Industrial Workers of the World

Wildcats; over 15,000 Bangladeshi garment workers "go berserk" and attack factories over non-payment and low wages Two major outbreaks of garment workers' fury have occurred this week. http://libcom.org/news/wildcats-over-15000-bangladeshi-garment-workers-go-berserk-attack-factories-over-non-paymen

On Sunday night (May 10) at the Rupashi Sweater factory in Narayanganj (a river port town in central Bangladesh and centre of jute and textiles industries) bosses were attacked by a group of workers demanding their unpaid wages. When they turned up for work on Monday morning, workers found themselves locked out of the factory.

The workers then marched to other factories - shouting slogans for higher wages - and brought out thousands of other workers. (Some reports indicate that two groups of workers clashed at one factory - whether because they refused to join the demonstrators and/or because they were hurt when the factory was attacked is unclear. Photos suggest the clash may have been between workers and security and management personnel of the factory attacked.)

The violence quickly spread - 15,000 workers came out on to the streets and around 14 factories were attacked and vandalised. 15 vehicles were damaged as two main inter-city highways were blocked for 4 hours; the roads became a battleground between police and paramilitary forces (including the recently mutinous Bangladeshi Rifles) and enraged workers. Huge numbers of security forces used teargas and baton charges to finally disperse the workers by 1pm.

At Savar (also in central Bangladesh, a center of textiles and agriculture) garment workers used similar tactics. The bosses had earlier promised payment of three months owed wages. After failing to receive the arrears, on Monday afternoon hundreds of workers at the Doel Group factory first smashed some windows and office equipment; they then walked off the job and barricaded the busy main highway for over an hour. Police arrived; "A witness said that the garment workers went berserk after police clubbed them."

A furious battle began, with workers using sticks and bricks to repulse baton charges. Police and paramilitaries resorted to tear gas and rubber bullets, finally clearing the area at 4pm. Workers trashed over 30 vehicles, including a police van. 50 people, including cops, were injured and one worker suffered a bullet injury. These incidents are entirely typical of the increasing unrest in the garment industry.

Real wages have declined as inflation rises; indicating how precarious and malnourished much of the workforce is, workers are now being given temporary food rations as an alternative to permanent wage increases. The situation in Bangladesh and in other countries all over the world for the workers in key industries is deplorable.

It's upsetting to me that people believe "there is no proletariat," even as it is today the largest class of people on Earth, and the conditions of the proletariat today - and oftentimes their methods of struggle - are eerily reminiscent of those conditions and methods described in "The Conditions of the Working Class in 1844," by Frederick Engels. The only difference is that in the first world those conditions are hidden by spectacle, and in the so-called third world the lives of the workers are obfuscated and ignored completely by first world peoples - with the result that struggling and oppressed workers in the United States do not imagine that the great majority of Americans and of Earth's population share their class situation.

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Workers Pressure Bank to Keep Clothier’s U.S. Plants Open

Hartmarx, known for its Hart Schaffner & Marx and Hickey Freeman suits, and for making President Obama’s inauguration tuxedo and topcoat, has long been America’s leading clothier for men. Now its workers want to make the company, which is in bankruptcy, a leader in a different way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/business/12hartmarx.html?_r=1&dlbk

Historic "sit in" vote: Mirroring the six-day protest that helped save more than 250 Republic Windows and Doors workers from losing their jobs last December, Hartmarx workers voted unanimously this morning in favor of a "sit in" style action. This means that if Wells Fargo or a new owner tries to begin liquidation or close the factory, the workers will respond by physically occupying the factory.

With more than 3,000 jobs hanging in the balance, employees want the factory's largest creditor and recipient of $25 billion in taxpayers' bailout funds, Wells Fargo, to help it reorganize instead of shutting it down. The public is standing behind the 130-year-old company and slamming Wells Fargo for shortsightedly refusing to invest in U.S. companies and workers. Workers United members at Hartmarx vote to "sit-in" if bailed-out bank stands them up On May 11, Workers United members at the Illinois Hartmarx facility voted unanimously to occupy their workplace if chief lender Wells Fargo moves to shut the factory down. "The vote today says Hartmarx workers are going to hold banks accountable for how they spend taxpayers' money and how they contribute to the future of our economy," said Noel Beasley, Executive Vice President of Workers United. http://www.workersunitedunion.org/content/workers-united-members-hartmarx-stand-bailed-out-bank

VIDEO A short documentary shot at the Hart Schaffner Marx factory in Des Plaines, IL on May 7 and May 11, 2009. Footage by Kai-Duc Luong. Produced by Heather Stone for the SEIU Illinois State Council. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmem3pSy-uQ

Union members at the Hart Schaffner Marx factory in Des Plaines, IL rally on May 7, 2009 to urge creditor Wells Fargo to keep the company intact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvCBfs5CN9M&feature=related

CLASS WAR? http://athomehesaturista.wordpress.com/

Class war - Strategy and struggle - anarcho-syndicalism in the 21st century

http://libcom.org/library/strategy-struggle-anarcho-syndicalism-21st-century

http://libcom.org/library/frontline-anarchists-work