From the current issue of UNITY & INDEPENDENCE
Supplement to The Organizer Newspaper
P.O. Box 40009
San Francisco, CA 94140
Email: ilcinfo@earthlink.net
Website: www.owcinfo.org
PLEASE EXCUSE DUPLICATE POSTINGS
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Dear Sisters and Brothers:

President Obama now says that card check is dead. [See Reuters article below.] He says he regrets that it may be necessary to find a compromise on labor reform that does not include card check, "as the votes aren't there." The fact is that the interview Obama granted to the Washington Post on Jan. 16, six days before he was sworn into office, was aimed consciously at trying to bury EFCA and card check.

By urging the political establishment to consider "an alternative" that would be more palatable to Big Business than EFCA, as he did in this interview with the Washington Post, Obama sent a signal to Arlen Specter, Dianne Feinstein and all the other politicians that he would not uphold his promise to labor and use the power of his presidency and his massive support among working people to fight for EFCA. His about-face began six days before he took his oath of office. It shows how hard the Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street must have leaned on Obama on this burning question for the entire labor movement -- and for working people as a whole.

But does the labor movement have to accept this pre-mature burial of EFCA? Hell No!

It ain't over till, till it's over -- and it ain't over! This last phase of the fight to win card check is only beginning. There must be no turning back.

Labor has to return to its roots -- mobilizing its members independently in mass actions and protests of all sorts (including those proposed by Mark Brenner below) to fight tooth and nail for card check -- for a real EFCA -- not a watered-down and close-to-useless EFCA without card check. Yes, it's time to fight back and remind President Obama and all the politicians that labor isn't going to stand by and allow them to renege on their promises. No way!

It's time to build a powerful movement in the streets that will compel Obama to put card check back on the table and that will compel 60 senators -- or more -- to do the right thing by voting for EFCA with card check. We cannot, and we must not, accept anything less!

-- Alan Benjamin
Co-Editor
Unity & Independence

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Obama Pronounces 'Card Check' Dead"

Reuters -- Friday, May 22

On Thursday, President Obama pronounced "card check" dead, saying that the current Employee Free Choice Act didn't have the votes to pass but that a "compromise" could work. By compromise, the president meant a version of the bill without card check, the provision obliging employers to recognize unions after a majority of workers have signed cards, rather than after an election. On the same day, Sen. Arlen Specter, newly "D"-Pa., a key swing vote, said that he, too, would support a "compromise" on EFCA: card-check-free, of course.

 These twin announcements sealed what most observers had understood for a while: Card check isn't happening. The provision has always been imperfect, but its death is a sure sign that the labor movement needs a more effective approach to politics.

 Card check was devised as a solution to a simple yet intractable problem: Workers who want to join unions do not get a fair shake. Elections take too long, giving employers plenty of time to hire high-priced union-busting law firms, fire union sympathizers, intimidate and spy upon workers, and do whatever they can do, legally or illegally, to keep the union out. Many people now work for companies like Home Depot (HD), Rite Aid (RAD), or Wal-Mart (WMT) that have plenty of resources to wear unions down and every incentive to do so since their business models depend on underpaid, short-term labor. Specter opposes card check but does support speeding up elections, allowing workers to campaign at their work sites without retaliation, and imposing stiffer penalties for violations of organizing rights.

 Not everyone committed to labor-law reform is mourning card check.

Columbia economist Jagdish Bhagwati, one of EFCA's most prominent sympathizers, told TBM earlier this spring that he regretted the card-check provision of the bill: "I think that it was a mistake for us who are supporters of unions and unionization to go for card check. I agree that some employers intimidate workers who wish to unionize, but those who do not wish to unionize can also be intimidated by union organizers." Bhagwati strongly supports secret ballots and thinks it would have been better to try to reform enforcement mechanisms to ensure that illegal intimidation by employers would be punished. Bhagwati also points out that U.S. labor law makes it cripplingly difficult for unions to strike: "If unions cannot strike effectively they become paper tigers, more or less. I would have concentrated on this rather than get diverted into the card-check provision." He adds, "The card-check provision has unnecessarily cost us some credibility and also some votes, I fear."

 Sandy Pope, president of Teamsters Local 805, which is headquartered in Long Island City, Queens, thinks labor law reform is needed but says she's "not sad about card check going away." Pope explains: "I would prefer an expedited election to card check. It's important for workers to do something as a group. In order to go into bargaining in the strongest possible way, you have to campaign. You have to really want" the union. Pope argues that if unions "treat people like babies" by bypassing the election process, workers won't build effective organizations that can stand up to the employers' aggressive behavior at the bargaining table. A shorter election would bypass much of the employers' current strategy of intimidation and firings, Pope thinks, while preserving the possibility of debate in the workplace and allowing employees to organize, if they choose to do so, rather than passively assent to a visiting bureaucrat.

 The business lobby has been running numerous ads emphasizing that "card check kills the secret ballot" with pictures of Jimmy Hoffa and other easy symbols of union corruption. The whole concept reinforces stereotypes of union leaders as intimidating thugs, an image opponents have enthusiastically exploited, with one business coalition even using the comically corrupt visage of Johnny Sack from The Sopranos. "There are unscrupulous unions out there who will just go in the backdoor, sign cards without the employees really knowing who they are," says Sandy Pope. "Some of the accusations of the right wing are true." (Most union leaders are, of course, neither as corrupt nor as effective as David Chase's imaginary mob bosses, but her point is important.)

 Worthy as such concerns about card check are, they are not the major reasons for its death. Most politicians are posturing when they decry EFCA as "undemocratic." It's much more likely that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., doesn't like EFCA because of campaign contributors like Kindred Healthcare, which has been involved in bitter struggles to stay union-free (as well as, attractively, opposing workers' attempts to improve the quality of care). Others in Congress are similarly compromised (including Democrats like Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, a former friend of card check and a major recipient of Wal-Mart campaign largesse).

 Business interests vigorously oppose serious labor-law reform, and the labor movement isn't as serious as it needs to be in defending it. Serious divisions within the labor movement hampered unions from working together. Some have argued that Obama's November victory created an atmosphere of complacency, allowing unions to not push card check as hard as they needed to. Even without the unwieldy baggage of card check, unions will need to get more aggressive to win labor-law reform: After all, even the emerging EFCA-decaf-lite compromises supported by Starbucks (SBUX) are opposed by the most politically active business interests. The anti-EFCA lobby flatly rejects even Specter's compromise, despite having based its campaign on opposition to card check.

 New York Times reporter Steven Greenhouse, in a recent essay on why Americans don't protest, paraphrases United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard saying that demonstrations are less needed in the United States than in Europe "because often all that is needed is some expert lobbying in Washington to line up the support of a half-dozen senators." This approach has plainly failed with the Employee Free Choice Act. To get labor-law reform, card check or no, rather than "just sitting around and lobbying," Sandy Pope points out, "we have to talk to our members. We have to get into the streets."

 Mark Brenner, a labor activist and editor of Labor Notes, agrees, observing: "The labor movement is turning its back on its own history. Every major legislative advance has come about because of street protests, civil disobedience, by our turning up the heat."

 Explaining why it's important for labor to return to the organizing and protesting strategies of the past, Brenner says: "We're never going to win the inside game. Wal-Mart and Home Depot will always have more money. Our strength is that we have millions of members ... and millions more people who would like to be in a union." Winning labor-law reform will take organizing to make all those people more visible. "Why no civil disobedience in Arlen Specter's office?" Brenner asks. "Why aren't we picketing in front of every Republican's house? Why aren't we bird-dogging them? If this is [labor's] most important campaign, let's act like it is."

UNITY & INDEPENDENCE
P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140
Tel. (415) 641-8616; fax: (415) 626-1217
email: ilcinfo@earthlink.net
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Dear Sisters and Brothers:

At a time when labor needs to be united to send a clear and unmistakable message to President Obama that we will not accept anything less than card check and the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), at a time when all the main unions have regrouped to say to the Obama administration that we will not accept having EFCA taken off the table (as Dianne Feinstein, Arlen Specter and Larry Summers have argued vociferously) ... at this crucial juncture, Andy Stern of SEIU has jumped ship and dealt a body blow to labor's united stand by abandoning card check and saying that labor should "consider alternatives" to EFCA. (The article below from the Washington Post speaks for itself.)

