Workers from across West demonstrate for the 35-hour week
Daniel RAYMOND "Jobs for all," was the theme of the Western-Europe-wide demonstration Stuttgart on June 4 called by the European Confederation of Trade Unions. (1)
The ECTU's aim demonstration was to put pressure on the of chiefs of state of the EEC countries, which was supposed to be held in the West German city on June 6-7.
The early elections in Great Britain led to a postponement of the summit but not of the demonstration.
About 50,000 workers from various countries, including a contingent of Turkish immigrant workers, rallied on the Schlossplatz in Stuttgart. This was the first European-wide demonstration of this scope in more than fifty years. Previously, there were some poorly defined days action and small demonstrations organized on a Europe-wide basis, but comparable to the Stuttgart the organizers expected 100,000 participants. day, there was a march for jobs in Britain. And in West Germany itself, an unemployed march to Bonn was underway. Moreover, vacations were beginning for
And this is to say of the hot weather, prompted a lot of people to opt for a day in the country.
However, despite all these difficulties, the demonstration was clearly a success. It set in motion a dynamic of European-
However, the West German activists felt the difference between the June 4 demonstration and the massive demonstration of 150,000 people against austerity on October 30, 1982, which was also held in Stuttgart.
Among the foreign delegations, the French trade unionists from the CFDT (the Democratic French Confederation of Labor, close to the SP) and the Italian unionists were the most numerous. The CFDT contingent was about 3,500 people; the Italian, 2,200. The Belgian contingent was about 1,500.
The success of this "groundbreaking" demonstration is easy to explain. It was the result of the pressure of the onset and deepening of the world economic crisis. Restructuring plans for whole industries are being decided on the European scale, as in the case of steel and coal and others. 8
The strategy of the international firms forces the workers and their organizations to respond on an international level. The extent of the crisis leaves no room for thinking that jobs can be saved in one the expense of the others. This was understood perfectly by the workers in a factory in Le Mans, France threatened by layoffs who came to the Stuttgart demonstration. The headquarters of the company they work for is in Mannheim, a city near Stuttgart.
There are no longer any countries in a really privileged position as regards unemployment. Joblessness is growing everywhere. For all of Western Europe now, the number of unemployed stands at 16 million, and this is expected to rise to 20 million in 1985-86, if the workers cannot force the adoption of some solutions in their interests before then.
There is a way of reabsorbing unemployment immediately - cutting the workweek to 35 hours. Several trade. union organizations back this demand, such as the CFDT in France and IG Metall in West Germany. not agreement on how to achieve it.
The CFDT leadership considers that it is necessary to negotiate wage cuts and to establish a different organization of work that would make it possible to "raise productivity," that is, better exploit the
La lot of the member unions of the CFDT take another view. They are calling for a 35-hour week without any cut in pay or worsening of working condi-
Parallel to this, they call for additional hiring to make up for the workhours lost by the shorter week.
This is also the position of the Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB - German Trade Union Federation, the main West German confederation) in Baden-Wurttemberg. It was expressed in the call this organization issued for the Stuttgart demonstration.
In the CFDT's weekly magazine, Stein kuehler, leader of the Baden-Wurttemberg branch of IG Metall drew the balance sheet of German employment policy: "It has been demonstrated that wage cuts do not lead to job-creating investments, as the bosses wanted people to believe....Our buying power was cut under the pretext that this would maintain employment, and now we are reaching record unemployment."
The speeches by the ECTU leaders at the Stuttgart rally centered generally not only around the economic evil of unemployment but on the political dangers it involves for a generation of youth without prospects, for a we know where that can lead," A DGB leader warned.
Some sharp analytical points were also
For example, the secretary of "An economic policy set first of all to meet the needs of profit and only secondly to meet the social needs of the population cannot guarantee jobs."
Pommerenke, the DGB regional secretary said, moreover; "There has to be an end to these tax breaks for business and to this insane policy of overarming. The money saved could pay for the jobs program drawn up by the ECTU."
A burning question was left up in the air: How are we going to win the 35-hour week and the jobs programs? It is not enough to note, as the general secretary did, that "the majority of the EEC ministers are against" posed by the ECTU, nor to appeal in vague terms to the solidarity of the European workers. establishment of a plan for coordinated action leading to a Europe-wide struggle.
This is certainly what the local unions want and what they will undoubtedly begin to discuss. The Fourth International is involved in this debate and made concrete proposals in a leaflet distributed to this demonstration.
June 4 was an excellent first step toward European-wide thinking about the question of the 35-hour week and European-wide mobilization to achieve it. But now we have to start to organize actions to win this demand. 1. The ECTU was formed in 1973. It encompasses 35 national confederations in 20 contries Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark Spain, Finland, France, Britain, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, West Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland.
The French General Confederation of Labor, the CGT, a CP-dominated onfederation, does not belong to the ECTU nor does the French National Federation of Teachers (FEN). Likewise, the Spanish Workers Commissions which are CP-dominated, do not belong. On the other hand, the Italian General Confederation of Labor (CGIL), which is CP-led, does belong to the ECTU.
against the corrupt factory councillors. Although they got 40% of the vote in the factory council elections, they were expelled from the union. To this day, they have not been reintegrated.
Q. Are there any means for discussion that are not totally controlled by union full-timers?
A. Yes, there are informal groups that meet regularly and discuss and exchange experiences. Every discussion is prepared. One time it might be the 35-hour week, another the arms question, and so on. Written summaries of these meetings
SELBE PROBLEME | SELBER
MEMES PROBLEMEC I MEME CO
POODLEME I SAME FIE are also drawn up.
Q. Do these meetings also lead to actions?
A. Not usually, but that has happened. For example, a rally was organized with activists from the FIAT factory in Turin. On another occasion, a pamphlet was published in defense of a DaimlerBenz factory delegate who had been fired
'Same problems, same fight for European workers (DR)
at the end of his training period. The participants in these meetings are quite heterogeneous. They include activists in the (Maoist) KPD, the German section of