When people organize to improve their conditions, there are results. They don’t need representatives to speak for them, instead of them.
When staff unions live off the backs of union members, they no longer defend them, they scare them so that they stay in the union. They believe that if employees have poor working conditions, they will unionize in order to improve them. They have become yet another aristocracy (with privileges) in the company: managers + trade union delegates. This tactic doesn’t work, since they now account for only 5% of the payroll.
To be able to negotiate and sit at the negotiating table, unions must respact the framework imposed by decision-makers. In order to be useful and respect the demands of the workforce,unions must be able to step outside this framework and change the way decisions are made. For example, in France, the FNSEA dialogue with those in power because this union respect their rules, whereas the Confédération Paysanne, which upholds farmers’ demands, is not received by those in power.
UN agencies have helped to improve working conditions for workers and employees without violence.
Coluche – le délégué syndical: https://youtu.be/LSYfi2fA30E?si=mvZ9UuNm16HRhxfR
“Guillaume de Baskerville: But what’s so worrying about laughter?
Jorge: Laughter kills fear, and without fear there is no faith. For without fear of the devil, there is no need for God.” The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
International treaties have established the right to organize. This is the result of the struggles of the ILA (International Workingmen’s Association) and then the ILO (International Labour Organization), which wanted workers to be able to participate in the decisions of their organizations, rather than being represented by people who speak for them. This is anarcho-syndicalism, order without power. It’s not terrorism, as those who denigrate these ideas would have us believe, it’s democracy.
Today, digital tools enable everyone to give their opinion, to vote, to access information without representatives exercising power over workers. Examples include wikis, Doodle, survey monkey, etc.
Unions must rethink their role and return to being facilitators: they must provide workers with useful information and establish structures for gathering their opinions, discussions, and votes.
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87) – OHCR : https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/freedom-association-and-protection-right-organize-convention
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) – OHCR: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/right-organise-and-collective-bargaining-convention-1949-no-98
What is anarcho-syndicalism? – libcom: https://libcom.org/article/what-anarcho-syndicalism
Noam Chomsky on Anarcho-syndicalism –
Chomsky’s Philosophy: https://youtu.be/A5xNGPtk7no?si=Y1LvE2swrOaBmkGm
– Le Chiffon Rouge, Chanson de lutte et d’espoir, a 36 ans – CGT Dieppe: http://www.cgt-dieppe.fr/article-le-chiffon-rouge-chanson-de-lutte-et-d-espoir-a-36-ans-119359772.html
– Le chiffon rouge – Michel FUGAIN : https://youtu.be/Yl3A19HxhwM?si=qwTjI5Jde-b89YqT
– Grievance handling – ILO: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_protect/—protrav/—travail/documents/publication/wcms_622209.pdf
– The Global Deal: http://www.theglobaldeal.com
– Digital trade unions will empower tomorrow’s sharing economy employees – Wired: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/gig-economy-digital-unions
– Social Dialogue and Industrial Relations:Global Trends, Challenges and Opportunities – ILO: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_636203.pdf
– Imagine John Lennon: https://youtu.be/VOgFZfRVaww
Imagine – Joan Baez – John Lennon
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace,
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world.