This is more than a body blow. It is a stab in the back.

Labor put Obama in office. It has every right to tell the new president that he MUST carry forth on his promise, repeated time after time at labor rallies all across the country, that he would fight tooth and nail for EFCA -- not just sign it when it came before him. He promised to advocate for it and fight for it once in office. Labor must hold him and the new administration accountable!

Labor should be mobilizing in the streets to let the Obama administration know that we aren't backing off. We are going to fight to make EFCA the law of the land. It is a life-and-death question for millions of working people. It is a vital step in implementing a real stimulus of the economy -- and not one like we have at present, which just keeps bailing out the banks and the war profiteers.

Our labor council here in San Francisco condemned in no uncertain terms the raid organized by Andy Stern and the leadership of SEIU against UNITE HERE, one of its own Change to Win affiliates. Other central labor councils across the country have taken a similar stance.

But this kind of raiding isn't just one more case of an overzealous union leader impinging on another union's jurisdiction. This is raiding carried out on behalf of the employers, and with the employers' help, to weaken the labor movement by imposing sweatheart contracts, undermining standards, and destroying all rank-and-file democracy.

This is why Stern had to go after, and attempt to destroy, SEIU UHW in Northern California, something he has not been able to achieve -- and will not be able to achieve -- thanks to the stubborn resistance and combativity of Brother Sal Rosselli and the membership of that union, which has now launched the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).

The politics of Andy Stern are a serious threat to the entire labor movement. No one in labor is immune from this offensive. It takes the form of attacking a major component of his own union, in the case of SEIU-UHW. It takes the form of raiding, brazenly on behalf of the employers, the UNITE HERE union. It takes the form of undermining labor's united front in support of EFCA, right when we have the real possibility of winning card check. The list goes on.

Defeating this threat from Stern, however, is inseparable from charting an independent fightback perspective to win passage of EFCA, to ensure that serious and fundamental NAFTA revisions are on the table, to ensure that we win single-payer healthcare, to ensure that our unions do not bail out corporations (as they are doing in Chrysler and GM), and the list goes on.

The November 4 election has placed the labor movement in a unique role to champion the fight for change that the majority of the American people want and expect from the new president.

Over a month ago, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis came to San Francisco and met with many of us on the executive committee of the San Francisco Labor Council. When asked by someone in the audience what it would take to win EFCA given all the resistance from the Chamber of Commerce and all the hesitation and backsliding from politicians who claim to be labor's friends, Ms. Solis responded, "For labor to win the Employee Free Choice Act, you are going to have to build a movement."

Simple and to the point!

Building a movement means not accepting so-called "alternatives" that are more accommodating to the employers. It means organizing labor-community coalitions to do what the San Francisco Labor Council is doing on May 6-7 with its 24-hour vigil at the Federal Building in San Francisco to demand that Dianne Feinstein get back on board with EFCA. It means taking on the openly "company union" orientation of Andy Stern, which is at the root of his drive to raid and destroy his own union and other unions.

And it means affirming that labor's role, its only role, is to defend the interests of its members by remaining entirely independent of the bosses and the government. This means saying that labor's role is not to use union funds to bail out corporations, as this makes the union a partner and accomplice in the bosses' decisions to lay off workers, impose speed-up, take away holiday pay and overtime pay, and ultimately to put the union's funds (and therefore the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of retirees) at great risk.

These are challenging times for the labor movement. They could be the best of times. People are full of hope and energy to take action. They have been emboldened by the results of the November 4th election. They want change and they expect to get it -- not in some distant future, but now. Any opening for united struggle is immediately seized upon to fight back.

But this could also be the worst of times, as unions are turning inward against each other, using funds to bail out corporations, fighting against each other for the crumbs from the table.

The only way out is for the labor movement to reclaim its independent voice, its backbone and its tradition of mobilizing its members to win its heartfelt demands -- which are the demands of the working class majority in this country.

In solidarity,

Alan Benjamin
Exec. Bd. member, SF Labor Council
(note written in a personal capacity)

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(reprinted from April 20 Washington Post)

Stern Considers Alternatives to EFCA
By Alec MacGillis

As key senators have announced that they are not planning to support the Employee Free Choice Act, labor leaders put on a brave face, saying they have every intention of finding the needed 60 votes and that it is premature to start talking about alternatives to the bill.

But in an interview today, Andy Stern, head of the influential Service Employees International Union, stepped gently away from that unified front, raising the prospect of reforms that would overhaul union elections without giving workers the option of organizing sans secret ballot elections.

The legislation now before Congress, dubbed "card check," would let workers organize if a majority in a workplace sign pro-union cards; as it stands, employers require secret ballot elections. Unions say elections are marred by employer intimidation; employers say going with card-check -- what the unions call "majority sign up" -- would expose workers to union pressure.

Speaking to The Post's editorial board, Stern noted that there are ways to try to level the playing field in union elections without giving workers a way around the secret ballot requirement, such as shortening the window before elections are held -- thus giving employers less time to pressure workers -- and stiffening penalties for employer violations.

"We are on the hunt for a solution," he said. "No matter what you do, you have to change the election process. Whether it's majority sign up or not, workers have to have a choice about having an election. The bill has to address ... fast elections, eliminating employer behavior and what happens if there are employer violations. Regardless, that needs to be done."

He even suggested that the card-check bill had been introduced as it is in the Senate only in order to have the same language as the bill that is in the House, and that this may not have been the right way to go. "We sort of have a bill that talks a lot about majority signup and nothing about the problems of the election system," he said. "That was probably a decision made in the House to have the same bill come up and potentially pass the same bill -- which is not going to be a logical way to follow through now that we know ... what the situation is."

Stern and SEIU secretary treasurer Anna Burger said they have not given up on getting 60 votes for card-check, saying that they still hold out hope that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the only Republican to support the bill in 2007, could yet reverse his declaration against the bill last month. "Oh sure," Burger said about the chances of Specter flipping back. "This is Arlen Specter we're talking about."

But they also acknowledged that, for now, they are having to search for their 60 votes without any help from President Obama, who has expressed support for card-check but not made it a priority.

"The President has said he has a series of things -- that we agree that he needs to get done -- which are major for every man woman and child, like health care, like the budget, like financial regulation," Stern said. "We respect that we have a job to do to line up enough votes without him. I don't think there's any question that he says there will be a vote, that this bill's time has arrived and he will do whatever is in his power to bring this home. We just aren't there yet."

Then Stern signaled one last time that if card-check does prove to be unrealistic, he believes that unions must get behind some other substantive reform, instead of waiting until 2011 in hopes of a bigger Democratic majority after the next election. "We need to get something that's significant done," he said.

Report forwarded to me by Brother Kroopkin.

 

In a well attended raucous meeting on April 13, 2009  of the San Francisco Labor Council representing nearly all the unions in San Francisco unanimously endorsed a resolution condemning the raid by Andy Stern and the SEIU International on Unite-Here throughout the country and also declared support for any SEIU local that "stands in opposition to this violation of union principles and practice. ... The meeting was one of the most intense in some time as San Francisco Unite Here Local 2 president Mike Casey in a dramatic statement charged that the SEIU raid on his union had threatened all the work the members had done in order to get a national contract with the major hotel chains. The union had waited for years to sign a contract so their expiration dates would coincide with the expiration dates of other local's chain hotels around the country. Casey was joined by many other SEIU rank and file delegates who said they were angered and appalled by the use of their union dues to finance a raid on another union that was fighting for their members. Olga Miranda who is also the leader of SEIU Local 87 of the San Francisco janitors did not speak at the meeting but resolution had been previously introduced by her to support any SEIU local that opposed these raids. SEIU Local 87 janitors decertified twice in the past ten years before they were able to win back control of their local from SEIU president Andy Stern who wanted to merge their local into the statewide SEIU Local 1877. Domita Davis Howard who is the Stern appointed Executive Secretary of the 50,000 member SEIU 1021 had boycotted the meeting although she was on the SFLC Executive Board and was aware that this motion would be coming up. Not one delegate of the over 100 delegates who attended got up to oppose the resolution and it was adopted unanimously. Included were the other members of Stern's Change to Win unions including the UBC Carpenters, UFCW and Teamsters who were also in the meeting. This action as well was not unique to San Francisco since similar resolutions have passed in the South Bay Labor Council and other Northern California labor councils as well as the Seattle Labor Council. The frontal rebuff to the International SEIU and Andy Stern's efforts to raid Unite-Here is a significant sign that the SEIU International is danger of becoming totally isolated in California and event threatening the continued power it has in the California labor movement as local after local bolts from the Stern operation.

