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:44,200 not only in Italy - on the international level. 172 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,560 It was structured in a form that includes subcontractors. 173 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:53,440 The contractors, the parent companies, subcontract another smaller company, 174 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:56,800 for instance, the SRL, which subcontracts another company, 175 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:01,160 which subcontracts the association of cooperatives, which subcontracts small cooperatives. 176 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:06,360 These small cooperatives look for people who are supposed to work for the companies. 177 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:11,520 At the same time, they hide the face of the company itself. 178 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:20,880 In that way they can exploit those who work. 179 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:27,000 Therefore, the majority of workers in the logistics sector are migrants. 180 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:31,440 The majority is brought here from other countries. 181 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:36,080 Even through there are many people in Italy who are trying to find work 182 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:43,720 they are looking for people who are prepard to get exploited. 183 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:48,400 They don't even give them a chance to learn the language 184 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:51,880 or enough time to keep up the contact with their countries. 185 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:57,800 They come here and have to work up to 16 hours per day. 186 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,720 There are people who work up to 16 hours per day 187 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:09,040 and in their wage slip only 40 or 80 working hours are listed. 188 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:14,080 Unbearable, the extent of exploitation, regarding the people as humans 189 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:16,240 and regarding the wage payments. 190 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:22,240 Those who work for these cooperatives 191 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:30,840 who have mostly only temporary residence permits, had always been too scared to protest 192 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:35,080 because protesting meant that you were fired, 193 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:38,360 and being fired means to lose the temporary residence permit. 194 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:41,680 Because the law, like the Bossi-Fini-law, says that 195 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,440 when you lose your job 196 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:48,640 you also lose your residence permit, and you have to go home. 197 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:52,480 That means they were always blackmailed at work. 198 00:17:54,680 --> 00:18:01,160 They did not get support from the institutions. 199 00:18:01,360 --> 00:18:05,960 or any support from the society. 200 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:13,480 If they go to the unions, for instance, they hear: 201 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:19,560 "Your bosses are too powerful. You just risk losing your job! 202 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,280 Carry on doing your job, otherwise you will get problems." 203 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:28,680 These workers often went to the labor court, 204 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:30,880 but nobody has ever reacted. 205 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:36,560 No actions by the labor inspectorate and the financial police. 206 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:45,480 Newspapers don't report this on the logistics sector and don't want to know about it. 207 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:51,320 The logistics sector is about the circulation of commodities. 208 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:57,480 We do not know what commodities are transported in these boxes. 209 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,600 If you look at who is working with these cooperatives 210 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:11,960 you see that they are all from Southern Italy. 211 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:17,160 Over time we realized that there are close relations 212 00:19:17,360 --> 00:19:22,480 between the mafia, the logistics sector and the cooperatives. 213 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:31,040 So we understood that the fear of the labor inspectorate 214 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:35,000 has to do with the fact that the mafia is managing the whole thing. 215 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:39,440 The people who worked in the warehouses did not know what they should do 216 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:41,680 and who they should turn to. 217 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:49,200 The movement was started a short while ago with this union S.I.Cobas. 218 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:57,280 It started to explain to the people in the warehouses 219 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:02,600 that the only chance to defend yourself lies in the self-organization of the workers. 220 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:09,920 That we have to organize and defend ourselves: 221 00:20:10,120 --> 00:20:15,480 "Nobody defends you, if you do not start to fight. 222 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:21,600 That is the only chance to improve your situation." 223 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:25,600 Here, the struggles begann in the biggest warehouses, 224 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:31,520 like at DHL, TNT, and GLS. 225 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:38,720 Those are the best known and biggest international warehouses. 226 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:40,920 It began in several cities. 227 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:49,240 Many workers work in these warehouses, 300 to 500 in each of them. 228 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,440 These workers have started to self-organize, 229 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,440 to go outside, and to block the warehouses. 230 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:58,480 They constitute some power. 231 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:03,320 They have understood that unity among the workers bears great power 232 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,280 that can free itself. 233 00:21:06,120 --> 00:21:12,480 I just found my role in the logistics sector when I started to get involved. 