[Marxism] striking Ford Workers in St. Petersburg

["Darrel Furlotte" <darrel.furlotte@xxxxxxxxx>]

From: David Mandel 
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 4:41 PM
Subject: Ford strike -Russia


Hi, 

    I received this bulletin from the striking Ford Workers in St. Petersburg 
and felt moved to translate it.  Pass it on.  

    Judging from the pathos of the document, and also the length of the strike, 
the struggle is entering a decisive phase. Its outcome will be important for 
Russia, as this union is looked to as an example by many. It is the longest 
strike I can remember in many years. 

    (You will note that all the references are patriotic; there are none to the 
heroism of the Russian revolutionary movement or of the international labour 
movement. These are young workers (in their 20s) and probably do not know the 
history. Or else they figure that patriotism will strike a chord whereas 
labour's past struggles won't.

    David
**********************************************************************************

"Don't Cry - Organize!" Joe Hill 

 

Trade Union Committee of the Ford Motor Co

Information Bulletin

November 27, 2007-11-27

 

Comrades, 

 

      We turn to our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, who live in the 
Vsevolzhsk region and in St. Petersburg, to those who are working at our plant, 
and to those whose relative have some connection with the Ford plant in 
Vsevolzhsk. We have held out a week to win our goals, in particular a wage 
increase. You have also seen the contemptuous attitude of the bosses to the 
demands of our collective and the surprise of our compatriots at our "huge" 
demands. "You're asking a lot," they tell us, when they see we ask that the 
wages of welders and painters be raised to 30,000 roubles. But no one is 
surprised when they raise the salaries of department supervisors and other 
managers, which stand at 200,000, two times a year by 10-20% each time. In 
other words, the bosses are worthy of salaries at the European level, but the 
workers who feed that bunch are supposedly not working at European standards 
and should get kopecks. A dual approach and double standard. We've went into 
this difficult strike so that our children do not have to go half-hungry and so 
that our parents will have decent pensions. We are the first in Russia of the 
21st century who have begun to defend our rights, relying on the law and our 
solidarity. We are skilled workpeople and we have a right to a wage that allows 
a decent human existence. Many of us have higher education and have lived in 
the St. Petersburg-Leningrad region all our conscious lives, bringing much 
benefit to this land.

 

We turn to you, our compatriots! Today our victory will be the victory of all 
citizens of Russia working at any enterprise. Support us! Support yourselves! 
We will win no matter what! But we would like to reach that victory together 
with you! We are ready to share our experience and our results with you!

 

The plant is not working. It has been shut down for a week. The administration 
is hoping we will give in. Our struggle is not taking place against bullets and 
shells. We are not forced to stand in the trenches and face tanks, as did our 
grandfathers at Stalingrad. We aren't facing snipers' bullets and mortar fire, 
as did our fathers and brothers in the mountains of Afghanistan and in the 
Caucasus. We are facing well-fed bourgeois and their lackeys, who see to it 
that the simple working person should work for a bowl of soup and a crust of 
bread and have no thoughts and claims, wishes or opinions. For them the best 
worker is the one who works for pennies, and when his health fails, he brings 
his children to the assembly line to replace him and then goes to die in some 
ditch or to live in misery on an inhuman pension. For the bosses this is normal 
and correct. And if someone suddenly raises his head and declares that he is a 
person and has rights, then he is an extremist or terrorist - check whichever 
pleases most. It is not so! Our brothers, fathers and grandfathers shed their 
blood so that we could have a just and happy life. We cannot stand on our 
knees, forgetting  their heroism.  Yes, it is frightening, though we are not at 
Stalingrad; yes it is dangerous, though we are not in the mountains of 
Kandagara. It is just that no one in Russia has shut a factory for so long and 
forced the hand of a transnational corporation. It is always harder and more 
frightening for pioneers than for the next wave. But if not we, then who?

 

Or shall we forget out heroic roots and get used to living on our knees?  No! 
Our memory raises us up and forces us to struggle and defend that for which our 
ancestors gave their lives. Can anyone really think that our grandfathers and 
fathers in the trenches dreamt that their children would lose their health and 
self-respect on the assembly line under the shouts of supervisor-overseers, who 
allow workers go to the toilet only as an act  of charitable kindness? If that 
is so, then we are ashamed to live in Russia and to call ourselves the Russian 
people. A victorious people cannot stand on its knees! The shift bosses, who 
count other people's money and know the wages of each worker at the plant, and 
the supervisors, who lick the boots of the top management, are afraid. They are 
afraid of their boss and of organized workers! Organize!

 

Brother Ford workers! If they call you to work from involuntary layoff [not all 
workers are on strike, but the plant is not working] in order to start up the 
assembly line, got to one of our activists, take a form, and write to the 
general director that you are joining the strike. Don't lend your support to 
those who don't give a damn about workers, who are interested only in their own 
welfare and profit! Or have these people become closer to you that those with 
whom you work side-by-side on the assembly line and who are now fighting for 
our common well-being? But if for some reason you cannot join the strike, then 
before starting work demand mandatory health-and-safety training, demand that 
they familiarize you with the operating instructions, the QPS, WES, especially 
if you are moved to a new operation. Remember that this is mandatory. Otherwise 
it is a violation of the law, and you are responsible for all possible 
consequences!

 

Fellow countrymen, union brethren! Your support now is especially important. 
Any kind of support! Both moral and financial! We need to hear you and see you. 
It is important to us to know your opinion. Come to the walls of our plant. Go 
to our site www.ford-profsoyuz.ru  and tell us your opinion.  Our union is 
supporting the strikers financially out of our strike fund, but unfortunately 
it is not unlimited. We are into our second week and we will stay out longer! 
There are already citizens who have given the strikers financial support.  
Those who want to help will find our account number on the site.

 

And more. Yes, the corporation is huge and churns out vast sums of money. It is 
very hard to oppose it. But for a HUMAN BEING nothing is impossible. Remember 
the Spartans' battle at Thermopylae, remember the Russian's battle at Kulikovo 
Field [against the Mongols]! Who says the time of heroism and courage has 
passed, that they belong to history? How our children live and how they will 
remember us depends on us alone!

 

"When all other rights are trampled under foot, the right to revolt cannot be 
denied" Tom Paine

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