 

SFLC Resolution Opposed to SEIU’s Attempted Hostile Takeover of UNITE HERE and its Jurisdiction  http://www.sflaborcouncil.org/ViewUpload/405 Whereas an internal dispute within UNITE HERE over constitutional reform and union democracy has led to a minority faction within the union to secede, in violation of the International Constitution; and  Whereas SEIU has seized on this division within UNITE HERE as an opportunity to raid UNITE HERE’s members and jurisdiction; and  Whereas an affiliation agreement between SEIU and this secessionist faction provides for organizing in UNITE HERE’s traditional jurisdiction, namely hotels, gaming, and food service; and   Whereas slick mailings, followed up with live and automated phone calls have encouraged UNITE HERE members in cities across North America (including San Francisco) to leave UNITE HERE and join a “new union” which is an affiliate of SEIU; and  Whereas SEIU’s reprehensible behavior not only undermines UNITE HERE’s local unions now preparing for industry-wide negotiations in Atlantic City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, but also will be exploited by anti-union corporations and interest groups opposed to the Employee Free Choice Act; and   Whereas the actions of SEIU International leadership threatens longstanding cooperative relationships and undermines solidarity between UNITE HERE locals and SEIU locals;  Therefore be it Resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council: 1. Condemns the intervention in the internal concerns of UNITE HERE by President Andy Stern and top SEIU leadership, and their actions designed to attack and weaken UNITE HERE; 2. Condemns the campaign being waged against UNITE HERE and its locals with the reliance on corporate-type anti-union tactics; 3. Demands that SEIU cease all actions and/or support in raids of gaming, hotel and food service bargaining units and publicly acknowledge UNITE HERE’s organizing jurisdiction in these areas across North America; 4. Encourages SEIU local leaders, members and staff to repudiate the SEIU affiliation agreement that seeks to steal UNITE HERE’s jurisdiction and denies UNITE HERE a future; 5. Directs the Council’s Executive Director to send a copy of this resolution to Andy Stern, Anna Burger and the Change to Win leadership, the SEIU International Executive Board, and John Sweeney and the AFL-CIO Executive Committee. 6. Urges the California Labor Federation and other Labor Councils and bodies throughout the nation to adopt the same position as this Council.  Submitted by Mike Casey, UNITE HERE 2, and adopted by the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Labor Council by acclamation on April 6, 2009 and unanimously by the Delegate Body of the San Francisco Labor Council on April 13, 2009.  Respectfully, Tim Paulson Executive Director
http://www.sflaborcouncil.org/ViewUpload/406 Resolution on SEIU Locals and SFLC Support Whereas, the San Francisco Labor Council has taken a position opposing the Andy Stern-led attack on UNITE H ERE,   Therefore be it Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council offers its support to any SEIU local that stands in opposition to this violation of union principles and practice.  Resolution submitted by Olga Miranda, SEIU 87 and adopted by the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Labor Council on April 6, 2009.  Respectfully,  Tim Paulson Executive Director  OPEIU3 AFL-CIO 11 

Dear Friends,

Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now" program tomorrow (Friday, March 27) will feature a report on the recent and successful 44-day general strike in Guadeloupe. Amy will be interviewing Kali Akuno, a leader of the Malcom X Grassroots Movement who was a central organizer of the U.S. solidarity effort with the struggle of the workers and people of Guadeloupe.

The Guadeloupe segment is scheduled to run at 8:15 a.m. in New York City. Listeners in the San Francisco Bay Area will be able to hear the interview with Kali Akuno at 6:15 a.m. and also at 9:15 a.m. Listeners in other cities can go to www.democracynow.org to find out when the show is broadcast.

We are also sending below, for your information, the latest interview with Elie Domota, general secretary of the UGTG trade union federation of Guadeloupe and spokesperson for the LKP Strike Collective. The interview was conducted March 15 by Robert Fabert for the ILC International Newsletter. It is reprinted here from issue no. 328 of the newsletter. Also reprinted below is the Preamble to the Jacques Bino agreement that ended the general strike.

Thanks to all of you for your ongoing support to the ILC campaigns. Your support of the heroic struggle of the workers and people of Guadeloupe made a real difference!

In solidarity,

Ed Rosario and Alan Benjamin,
for the International Liaison Committee

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[reprinted from ILC International Newsletter No. 328, March 18, 2009]

Guadeloupe

Interview with General Secretary of the General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe (UGTG) and spokesperson for the Liyannaj kont pwofitasyon (LKP) Strike Collective

Following a powerful, united general strike that lasted 44 days, the workers, youth and the entire working population of Guadeloupe concluded an agreement that met their key demands, including a 200 euro increase in the monthly minimum wage.

We met with Elie Domota, General Secretary of the General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe (UGTG) and spokesperson for Liyannaj kont pwofitasyon (LKP). He draws a few lessons from this movement for the readers of the ILC International Newsletter.

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ILC: What is your balance sheet of the strike?

ED: It is a very positive balance sheet. We witnessed 44 days of a total general strike. It was a great demonstration of unity of all workers and all the organizations forming the LKP.

Many said earlier that this was a Negro konplo a sé konplo chyen [a conspiracy of Negroes, a conspiracy of dogs - Ed] ... Well, we have demonstrated that we can unite trade unions, political organizations, consumer organizations, tenants, and cultural movements. It is our diversity that has forged unity.

ILC: What was the origin of LKP and its role in the movement?
ED: How was the LKP started? Well, very simply: Previously, each organization worked on its own. In late November, at the UGTG, we decided to meet with other organizations, as a series of problems arose and we did not think that any one single organization could wage the fight successful; we needed broader unity.

It was relatively easy to meet, because for six years we have tried to mount what we called a program of demands of the working class. We were also together on May 1. But during all this time, we were unable to come to an agreement.
On December 5, 2008, we met first with the trade unions, with unions in the education, cultural movements, with political parties ... And then, liyannaj (alliance) took root! There was the strike on December 16 and on the 17th. We went to the Prefecture de Basse-Terre [French Government Building]... and we decided to continue the movement in January.

Thus, the LKP was created. In this dynamic [Balan], we have found a color and a name and a new song, The Gwadloup sé tannou [Guadeloupe Is Ours] repeated in chorus by all the demonstrators ... It adan balan [very quickly] took off. The LKP is the fruit of the unity begun between organizations for the past several years.

ILC: Guadeloupe will never be as before, say the workers, activists ... Do you agree? And for you, what does that mean?
ED: I agree. But I want to say that we do not operate in fits and starts, by shock. We must maintain some regularity and consistency in all our actions if we don't want to fall back into the system we condemn.

This means, above all, changing social relationships, establishing new social relationships, new relationships between men and women of our country. And above all, social relations in the workplace. We Indians and Blacks, who are majority in this country, must feel proud and stop bowing our heads and accepting the unacceptable.

ILC: In the immediate sense, what does this movement symbolize for the people and workers in the world?
ED: This may symbolize the fact that it is the big struggles that make the wheels of history turn. Today, large international capital controls everything, including the politicians who apply their dictates. We can show that a small nation of 400,000 inhabitants can challenge this system based on exploitation and submission.

ILC: Legal charges have been brought against you for "incitement to racial hatred" and "the extortion of signatures on the Jacques Bino Agreement."