234 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:16,000 I have to say that the beginning was difficult 235 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:20,040 because I was faced with the mafia and the camorra, and that wasn't fun. 236 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:29,400 That means, at the start it was rather a struggle fought on the physical level. 237 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:35,000 But through all the experience I had, 238 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:40,720 and because I was not a leader, 239 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:45,880 I was capable to be connected to all movements, 240 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:51,120 and I was seen as a reference point by all movements that came together. 241 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:53,240 That was decisive 242 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:57,800 because at the beginning the workers did not come together. 243 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,960 Only few organized themselves then. 244 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:05,120 But when the others saw that 100 people stood in front of the company, 245 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:08,080 willing to stand there as strike pickets, 246 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,280 everyone came and started to organize themselves. 247 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:18,160 It was like opening a bottle of champagne, and then it just begann to bubble. 248 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:26,840 This became an important factor. 249 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,600 The first struggle lasted 8 months. 250 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:35,200 In a single warehouse - 8 months. 251 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:41,360 But it was wonderful because we won on all levels. 252 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:48,560 Where was that? - In Origgio, north of Milano. The Bennet. 253 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:58,400 In that warehouse all problems of the comrades 254 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,240 with expressing their standpoints, dissolved. 255 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:07,400 Like flies on a pile of shit. Everyone came. 256 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:14,560 All Social Centers, all ex-brigadists, all ex-ex this and that. 257 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,120 This fight became a symbol for the struggles in Milano, 258 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:22,240 for the renascence of conflicts. 259 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:29,680 Already after the first victory they understood that this was a different movement, 260 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:34,920 and when we intervened in a second company 261 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,920 we faced enormous resistance and lost. 262 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:43,200 The first defeat. The second company and the first defeat. 263 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,640 18 sacked workers. 264 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:49,480 This company was organized by the English Post. 265 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:59,240 We lost because they deployed 50 policemen there, 24 hours a day, for 43 days. 266 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,120 As if it was Zeica d'Italia, that is weapons production. 267 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,680 Problably, there was an arrangement between the minister 268 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:16,120 and this English company that is linked to the English Post. 269 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:20,280 It became a zone we could not enter. 270 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,440 They had intuitively seen the danger. 271 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:29,760 Because of the movement's lack of power to act on the national level 272 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:35,080 this struggle was the only victorious. 273 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:39,440 They understood that something had happened that from a bourgois perspective 274 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,960 had to be suppressed immediately. 275 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:51,840 On the other hand, by using so much energy against the struggle 276 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,760 they made it also bigger. 277 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:08,960 From the start we followed the example of the Wobblies in the US. 278 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:16,200 We moved the cooperatives' workers from one cooperative to the next. 279 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:20,440 We never held the workers in their own company. 280 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:24,600 We always emphasized their common interests 281 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,800 and pointed out that the workers have to create more connections among themselves 282 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:33,000 to be able to fight back in the logistics sector. 283 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:37,240 Because this sector was weaker than other sectors. 284 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:42,120 First it seemed they were strong, but since we acted in illegal ways 285 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:44,640 they were much weaker than us. 286 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:47,520 During strike pickets, we are not allowed 287 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:54,200 to block the transport of commodities, means or production or people. 288 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:59,040 However, we blocked everything, in a completely illegal manner. 289 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:04,520 We stood for 6 or 7 hours, or for 2 or 3 days, and blocked their trucks etc. 290 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:09,080 Open conflicts, complaints to the police... 291 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:13,360 But then we realized we could win, 292 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:17,760 and each time we went on strike, even just for 4 or 5 hours 293 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,240 the bosses lost 200,000 or 300,000 euros. 294 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:26,920 And after the first few times it was clear that we had to be taken serious. 295 00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:31,120 That was the final result. 296 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:38,120 That lead to the complaints at the police. I have 38 complaints against me. 297 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:40,360 And now the lawsuits are happening. 