Massive Dutch trade union demonstration
THE biggest trade union demonstration in the Netherlands since the war took place on October 5. About 250,000 demonstrators came to the Hague for what was the closing event of a big campaign by the main three Dutch trade union federations against attacks by the government on social welfare (see /V 213). Nobody expected such a high turn-out. It showed how angry people are and it made it once again very clear that people want to take action and that there are possibilities for a stepped-up campaign.
That, however, was not the intention of the trade union leaderships. The campaign was a big success, but the centralized coordinated activities were supposed to end with this demonstration. Trade union speakers on the platform closed the second stage of the campaign and announced that the battle will continue later this year and next year, during the regular contract negotiations, to try to repair the damage done by the government measures sector by sector.
Not surprisingly, the government proposals were adopted in parliament the week after the demonstration. More than 80% of the delegates at a special congress of the social democratic PdA had already voted on September 28 in favour of the plans, which were linked to the political future and the integrity of party leader Wim Kok. This decision had no positive effects on the position of the PudA in the opinion polls, which continue to point to a loss of half the social democratic seats if elections were to be held today.
After the party congress a small number of members left the party and some ex-members announced that they want to take initiatives to launch a new (social democratic) party. Although it has to be seen what will really come out of this, there is a lot of discontent among a lot of trade union members who voted for the PvdA in the past, with many saying that they will never vote again for this party.
As expected there were numerous problems during the campaign with judges, many strikes being ruled illegal. The good news is that workers in some cases formed committees to organize wildcat strikes. This happened in Amsterdam (public transport) and in an impressive way in the Rotterdam docks, where a five day wildcat strike began immediately after a judge ruled strikes in the port illegal. Employers in the Amsterdam port decided in the light of that experience not to go to court and to accept a two day strike, "to avoid wildcat strikes that lasted longer"
All in all it is clear that more was possible, but the trade union leaderships did not dare or want to continue the campaign that started so successfully in September. The final result was that the plans were adopted by parliament - no important changes were made in the proposed measures — so in that sense the campaign did not succeed.
Two features of the campaign are however important for the struggles to come in the near future. Firstly, contrary to many sceptical expectations beforehand, it was possible to mobilize more workers than expected in a unified campaign. Some groups and sectors took action for the first time, others mobilized once again but for the first time in many years in a coordinated campaign involving wider forces than their own sector. This is important for future struggles, such as in the public sector where the unions are preparing for a big fight over their new contract at the beginning of next year. Secondly, parts of the PvdA electorate and membership have now lost confidence in the policies and leadership of their party, opening more possibilities for discussion and possibly initiatives for a left political alternative to the social democrats — Robert 8 Went. * International Viewpoint #216 • November 11, 1991
EUROPE
Soldiers damand equal rights
ON SEPTEMBER 6-8, 1991 the 13th European
Conference of Conscripts
Organizations (ECCO) took place in the Netherlands, the country with the continent's oldest officially recognized conscripts organization, the VVDM
During this conference
ECCO discussed and accepted a Social Charter.
RON BLOM
/ ITH the development of the integration of capitalist Europe, the role of the ECCO will be of great importance. The different Western govemments are creating rapid deployment forces that can be sent to all corners of the world to "safeguard the interests of westem democracies".
Conscripts are seen as an obstacle to these rapid deployment forces, in the first place because of the short training time and in the second because they are considered less reliable than volunteers or professionals. For example there were a lot of protests from conscripts and their organizations in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands against the compulsory despatch of conscripts to the Gulf.
In the new "flexible" armies, the importance of conscripts will decrease. These military developments are connected with European unification and integration. The EEC wants to be world power, and this will involve the cooperation of different armies — already today there are common manoeuvres and a lot of discussion about expanding the existing Franco-
We will publish some information about Fast European involvement in the soldiers' movement in the next issue German brigade into a Franco-German army, to be the kernel of a European army. ECCO is aware of the deterioration of the economic, social and democratic conditions for soldiers to the lowest common level — as is the case with the Franco-German brigade where conditions are set at the lower French level.
That is why 15 organizations from 13 countries adopted the Social Charter. This "Conscript's Charter" has chapters on human rights and democracy, working conditions, wages and working hours and human dignity.
The Charter considers the conscript as a young human being, who only differs from other youth because he's wearing a uniform. Thus all rights of young people should also apply to conscripts, including the rights of freedom of speech and assembly and the right to a fair trial. The Charter also states that boys cannot be