83 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
83 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
The following is from the "infra-reds" maillist at Simon Fraser
|
|
University, Burnaby, B.C. Canada:
|
|
|
|
While doing my research on forestry unions I came across
|
|
the following in a PPWC newsletter from 1989.
|
|
|
|
Direct Action: 14 ways to improve your job
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. Workers run the world. Everything would stop without our labour.
|
|
Withdrawing our labour is our weapon, and the right to run things is
|
|
our demand.
|
|
|
|
2. At the same time, most work is a bore. As it is organized in our
|
|
society, most labour kills the spirit and body of the worker, not to
|
|
mention the mind. But to simply call for a four-hour day at eight
|
|
hours pay is not enough. Who will benefit from the automation that
|
|
could realize such a demand? Who should control technology's
|
|
introduction and integration into the economy? Potentially, we can.
|
|
|
|
3. Collective action is the source of our strength as workers. Many
|
|
of the direct actions described below can be done by individuals, but
|
|
they are far more effective when done collectively. This should not
|
|
be mistaken for unionism. If collective action and union activity
|
|
are simultaneous, fine. But collective action is not limited to
|
|
unionism. Friendships and common grievances on the shop floor are
|
|
enough to carry out most of the actions below.
|
|
|
|
4. Slow down. Your job is killing you anyway. When your boss tries
|
|
to speed things up, drag your feet.
|
|
|
|
5. Work to rule. Follow every regulation and order down to the last
|
|
detail, no matter how stupid they are. If you get absurd
|
|
instructions, carry them out to the letter to demonstrate how absurd
|
|
they are.
|
|
|
|
6. Ask questions. Pick apart your boss' instructions with questions
|
|
about everything, even about the most mundane details. Plead your
|
|
ignorance and make your boss show his or hers.
|
|
|
|
7. Strike through good work. If, as in a service-industry job, your
|
|
strike would hurt other people more than your boss, strike by giving
|
|
the public better or cheaper service, at your boss' expense
|
|
naturally. Bus drivers can give cheap or free fares, restaurant
|
|
workers can give heaping servings, hospital nurses and clerks can
|
|
refuse to process billings or charge for services, etc.
|
|
|
|
8. Pass the buck. Ask your boss to make every decision and every
|
|
judgement on the job. You can bury your boss under a load of petty
|
|
decisions.
|
|
|
|
9. Don't forget the power of sit-down strikes and wildcat walk-outs.
|
|
Well-timed collective action can win a demand or grievance in
|
|
minutes.
|
|
|
|
10. Practice deliberate inefficiency (aka sabotage. Caution: This
|
|
is dangerous and sometimes illegal). If working conditions are
|
|
unsafe or brutal, a single loose bolt or missing part might bring
|
|
things quickly to a halt.
|
|
|
|
11. Report on poor working conditions and fradulent practice.
|
|
Whistle-blowers, especially in consumer industries such as
|
|
restaurants and hospitals, can be very effective. Call the fire
|
|
marshal if there's a fire hazard. Call in the feds on labour
|
|
practices, health, and safety issues. Call the IRS (Revenue Canada)
|
|
on your boss' shady bookkeeping.
|
|
|
|
12. Everybody call in sick on the same day or days. The sick-in can
|
|
cripple your workplace in a morning.
|
|
|
|
13. Take what is rightfully yours. If your boss refuses to give you
|
|
breaks or longer lunches, get everybody on the job to take them
|
|
anyway.
|
|
|
|
14. All of this is the day-to-day preparation for more dramatic
|
|
forms of action such as a strike in one industry, the general strike
|
|
of all workers in the economy, and the creation of organs of power
|
|
and workers' self-emancipation (assemblies or councils) to run
|
|
society. These forms of direct action, though far more organized,
|
|
build from the simple direct actions described above.
|
|
|