In France the unions expected 2 Million of their workers to join their General Strike today. They got 2.5 million. They were protesting legislative attacks on their pensions. Today is the beginning of the new political term in France so this strike was making a statement to the politicians considering Pension legislation.
In Great Britain workers shut down the London Underground and Metro service with a 24 hour strike over threatened job cuts
This fall will be filled with actions by unions in the European Union. At the end of this month there will be a General Strike in Spain and a massive convergence on Brussels called the "Euro-Manifestation". The strike in Spain may spread throughout the EU as demonstrations have been called for the same day in Portugal, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Cyprus and Poland. These actions are called for by the European Trade Union Confederation.
If there were such an equivalent in the United States it would be the AFL-CIO calling for a one day General Strike in all 50 states.
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6 comments:
What has happened to Americans? Why are we such sheep? We will whine a little, sit on the couch, eat some processed food and watch a cop show. That is about it. I pray that we get our backbone back. Clearly just voting isn't the answer. That system has been so corrupted by big money and lobbyists that I have regretfully lost faith.
We're not sheep ands this is not a monolithic conservative country. We have a dysfunctional political system and means of social and media control have perhaps reached deeper into our lives than they have into the lives of workers elsewhere, but the US remains a country of promise and, in any case, serious change made here by the left can guarantee the best outcomes for workers around the globe.
I understand the frustration of Anoush. Strong Unions are what makes Europe's backbone strong. It is why "card check" has been dumped by both parties in this country. But there is some good Union Leadership and an understanding of the need for organizing workers. But it is important the show what is happening in Europe..modeling as they say.
That said, your description of many Americans is too true.
Union membership in Europe has been low for some time. When I last looked, French union membership was about where US union membership is. What are the differences? Europe allows non-majority unionism and the US doesn't; European unions have distinct political identities and historic attachments to political parties and we don't have this in the US; and much of what gets covered in union contracts here is in law in Europe. These laws formed out of workers' struggles, to be sure, but they also came as a kind of "buy off" by imperialism in order to counteract the influence of the left, and particularly of the USSR. It's hard to compare the two and come up with the formulation that American workers are sheep and have been bought off.
I think one big difference is that the Europeans have not been deluded into thinking that elected officials will actually keep their word, so they take to the streets if they do not see the necessary action. We need to wake up here.
Good point. And as Ethnic Guy points out they have political parties that based in the working class. As opposed to two parties controlled by corporations.
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