This is just the beginning...
The meeting of the FS, the government and the united unions (sindacati confederali: CGIL, CSIL, UIL) that took place on the 14th of February in Rome has not at all changed the conditions for the cleaning-workers of the railways.
On one hand the final decisions on the tender were again postponed to the 6th of May, but without taking back dismissals and the once again considered cuts. On the other hand the strikes on the 18th and 19th of February were cancelled which only prolongs the agony of the workers and takes away the only instrument that could really have an impact on the bosses' restructuring: the struggle.
Furthermore, the setting-up of a committee that is supposed to investigate the "irregularities" committed by the strikers during the struggle and will impose very high fines, is not only meant to intimidate those who might again use forms of efficient agitation but also to express the determination to punish the workers who were the most active and dedicated during that struggle.
The opening of negotiations, which the united unions would not open if they changed in any way the problems of employment, income and social guarantees of those workers, blocks the initiative and tries to prevent it in the future and is a warning to all workers to not delegate to nobody your own fate! At the moment the most active workers are trying to get together and to set up connections on the local and country-wide level in order to be able to coordinate their struggle independently against the plans of the government, the bosses and the state-unions.
What has happened?
In the major cities in Italy the cleaning-workers of trains and railway stations are struggling in order to keep their jobs and to avoid wage cuts and the abolishment of the already few legal rights and guarantees.
There is something wrong with the FS and the disinformation of the press and TV-stations!
The FS has, in fact, put incredible conditions onto the companies who want to get the cleaning-contract, regarding the total funds they are offering for the cleaning service. The FS has cut the funds by almost half forcing the cleaning-companies into a fierce competition for the lowest price. And it is obvious that already under the current conditions the "service" is insufficient - something the workers have clearly denounced. In the Lombardy for instance, the FS has promised one company, Mazzoni, that it will win the race and get the contract. Mazzoni has announced that it will provide the same service with costs 40 percent under the previous ones.
Where is the trick?
This chain of lousy decisions has direct effects on the workers, and indirectly also on the passengers. On one hand the jobs are cut and therefore the workforce, while it is obvious that it would be necessary to increase it by at least 20 percent. On the other hand the exploitation gets intensified while the number of paid working hours gets reduced. The same work has to be done in less time, meanwhile the supplements for older workers are getting reduced drastically. They are talking about 3 to 400.000 Lire less a month!
In the trains for commuters you will pay more for a "service" that is worse!
How much is a fucking wage in Euro?
Meanwhile, the letter of dismissal has been delivered to all and the postponing of the decision on the contracts - which was due on December 21st but will now take place on February 21st - was only meant to cool down the anger, to avoid problems during the usual rail traffic disturbances during the Christmas period and to weaken further the position of the workers.
All this is only a small part of the wave of restructuring which the bosses want to use to make the workers pay for the crisis, and it mirrors the general social insecurity that is asking for a straight response - as the cleaning workers have given:
Who has nothing to loose, fights!
They have chosen an effective form of struggle. In Milano they did work-to-rule (sciopero bianco: white strike) for six days and blocked the traffic for twelve consecutive hours. That way they have prevented the company from using scabs and have asked for a clear solution for a concrete problem. They do not believe the blathering of the politicians and the calls for peace by the big heads of the unions.
Their struggle is our struggle, that of the railway workers who have to learn how to get together and coordinate their efforts in order to increase their social power and improve the efficiency of their actions!
Their struggle is our struggle, that of the workers/commuters who get hit by the increased traffic fares, which they want us to swallow, dazing us with the euphoric Euro-dullness while robbing our purses!
Their struggle is our struggle, that of all workers who are really fighting against the possibility of getting fired, against the social casualisation, the intensification of exploitation!
Only by hitting the open nerves of the social organisation, in this case the system of the flow of traffic and commuting, only by developing forms of regional connections, directly in the hands of us workers, and corresponding instruments of direct communication, only by coordinating our efforts to improve the impact of our actions and increase the bosses' costs for our struggles, can we create a real alternative to the deterioration of our living conditions!
Let's make the bosses pay for the crisis!
For the development of our social power!
Let's use direct action and sabotage the plans for restructuring!
Collective of workers of CUB (base union) in struggle, Viale Lombardia 27, Milano, Tel.: 706 31 804
For the workers' network we are meeting every Tuesday at 9.30 p.m., Via Conterosso N.17, Panetteria Occupata, Milano email: rossoconte@hotmail.com