Defending the right to strike E LETTRA DEIANA, a leading member of the Italian section of the Fourth International, the LCR, explained to Cecilia Garmendla what happened at the recent November 21/22 meeting of the COBAS. • THIS WEEKEND, a national meeting of the COBAS was held. What came out of it? COBAS representing all categories took part in the meeting — teachers, railway workers, postal workers, subway workers. The airport workers now on strike could not take part, but sent a message of support.
The meeting was rather representative. There were 700 people there. The assembly decided to call a national demonstration in Rome on December 12 in defence of the right to strike. The government is trying to "regularize" the right to strike in services and the public sector. This national meeting was called by the teacher's CO. BAS to discuss that. A decision was made by the national commissions of the COBAS (including leaders of the various industries), so eliminating the need for a vote in the assembly, which would have been premature.
This decision has to be ratified in the various industries and in the local structures of the COBAS. In the coming weeks, the demonstration will have to be confirmed by the categories that have mobilized over recent months. I think it will be. This is a demonstration unaccompanied by a strike, with both a political and trade-union objective. Delegations will go to Rome on Saturday, December 12. • What debates took place at this coordinating meeting of the COBAS? The debate centered primarily around the question of the right to strike and on the linkup between the various struggles that have developed over these last weeks. But there was also debate over the selforganization of workers outside the union's bureaucratic structures.
The left current in the CGIL (Democrazia Consiliare, Council Democracy) took part in the meeting, as well as a left section of the CGIL teachers' union in Rome, which for months has given impetus to organizing what are termed "self-called assemblies," bringing together 300 to 400 left teachers. • What are the perspectives for the movement? In the public sector and the services, there are very great possibilities for mobilization. New contract negotiations are coming up in many categories.
A vanguard is developing. Yesterday's meeting showed that. It began to take responsibility for questions going beyond the problems of specific categories. It posed political problems of management, US oil con refuse to Cuban pel Nicaragua E VERY MORNING from 6am on, long lines of cars pull up front of Managua's Shell station a good while before it opens. Other filling stations are empty. For many days, Chevron, Esso and Texaco have not brought in petrol. Trucks come in every afternoon only at Shell stations and fill up the tanks so that every car in the daily lines can get a maximum of 12 liters.
Keeping in mind the worldwide boycott campaign against Shell's because of its trade with South Africa, it is an astonishing sight in revolutionary Nicaragua to see crowds of people going to their stations. But this patronizing of Shell is certainly not a reflection of any enthusiasm for South Africa among Nicaraguans. It is rather due to the fact that the three US companies — Texaco, Esso and Chevron — are refusing to bring Cuban petrol to their filling stations.
Nicaragua has normally received its fuel from the Soviet Union, but in order to cover an acute shortfall in deliveries, the Cubans sent a full petrol tanker to the northern Nicaraguan port of Corinto. The US-owned companies have a rule that they cannot transport or sell Cuban products.The English- and Dutch-owned holding company Shell does not have the same rules, and at the moment is the only company in Nicaragua distributing the Cuban petrol.
Nicaragua is 100 per cent dependent on imports of petrol and diesel fuel. Earlier, Mexico and Venezuela, among others, provided some of this. Now, the Soviet Union has become the sole supplier.
Petrol is rationed. Every car owner is allocated 17 gallons a month (about 70 liters). Those who have specific workrelated needs can apply for more. And there is an extensive trade in petrol ration tickets on the black market.
From November on, diesel fuel will also be rationed, and diplomats and foreign aid workers will have to pay for fuel in dollars. The price is cheap — less than about 30 cents a liter. In cordobas, the local currency, the price is even cheaper — 1,000 cor-