A-Infos (en) Brazil, OSL: Solidarity at six in La Suiza (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

From Brazil, we express our full internationalist solidarity with the 
six workers sentenced to prison for fighting for basic conditions at 
their workplace, the "La Suiza" confectionery factory in Gijón (Spain). 
---- At the beginning of 2017, a confectionery employee contacted her 
union, the CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo) of Gijón, due to 
precarious working conditions: working hours with little weekly rest, 
salary lower than agreed and overtime unpaid. Furthermore, she reported 
constant situations of moral and sexual harassment by her boss. For 
example: after finding out about the worker's pregnancy, the boss forced 
her to carry bags of flour which resulted in the risk of an involuntary 
miscarriage, which is why she was given medical leave. When both were 
alone, the boss would make embarrassing comments about the worker's 
underwear, insinuate inconvenient proposals, etc.

After the end of the leave, the worker did not feel comfortable 
returning to the workplace and demanded to leave the company. After 
several attempts at communication (mail, fax, informal conversations, 
email), the employer refused to hold any type of meeting. The CNT called 
for two acts to denounce working conditions. After the protests, the 
company called a meeting, which ended without agreement. After that, 
more demonstrations were called and a campaign of repression began. 
Three comrades were arrested when they left home, several activists were 
fined for various acts and the union itself was also punished. The 
employer began filing complaints against the union and its activists. In 
September 2017, after this conflict, the confectionery closed its doors 
and the conflict entered an exclusively judicial phase.

After several episodes of condemnation and instances in bourgeois 
justice, to date, 6 workers, five women and one man (including the 
worker in question), have been chosen as an example by the dominant classes.

In June this year, the Spanish supreme court's ruling on the case was 
issued. The decision ratified that these six people, who participated in 
concentrations between May and September 2017 in front of the La Suiza 
confectionery, will be sentenced to three and a half years in prison and 
compensation of 125,428 euros (more than R$700,000) to be paid to the 
employer. A conviction that, as collectives and unions denounced, "sets 
a dangerous precedent for trade unionism to be persecuted throughout 
Spain". The court's statement indicates, among other things, that the 
conviction is based on the call via social media for gatherings in front 
of the establishment with banners, the delivery of leaflets against the 
businessman, as well as the dissemination of a video in which they 
denounced him for moral and sexual harassment in the workplace.

This decision exposes a structural issue in National States: the 
collusion between the legal system and the dominant classes. The legal 
system is a tool for maintaining the system of domination. The judiciary 
exposes its true face, sending a clear message: it is not there to 
protect the fundamental rights of workers, but rather to defend the 
privileges and interests of employers - the exploiters of the working 
class. Both there and here, it is urgent that we dispel any illusion of 
the oppressed classes in bourgeois justice. Elements of the TS 626/2024 
sentence make it clear: the punishments occurred because the employer 
had to close his company due to pressure exerted by the CNT, which 
members of the judiciary considered as "coercion".

This decision paves the way for the criminalization of any union protest 
that involves public demonstrations or accusations against employer 
abuses. It is a dangerous precedent not only for Spain, but for the 
entire working class in the world.

We, at OSL, join our comrades in saying that fighting is not a crime; 
Trade union action is one of the most important tools that the working 
class has to defend their living conditions and fight against the 
exploitation of employers. Defending the six companions of La Suiza de 
Gijón is defending the right to protest and those who fight for workers' 
rights.

It messed with one, it messed with them all!
Union struggle is not a crime!
For freedom and withdrawal of all punishments in the case of the six of 
La Suiza!

OSL, Libertarian Socialist Organization

July 8, 2024

https://socialismolibertario.net/2024/07/08/solidariedade-as-seis-de-la-suiza/
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