Base union

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A base trade union (base trade union movement: French syndicalisme de base , Italian sindacalismo di base ) is a union that is organized in such a way that power is not separated from the base. This is the only way to ensure that everyone can participate directly and on an equal footing in finding a consensus, so that each individual can contribute his or her ideas and thus see themselves represented in the decisions of the collective. Hierarchies are strictly rejected because they always mean paternalism, limit the freedom of individual members and can lead to the actual interests of the base not being articulated.

General

Historically, grassroots unions have existed since the beginning of the labor movement, especially in the anti-authoritarian wing of the First International (1864 to 1876) until its split in 1872 and later in the International Workers' Association (IAA), which was re-established in 1922, on an anarcho-revolutionary syndicalist basis. The IAA had its wedding in the 20s / 30s. But even today there are sections of the IAA and other anarcho and revolutionary syndicalist unions such as the FAU in Germany, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo in Spain, the SAC in Sweden or the IWW in the USA.

In France and Italy since the late 1980s came new unions in appearance, which differ in their content and organizational structures of the established major trade union federations. Although small in number, these grassroots unions played a pioneering role in industrial and social disputes in both countries during the 1990s. Its main focus is on public services (post, transport, education and health), but grassroots unions are also exerting a growing influence in industry.

Basic principles

The basic principles of the basic unions are:

  • Basic democratic structures, renunciation of hierarchical apparatus.
  • Basic unions see themselves as organizations to represent the interests of wage earners as well as to transform society and overcome capitalism.
  • By the interests of workers, grassroots unions do not understand the interests of workers as purely in-house collective bargaining interests, but rather as interests of society as a whole in a higher quality of life.
  • Rejection of "concerted action": grassroots unions do not seek alliances and agreements with the associations of capital.
  • Instead, grassroots unions seek alliances with other social movements ( criticism of globalization , ecology , feminism ).
  • Rejection of professional thinking: grassroots unions oppose the privileged claims of skilled workers vis-à-vis the unskilled and do not represent the interests of one professional group but of all employees in a company.
  • Fight against privatization and for democratically controlled public services.
  • Grassroots unions advocate alliances of workers and consumers for high quality products and services.
  • Fight against precariousness : grassroots trade unions particularly address workers in insecure employment relationships and fight for decent basic social security.
  • Basic unions advocate the independent organization of the unemployed.
  • Fight against racism, advocate for the rights of illegal immigrants.

France

The historical origins of the French grassroots union movement go back to the experiences of 1973, when the workforce of the Lip watch factory, which was threatened with closure, occupied the factory, locked the management out, reorganized production according to their own ideas (liberation of workers from the assembly line cycle) and watches sold through a solidarity network. The active women and men in the Lip struggles were then organized in the socialist trade union federation CFDT , in which the left tendency of self-governing socialism, which was shaped by the revolt of 1968, was strongly anchored. In the 80s, the CFDT leadership made an increasing adjustment to neoliberal orientations, combined with the exclusion of the left-wing movement, which was opposed with exclusions in 1988. In connection with strikes at the post office, the new union movement Union syndicale Solidaires was formed in the autumn of 1988 , which was initially mainly joined by former left-opposition CFDT groups. Another part of the SUD members came from independent strike committees. In France, unlike in Germany, the right to strike is an individual fundamental right of wage earners and is not linked to a trade union organization. This favors the possibility of autonomous action and the formation of basic structures outside of the established apparatus unions.

The SUD-PTT in the post / telecommunications sector rose to become the second largest union in the industry. In the mid and late 1990s, further SUD unions were founded, which were also able to achieve numerous successes in works council elections in private industry. SUD Rail became particularly important for the railways.

The SUD unions joined the umbrella organization Groupe des dix (G10) , which had existed since 1981 and in which some historically older, small branch and individual trade unions had come together to form the large associations CGT (communist), CFDT (socialist) and FO (politically independent) did not want to assign (including the militant union of financial workers SNUI). The SUD unions soon became a defining force within the G10. In 1998 the G10 was renamed Union Syndicale - Solidaires ; some more conservative G10 unions left the association. The total number of Solidaires members is around 80,000.

