Marisella / CED: Our biggest and most daring campaign yet, is on track.
“We take this matter very seriously,” we wrote in our first letter to CED. They fired their loyal associate Marisella de Cuba after Nazi trolls harassed CED online. Indeed, this is not an ordinary case, given its impact, scale and time. It forces us to rethink our own traditions and methods. In fact, we are opening things up. We call on friendly organizations to join the fight. Solidarity has been fantastic so far.
Yes, there you stand with your action methods: lockdown, curfew, working from home. How do you put real pressure through direct action? How do you organize a campaign without large action meetings? At first it seemed an impossible mission. Then we still come up with something new. Companies like CED have essential infrastructure in their telephone lines for their business operations. Vloerwerk has therefore started a calling campaign. We’ve just had the friendliest phase with about 30 calls a day. During phase 1 we also called a limited number of numbers. Soon phase 2.
It’s also fun to think about what you’re going to say to those operators other than you’re worrying about CED firing people for political activism. People call for vacancies and sinking boats. CED workers have in the meantime received an internal memo, according to a sentence that is often repeated “about this colleague no information is given to third parties”. The majority of CED workers are equally open to a good conversation. “After all, it concerns you, it is your work, it is your world”, we say.
Practical solidarity from other worker groups
The practical solidarity of the IWW, the Vrije Bond and other friends ensures that we were more than supernumerary in the first round of actions. We also deliberately looked for this. We are preparing for a long battle. It can take months for CED to change tack. Because we want to be able to escalate for months, we now have to sit well and save our strength. So this will indeed be the largest Vloerwerk promotion ever.
CED was again invited to sit down with us at the beginning of this week. We require a meeting with management to resolve this conflict.
If you have the opportunity, do come to the action meeting.
3th of April social in the Noorderpark
Especially now that we are organizing and busy so hard, it is important to chill together! All Vloerwerkers, allies and friends are welcome. We are not going to do anything complicated, we just make it fun. If you haven’t been there for a while, come and have a chat. We miss you!
Greek friends set an example in horticulture.
Awesome action against wage theft amongst the Westland greenhouses
Some time ago we published a trilingual interview here with Nikoletta, an organizer of Stop Human Trafficking. They are a central switchboard for Greek immigrants in misery or resistance. The work situation of many Greek immigrants is dire, with the now familiar extreme exploitation of modern slavery. A Greek couple in the Westland had to work 10-11 hours a day in greenhouses 6 days a week and received several hundred euros for this. No pay so no work, they said. But soon they were left with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing.
With Stop Human Trafficking they calculated how much they still received; both thousands of euros. They sent letters urging the bosses to pay, but they didn’t reply in any manner. Together with other worker groups they organized an action between the greenhouses. “They came after work so no one was there. What now? So they decided to go to the boss’s house. He was ANGRY: it was Croma time. Things got moving then after all. We hope for a happy ending and remain in good contact.
Worker didn’t get payed for freelance work
A vloerwerk member has been in the shit for months. He eagerly accepted an offer from a real estate cowboy and built an app. Subsequently, those real estate traders refuse to deposit the few hundred euros despite work done. Already a few years ago, Sjerp got what he rightfully deserved from a contractor via Vloerwerk. Coincidentally at the same time, another self-employed person came in who had not been paid. Could Vloerwerk provide an answer to the problems of the freelancers? It would be nice. In any case, there is a chance that we will soon visit the Zuidas with a group.
