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 Monday February 16, 2009 23:54 by Mr Angry - the workers
 Welcome back to the class war as capital in crisis plays dirty (of course) The news today: BMW, owners of the Mini factory in Cowley, Oxford, dismiss 800+ agency workers at the end of their shift. With no notice, no redundancy, even though some have been there upto 5 years. Another 150 workers at their Swindon plant face the chop too (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7891913.stm) . Meanwhile, the Co-op is taking over Somerfields, and promises to close within a year the Somerfields head office in Bristol, with the loss to Bristol of upto 750 jobs (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7892625.stm).
Welcome back to the class war as capital in crisis plays dirty. Time for some Argentinian-style factory occupations? Here’s a chance to chat about these issues… |
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Comments (3 of 3)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3So did you find out at your meeting what class is? i don't really think there is such a thing as class i don't consider myself to be any class just a human. there are rich people, not so rich people, poor people and very poor people. owning or running a business doesn't make you any class above so called working class whatever that is. redistribution of wealth is not about class. i have a vague idea of class posh people or common people and somewhere in-between wealth doesn't always relate to it. the demise of summerfield is a good thing for poor people as they are overpriced and poorly stocked.
The Co-op has always stood out for fair play and ethical investment in its sullpyers. Sommerfield was an expensive joke in comparison. Seems unfair to criticise a good organisation for saving jobs which otherwise would have been lost.
rod - i supposed the easiest way to answer your question is to look at the current BMW sackings. You have agency workers, some of whom have been at the same workplace for 5 years sacked with one hours notice. The owners of the car plant made the decision to switch to agency workers as it is a way to make more profits, to accumulate more capital. They have the power to make these decisions. They made the decisions to increase production, to impliment more advanced technology to get more cars per worker per hour produced. So for the past years they have been making more profits. Now we have a situation where there are lots of cars in the world. So production slows down, and rather than the workers reducing their hours, but getting the same pay (by recieving their share of all those profits generated over the years ) the bosses sack them. They are surplus to requirements.
Now they might share some culture and hobbies with the bosses - the sort of music they listen to or the or clothes they wear, which shows their similarity as human beings - but economically their interests are fundamentally opposed. You don't hate the boss because s/hes a bad person (because probably their are not) you hate them because they are your boss.
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