298 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:44,440 I have a three year ban for one city. 299 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,440 We have a series of legal cases in front of us. 300 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:52,440 These workers have started to self-organize and carry out large strikes. 301 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:59,520 They had their forged wages slips as evidence. 302 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:07,560 The wage slips with 0 to 40 hours per month... 303 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:13,320 So they had evidence they could present to the judges, to the public, 304 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:15,520 and to the labor inspectorate, 305 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:19,320 that their protest was reasonable. 306 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:24,240 Besides the struggle they also went to court. 307 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:28,560 So they started to win over territory. 308 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:30,800 And they have done more: 309 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:37,600 The people from the big warehouses went to those in the small warehouses 310 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:42,320 and told them they had won in the struggle for their rights, 311 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:48,080 and that they are not alone. 312 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:54,640 If they needed support from the other warehouses they would all come and help. 313 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:58,080 That's how it happened in Piacenza, at IKEA. 314 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:04,800 There were only few people who protested and took part in the strike, 315 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:10,160 just 10 out of 300 workers there! Only 10 went on strike. 316 00:28:10,360 --> 00:28:16,000 But people from other warehouses came to support the struggle! 317 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:24,360 Every day many people came over from TNT and other warehouses. 318 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:30,400 They blocked the gates at IKEA for four months. 319 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:36,440 They won the reinstatement of workers and correct wage calculations. 320 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:42,120 And their dignity was restored. Now they work with the heads up and without fear. 321 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,360 And all the others who could not overcome their fear 322 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:52,880 have seen the victory, and they all went to register 323 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:57,120 and take part in the self-organization of workers. 324 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:06,800 This struggle has not only united the different warehouses 325 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:11,040 and the different nationalities within the warehouses 326 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:16,600 - since in every warehouse we find up to 16 nationalities: 327 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:24,840 Africans, Europeans, people from the Americas. 328 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:30,680 Apart from that, the struggle brought some unions together 329 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:32,520 that had been sleeping beforehand. 330 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,800 The struggle has united the Social Centers. 331 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:41,960 There are many Social Centers in Italy, but they are not connected. 332 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:46,760 There was a Social Center in Milano that had no connections 333 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,920 to Social Centers in Bologna or in Naples. 334 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:57,400 But in this struggle the Social Centers have declared their solidarity 335 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:08,240 with the logistics workers in Naples, Bologna, and Milano. 336 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:13,720 When there is a all-Italian demonstration of logistics workers 337 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:17,800 all segments meet at the same demonstration. 338 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:22,200 They communicate with each other and start to overcome the division. 339 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:27,440 So we started to build a militant movement, 340 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:33,240 not only in the logistics sector. The logistics workers often 341 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:38,200 go to demonstrations for housing rights 342 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:41,840 and also support other sectors. 343 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:47,080 They don't just focus on the logistics sector. 344 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:52,120 Now they help the metal workers, too. 345 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:59,800 They have already helped the hotel workers. 346 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:06,880 So we conquer different sectors and different warehouses now. 347 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:12,320 With this struggle from below we won against the cooperatives 348 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:17,440 and the companies. 349 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:23,240 But there is a company that creates more problems for us. 350 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:27,160 We still fight a fierce battle there. 351 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:30,880 That warehouse is Granarolo in Bologna. 352 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:47,680 The workers worked in cooperatives that are members of an association of cooperatives 353 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:54,840 called SGB. It works for a logistics firm called CTL 354 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,280 that is part of the contractor Granarolo. 355 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:03,000 So there is a hierarchy with several levels 356 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:05,360 before you get to the ordinary workers. 357 00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:16,720 These cooperatives cut their wages by 35 percent. 358 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:22,680 With a wage that was already wrongly calculated. 359 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:27,560 They earn about 1,000 to 1,200 euros per month, 360 00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:30,680 including overtime! 