Chronology of a conflict
By Alvinox73
Translated from the French version on his you-tube website at www.youtube.com/user/alvinox73:
Relay of information about the actions of Caterpillar workers fighting sackings and its capitalist management.!!! 733 employees threatened in France to please Caterpillar’s shareholders !Work more, consume more, destroy more, kill more or stop everything ?
Anger already exacerbated by three months of partial unemployment (with a loss of 30 per cent of revenue), the reaction was swift in coming and the workers have been relaying each other to maintain continuous rallies outside the two factory sites.
- 23 February 400 workers meet outside the Grenoble town hall.
- 26 February nearly 500 workers meet around burning tires and are soon joined by a hundred students and casuals.
- 27 February, factory stoppage. Striking picketers hold out the entire day, which finishes with the arrival of the police…
- 2 March, call for a strike and a new factory picket with an improvised canteen manned by supportive students and casuals.
Negotiations at a standstill. Management even dares to blackmail the people in line to lose their jobs (they say they will forget the ‘excesses’ if you accept their miserable redundancy bonuses nicely).
- 18 March, the workers decide to occupy the building. Following this first occupation, and the arrival of the police, the City nominates a mediator to advance negotiations.
- 19 March there is a national inter-union demonstration. After the demonstration of 19 March and at the General Assembly on “the convergence of struggles” which took place at the Labour Exchange [Bourse du travail], a collection of basic foodstuffs is organized to support the workers engaged in conflict.
- 23 March, 6 a.m. rally outside the Grenoble site.
- 25 March general meeting of Echirolles Caterpillar workers, plus industrial action in the town.
- 26 March between 300 and 400 workers set off at 9.30 a.m. wearing headbands inscribed “We will make them pay for their crisis”. Pickets at crossroads, railway stations, and light rail, accompany the entire demonstration .
- 27 March, rally outside the Enterprise Committee (CE) building. [CE : Comité d'Entreprise]
Actions carried out in town, meeting with Michel Destot [Left-wing parliamentary member representing Isere Department where Grenoble is]. An action at the Metro.
- 29 March, Caterpillar management refuses to recommence negotiations on the pretext of the presence of labourers on site.
Result:
31 March the workers arrived in a very upset state and decided to keep their management close by their sides (5 upper management) as long as was necessary to obtain satisfaction. The police took position around the Caterpillar site. Of the 5 executives, 4 remain on the Grenoble site.
- April 1st the executives are set free and the Director pays for 3 days strike.
- April 2, President Sarkozy promises to ‘save the site’.
- 7 April, DDTE picketed. [DDTE: Direction Départementale du Travail, et de l'Emploi - Departmental Management of Work and Employment] The two Caterpillar sites are evacuated. Redundancies fall from 733 to 600.
- 8 April, Caterpillar workers don’t want to meet with Sarkozy. Operation ‘Free Turnpike’ by Caterpillar workers.
- 9 April, support from subcontractor CMI which closes on 12 May and is sacking 48 people.
- 14 April, general meeting of Caterpillar workers in the Echirolle function room. The Caterpillar workers want to maintain pressure on management until the conclusion of negotiations.
- 15 April, Echirolles Grenoble Caterpillar site picketed.
- 16 April workers stop the CE and DDTE representatives from going in or out. Tension mounts at Echirolles, where police have been deployed outside the factory. 19 people are subpoenaed to appear before the High Court [TGI – trubunal de grande instance] for “impeding the freedom to work”.
Outside the High Court 16 April
- 17 and 18 April, occupation of Echirolles Caterpillar site.
The sackings are inflating the ranks of those who no longer have anything! The same people who produced riches for years for their boss are being thrown away like used tissues!
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