ED: This is an attempt to denigrate the movement: the words were not racist (1). They reflect a reality, the organization of society in Guadeloupe, which has always, and is still, based on a relationship of races and classes for nanni Nannan [that goes back a long time]. At the top of the pyramid, it is always the same: békés and whites, and at the bottom, the Black and Indians. 400 years later, we live in a photocopy of the same slave plantation society.

The truth is that we are still out on strike in companies that refuse to implement the Bino agreement (2), we call for the implementation of the agreement ... And what does the prosecutor do? He opens an investigation for "extortion to sign" the agreement. This, I repeat, is an attempt to smear us, to demonize us, to reverse the gains we have won.

We are ready and we are not intimidated if they proceed against us! In the court, should it go this far, there will be a forum to expose to the world what our society is all about, what the French state does in a small dominated country.

-- Interviewed conducted by Robert Fabert

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Endnotes
(1) Interviewed on television at a moment when the béké [while eilite] bosses refused to sign the agreement, Elie Domota said: "Either they will implement the agreement, or they will leave Guadeloupe; we will not let a bunch of békés restore slavery."

(2) Jacques Bino: The name of the trade union activist shot dead in the night of February 17-18, 2009.

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Preamble to the inter-regional agreement on wages in Guadeloupe: Jacques Bino agreement.

Between the undersigned signatories:

-- For the organizations of employers: UMPEC, UCE, GRIP, OPGSS, UNAPL;
-- For the trade unions of employees: CGTG, CFDT, CFTC, CGT-FO, UGTG, UNSA organized within the Liyannaj Kont Pwfitasyon (LKP).
In the presence of Mr. DESFORGES, Prefect of the Guadeloupe Departement, and under the mediation of Messrs. BESSIERE, LOPEZ, LEMAIRE Arcont.

Preamble:
- Considering that the economic and social conditions in Guadeloupe are a result of the persistence of the plantation economy model.
- Considering that this economy is based on monopoly profits and the abuse of a dominant position, which generates injustice.
- Considering that these injustices affect both workers and our internal economic growth.
- Considering that they are obstacles to economic development and the internal social development.

"Will Congress Pass Ponzi Healthcare? Let's Say No in Des Moines"

 

This is not what anybody wants for US healthcare except the insurance companies. I've got enough relatives in the States that I can be pretty darned sure of that. The unions organising for single-payer need to get out and tell the American people that this is not just not good enough, its actually worse.

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

We just received a new appeal from the Caribbean Workers and Peoples Alliance (ATPC, in its French acronym) with all the details of the recent attacks by the French authorities against Elie Domota, general secretary of the UGTG trade union federation and spokesperson of the LKP Strike Collective. These attacks -- including the formal legal charge by the Attorney General of Guadeloupe of "inciting discrimination, hatred and violence against a category of persons based on their ethnic origin" -- have rained down on Brother Domota in the aftermath of the March 4 agreement between the LKP Strike Collective and the French government that ended ended the 44-day general strike in Guadeloupe.

The ATPC communiqué urges unionists and labor rights activists the world over to demand that the French government withdraw all the bogus charges against Elie Domota. In response to this urgent request, we have crafted a Sign-On Letter to the French Ambassador in the United States, which we urge everyone to endorse. Please fill out the coupon below and return it to us as soon as possible.

Our initial Sign-on Letter two weeks ago urging the French government to stop the repression against the strikers and to heed their legitimate demands obtained hundreds of signatories in the United States and thousands internationally. Together with the massive delegations to the embassies and consulates on all continents, and the mass demonstrations in the streets across France and other countries, our effort contributed to the wonderful first victory obtained on March 4, when the French government finally gave in and signed an agreement granting the general strike movement all its main demands.

This legal action by the French authorities came in response to a statement made by Domota on Thursday, March 5 -- the very day after the Jacques Bino agreement was signed. (Bino was the trade unionist killed the night of Feb. 16 by bullets now widely believed to have been fired by masked government provocateurs who infiltrated one of the barricades on the outskirts of Pointe-à-Pítre.)

In response to a question regarding the continued refusal by the MEDEF employers' association of Guadeloupe [representing the island's large business interests] to join the trade unions, the French government, and the Small Business Association in signing the Jacques Bino agreement, Domota stated: "Either they sign the agreement, or they will leave Guadeloupe. ... We have to be very firm about this. We will not allow a band of Béké [a reference to the white minority that owns and controls the overwhelming majority of the wealth in Guadeloupe] to re-establish slavery on our soil."

The MEDEF spokespersons insist that they could not sign the agreement because of a clause in the preamble that states that the economy of Guadeloupe is a "plantation economy." The real reason is not this: In the final days leading up to the signing of the agreement, the MEDEF spokespersons told the French government that they could not accept paying 100 euros of the monthly minimum wage increase after the expiration of the French government's three-year commitment to pay the full 200 euro increase.

For the past six days, the UGTG trade union federation and the LKP Strike Collective supporters have been demonstrating in front of the factories, hotels and businesses owned and run by MEDEF employers to demand that they sign the March 4 agreement. Every day new MEDEF employers are heeding the pressure from the workers and agreeing to sign the agreement.

This continued mobilization of the workers and people of Guadeloupe to ensure that all employers in Guadeloupe abide by the Jacques Bino agreement, following on the heels of the powerful show of force displayed during the 44-day general strike, has shaken the ruling Béké and their paymasters in metropolitan France to the core.

Laurence Parisot, president of MEDEF in France -- the equivalent of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- said that Domota's March 5 statement "includes threats and pressures that sow a veritable climate of terror in Guadeloupe." No small accusation this one!

Parisot's comments were echoed by Yves Jégo, French Minister of Overseas Departments and Territories, who said that that Domota's declaration was "inadmissible."

It was following these declarations by Parisot and Jégo that the French judicial authorities filed formal charges against Domota for "inciting racial hatred."

On Monday, March 9, Domota replied to these attacks. "This charge of 'inciting racial hatred' is nothing but a maneuver to try to intimidate the workers and people of Guadeloupe."

Domota added:

"If they pursue this legal action and summon me to appear in Court, we will use this forum to expose the true face -- the true social, historical and cultural reality -- of Guadeloupe's society in this year 2009. ... If I am put on trial, it will be the entire people of Guadeloupe who are put on trial. For 400 years, we have endured racism, repression and discrimination. ... It would appear that the Justice Department, the State, and Big Business interests don't want to move beyond this system of domination. Our position is clear: We will endure it no longer."

The attack against Elie Domota by the Attorney General of Guadeloupe -- acting on behalf of the Attorney General of France -- is an attack against the UGTG, which was the backbone of the general strike movement. It shows the total contempt by the colonial authorities for the democratic aspirations of an entire people. It shows the deep fear by the Béké, as the ATPC communiqué puts it, that their stronghold over political power and their privileges have been greatly undermined by the powerful general strike movement that swept the entire country.

By their declarations and actions, the French authorities are clearly aiming to undermine, and if possible torpedo, the agreement signed officially on March 4. The "first victory" that was won by the people of Guadeloupe through their heroic struggle is fragile. The colonial backlash has begun with its targeting of the spokesperson and most recognized leader of the general strike movement.

We urge you to join us in demanding of the French government: "Hands Off Elie Domota! Withdraw the Bogus Charges!"

Again, we thank you for your continued interest and support -- and we urge you to endorse the Sign-On Letter below directed to the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., which will be copied to concerned entities in France and Guadeloupe.

In solidarity,
Eduardo Rosario and Alan Benjamin
For the ILC

********************

PLEASE ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LETTER BELOW!

Monday, February 23, 2008

Attention:
Pierre Vimont
French Embassador to the United States
Washington, DC
Telephone: (202) 944-6000
Fax: (202) 944-6072
E-mail: info@ambafrance-us.org

Dear Sir:

We, the undersigned, have been following with great concern the unfolding situation in Guadeloupe in the aftermath of the March 4 signature of the Jacques Bino agreement that put an end to the 44- day general strike. We welcomed the agreement granting the workers and people of Guadeloupe their main demands.