361 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:35,280 And then they started to cut the wage by 35 percent. 362 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,480 These workers went to the trade union associations and asked 363 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,400 how it is possible that this company takes away 35 percent 364 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:51,920 in a warehouse that allegedly suffers from the crisis while I work overtime. 365 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:57,960 So I work and produce, and they pull my leg. 366 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:03,200 They say that there is the crisis, and that I have to give them 35 percent of my wage. 367 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:08,320 Now they pay me 600 euros per month, 700 euros. What shall I do? 368 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:10,600 The answer of the trade union associations: 369 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,880 "Go and work, you are lucky you have a job." 370 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:20,080 Then the workers said: Where the hell do we live? 371 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:24,040 What kind of logic is that? 372 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:31,760 And they started to look for support. 373 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:35,720 And they saw that there was this movement... 374 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:37,920 Still, Granarolo is a bit special. 375 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:42,400 That is no well-known international logistics company. 376 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:51,520 That is a dairy factory, with international reputation, active in China, Europe, Africa. 377 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,120 It is a powerful company. 378 00:33:55,320 --> 00:34:07,360 ABut it has no connections to the well-known logistics companies. 379 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:12,680 They had heard about the stuggle in the logistics sector, and went to register. 380 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:17,520 The only thing the union told them was: 381 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:22,120 "You have to self-organize, like the others have done before, and go on strike." 382 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,240 And then they went on strike. 383 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:31,000 One day after the strike began a letter arrived: "You are all dismissed!" 384 00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:36,120 51 workers were fired after their first strike. 385 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:42,280 The company hired new workers. 386 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:52,400 The old workers went to the labor inspectorate, to the carabinieri, the financial police 387 00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:57,640 and complained about their dismissal after one day of strike, 388 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:03,200 the hiring of new workers who did black work, 389 00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:06,440 workers who had worked in other branches of the company. 390 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:13,080 They had hired new workers to substitute those who had been sacked after the strike. 391 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:15,600 No reaction! 392 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:24,080 They didn't have to say more about this. We really had to blockade this warehouse. 393 00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:32,880 Workers from all other warehouses went there to support them. 394 00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:35,320 They went in front of the warehouse 395 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:43,520 in order to prevent workers and commodities from going in and out. 396 00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:48,680 At this point the institutions and the prefecture intervened immediately: 397 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:52,400 They came with many policemen and attacked the people with truncheons 398 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:58,880 to clear the way for workers and commodities. 399 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:04,440 They thought that the workers get scared and do not come back. 400 00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:08,520 But next day the workers came back for the blockade. 401 00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:12,840 And also the next day, for one month, two, three months... 402 00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:18,520 They tried threats, and we managed to get 380 police complaints. 403 00:36:18,720 --> 00:36:21,560 Only for this warehouse! 404 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:35,280 They tried to use gas which is illegal in Bologna. 405 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:40,040 They used it, they used truncheons, and many comrades were arrested. 406 00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:46,000 But despite this repression the struggle continued. 407 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:50,280 We did not stop. Finally they intervened. 408 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:52,720 Granarolo did not want to intervene! 409 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:56,960 The LegaCoop, an association of cooperatives, intervened. 410 00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:00,600 They signed an agreement: 411 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:11,160 The director of LegaCoop, the warehouse which had sacked the people, 412 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:16,760 the trade union associations, the prefect himself, 413 00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:19,160 all signed an agreement stating: 414 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:24,720 until October, 23 workers will be reinstated, 415 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:35,760 and there will be further negotiations so the others get reinstated, too. 416 00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:43,160 This under the conditions that we stop all our activities. 417 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:46,440 We did that. We calmed down and went home 418 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:52,280 and waited for the agreement to be implemented. 419 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:59,400 For us this was good. For the time the workers had got no money 420 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:02,880 we had established a resistance fund. 421 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:11,200 All warehouses and all comrades who acted in solidarty paid into a bank account, 422 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:15,400 the so-called resistance fund. 423 00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:21,200 That was for support, so they could resist and live 424 00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:25,120 until the time of the agreement expired and they got reinstated. 