A-Infos (en) iwa-ait: International Week Against Unpaid Wages supported by unions in 14 countries (ca)

During the third week of October (12th-18th) the first International Week Against 
Unpaid Wages took place. It was established by the International Workers' 
Association (IWA/AIT) to highlight the phenomenon of unpaid wages and how we can 
fight it in the anarchosyndicalist manner. The IWA secretariat, Priama Akcia (PA) 
and other unions wrote their statements regarding the topic. Furthermore, unions 
of the IWA informed about the Week in the countries they are active and reminded 
their older or actual conflicts related to the issue. Here is the summary of all 
activities from 14 countries and our evaluation of the Week. (Note: To view 
photos and videos go to the source on the website of Priama Akcia union: 
https://priamaakcia.sk/International-Week-Against-Unpaid-Wages-supported-by-unions-in-14-countries.html)

POLAND
Zwiazek Syndykalistów Polski (ZSP, Union of Syndicalists of Poland) is one of the 
IWA unions with a long list of conflicts for payment of owed wages. On the 
occasion of the Week the ZSP prepared an extensive and valuable material in 
English about the issue of unpaid wages and concrete struggles for winning them 
back which can be downloaded here: 
https://iwa-ait.org/content/zsp-fighting-back-international-week-action-against-unpaid-wages. 
The union participated by doing other activities as well.

On Sunday 11th October two live streams were broadcasted about the issue. One in 
English and one in Polish. The following topics were discussed: the IWA, various 
forms of non-payment of wages, concrete conflicts of the IWA unions, the 
importance of fighting back even in cases where small amounts of money is owed 
etc. ZSP member also mentioned that the union planned to join the Week by 
organizing direct actions for unpaid wages, but they won two conflicts the week 
before and another was about start a bit later (and it eventually did, on 26th 
October in form of a protest against unpaid wages and holidays in front of the 
Center for Education, Therapy and Diagnosis TuMiRaj in Warsaw).

Another action took place on 15th October in Warsaw. It was a protest in front of 
National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) against inaction and inability of this 
institution to fight problems on the labour market, mainly the unpaid wages.

Protest was organized also in Lodz, on 17th October 
(https://www.facebook.com/events/1448607108657015/) in front of local offices of 
ruling party PiS. In their speech the union mentioned that according to PIP data 
for 2019 the employers owed workers 102 million zloty (cca 22 million €) in 
unpaid wages and bonuses. It is expected that the data for 2020 will be even 
worse due to the effects of pandemic. ZSP refused the notion that the employers 
don't have the money and condemned their withholding on company accounts.

The union in Wroclaw set up a FB event between 14th-18th October, where people 
could write about their problems with unpaid wages, unpaid work after working 
hours or shortening of breaks. Also, people who won their owed wages could tell 
their stories.

SPAIN
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT-AIT, National Confederation of Labour) 
made actions in several Spanish towns.

On 15th October a picket took place against unpaid wages in La Boheme café in 
Albacete. Two days later the union organized a discussion about its experiences 
with struggles against unpaid wages. They talked about conflicts with some of the 
main hotel establishments and companies in the city, where direct action was the 
key factor that forced these companies to pay what they owed to comrades.

In Granada, the union organized a "mobile" picket on 16th October. They moved 
through the town and visited companies they currently have conflicts with. Stops 
were made in front of MIMIMI café, Joyerías Sánchez jewelry and finally a 
solidarity picket was organized in front of CeX, with which the union in 
Barcelona is in conflict. They also called people to contact the union in case of 
any workplace problems, so that they can fight them together.

On 17th October, union in Tarragona organized protest actions to point out at two 
companies that owe wages to comrades.

Similar mobile action as in Granada took place also in Barcelona on 17th October. 
Companies that owe wages and don't follow collective agreements (which is also 
the reason for the current conflict with company CeX) were targeted.

Other CNT-AIT unions informed about the Week on their social networks.

AUSTRIA
Very practical was the involvement of Wiener ArbeiterInnen-Syndikat (WAS, Vienna 
Workers Syndicate) in the Week - the union started a conflict with Seamox GmbH 
and organized a picket in front of their headquarters in Vienna on 15th October 
demanding payment of 5 800 € in owed wages to ex-worker.

Protest against Seamox was livened up by banners, speeches, music and chanting. 
The boss, instead of meeting the protesters, called the police and complained 
that he felt threatened.

Seamox is actually only one of four subcontractors involved in providing job for 
the IT technician (who, by accident, is a comrade from CNT-AIT union in Spain who 
worked in Vienna in November and December 2019). According to WAS the whole issue 
seems like a business model that servers to bypass the social security and paying 
of taxes.

"If our comrade from Spain does not get his wages and proper registration in 
relation to the social security is not done in upcoming days, another protest 
will be held against next subcontractor in line."