But we've been alarmed to learn that no sooner had the ink dried on this agreement than a backlash against this powerful mass movement was launched by the employers in the MEDEF and by your government -- a backlash that has targeted Elie Domota, general secretary of the UGTG trade union federation and spokesperson of the LKP Strike Collective.

We cannot accept the legal charges leveled by the French judicial authorities against Brother Domota. These are not just unwarranted; they are clearly aimed at undermining the agreement and rolling back the gains won by the workers and people of Guadeloupe through their courageous and peaceful 44-day general strike.

We urge your government to withdraw all these bogus charges against Elie Domota and to put an immediate halt to the legal action against him. We will not rest until justice is served.

Sincerely,

[follows list of signatories, with names, titles (for id. only), city, state and country.]

cc. Mr. Nicolas Desforges
Prefect of Guadeloupe
Rue Lardenoy
97100 Basse-Terre
Guadeloupe
Fax: -11-335-90-81-58-32

Mr. Yves Jégo
27, rue Oudinot
75007, Paris
France
Fax: 011-331-53-69-28-04

LKP Strike Collective
c/o UGTG
Rue Paul-Lacavé
97110, Point a Pitre
Guadeloupe
Email: ugtg@wanadoo.fr and lkp.gwadeloup@gmail.com

---------

ENDORSEMENT COUPON

[   ]  Please add my name to the list of endorsers of this Sign-On Letter to the French Embassy in Washington, DC

NAME:

UNION/ORG (stipulate if for id. only)

CITY

STATE

COUNTRY

EMAIL

(please fill out today and return to ilcinfo@earthlink.net)

From the ILC:

    Dear Sisters and Brothers,

    No sooner had the ink on the agreement that ended the 44-day general strike in Guadeloupe dried, than the Attorney General for French Overseas Department and Territories announced that he was filing legal charges against LKP Strike Collective spokesperson Elie Domota for "provoking discrimination, hate and violence against a category of persons based on their ethnic origin." More ominous still, the Attorney General accused Domota of "fomenting provocations and promoting the use of force to extort the signing of the so-called Jacques Bino agreement."

    This announcement of possible legal action by the French authorities came in response to a statement made by Domota, who is also general secretary of the UGTG trade union federation, to a celebration rally on Thursday, March 5 -- the day after the Jacques Bino agreement was signed. (Bino was the trade unionist killed the night of Feb. 16 by bullets now widely believed to have been fired by masked government provocateurs who infiltrated one of the barricades on the outskirts of Pointe-à-Pítre.)

    In response to a question from the crowd as to whether the French government and the white ruling elite in Guadeloupe, the Béké, could be trusted to live up to the signed agreement and to pay the 200 euro monthly increase in the minimum wage, Domota stated: "Either they respect and implement the agreement, or they will leave Guadeloupe. ... We have to be very firm about this. We will not allow a band of Béké to re-establish slavery on our soil."

    The attack by the Attorney General against Domota echoes the racist diatribes in the French media against the people of Guadeloupe and the LKP Strike Collective, in particular. The media portrayed the French government as the victim of "mob violence" that had compelled the government to sign an unjust agreement under duress and in violation of all conventional labor relations. This reference to a "mob" -- a reference to the overwhelming Black majority on the island -- is not only racist to the core, it shows the total contempt by the colonial authorities for the democratic aspirations of an entire people.

    The question that arises is this: Does the announcement by the Attorney General against Domota foreshadow an attempt by the French government to invalidate, through the courts, the agreement signed officially by all the concerned parties on March 4th at 8 p.m.? Given the wording of the charges, it appears that this may be the intent.

    The "first victory" that was won by the people of Guadeloupe through a heroic 44-day struggle is fragile. The colonial backlash has begun with its targeting of the spokesperson and most recognized leader of the general strike movement.

    We urge you to join us in demanding of the French government: "Hands Off Elie Domota! Implement the Jacques Bino Agreement!"

    We will bring you more information, including proposals for solidarity statements and actions, in the coming days. Please remain vigilant.

    In solidarity,

    Eduardo Rosario and Alan Benjamin

    For the ILC

(Note from Ross: Béké = buckra.)

1) Update: First Victory!: Agreement Signed, General Strike Ends after 44 Days! -- by ILC U.S. Coordinators Eduardo Rosario and Alan Benjamin (based on Communiqué from ATPC)

2) Final Week of Negotiations: An Account of the Last Week of the Struggle -- by Alan Benjamin (based on reports from Robert Fabert, editor of Travayé è Peyzan

3) Background Articles on the General Strike from Issue No. 325 (February 25, 2009) of the ILC International Newsletter

********************

1) Update: First Victory!: Agreement Signed, General Strike Ends after 44 Days!

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

We received this morning a communiqué from the Guadeloupe-based Caribbean Workers and Peoples Alliance (ATPC) informing us that an agreement was signed Wednesday, March 4 at 8 p.m. between the LKP Strike Collective of 49 trade unions and organizations, the local governments, the employers' groups, and the French State. The agreement grants the strikers their top 20 immediate demands and allows for continued negotiations, with a tentative agreement reached on many points, on the remaining 126 mid-term and long-term demands.

The general strike was formally ended by vote of the LKP Strike Collective, with the unions and community organizations declaring this a "First Victory." The communiqué of the ATPC ends with the following words: "This was a FIRST VICTORY -- a victory obtained the workers and an entire mobilized people, and by the international solidarity with this courageous struggle."

The Jacques Bino Agreement -- named after the trade union leader who was killed on the barricades the night of February 16 -- that was signed on March 4 covers the following categories: wages/purchasing power, housing, transportation, education, employment, public services, trade union rights, environmental protections and culture.

Twenty of the articles, the List of Immediate Demands of the LKP Strike Collective, were fully met by the French authorities and employers' associations and were signed and codified into the agreement. Here are some of the provisions of the March 4 agreement:

On Wages: The agreement grants a 200 euro monthly increase to workers making the minimum wage, or SMIC, and up to 1.4 times the minimum wage (that is, between 1321 euros and 1849 euros). All workers making between 1.5 and 1.6 times the minimum wage (between 1849 euros and 2113 euros) get a 6% pay increase. Workers making 1.7 times the minimum wage or more (more than 2113 euros) get a 3% wage increase.

On Price Cuts: Lowering by 5% to 10% of costs for 100 basic staples and commodities, and for utilities (water, oil, gas, electricity, etc.) The cost of meals in the student cafeterias is cut by 20%, with a commitment to increase by 50% the produce of local farmers in all the meals provided by the student cafeterias. Family canteens will receive subsidies for their meal plans. Lowering of public transportation costs by 20%. Agreement by the State to fund 40,000 round-trip Paris-Point-a-Pitre airline tickets at 340 euros for low-income families, for the purpose of family reunification. Cuts in banking fees. Compensation of 40,000 euros for all small transportation owners in the aftermath of the reorganization of the urban and inter-city transportation plan.

On Housing: Moratorium on all foreclosures, evictions of renters and utility cutoffs. A Special Fund of 3 million euros is created to provide subsidized housing for 17,000 senior citizens and 7,000 handicapped persons. Freeze on all rents, accompanied by a tax cut of 9% for all renters. End of speculation in land for hotels and resorts, particularly non Guadeloupan chains and banking interests, with financial assistance to local businesses involved in tourist industry.

On Employment: Emergency Recovery Plan to provide jobs for 8,000 youth between the ages of 16 and 26, with the creation of a "Bill of Rights for Employment for all Working People in Guadeloupe." Creation of an agency to provide employment for job seekers, with the creation of jobs to meet the employment needs. All students on waiting lists for education at all levels will be admitted into a school.

On Agriculture and Fishing: Protections and subsidies for the agricultural producers, and protection of 64,000 hectares of agricultural lands. Stabilization of prices for fishing industry. State aid for fishing hatcheries and for modernization of fishing fleet and processing.

On Trade Union Rights: Improvement in State recognition of union prerogatives and rights, with fuller respect for, and enforcement of, collective-bargaining agreements and labor legislation. Designation of mediators to resolve specific conflicts that have arisen at RFO, Air France, International Airport, etc.

On the Environment: Creation of 50,000 hectare nature preserve.

