May 2001
Britain: International Workers' Protest Hits London
May 17 Demonstration of Marks and Spencer Workers
Thousands of noisy and indignant Marks and Spencer workers and supporters turned up the heat in the West End of London last week on what must have been one of the coldest, wettest May Days on record! 4,400 jobs will be lost if plans go ahead to close all M&S stores on continental Europe. Most of the 48 branches are in France and Belgium but there are stores in Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands.
Hundreds of M&S employees from Belgium arrived at the assembly point in special coaches. Hundreds more had travelled from France on the Eurostar, among them a woman shown later on British TV roundly condemning capitalism for throwing workers out on the streets without the slightest concern. There were workers from Danone in France, also fighting closure and the sack and from other workforces threatened with mass redundancies, like the General Motors car-workers of Luton, England.
Although for the Marks and Spencer workers, fighting the bosses this is a new experience, many saw the sackings - announced by e-mail - as just another manifestation of the anti-worker globalisation process. They were particularly appalled by the arrogance of their employer and the apparent passivity of their British counter-parts.
Capitalist firms have always been in the business of opening and shutting workplaces with the sole aim of maximising profits. But the French workers, in particular, have fought and won cherished rights in relation to sackings and lay-offs and the British-based retailing firm wanted to ride roughshod over all of them.
The marchers from different towns and different countries were like teams, decked out in different coloured plastic capes and baseball hats supplied by the union organisers. Banners and placards were also supplied by the unions, but many demonstrators put together their own more hard-hitting messages for the British bosses. Amongst the chants and songs they had brought with them were an adaptation of the old Scottish song: "My boss he lives over the ocean, my boss he lives over the sea… oh give back, give back, oh give back my job to me, to me!"
By the time the march reached the cordoned-off headquarters of Marks and Spencer in Baker Street, the whistle-blowing and name-calling reached fever pitch. The previous day, Wednesday 16 May, a statement had been made by the M&S top brass that the demonstrators were wasting their time, as nothing would change their minds. The M&S workers wanted to tell them they would not accept 'No' for an answer! The slogans and expressions of anger now included one or two well-known English expletives, yelled in chorus with a very French accent!
Employees and management gathered at the windows on every floor, to see what was happening, as the demonstration came to a halt. It looked for a moment as if the building would be stormed, but the march was moved on. Next stop was the M&S 'flagship' store in Oxford Street. More noise, more fist waving and appeals to the staff to walk out, but to no avail!
In Britain, Marks and Spencer workers have been duped with 'privileges' (shares and above average earnings) into accepting an in-house union rather than the TUC-affiliated Union of Shopworkers, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW). Not that the right-wing led USDAW would have done much more than suggest they send a message of sympathy. At the beginning of the march, its leader put forward the TUC line of demanding consultation before sacking. Speakers from other unions expressed a vacuous solidarity. M&S workers from each country represented, including Portugal and Spain, called for action to stop the closures, but no concrete demands were made.
A leaflet written by a member of the Committee for a Workers' International in France and distributed by Socialist Party (England & Wales) members on the day was the only bi-lingual leaflet proposing a strategy for winning, including the occupation of shops and the demand for nationalisation and workers' control.
A leaflet produced by the French Communist Party was supposedly being presented to the London Mayor for forwarding to Tony Blair. It called for "concrete steps in favour of social and human progress" such as bans, moratoriums and legislation to control public funds. It called on everyone to join a "united, citizens' demonstration" in Paris on 9 June to 'oppose money-making lay-offs'!
Throughout the 17 May demonstration in London, the famous chant of the French workers, adopted during the general strike of 1995 could be heard: - "All together, all together Yes! Yes! Yes!".. The TUC in Britain, whose logo carries a similar message - 'unity is strength' - had mobilised a few workers and banners from different parts of England and Scotland. Some of Britain's trade union leaders managed to make it to the end of the rain-sodden march on the South side of Hyde Park, along with their colleagues from the newly-formed international union network - UNI.
But these 'leaders' will have to go a lot further in the future than merely demanding 'consultation' in the event of planned redundancies. If they are not prepared to express the real anger and indignation that is building up against capitalism internationally, workers everywhere will be taking things into their own hands and organising strikes and general strikes that will shake the very foundations of capitalism itself. The spontaneous protests of the European M&S workers, on hearing of the high-handed actions of their bosses, are just a taste of what is to come as the world economic recession really bites.
Britain:
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