WAS is our sister organization with status Friends of the IWA and already won 
three conflicts this year, about which they informed on their website 
www.wiensyndikat.wordpress.com.

SLOVAKIA
We, as Priama akcia (PA, Direct Action), participated in various ways. Our aim 
was to show, that when people show interest and act, it is really possible to 
fight unpaid wages.

We started to promote the Week already in September by sharing the video prepared 
by the IWA secretariat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTTRjBFPBaw

At the beginning of October we published our statement regarding the topic and 
called on people to share their experiences and give us tips on companies that 
don't pay wages. For this purpose we also created a FB event, where we posted all 
the necessary information, activities and experiences.

We reminded ourselves to some of the companies we had conflict with in the past 
using stickers. Based on tips from people we also put stickers around a few other 
businesses in Bratislava and Senec, and upon request sent stickers to people 
outside Bratislava region.

During the week we published on a daily basis at least one case of successful 
struggle for owed wages in Slovakia or abroad (focusing mostly on struggles of 
the IWA unions). Four of them were accompanied by videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0xSaAGVAXg
PA conflict with CATO Agency

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVIxLVVP4KM
ZSP conflict with Impuls agency

https://youtu.be/B66oKFPCOjI
SolFed conflict with a café in Brighton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWxI7tyyCWE
Conflict of Solidarity Network from Most with Zepter International

Also, we mentioned our publication that was printed this year "Ako sme si 
poradili s problémami v práci: Spory zväzu Priama akcia v rokoch 2015-2019" (How 
we handled problems at work: Conflicts of Priama Akcia union in 2015-2019). Most 
of the conflicts were related to unpaid wages and we describe in detail actually 
how a conflict for workers' demands begins and develops and what is necessary to 
win. We compared some of the conflicts (three were from hospitality sector) and 
took into account their weaknesses and strengths. This and other our publications 
about solving workplace related problems can we found at nbz.priamaakcia.sk.

We also reprinted our text on unpaid wages from last year that deals with common 
problems related to contracts, pay slips, obstacles on the part of employer and 
signing of documents forced by the bosses.

UK
Solidarity Federation (SolFed) has lots of experience fighting the unpaid wages. 
Union in Bristol prepared a statement summarizing facts about the phenomenon in 
the UK Here is an excerpt:

"In 2018, the BBC reported that non-payment of even the national minimum wage was 
at a record high, with an estimated £15.6 million going unpaid to workers who 
were being paid below the already pitiful minimum wage. Social care, warehouse 
work and the so-called ‘gig economy' were the worst affected sectors. It's worth 
remembering that the UK minimum wage is already too low to be able to live on, 
even without wage theft; the same year, the Child Poverty Action Network reported 
that a single parent earning the national minimum wage would be an estimated £74 
per week short of the minimum income needed to meet basic needs.

Bosses have other tactics for stealing our pay. Wage theft tends to be "little 
and often" i.e. small amounts taken regularly, so the worker is impacted but 
doesn't feel able to speak out. Other common forms of wage theft include 
non-payment for trial shifts, unpaid holiday entitlement and not paying workers 
for their last shift. Workers under 25 and workers over 64 are the most likely to 
be affected. The worst sector for wage theft overall is the hospitality sector, 
including pubs, restaurants and hotels. Even in more lucrative industries like 
the media and creative arts, wage theft is common. Many workers reported being 
pressured to work above their contracted hours for no additional pay."

SolFed promoted statements of the IWA secretariat and PA, a member of Leeds union 
helped with graphics and, on 12th October, the union in Liverpool started an 
online public reading group focused on researching workplace struggles with the 
first session dedicated mostly to struggles against unpaid wages.

NORWAY
Norsk Syndikalistisk Forbund (NSF, Norwegian Syndicalist Federation) translated 
statements of PA and IWA secretariat into Norwegian and spread them on their 
website www.nsf-iaa.org and via e-mail. They also informed about two conflicts 
related to unpaid wages.

In the first case, NSF was contacted by a worker regarding unpaid wage. ZSP union 
showed support as well and sent a fax to the company stating that they will 
follow the case. This along with leaflets spread by NSF was enough to get the 
money back.

In another case, a member of NSF was not paid.

"Victories over unpaid wages disputes can be achieved without going public. A 
member of NSF who worked in an international fastfood chain didn't get her wages. 
We discussed the matter and it only took a weekend and the wages were paid," NSF 
explain their successful tactics.

NSF added that information about the Week were well-spread and well-received by 
people.

RUSSIA
Konfederacija revoljucionnych anarchosindikalistov (KRAS, Confederation of 
Revolutionary Anarchosyndicalists) informed us about the situation in the 
country, which makes it impossible to organize any protest activities. We quote:

"The totalitarian measures of de facto house arrest and terror with the help of 
fines, introduced by the Russian authorities this spring under the pretext of an 
epidemic, effectively deprived us of the opportunity to work outside the 
Internet. Even before that, it was very difficult to hold public events in Moscow."