On Culture: Commitment by the State to establish Creolle as a language for all public buildings and services, on the par with French.

The workers and people of Guadeloupe were ecstatic over this victory. People took to the streets spontaneously to celebrate.

Reactions in the mainstream French press, understandably, were less than sympathetic to the strikers. Writing in Les Echos on March 5, journalist Jean-Francis Pécresse laments that the French government gave in to the "mob pressure of the LKP Strike Collective, signing an agreement whose preamble proposes nothing less than the creation of a 'New Order in opposition to the Model of the Plantation Economy.' What value should we place on agreement signed under pressure from the LKP militia, an agreement imposed by intimidation?"

The scorn and racism of the colonialist power and of the white ruling class elite on the island, the Beké, comes through loud and clear in this article. How dare Pécresse use the term "mob" to describe a valiant, organized, peaceful (despite all the provocations by a 5,000 contingent of French Riot Police, the CRS) and disciplined people -- the overwhelming majority of whom are Black -- who were able to withstand the hardships of 44 days of a general strike, with the creation of soup kitchens, agricultural procurement committees, self-defense committees, picket lines, cultural committees, and barricades.

The impact of this victory will be felt around the world. There can be no doubt about this. We will continue to inform our readers and supporters of the repercussions of this powerful movement.

As the declaration of the ATPC notes, one of the keys to victory was the international solidarity expressed day after day with the general strike in Guadeloupe. All who signed our Open Letters, organized delegations to the French Embassy and Consulates, organized forums, broadcast news on their shows, publicized this movement in their press and postings, and/or sent statements to the strikers in Guadeloupe contributed to this victory.

Thanks to all for your support.

In solidarity,

Eduardo Rosario and Alan Benjamin
For the ILC

********************

2) The Final Week of Negotiations

A tentative agreement was reached  In the wee hours of Friday morning, February 27. After the tentative agreement was announced, there was great joy and celebration in the streets of Guadeloupe. But over the weekend, the French authorities, through the French-appointed Prefect and the main employers' association, the MEDEF, went to the media to announce that an agreement had been reached and that everyone should go back to work on Monday.

This outraged the LKP Strike Collective and the workers and people of Guadeloupe. No agreement had been signed. And it was up to the Black majority on the island, organized in their own LKP Strike Collective, the only recognized leadership of the mass movement, to announce whether the strike was to end or whether it was to continue. It was not up to the Beké, the white ruling elite on the island, and its colonial paymasters in France to speak on behalf of the strikers -- especially when they had not signed an agreement.

The people felt that the government and the employers were trying to pull a fast one; that is, end the strike without signing a binding agreement. And there was additional reason for resentment and distrust: Two weeks earlier, the French Minister of Overseas Departments and Territories, Yves Jégo, had announced during his trip to Guadeloupe, where he had joined the negotiating team, that he supported the LKP Strike Collective's demand for a 200 euro increase in the monthly minimum wage. But no sooner had Jégo made this declaration than he was disavowed by French Prime Minster Francois Fillon and ordered back to Paris. This dashed the people's hope that the strike would come to an end, with a victory for the workers.

On Monday, March 2, the LKP Strike Collective disclosed the tentative agreement: All the main demands of the strikers had been won. Negotiations were to resume late Monday morning with the Prefect, the MEDEF, and the Small Business Employers' Association to finalize and sign the agreement.

But there was now a hitch: The MEDEF employers' association now reneged on the part of the agreement involving the 200 euro increase in the minimum wage. According to the agreement, the French government would pay 100 euros per worker (out of the 200 euro increase) for a period of three years by releasing the employers from paying into pension and healthcare funds for the workforce -- but after three years, that extra charge would have to be paid once again by the employers organized in the MEDEF. Now the MEDEF was demanding that the French government assume that 100 euro charge indefinitely.

This sent things back to Paris. From the morning of Monday, March 2 to the evening of Wednesday, March 5, heated and angry debates, negotiations and mass mobilizations organized by the LKP Strike Collective were the order the day in Guadeloupe.

Ultimately the workers and people of Guadeloupe prevailed. At 8 p.m. on March 4, an agreement was signed: A First Victory -- a huge victory -- had been won!

-- Alan Benjamin

**************************

3) GUADELOUPE: BACKGROUND FROM THE ILC INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER
(reprinted from Issue No. 325, February 25, 2009)

The ILC distributes the LKP's call for international solidarity

Emergency Call
LIYANNAJ KONTE PWOFITASYON
A Collective Fighting Against Exploitation

Workers, young people, pensioners, fighters for a more just Guadeloupe.

For the past five weeks tens of thousands of Guadeloupeans have been on the streets to denounce the exploitation they suffer as a result of the colonial system that still exists in Guadeloupe, the powers granted to the status quo, and submission of political representation.
It was necessary to say No!
- No, to unemployment afflicting more than 30% of the population, or 50,000 men and women.
- No to job insecurity, poverty that affects over 60,000 homes.
- Not to the exclusion, discrimination in hiring that prohibits young people, the main component of the population (over 40% of the population is under 25 years) any life plans.
- No to the destruction of public education, which casts nearly 1,000 young people each year into the streets with no qualifications.
- No to economic blackmail organized by importers and distributors by dealers with the political support and financial assistance from the French State, which pushes up the price of utilities (electricity, fuel, transportation, gas, rent) and of goods so that that they are now inaccessible to families.
- No to the poisoning of agricultural land, land speculation and real estate, to the disappearance of local production, which allows the importation of over 80% of what is consumed locally.
- Not to taxation, the taxation of community and state, and the exorbitant profits of merchants and financial institutions.
- No to the hoarding of the wealth ...
- Not to blackmail, layoffs, and anti-union repression which would require more than 60,000 employees to accept 1000 euros in net monthly salary under the pretext of the crisis, of realism, and love for Guadeloupe.
- No to the destruction of our ecological heritage, no to environmental crimes.

Since December 16, LIYANNNAJ KONTE PWOFITASYON, a true federation of 49 organizations of various unions, associations, political, cultural, and consumers organizations, decided to manifest the discontent and demands of the people and raise them to those in power.

LIYANNNAJ KONTE PWOFITASYON (LKP) has given voice to the voiceless and given expression to all voices of the people.
Today, despite tens of thousands of proud, dignified protestors in the streets, despite hours and hours of negotiations, after the assassination of the militant trade unionist and CGTG activist of Akiyo, Jacques BINO, the French government and the Guadeloupe bosses are still refusing to meet the just demands and aspirations of the people. President Nicholas SARKOZY prefers to drown our demands in a magic formula "United assembly; status evolution." This is not the demand of the LKP.

To put an end to the conflict, they do suggest general measures (RSA, a bonus of 1500 euros per year exempt from taxes, ...), but they reject reforming their system. Clearly, the income of active solidarity (RSA) is a family allowance paid by the FCA, intended for families with low incomes, the RSA is the little brother of the RMI and the single parent allowance (API).

The RSA is not a salary but a benefit based on family status and not on the remuneration of work. For example for a single qualification and the same work, two employees with different family situations receive a different salary.

The famous bonus of 1500 Euros is a premium set by the law of December 3, 2008, intended to give employees the illusion of participation in the companies. This is not a wage increase.
Large employers and békés proposed at the last negotiating session, on February 20, 2009, a premium of between 50 and 70 euros. They expect that the State will fully fund the demand for a 200 euro wage raise, as has always been the case, through granting subsidies and tax exemptions of all kinds.

This is unacceptable, unacceptable!

Yet they all claim to have lost since the beginning of the strike hundreds of millions of euros. They have not changed since 1967, and they continue to say that the Negro ké ké yo fen woupran travay.
LKP and workers continue to demand in Guadeloupe a 200 euro net wage increase in the monthly minimum wage for private sector employees, the application of the guarantee of individual purchasing power and the compensation scheme for employees of the three public functions.

