(en) France, Alternative Libertaire AL #249 - Social
dialogue: Disagree! (fr, it, pt) [machine translation]
The discussions aimed at "modernizing" the reports employers / unions have not reached
common ground early in the year. Good for the workers camp. The episode once again showed
the difference between combat and support unionism unionism. ---- Representative trade
unions and employers' organizations at the national level were taken by the government to
open negotiations on the "modernization of social dialogue". "Modernization" that wanted
to get us back a century back, from a draft agreement written by the MEDEF. Several areas
have been a real war on the part of employers' organizations: merger of IRP in one
instance (the German model falsely co-manager), the "works council", bringing together
some of the current powers with the total term breaks for staff representation tools;
disappearance of HSC in small and medium enterprises and transformation of this instance
to a single committee in the other; significant limitation of the concept of establishment
by removing countless IRP; reversal of the hierarchy of norms with the priority of company
agreements on legislative standards without legal minimum; Almost right end of expertise
by submitting it to the employer's agreement; etc.
The consideration offered? A representation of the employee-es in companies with fewer
than ten employees es by regional joint committees... are not allowed to intervene in a
company. And especially a "recognition and valuation" of militants course, at the request
of the CFDT.
Fault lines
This "negotiation" alone can observe the dividing lines between unionism and accompanying
struggle unionism - although the latter camp includes within it many contradictions, not
least as ambiguous positions at times, or lack of will to translate the rhetoric into
action. Several lessons can be learned from the negotiation phase:
- This was to attack the IRP to have less resistance in companies, trying in this way then
to attack primarily to union presence in companies.
- Social recognition is at the heart of social relations for part of French trade
unionism: "social dialogue that accentuates and perpetuates domination"[1].
- There is an integration of part of organized labor in the capitalist system instead of
the class struggle, through regular counterparts and reserved for the bureaucracy.
- There has been a negotiation "technical" and unrelated forces, such as the law of
"security of employment" in 2013, will deprive employee-es real debates and mobilization
capacity to cope, with the design of negotiation as uncreative additional rights.
- Lack of vis-à-vis the government or political parties independence with the damage that
one yet knows: "Those who can not rehash the past are condemned to repeat it. "[2]
The new rights, it is now!
More than thirty years after the famous Auroux laws - which although insufficient will
remembered for their symbol and significant advances on staff representation - we must
revive the offensive on the new rights.
Starting from the everyday and concrete things in union teams with staff, the debate on
the role of IRP should be at the heart of discussions on what we want to do and
questions-claims that we carry: economic control of the company. By asking companies to
account, leading struggles on wages hierarchy of questions and then sharing wealth,
breaking the link between disciplinary power and detention of capital, IRP are tools and
organizational framework Further that open gaps in the current capitalist governance.
It is certainly not possible to consider that we can set up a "social democracy" in this
context, since the contradictions will be felt quickly; provided, lay the groundwork with
transitional measures can give meaning to a project company that we build every day.
Defending representative bodies and conquer new rights by mobilizing and convincing
colleagues undoubtedly go through alternative trade practices, to build and to work for
the individual and collective emancipation: IRP is a path with multiple facets to get
there, and eventually ask the question clearly reclaiming "our" means of production, so
both pragmatic and realistic.
RoberK (AL Montreuil)
[1] According to Gérard Gourguechon, The alter Papers No. 67, www.lescahiersdalter.fr
[2] According to George Santayana.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Dialogue-social-Pas-d-accord