Most of the members of the SUD trade unions do not represent the traditional skilled worker milieu that was organized in the old trade unions. SUD members belong to large parts of the proletarian intelligentsia: people with a high level of education who are mainly employed in the service sector in jobs that are far below their qualifications. (A well-known SUD-PTT activist is Olivier Besancenot , a postman with a degree in history who caused a sensation in the 2002 presidential election as a candidate for the Ligue communiste révolutionnaire .) These milieus of the "new proletariat" have both purely economic and to a large extent "post-material" interests : Self-determination and individual development in the workplace, respectful treatment. At the same time, the SUD unions are particularly addressing the underprivileged sections of the wage earners, such as immigrants and the low-skilled, who are not heard in traditional unions. The SUD-PTT is strongly committed to the legalization of sans papiers (immigrants without a residence permit).

In France, too, there is the anarcho-revolutionary syndicalist CNT ( Confédération nationale du travail ), which enjoyed a strong boom in the 1990s, mainly as a result of the student strikes, and now has several thousand members.

Italy

In Italy the situation is more confusing than in France, as the Italian grassroots trade union movement, which has emerged since the late 1980s, is divided into many branches due to various local and political backgrounds, in which various regroupings with divisions and associations occurred. Overall, the base unions are often referred to as Cobas ( comitati di base , base committees). The main groups today are:

  • CUB ( Confederazione Unitaria di Base ): numerically strongest association, founded in 1992. It includes the RdB ( Rappresentanze Sindacali di Base ) with a strong influence in the public service and the FLMU ( Federazione Lavoratori Metalmeccanici Uniti ) in the metal industry. In 1998 the CUB took a political initiative for a guaranteed minimum income.
  • Confederazione Cobas : Association of Cobas groups around the Cobas Scuola, which is influential in education . Historical backgrounds go back in part to the autonomia operaia (see operaismus ) of the 1970s. Works with Rifondazione comunista and is heavily involved in the movement critical of globalization.
  • Sindacato dei lavoratori intercategoriale (SdL): Emerged in January 2007 from the merger of SinCobas, very active in the auto industry, driving force of the successful strike of the workforce at the Fiat plant in Melfi in spring 2004, politically close to the IV. Internationale and Rifondazione comunista and the independent transport workers union SULT , according to divergent figures between 25,000 and 60,000 members.
  • Slai-Cobas ( Sindacato Lavoratori Autorganizzati Intercategoriale ): emerged in struggles in the auto industry in the mid-1990s, but then weakened and increasingly sidelined by the splitting off of the SinCobas, as the political line of the Slai-Cobas (extreme anti-Americanism) to a large extent the left cannot reach a consensus.
  • USI ( Unione Sindacale Italiana ), historical anarchist-libertarian union, founded in 1912, very active in the early 1990s, but since 1996 severely weakened by division.

Germany

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the unified trade unions organized under the umbrella of the DGB have been very strong since 1949. The FAU ( Free Workers' Union ) exists here as a fairly small grassroots union , which, like the USI in Italy, has its origins at the beginning of the 20th century. The FAUD ( Free Workers Union of Germany ) emerged from the Free Association of German Trade Unions in 1919 and was crushed by National Socialism in the 1930s. It was not until 1977 that the 68s / 70s student movement was re-established and the influence of the ideas of exile workers of the CNT ( Confederación Nacional del Trabajo ), an anarcho-syndicalist union in Spain. In recent years, the FAU and its autonomous local groups have been particularly active in minor wage wars, in general protests against social cuts and cuts in the education sector and against tuition fees.

In addition, several local groups of the Industrial Workers of the World have existed since 2006 .

Historical and current examples

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://labournet.de/internationales/it/cartosio2.html