Street protest with more than one person requires official permission. The last 
time KRAS tried to organize a protest in solidarity with workers with owed wages 
they were twice refused and any street actions in Moscow are prohibited and 
repressed now.

"In this situation, we are forced to confine ourselves to online propaganda 
activity, through our website and social networks. We continue to disseminate 
information about the strike movement in Russia and Ukraine (including strikes 
for the payment of wage arrears, which is now the main cause of strikes), about 
social protests in the world and the struggle of our comrades from other sections 
of the International Workers' Association. We are also actively campaigning 
against the totalitarian measures to trample on freedom, which are established by 
the authorities under the pretext of fighting the epidemic," comments KRAS.

We have to confirm that the website of KRAS is truly unique in the amount of 
published news about workers' movement in Russia and in the world. We recommend 
to read it with an online translator tool.

SWEDEN
Örestad LS (ÖLS, Örestad Local Group) informed about specific situation in 
Sweden. The union was able to succeed in all the cases of owed wages.

"So far we have never had to use demonstrations, pickets or other forms of direct 
action to get the companies to pay. They have paid when we have demanded it," 
explain ÖLS.

Furthermore, a state enforcement agency operates in the country that can be used 
to get owed wages. The union sometimes advises non-members to use it and those 
who did, always got their money back. However:

"This does not mean that it is not a problem in Sweden. It is! Particularly in 
the gig economy and among people working without papers. And ÖLS has been active 
together with other groups in organising and maintaining boycotts concerning pubs 
and restaurants that have used ‘slave labourers'. The latest boycott was this 
spring and was successful," continue ÖLS.

ÖLS took part in the Week mainly by promoting it on their website 
http://orestadls.wordpress.com and social networks. We were happy to hear from 
ÖLS that the activities of the IWA around the Week were very inspiring and they 
plan to take steps in further developing the union.

USA
Workers' Solidarity Alliance (WSA) is another organization with Friends of the 
IWA status. They informed about the Week on their social networks. In their 
statement they also pointed out to problems that are rather specific in the USA- 
unpaid tips and prison system with cheap if not slave labour (in recent years 
several strikes were organized in US prisons which the WSA supported).

AUSTRALIA
Anarchosyndicalist Federation (ASF) promoted the Week via their social networks 
and invited people to watch the live stream about the topic which was organized 
by the ZSP union from Poland.

SERBIA
Anarhosindikalisticka inicijativa (ASI, Anarchosyndicalist Initiative) promoted 
the Week by spreading the statement of the IWA secretariat in Serbian language on 
their social networks.

BULGARIA
Avtonomna Rabotniceska Konfederacija (ARK, Autonomous Workers Confederation) is 
not part of the IWA, but translated and promoted the statement of the IWA 
secretariat in Bulgarian language.

CZECHIA
Pražská solidární sít (Solis, Prague Solidarity Network) is also not part of the 
IWA, but it maintains comradely relations with our union and published our 
statement on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/solispraha.

GERMANY
Anarcho-Syndikalistisches Netzwerk (ASN, Anarchosyndicalist Network) from Koln is 
close to IWA and during the Week they spread posters in the streets calling 
people to fight for owed wages and contact ASN because it is easier to fight 
together.

Our evaluation of the first International Week Against Unpaid Wages

First of all a little bit of history. The idea to establish the Week came from PA 
last year (initially, we thought about a Day, not a Week). We elaborated our 
idea, presented it to the rest of the IWA unions and at the IWA Congress in 
Melbourne in December 2019 it was approved with amendment to make it a Week. Then 
we tried to make it as easiest as possible for all the unions to join the Week 
and helped also with the preparation of the IWA secretariat statement.

In one way or another 11 out of 18 currently existing organizations of the IWA 
took part in the Week. We have to keep in mind that some organizations have 
extremely difficult conditions for making activities and their members are in an 
unenviable existential situation due to the pandemic and state repression (mainly 
in Asia and Pacific).

We are happy about exchange of experiences with struggles that took place between 
the unions as well as sharing of information on the topic of unpaid wages in the 
countries they operate. Also, we had a good response on Facebook where people 
mentioned their experiences with unpaid wages.

All in all, we are satisfied with how the first International Week Against Unpaid 
Wages went on. We will evaluate it also on the level of IWA at its plenary 
meeting in summer 2021. Our main aim will be to contribute to making the 
struggles of the IWA unions against unpaid wages more effective and discuss 
possible activities during the next years' third week of October.

https://iwa-ait.org/content/international-week-against-unpaid-wages-supported-unions-14-countries-0
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en