[Marxism] News from Guadeloupe

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Guadeloupe unions win raises but strike goes on By JONATHAN M. KATZ – 11 hours 
ago  POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe (AP) — 

Unions in Guadeloupe scored a victory in getting a deal to raise some workers' 
salaries, but said Friday they will not end a general strike now concluding its 
sixth week on the French Caribbean island. Leaders of the strike-organizing 
Collective Against Exploitation, or LKP, paused for handshakes and photos with 
small business owners after signing the deal just before midnight Thursday. The 
agreement raises some workers' salaires by $250 (euro200) a month.The union 
leaders quickly turned their attention to unsettled issues of raises for 
thousands more workers and lowering food and energy prices many times higher 
than those on the French mainland."We have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with 
the prefect to continue the negotiations," LKP leader Elie Domota told The 
Associated Press after getting up from the signing table. Asked if the strike 
would now end, he said simply, "No."The strike has shuttered stores across the 
island, chased away tourists and occasionally erupted into clashes between 
protesters and police. The deal was officially named the "Jacques Bino Accord" 
in honor of slain a union member killed leaving a strike meeting Feb. 17.

Starting March 1 those employers will provide up to half the salary increase 
for workers making up to $2,353 (euro1,849) a month, with the rest paid for by 
the French and local government. Workers making up to $2,690 (euro2,113) will 
receive at least a 6 percent raise.But prospects for further salary talks were 
set back earlier Thursday when the French Caribbean department's large business 
owners refused to return to the negotiating table, accusing the unions of 
creating a "climate of intimidation and violence.""Each day that passes, more 
and more companies face great difficulty, taking measures of unemployment, 
redundancy or are close to bankruptcy," the employers said, citing roadblocks 
and shop closures and accusing the LKP of physically intimidating business 
owners.

Around the same time, about 500 LKP supporters descended on a high-end 
Carrefour grocery store owned by a key business leader and kept open using 
nonunion workers during the strike.The protesters chased off shoppers and 
chanted, "Employers are thieves, exploitation has ended!" as they knocked over 
shopping carts and barricaded the parking lot. French riot police were on hand 
but did not intervene.Protests have also spread to the neighboring French 
Caribbean island of Martinique over high prices, low pay and alleged neglect by 
officials in Paris. Strikers have looted stores, burned cars and hurled beer 
bottles at police who responded with tear gas.French Prime Minister Francois 
Fillon called Thursday for calm in Martinique and for all parties in Guadeloupe 
to quickly conclude an accord.  
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