425 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:31,680 At the end of October nobody had been reinstated. 426 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:44,040 The word of the prefect, the director of LegaCoop who is now minister for employment, 427 00:38:44,240 --> 00:38:46,480 the CTL and the trade union association: 428 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:48,960 none of them kept their word. 429 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:51,720 They thought that after some time 430 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:54,680 the workers get tired and go home. 431 00:38:54,880 --> 00:39:01,280 But when the day the agreement expired we went back there! 432 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:05,400 We came back for a week we called "week of passion". 433 00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:09,200 We came back with force, with all workers 434 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:13,840 and all who could go on strike, and we we blocked 435 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,080 the Granarolo warehouse for a whole day. 436 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:18,880 And we successfully blocked it! 437 00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:23,120 There was a serious attack in the night, after 9 hours of blockade. 438 00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:27,120 It was a serious attack because there were few of us. 439 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:31,360 They pushed the picket away from the entrance. 440 00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:35,560 But next day we came back with twice as many people 441 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:37,800 and called for a regional strike. 442 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:42,480 There was another serious attack, and we called for a national strike. 443 00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:46,560 So people from all warehouses we have in Italy came to this warehouse 444 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:48,800 for a blockade. 445 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:51,720 At this point, the police just watched. 446 00:39:51,920 --> 00:40:00,280 Now they negotiate, because we attack not just Granarolo, 447 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:04,880 we attack the minister for employment, too, 448 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:09,160 who had also signed the contract and did not keep it. 449 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:16,600 And now we attack the party and the whole government, and say: 450 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,640 What kind of a government are you if you do not keep an agreement 451 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:24,240 you made with 51 workers. 452 00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:26,440 If you don't have jobs for the 51 workers 453 00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:35,800 How do you want to find solutions for 2.5 million unemployed in Italy then? 454 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:38,280 That means your promises are false. 455 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:43,000 And you are one of those who camp out in front of Granarolo? 456 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:48,960 Yes, I work in a different warehouse called Artoni in Bologna. 457 00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:54,560 When this struggles started I said to the workers at Granarolo: 458 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:59,720 "I'm a Granarolo worker. I don't work for Artoni anymore. Your suffering is my suffering. 459 00:40:59,920 --> 00:41:07,800 I share all your suffering." From that day on I was in front of Granarolo. 460 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:15,480 I have not worked for 10 months, only on days without actions. 461 00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:20,200 We slept in the cars there, in a caravan. 462 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:23,640 When it was warm we could lie down outside, 463 00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:25,680 but the camp was always under surveillance. 464 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,480 We close it whenever we want, and open it whenever we want. 465 00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:33,360 They had expected that we give in after one or two months. 466 00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:36,080 However, we mobilized all our energy. 467 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:39,040 I moved to Bologna. 468 00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:43,360 Now I am banned from staying in Bologna. 469 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:47,480 The same in Piacenza. 470 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:50,080 By moving to the places where it is "hottest" 471 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:54,080 we potentiate our strength each time. 472 00:41:54,280 --> 00:42:03,360 We use buses in various cities for the strike pickets. 473 00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:11,400 They do not expect that we react with such determination. 474 00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:14,240 They would have never expected that. 475 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:20,640 And now, after 9 months... He was not precise earlier: 476 00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:24,840 After we had accepted their agreement in July 477 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:30,400 I wrote in the newspaper - and tell him again now - 478 00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:37,560 that we hadn't thought that they would take up our aims. 479 00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:48,520 But it was necessary to finish the pickets to get the "cassa integrazione" [redundancy pay]. 480 00:42:48,720 --> 00:42:54,280 We accepted the agreement, knowing that they will never keep their promises. 481 00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:57,080 But we needed the redundancy payments. 482 00:42:57,280 --> 00:42:59,720 We were lacking 800 euros for each worker. 483 00:42:59,920 --> 00:43:05,640 51 persons on strike would otherwise have meant 484 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,680 that we had to pay 50,000 euros each month out of the resistance fund. 485 00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:13,280 We were not strong enough to keep the resistance fund up. 486 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:21,400 We made an agreement, and it was them who would not keep their promises. 487 00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:23,680 We did know that from the beginning 488 00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:25,880 but it was them who did not keep their promises. 