The Teachers' Strike & Syndicalism in Portugal

But there is another kind of syndicalism, another way to defend our rights and to relate to each other. It is alive within anti-authoritarian, non-party dependent, grassroots syndicalism, anarchist-inspired, committed only to decisions taken in assembly.

The Teachers' Strike & Syndicalism in Portugal

Whether or not we are in this union or that, we all have the right and the duty to analyze these actions. We should consider that a strike is not enough, and could never be, given the present situation.

But at least this strike was enough to show one thing: it revealed the true face of this authoritarian government, which rejects any dialogue. But we should also be asking ourselves if the teachers' unions are really at the required level and if they are up to the fights and challenges that will become ever more pressing. In this era of neo-liberalism and capitalist globalisation, it is important to watch the practices of unions - especially European ones - to see what can we learn from the experiences of others. Would any union in any western European country ever appeal for workers to go through with such a difficult strike as this one - at a time when secondary school students are facing their final exams - without having really listened to not only their activists, but the whole profession, in plenums and assemblies, where all would have the right to express themselves and to vote?

Of course not! Because only such broad consultation would ensure the cohesion to face the repressive acts which would most probably occur collectively(*).

Furthermore, these assemblies would be a decisive factor in the participation rate in this strike, a real and effective way of mobilizing.

So, the union structures were driven by dissatisfied teachers in general and by their own membership to declare a strike, but: (1) they didn’t promote, in a generalized way, assemblies that would ratify the strike proposals and (2) didn’t made the slightest mobilization effort (they just printed posters and leaflets, but were not even able to distribute these efficiently!

This says a lot about the comatose state of the unions in this country. And it has been happening for quite some time now. The fact that the bureaucrats cling to power is like the captain who chooses to go down with his ship. But, in this case, without any honour or glory. The analysis is proved correct: they have been responsible for generations of educated people such as our younger fellow teachers who cannot see any reason to join a union, which they consider to be simply fronts for political parties.

But there is another kind of syndicalism, another way to defend our rights and to relate to each other.

It is alive within anti-authoritarian, non-party dependent, grassroots syndicalism, anarchist-inspired, committed only to decisions taken in assembly. It is a syndicalism where there are no "chiefs" or "leaders", only people mandated by their equals, whose mandate is recallable at any moment on the decision of the assembly and where bureaucracy and union "professionals" are not accepted.

(*) In fact, the Ministry for Education is threatening the teachers who went on strike with disciplinary measures, based upon an illegal "minimal service" decree.

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Article from "Luta Social", No.4 Bulletin of the "Luta Social" Anti-Authoritarian Class-Struggle Collective, Lisbon

The PDF file of the Bulletin can be downloded from Anarkismo.net at:
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=785