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netherlands / germany / austria |
workplace struggles |
news report
Monday June 14, 2010 17:00 by FAU
About 50 people gathered in the biggest hall of Berlin's Higher Court on the morning of June 10th. They were waiting for the decision on the FAU Berlin's appeal on whether they could call themselves a union. Only 15 minutes into the trial, the judge delivered the verdict. The injunction is overturned; the ban is repealed; the crowd goes wild. The court emphasized how weak the plaintiff's arguments were. The Babylon Mitte cinema management, where the employees and the FAU have been waging an effective labor struggle since last year, insisted on their point of view: The FAU Berlin is only aloud to call itself a union, if it has proven it has the capacity to conclude collective agreements. This refers to Berlin's Labor Court decision to grant an injunction to Babylon's management banning a boycott call made by the FAU Berlin. That judge justified his decision by saying the FAU Berlin isn't what case law traditionally considers a union with the capacity to conclude collective agreements. Only such union are legally allowed to take job action, i.e. call for boycotts.
Sekt Bottles Pop
After the court case, there was a manifestation in front of the courthouse. Hector Feliciano of the Spanish CNT-IWA and André Eisenstein of the French CNT, who both attended as trial observers, congratulated the FAU Berlin on their judicial victory. "A union is more than a piece of paper; it exists in our hearts, heads, and our actions," said Laure Akai of the Polish ZSP-IWA to the gathering. Klaus Stähle, the lawyer who had defended the FAU in this case, made clear what the court meant with its ruling: "The Babylon Cinema has to live with the fact that you are a union!" The crowd then moved on to a spontaneously demonstration—this time in front of the cinema. Chants like "FAU-IWA, the union, is here to stay" were chanted through the window of Babylon Manager Timothy Grossman. |
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Jump To Comment: 1Congratulations, this is most certainly an important victory for your organisation and opens up numerous possibilities of work for the future... it is interesting the point Laure makes when she says that a union lives in our hearts and actions: we are accustomed to understand a union by means of legal definitions, whether a union is just a group of workers sticking together in defence of their class interests. Whether the law accepts it or not is a secondary matter -indeed, all unions were illegal in the beginning of the workers movement!
This point remains more relevant than ever with the changes in the economic structure over the last while where thousands of workers cannot legally organise, but they need to. This point was also raised in a recent meeting of sugar cane cutters in Colombia, where the law do not allow them to organise because of the way in which they are hired, but they organise anyway and have won important struggles. Law should not be considered in any case as the limit for our organisational endeavours but only a tool.
Whatever the case, well done and congratulations on this victory that was only possible because YOU ARE actually a union (whether the boss likes it or not), a union of workers sticking firmly together and carrying relevant labour agitation. Cheers!