489 00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:28,080 Meanwhile, we got money through the redundancy payments. 490 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:34,520 So we never ended to struggle, but it was about having a short break. 491 00:43:34,720 --> 00:43:39,560 We took the financial relief in order to continue the struggle 492 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:43,480 that we could only carry out because we had established the resistance fund. 493 00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:47,480 The money from redundancy payments came late, 494 00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:50,680 but the workers and their families got it. 495 00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:55,080 You can only struggle if you have something to eat. 496 00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:59,280 If the troops have no supply of food during the battle 497 00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:02,960 then they only shoot on the first day, but not on the second day anymore. 498 00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:07,080 Strategically, that was of fundamental importance. 499 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:11,520 After 9 months we were faced with this situation. 500 00:44:11,720 --> 00:44:14,160 We have inflicted an incredible damage on them. 501 00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:18,240 We damaged their reputation. We hurt them on the international level. 502 00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:22,480 With press releases. Whereever they were, we also went there. 503 00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:26,680 They went to the stockmarket - we went in front of the stockmarket in Milano. 504 00:44:28,720 --> 00:44:32,200 We made public what went on at Granarolo. 505 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:36,400 We started an Italy-wide boycott campaign against Granarolo. 506 00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:41,680 We went to the supermarkets and attached stickers. 507 00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:44,280 There was an exchange between all Social Centers. 508 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:47,360 At IKEA, we even went to Sweden. 509 00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:49,560 That is our way of acting. 510 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:54,920 Communication is a vital element for a sector like this. 511 00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:59,600 We did not do that ourselves because we are not capable of doing that, yet. 512 00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:04,400 It was the comrades from the Social Centers who collaborated with us 513 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:08,600 and with whom we share direct solidarity in this struggle. 514 00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:11,200 That was a vital element. 515 00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:20,200 Another aspect that brought us advantages was 516 00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:25,960 that the president of the Association of Cooperatives became minister for employment! 517 00:45:26,160 --> 00:45:30,480 We started a campaign then: 518 00:45:30,680 --> 00:45:34,680 If the minister for employment cannot solve a problem with 51 persons 519 00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:36,680 how could he solve one for 2.5 million [unemployed]? 520 00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:40,880 That was the music we played on the national level. 521 00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:46,240 That was a delicate issue for him: "Wait a moment. Let us find a solution." 522 00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:55,320 But the more we attack them, the more dangerous the signals we receive. 523 00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:58,000 Also from the perspective of illegality. 524 00:45:58,200 --> 00:46:01,080 The repression is carried out more by illegal mean 525 00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:04,080 and is not as much carried out directly by the police. 526 00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:08,520 The lawsuits start. struggles in the past are dug up. 527 00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:12,440 They try to punish this kind of strike. 528 00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:16,640 They don't punish the strike as such, because they want to be democratic on a formal level 529 00:46:16,840 --> 00:46:20,720 and say that the allow the strike as such 530 00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:22,360 but that it cannot be carried out in this way. 531 00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:28,560 They started to say that we cannot go on with these strikes. 532 00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:32,400 They came up with this "commission for state guarantees" 533 00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:38,040 according to which these strikes, like ours at Granarolo, is not permitted. 534 00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:46,200 Why? Because Granarolo is supplying hospitals and schools with milk 535 00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:50,240 and this was declared a very important fact. 536 00:46:50,440 --> 00:46:55,240 It is illegal to act against this since it is of highest national importance. 537 00:46:55,400 --> 00:47:00,200 There are fines of 20,000 or 30,000 euros for a strike in this sector, 538 00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:04,000 and the start to prosecute you for these things. 539 00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:09,440 Granarolo demands compensation of 4.5 million euros from us 540 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:18,000 because due to us the company has economic problems. 541 00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:25,280 But it is clear that this is not true. We are currently negotiating an agreement. 542 00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:29,360 From the perspective of our struggle we forced Granarolo to its knees: 543 00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:34,560 We finish the conflict about the reinstatement of the 51 sacked workers. 544 00:47:35,240 --> 00:47:39,240 Granarolo would rather pay its way out, but we want the workers back in 545 00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:43,320 because it is politically important that they continue to work there. 546 00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:55,520 That has exemplary meaning for the whole sector and other proletarians 547 00:47:55,720 --> 00:48:01,960 and inflicts enormous economic damage on the companies. 548 00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:06,160 However, we cannot assume that this is the end. 549 00:48:06,360 --> 00:48:13,360 They intensify the attacks on the personal level. 