Contrary to the allegations suggesting that certain points have been granted, the LKP and the people of Guadeloupe demand more than ever, the continuation of negotiations and the satisfaction of all other items of immediate demands (lower prices - Implementation a moratorium of 4 years for the reform of teacher recruitment - Emergency Plan for Training and Youth Employment - Regulations of the carriers, fishermen and farmers, small Credit Associations - Taking account in the media and public building the language and culture of our country - Final resolution of ongoing conflicts - Abandonment of prosecutions related to the ongoing conflict ...).

The LKP and the people of Guadeloupe continue to demand the transformation of social relations, respect for fundamental freedoms, the right to live and work in dignity in the country, the end of exploitation.

The LKP makes this international call to workers' organizations, progressive organizations, anticapitalist and anti-colonial organizations in France and the last colonies of France to continue and strengthen their support and mobilizations.

The general strike CONTINUES!
Workers and people of Guadeloupe, in memory and respect for Jacques BINO, let us reinforce and amplify the mobilization and solidarity in all enterprises in all sectors in the streets, neighborhoods, and families!

Workers and people of Guadeloupe: Continue the fight to expose and oppose all repression: both that conducted by the police and the courts against our youth and that conducted by the employers who refuse to pay wages for strikers and supporters!
 
NOU Peke Lage!
All Out to Support our Negotiations!
Monday 23 February 2009 at 11 h00 at the Port Authority.
Meet at 08H00 Douvan the bik, Lapwent.
 L.K.P Lapwent on 21.02.09

-----
Strike Journal

The situation in Guadeloupe
In issue 323 of the ILC International Newsletter we reproduced an article from the newsletter Travaye e Peyizan, edited by Mouvmant Travaye é Peyizan, a Guadeloupean organization linked to the ILC. The following correspondence was send to us since this last publication.

* Tuesday February 10, 2009

Now the strike has been renewed after a press conference of the LKP Collective reaffirmed its platform and the 200 euro demand in particular.
More than 5,000 people traveled for more than 4 hours from the industrial area of Jarry ("the economic lung of Guadeloupe") in the late morning in response to the call of the Strike Collective.

* Wednesday February 11 , 2009
The contacts were renewed with the Secretary of State, who arrived the day before, at his request. After meeting with elected officials (Presidents of the General and Regional Councils) and the employer separately in the early morning, it was the turn of the Collective at 11:15. After apologizing for her hasty and discourteous departure and the arrest of members of the Collective, a delegation composed of 6 general secretaries of trade unions began discussions with the 2 mediators of the General Directorate of Labor to prepare the conditions for discussing the raise of the minimum wage by 200 euros.

These discussions should be continued tomorrow morning. A meeting is also scheduled during the day between the Collective and elected politicians at the request of the latter.

The negotiation could resume in the afternoon or on Friday February 13 under the mediation of the work directors.
Yves Jégo [French Minister of Overseas Departments and Territories] visited Martinique on Thursday morning; he left for France to attend a council of ministers on Friday.

At 6 pm a thousand small businesses met the Collective at its request. Some have said that they could pay the ¤ 200 immediately, others demanded a deal to be worked out. They affirmed their commitment to prohibit Medef [the large employers' association] in Guadeloupe from speaking on their behalf and now they will participate in the negotiations.

A meeting is scheduled Thursday night at 19 h30 at the Palais de la Mutualité.
* Thursday February 12, 2009
The Strike Collective ceased to meet with the so-called mediators who spend their time putting pressure on the delegation and calling on them to scale back their demands, and the Collective reiterated its willingness to resume negotiations on the basis of the pre-agreement of Sunday, February 8.

A meeting between the Collective and the presidents of the General Councils was held in the afternoon at the request of the latter. This did nothing. The evening rally took place with more than 5,000 people.

* Friday February 13, 2009

Strike Collective caravans with hundreds of Guadeloupeans traveled Guadeloupe distributing a leaflet with the recent speeches in all municipalities. It was a real success. An electronic message "of a certain silent majority" called for a demonstration in the Jarry industrial area "to give voice to the overwhelming majority" on February 14 at 9 am. At the last moment it was canceled or postponed. Was it a provocation mounted to suppress the movement?
* Saturday February 14 , 2009

Events in the Mouse Commune were organized by the Committee Fevry LKP 52 and to pay tribute to 5 people of the commune (workers and strikers) who were murdered on February 14, 1952 by mobile guards sent by the colonial power after a strike by industrial workers and the agricultural plant of Gardel. About 80,000 people participated.

The cultural groups of the Collective organized for the public, following the demonstration, choreography to the sound of KA, at a high volume commensurate with the movement.

Christiane Taubira, arrived yesterday evening in Guadeloupe for 3 days to support the Collective and took the floor and was highly acclaimed.

A trade union official, in his speech, emphasized the healthy side of the movement "for a month no accidents, no aggression," he said ...

A delegation of the Socialist Party (PS) is now in Guadeloupe. Is there a connection with the declarations of the presidents of CG and CR? They offer on the negotiation on wages: 100 ¤ (50 for each community); monthly premium for 3 months (remember they had already proposed a premium of 300 ¤ including 150 for each) while the "social partners" reach an agreement on wages. They called on the collective to ease the strike by allowing the opening of schools in particular. They also said that there should be "the foundation of the people of Guadeloupe" in order to move towards a statutory evolution of Guadeloupe.

The UGTG informed the group of the their Appeal in May to hold a conference of the last colonies of France.

* Sunday February 15, 2009
There was a meeting a delegation of the Collective with the delegation of the French Socialist Party including former Secretary of State for the Colonies, Christian Paul.

Meeting of all the Collective with Christiane Taubira.

We learned yesterday about the arrival of 300 additional mobile guards.

These forces of repression are increasingly provocative, for example: in the airports they follow around all the striking workers. They control all vehicles coming to the airport, including those with the red ribbon symbol of sympathy with the movement.

At any time repression may fall on the movement since the French government shows no sign of willingness to resume negotiations.

Despite the tireless struggle of the collective Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon (LKP), the employers and the French state are letting the situation deteriorate.

Instead of actually facilitating the negotiations, the representatives of the French state shirked their responsibilities (first it was the departure of the Prefect from the bargaining table on January 28; then there was the flight of the Secretary of State for Overseas Departments on February 8; followed by the denial of commitments by the French State) while they brought to Guadeloupe an additional 2,000 mobile gendarmes. What happened was predictable.

Workers and young people do not accept violence against trade unionists and the population by the forces of repression. On the night of February 17 a CGTG trade unionist was killed by bullets; we do not yet know the exact circumstances behind the killing, but the crocodile tears are raining down.
The Caribbean Workers and Peoples Alliance, ATPC, denounced the role of employers and the State that aim to weaken the movement and then create the situation we see today. The ATPC has appealed to organizations in the Caribbean to condemn this repression and to demand the immediate reopening of negotiations and the satisfaction of all the demands.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE WORKERS AND THE PEOPLE OF GUADELOUPE!

------
[The following announcement of the Association of Workers and Peoples of Guadeloupe, ATPC, summarizes what happened from February 16 to 18, 2009.]

* Pointe à Pitre on February 18, 2009
Arrival of a delegation from the International Liaison Committee on February 18 in the afternoon.

* February 18-19 , 2009.

It took a Guadelupean to be killed for the Prime Minister and President of France to speak.
* February 23 , 2009

Appeal from the UGTG to the OS of France

"At the call of 49 organizations, including all trade unions in Guadeloupe, including the UGTG, a general strike began on January 20, 2009 to demand from employers and the state: (....)

On February 8, after 18 hours of negotiations, a pre-agreement on wages was established between the parties under the mediation of the Secretary of State for Overseas and services of the Directorate of Labor. This pre-agreement was to provide 108 million euros from the State to the companies. The Secretary of State then fell back on his old position, undermining the agreement, and obliging the general strike movement to continue.

After the death of a trade unionist on the night of February 17-18, the French Prime Minister and President say they want to calm "the crisis -- a social crisis", but do they offer to increase wages? Instead they offer a premium exempt from social security contributions based on the RSA active solidarity revenue, including for employees with a 1.4 minimum wage.

This is nothing but a handout "to help the poor" offered to workers in the guise of wage increases.

