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General Assembly in Europe an IWW first
Industrial Worker
September 2008
The Industrial Workers of the World held its first General Assembly
outside of North America in London, England on August 30-September 1,
2008.
Hosted by the IWW British Isles Regional Organizing Committee (BIROC),
89 confirmed delegates from Canada, England, Germany, the Netherlands,
****tugal, Scotland and the United States met to discuss proposals, hear
officer and organizing re****ts, and make international officer
nominations for the November referendum.
Observers from the French Confédération Nationale du Travail (CNT) and
Courant Syndicaliste Révolutionnaire (CSR), Workers’ Initiative of
Poland, and Solidarity Federation of the United Kingdom also attended.
General Secretary-Treasurer Mark Damron began the meeting with
“excellent table-thumping singalong,” as one wobbly described it, and on
the last day it concluded with the traditional chorus of “Solidarity
Forever”.
The meeting was co-chaired by the treasurer of the British Islands
Regional Organizing Committee (BIROC), Frank Syratt, and Sarah Bender of
the United States. Ant Ince, Stuart Melvin, Nick Durie, and Louise van
der Hoeven took minutes.
Notably, a new Assembly committee to address the critical issue of
gender in the union was formed, with Rhiannon Edwards of Canada elected
as chair.
Delegates made re****ts on their local and regional activities. IWW
Regional Organizing Committees (ROCs) re****ted making progress in
building the IWW outside of North America. In addition to the BIROC,
which has about 500 members, delegates re****ted organizing in the
Netherlands and ****tugal that may lead to new ROCs. Delegates from the
Frankfurt and Cologne branches of the IWW German Language Area Regional
Organizing Committee (GLAMROC) re****ted that this new body had 45
members and was growing.
In the United Kingdom, a number of BIROC branch members are involved in
the National Shop Stewards Network (http://www.shopstewards.net
), which
is slated to be a rank-and-file cross-union means of rebuilding the
grassroots of working class solidarity and unity in the United Kingdom.
The network’s first conference was backed by the Rail, Maritime and
Trans****t Union (RMT).
The West Midlands branch in England re****ted that it has organized a
print shop and is agitating in the health sector with the National Blood
System campaign, alongside the London and Leeds branches.
The Clydeside IWW of Glasgow, Scotland, re****ted that it has an
education job branch at Glasgow University. The Edinburgh IWW re****ted
that it has formed an education industrial organizing committee. It has
also focused on doing outreach to Polish workers who are eligible to
work in the UK, but are unfamiliar with their British labor rights.
From the United States, the Chicago IWW re****ted that the Chicago
Couriers Union was holding a conference on the same weekend. The
Philadelphia IWW also re****ted organizing with couriers. The Olympia IWW
delegate said it has an organizing drive with bike mechanics. The New
York IWW branch re****ted that 20 more workers have been fired for
participating in the Industrial Union 460 food warehouse campaign.
Meanwhile, the Providence IWW delegate announced a $15,000 fundraising
campaign to pay for the legal expenses of Alexandra Svoboda, who in
August 2007 was badly injured by police during a solidarity march with
New York’s food warehouse workers.
Solidarity
An emergency motion to sup****t the Workers’ Initiative union in Poland
“to defend both victimised workers sacked recently in several industries
for organizing” passed. The BIROC and the Polish union signed a
Solidarity Alliance last year that committed to card recognition between
the unions, mutual aid, exchanges, and closer ties.
The Assembly also endorsed a statement to sup****t the world’s migrants
who are under attack in North America and Europe. The statement
denounced the “detention and de****tation or removal of foreign nationals
for purposes of immigration control, whether they are asylum seekers,
migrant workers (do***ented or undo***ented), or any other category of
immigrant, is a breach of basic human rights and class solidarity.
“[IWW] members should therefore refuse to participate in detention,
de****tation or removal processes. Members are also encouraged to sup****t
action in solidarity with immigrant workers and asylum seekers (such as
sup****ting the right to work whilst claiming asylum).”
Proposals
Assembly delegates faced a packed agenda of 11 proposals for
consideration.
The much-debated proposal to change the General Assembly into a Delegate
Convention was amended and sent to referendum, with two-thirds of the
votes and proxy ballots in favour. If approved by the members, this
proposal would allow the Delegate Convention to make union policy, if it
is sustained by a referendum vote. Currently, the General Assembly
cannot make policy decisions; it can only endorse a proposal and send it
to referendum. The convention would be made up of elected delegates
elected by each chartered branch. Individual members who attended the
convention would be able to speak but not vote on motions. Currently,
any IWW member in good standing who has the means to attend Assembly has
vote and voice.
The International Solidarity Commission proposal for branches to elect a
liaison person “to build greater collaboration between the ISC and the
general member****p of the union” passed.
The charges reform proposal to clarify jurisdiction and procedure for
the IWW’s internal disciplinary process was amended and passed. A
proposal to introduce a conflict mediation procedure that branches could
use to deal with internal conflict, rather than rely on charges, also
will be on the ballot. In the 2007 referendum, two competing charges
reform proposals both failed to get the two-thirds of votes cast
necessary to amend the constitution.
Nominations
As of the Industrial Worker’s press date, the complete list of confirmed
nominees is not available. All positions have one-year terms, save the
post of the Industrial Worker editor, which is a two-year job. Members
should check their General Organizing Bulletin for details.
http://www.iww.org/PDF/IndustrialWorker/IWOctober08.pdf
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://tinyurl.com/2gcoqt
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://tinyurl.com/292yz9
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
"From the point of view of the defense of our society,
there only exists one danger -- that workers succeed in
speaking to each other about their condition and their
aspirations _without intermediaries_."
--Censor (Gianfranco Sanguinetti), _The Real Re****t on
the Last Chance to Save Capitalism in Italy_
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