550 00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:19,640 We have some militants whose cars were put on fire and the tires cut, 551 00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:23,080 who were attacked by the mafia and the camorra. 552 00:48:23,240 --> 00:48:28,040 Those are signalss, and when the mafia and the camorra give us such signals 553 00:48:28,240 --> 00:48:31,240 that means that they still tolerate us. 554 00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:33,560 If the mafia and camorra kill someone they do not send signals anymore. 555 00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:39,240 As long as they send these signals it means: "Go away, otherwise something will break." 556 00:48:39,600 --> 00:48:43,600 If you understand the message, good. If you don't understand it... 557 00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:54,400 Take the example of DHL in Italy: 558 00:48:54,640 --> 00:49:03,640 When this struggles began we had some problems. 559 00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:12,200 When workers blocked a DHL warehouse in Milano, DHL closed it 560 00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:17,760 and took the commodities to other warehouses, in Bologna, Naples, or elsewhere. 561 00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:23,960 They close the warehouse in Milano temporarily until the workers get bored and go home. 562 00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:29,200 But these workers did not wait until the gates were reopened 563 00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:32,360 but drove to the warehouses in other cities and distributed flyers there. 564 00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:39,560 They persuaded the DHL-workers in other cities to join the struggle. 565 00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:43,080 And immediately, in less than one month, there were banners everywhere 566 00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:46,280 and the whole camp was in struggle. 567 00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:50,360 We began to develop this strategy 568 00:49:50,520 --> 00:49:52,520 so that when the commodities where taken to Rome because of a strike in Milano 569 00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:04,920 the workers in Rome also went on strike. 570 00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:13,120 Now the workers in one warehouse do not strike on their own. 571 00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:22,160 When something goes wrong in a warehouse in one city 572 00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:25,520 all DHL-warehouses in the whole of Italy close down. 573 00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:30,560 Therefore, DHL reacts immediately and pays these workers. 574 00:50:30,760 --> 00:50:32,920 If they attack on, they attack all. 575 00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:38,560 We did the same in various warehouses of TNT and GLS. 576 00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:45,880 If they try to sack anyone anywhere, the whole DHL pays for that 577 00:50:46,080 --> 00:50:48,120 because the people go on strike everywhere. 578 00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:54,600 They want to dump the crisis on us - now we let them pay a pile of money 579 00:50:54,800 --> 00:51:00,400 as soon as they try to steal a cent from us. 580 00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:08,320 We have not only established unity within the DHL-warehouses and in the logistics sector, 581 00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:10,520 all branches stand up for all others. 582 00:51:10,720 --> 00:51:14,720 Whenever they attack some warehouse that belongs to us 583 00:51:14,920 --> 00:51:21,920 they attack us all, and then we all go on strike and let them all pay for it. 584 00:51:22,120 --> 00:51:27,120 Because the main responsibility lies with the government and capital. 585 00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:31,320 We go straight to the highest level. 586 00:51:31,520 --> 00:51:36,520 We do not ask first who is responsible here. 587 00:51:36,720 --> 00:51:41,120 We close down all institutions and all warehouses and say: 588 00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:44,520 "You can think about who is responsible 589 00:51:44,720 --> 00:51:48,000 for the sacking of a worker in this or that warehouse." 590 00:51:57,200 --> 00:52:05,160 Previously the bosses and foremen of the cooperatives were arrogant. 591 00:52:07,360 --> 00:52:12,960 In some warehouses, like at TNT or STA, there were bosses 592 00:52:13,160 --> 00:52:16,160 who went around with a stick in their hand. 593 00:52:16,360 --> 00:52:22,000 They treated the people like cattle. 594 00:52:22,200 --> 00:52:26,440 Who did not work well was beaten with the stick. 595 00:52:26,710 --> 00:52:30,672 At STA in Bologna it was like that. 596 00:52:30,872 --> 00:52:39,120 We saw that and filmed it before the struggle began. 597 00:52:39,320 --> 00:52:45,040 At TNT it was the same. That is a breathtaking level of arrogancy. 598 00:52:45,240 --> 00:52:49,680 Not to mention the wages: 599 00:52:50,080 --> 00:52:54,600 The people work 16 hours per day and get 800, 900 euros. 600 00:52:54,720 --> 00:52:57,000 That is really appalling. 601 00:52:57,200 --> 00:53:03,560 When this struggle began we successfully fought for the compliance with 602 00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:09,760 with the national collective agreement, what is required by law. And not only that. 603 00:53:09,960 --> 00:53:16,280 While the work contracts in other branches are getting worse in the course of the crisis 604 00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:22,160 we have improved the conditions in the logistics sector 605 00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:28,160 and even reached improvements beyond the national collective agreement. 606 00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:33,200 That is a question of power and connections we have in the warehouses. 607 00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:37,600 Since when we have good connections in one warehouse, we can say: 608 00:53:37,800 --> 00:53:42,120 "We do not want this foreman or that person. We want wages twice as high. 609 00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:45,880 We want more holidays. We want this and that." 610 00:53:46,080 --> 00:53:48,000 That depends on who is stronger. 611 00:53:48,200 --> 00:53:53,800 If we are not that strong somewhere we are content with the national collective agreement. 612 00:53:54,000 --> 00:54:00,200 But that is the limit! In that way we make no mistakes in legal terms. 613 00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:06,400 We wait until management makes a mistake, and then we attack. 614 00:54:06,600 --> 00:54:09,400 With legal means and beyond that. 615 00:54:10,600 --> 00:54:14,680 The national standard in the logistics sector and the transportation of commodities stipulates 616 00:54:14,880 --> 00:54:20,880 that a company has to guarantee a full-time worker with an unlimited contract 617 00:54:21,080 --> 00:54:27,080 168 hours of work per month. 