Furthermore, this provision, like those before (RMI, API) because of the conditions of its application and because of the adverse effects it will generate, could dismantle even more the Guadeloupean family.

The bosses are not better: This so-called proposal allows them to make proposals to increase minimum wages by 70 ¤ or 50 ¤. It is contempt for workers in Guadeloupe, who are not asking for charity, but who demand a more exact payment for their work. We cannot accept this.

We will resume talks with the bosses in the presence of the State representative with a desire to negotiate for the ¤ 200 as it is possible if the other parties are motivated by the same desire.

We turn to you so that you can tell the workers and the public the reality of our demands, as opposed to government propaganda and media outlets who say those involved in the general strike and especially trade unions are political extremists, promoting racial anger and violence.

Workers of Guadeloupe and their organizations for 5 weeks have exercised the utmost responsibility.
* February 23-24, 2009

Negotiations resumed at 11.30 am yesterday in the presence of organizations, unions and the state representative, the Prefect of Mediators with the Ministry of Labor and the Labor Department of Guadeloupe.
Worker representatives made a proposal requesting from the State the abolition of the CSG and CRDS, which are between 100 to 120 ¤. Faced with the refusal of employers, Medef, and the Prefect, Guadeloupean bosses (UCEG, UPA, a group of carriers, ...) who are now the majority have made the following proposal to grant ¤ 200 immediately:

- 50 ¤ from their bodies;
- 50 ¤ to be paid as a result of bank loans guaranteed by the Communities (the Presidents of the CR and CG, have stalled after a time, said OK, this corresponds to 40 million ¤).
- ¤ 100 recovered by suspending the CSG and the CRDS for 3 years, the time to return to normal operation based on the award of contracts, .... (This is part of the platform of demands LKP).
Note that this proposal was endorsed by trade unions and GCPME.

Medef offers 50 ¤, 70 ¤, 90 ¤ (excluding 90 ¤ for the following sectors: hospitality, construction, cleaning, security, agriculture sectors covered by collective agreements or agreements branches) . We were able to isolate Medef who is alone with fewer than 500 companies employing 3 to 4,000 workers, out of the 49,000 employees involved.

We await the response of the Prefect at the resumption of negotiations that must take place at 11am this morning.

The Movement continues!

Faced with this situation we call for the strengthening of solidarity.

Guadeloupe, February 24, 2009, 19:30.

***************************

Dear All,

It's Wednesday evening here in San Francisco.

The press in Guadeloupe and France announced this morning that a final agreement should have been signed today that granted the workers and people of Guadeloupe the overwhelming majority of the demands for which they have staged a nationwide general strike since January 20. As of this writing, I have not heard from folks in Guadeloupe to find out if this is what occurred.

As you know, a tentative agreement was reached late last week. In the wee hours of Friday morning, after the tentative agreement was announced, there was great joy and celebration in the streets of Guadeloupe. [See attached photo.] But over the weekend the French authorities, through the French-appointed Prefect, or Governor, and the main employers' association, the MEDEF, went to the media to announce that an agreement had been reached and that everyone should go back to work on Monday.

This outraged the LKP Strike Collective and the workers and people of Guadeloupe. No agreement had been signed. And it was up to the Black majority on the island, organized in their own LKP Strike Collective, the only recognized leadership of the mass movement, to announce whether the strike was to end or whether it was to continue. It was not up to the Beké, the white ruling elite on the island, and its colonial paymasters in France to speak on behalf of the strikers -- especially when they had not signed an agreement.

The people felt that the government and the employers were trying to pull a fast one; that is, end the strike without signing a binding agreement. And there was additional reason for resentment and distrust: Two weeks earlier, the French Minister of Overseas Departments and Territories, Yves Jégo, had announced during his trip to Guadeloupe, where he had joined the negotiating team, that he supported the LKP Strike Collective's demand for a 200 euro wage increase. But no sooner had he made this declaration than he was disavowed by French Prime Minster Francois Fillon and ordered back to Paris. This dashed the people's hope that the strike would come to an end, with a victory for the workers.

On Monday, March 2, the LKP Strike Collective disclosed the tentative agreement: All the main demands of the strikers had been won. Negotiations were to resume late Monday morning with the Prefect, the MEDEF, and the Small Business Employers' Association to finalize and sign the agreement.

But there was now a hitch: The MEDEF employers' association now reneged on the part of the agreement involving the 200 euro increase in the minimum wage. According to the agreement, the French government would pay 100 euros per worker (out of the 200 euro increase) for a period of three years by releasing the employers from paying into pension and healthcare funds for the workforce -- but after three years, that extra charge would have to be paid once again by the employers organized in the MEDEF. Now the MEDEF was demanding that the French government assume that 100 euro charge indefinitely.

This sent things back to Paris. For the past three days, heated and angry debates, negotiations and mobilizations have been the order of the day in Guadeloupe.

I hope to get a report first thing tomorrow morning from Guadeloupe. I will keep you posted as soon as I hear something.

Thanks again for your interest and support,

In solidarity,

Alan Benjamin

Dear Friends:

Here is the latest update on the situation in Guadeloupe, based on a report issued Monday, March 2nd, at 8 a.m. by Robert Fabert. Here is the report:

The largest LKP Strike Assembly to date last night (Sunday, March 1) voted to maintain the general strike.

Why?

Because despite the tentative agreement that was reached with the French authorities and local employers' associations on Feb. 27 [see below], no final agreement has been signed yet -- and also because the French authorities and the bosses, based on that tentative agreement, went to the media and told the people of Guadeloupe that an agreement had been reached, that the strike was over, and that everyone should go back to work Monday morning.

The angry crowd at the Assembly said that it is up to the people, who organized this general strike for  six weeks, and NOT the government, to decide whether the strike continues or it does not continue. They also denounced the French authorities for telling the press that the strike was over when nothing had been signed; all that existed was a tentative agreement.

The Prefect of Guadeloupe announced late last night, in the aftermath of the Strike Assembly, that he would bring the final agreed-upon proposal to the LKP Strike Collective this morning for their final review and approval. There is a meeting scheduled at 6 p.m. with the Prefect to sign the agreement, provided nothing has been modified from the previous tentative agreement -- which cannot be excluded.

Throughout the day there will be mobilizations and general assemblies of the picket line committees, barricade committees, neighborhood committees, food distribution committees, cultural committees, etc.

The LKP Strike Collective also has scheduled a meeting with the Employers Association to review the final agreement regarding lowering the prices on 100 basic staples and other retail items.

There will be a mass assembly of the LKP Strike Collective at 9 p.m. tonight to vote on whether the conditions have been met for the workers and people to end the general strike. If the authorities don't try to pull another fast one, and if the tentative agreement has not been modified under pressure from Paris (which, again, is possible), it appears that the conditions will have been gathered to end the strike -- as the workers and people, through their determined struggle, will have won the majority of their demands, including all their main economic demands.

*******************

Notes about the Tentative Agreement

The first breakthough in the general strike took place on Feb. 24, when the local employers' association agreed to a formula that would grant increase the monthly minimum wage by 200 euros.

Negotiations with the French government resumed Feb. 26. After a marathon session, an agreement granting both the 200 euro minimum wage increase, as well as across-the-board-wage increases for workers with higher wages was reached in the wee hours of Feb. 27.

The agreement grants a 200 euro monthly increase to workers making the minimum wage, or SMIC, and up to 1.4 times the minimum wage. All workers making between 1.5 and 1.6 times the minimum wage get a 6% pay increase. Workers making 1.7 times the minimum wage or more get a 3% wage increase.

Negotiations continued on Feb. 27 on the remaining core demands of the LKP Strike Collective. By the end of the day, the French government accepted the large bulk of the workers' demands. The main additional demands that were agreed to by the government include the following:

- lowering of cost of 100 basic staples and items

- lowering of all utility costs, including lowering of water costs by 6%

- agreement to increase enrollment in schools and universities to Guadeloupans

- subsidies to public transportation to lower costs of public transit

- payment of pensions -- and increased pensions -- for agricultural and other workers

- provisions to aid the fishing and agricultural workers and industries.

Many other demands were also agreed to.