618 00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:31,760 In case of a crisis and less work 619 00:54:31,960 --> 00:54:37,960 it's the problem of the company not of the worker. 620 00:54:38,160 --> 00:54:46,160 The company has to keep paying the worker the wage for a minimum of 168 hours. 621 00:54:46,360 --> 00:54:52,600 But since nobody controls the wage slips of the cooperatives 622 00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:54,800 they treat the people in the following way: 623 00:54:55,520 --> 00:55:02,000 They call everyone and let them wait outside the warehouse. 624 00:55:02,200 --> 00:55:06,280 Only if a truck with commodities comes and has to be unloaded they call them in: 625 00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:11,480 "NOw you can come in and unload!" 626 00:55:11,600 --> 00:55:14,880 Afterwards they send them outside again and the work is done. 627 00:55:15,080 --> 00:55:17,320 That means they set a limit for you. 628 00:55:17,600 --> 00:55:22,520 Some people wait outside the warehouse for 14 hours before getting work for 6 or 7 hours. 629 00:55:22,720 --> 00:55:27,720 At STA it was always like that. That's how they treat the people there! 630 00:55:27,920 --> 00:55:34,200 And in the time of crisis they have no chance to escape and work like that. 631 00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:39,400 But during this struggle we have chased away the foremen 632 00:55:39,600 --> 00:55:44,760 and won back the legal wages for the last 5 years. 633 00:55:44,960 --> 00:55:48,960 Mony they have stolen from us for 5 years. 634 00:55:49,160 --> 00:55:55,160 Now we work in dignity and with our heads up 635 00:55:55,360 --> 00:56:00,360 and with wages three times higher than before. 636 00:56:12,200 --> 00:56:18,320 In this struggles it was necessary to combine two aspects. 637 00:56:18,520 --> 00:56:22,000 On one hand, that we don't just focus on our own company 638 00:56:22,200 --> 00:56:25,240 as if it was an issue between you and your boss... 639 00:56:25,440 --> 00:56:28,440 If the development of capitalism changes from one moment to the other 640 00:56:28,640 --> 00:56:34,280 this has an immediate effect on the logistics sector. If there is growth then you get a share. 641 00:56:34,480 --> 00:56:35,520 Is there a crisis then they kick you out. 642 00:56:35,720 --> 00:56:39,960 So you life is closely connected to the development of capitalism. 643 00:56:40,160 --> 00:56:43,240 You do not only exist within on particular company 644 00:56:43,440 --> 00:56:48,040 because your fate is tightly connected with that of other proletarians. 645 00:56:48,240 --> 00:56:51,520 For us it is important to connect to struggles 646 00:56:51,720 --> 00:56:56,476 that workers have started here in Germany and France at Amazon 647 00:56:56,676 --> 00:56:58,676 which is also part of the logistics sector. 648 00:56:59,920 --> 00:57:05,200 We want to set up connections and try to organize general strikes 649 00:57:05,400 --> 00:57:10,400 that bring the whole sector to a halt, like in Italy. 650 00:57:10,600 --> 00:57:15,600 If we manage to do that, it would be a European strike... 651 00:57:15,800 --> 00:57:22,080 At Amazon? – In the logistices sector and also at Amazon. 652 00:57:24,280 --> 00:57:35,840 In Italy, Amazon is organized in a way that makes it extremely difficult to get inside. 653 00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:41,360 We have a few contacts inside these warehouses. 654 00:57:41,560 --> 00:57:55,560 But they are organized like military bases, and you cannot distribute leaflets in front. 655 00:57:55,760 --> 00:58:00,869 Amazon is one of the imporant places we want to enter. 656 00:58:03,080 --> 00:58:08,080 At the end of this international meeting of base unions 657 00:58:08,280 --> 00:58:13,200 groups of different sectors where asked to come together 658 00:58:13,400 --> 00:58:15,400 each sector separately. 659 00:58:15,600 --> 00:58:20,600 From the logistics sector there were only people from Italy, so it was not really a meeting. 660 00:58:20,800 --> 00:58:23,960 So there was a meeting of all groups 661 00:58:24,160 --> 00:58:26,240 that represent one sector "alone". 662 00:58:26,440 --> 00:58:33,440 We came to a conclusion that we have not presented at the assembly 663 00:58:33,640 --> 00:58:38,840 but that we will publish in written form after the meeting: 664 00:58:39,760 --> 00:58:46,040 There is a law that denies the workers in a warehouse the right 665 00:58:46,640 --> 00:58:52,720 to go on strike in solidarity with another warehouse. 666 00:58:52,920 --> 00:58:59,560 You are not allowed to strike in one sector in solidarity with another. 667 00:58:59,960 --> 00:59:03,960 The law stipulates that. 668 00:59:04,160 --> 00:59:09,560 However, we decided: the law is written by the bosses 669 00:59:09,760 --> 00:59:15,640 and we can change it when we start struggling. 670 00:59:15,840 --> 00:59:19,160 We decided to write a communiqué 671 00:59:19,360 --> 00:59:25,600 or do something else, like a national boycott-day against this law 672 00:59:25,800 --> 00:59:34,800 or a strike in the sectors where we have the power, 673 00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:38,000 in order to topple that law. 674 00:59:38,200 --> 00:59:44,480 Then we have all the possibilities to go on strike in solidarity with other sectors 675 00:59:44,680 --> 00:59:46,960 and to unite the sectors. 676 00:59:47,160 --> 00:59:50,720 Because capitalism is also united 677 00:59:50,920 --> 00:59:57,920 and rests on the division between the peoples, sectors, and national states. 678 00:59:58,120 --> 01:00:05,120 Capitals divides in order to reign. 679 01:00:05,320 --> 01:00:10,320 It is a first step to unite these units, these sectors 680 01:00:10,520 --> 01:00:15,200 and not to say anymore: "This sector has nothing to do with that one", 681 01:00:15,400 --> 01:00:17,400 or: "Italy has nothing to do with Germany." 682 01:00:17,600 --> 01:00:22,120 We have to break that and get rid of this law, as a first step. 683 01:00:22,320 --> 01:00:28,680 Whenever we have established this unity we can also do other things together. 684 01:00:28,880 --> 01:00:34,880 If there is an attack on logistics workers in Italy; 685 01:00:35,080 --> 01:00:40,080 for instance in a warehouse of DHL or TNT 686 01:00:40,280 --> 01:00:47,640 then those in Germany boycott that at Metro or another warehouse. 687 01:00:48,160 --> 01:00:57,240 Of if there is an attack in France, for instance, in the health sector 688 01:00:57,440 --> 01:01:02,840 then the logistics workers in Italy go in front of hospitals, boycott them 689 01:01:03,040 --> 01:01:06,280 and draw attention to the case 690 01:01:06,480 --> 01:01:11,000 in order to show that the sectors are not different, 691 01:01:11,200 --> 01:01:13,720 and that the workers are united and support each other. 692 01:01:13,920 --> 01:01:16,040 That way we can create connections between each other 693 01:01:16,240 --> 01:01:20,440 becaue we are all part of the same class - the working class. 694 01:01:20,640 --> 01:01:24,160 We are all workers who are fighting for more rights 695 01:01:24,360 --> 01:01:30,640 and we are against capital and against exploitation. 696 01:01:30,840 --> 01:01:33,840 And when we create unity between us in this way 697 01:01:34,040 --> 01:01:39,040 it can constitute a real power that changes the world.