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London
Today, Tuesday, June 12, a picket was organised outside the
Brazilian Embassy in London, in support of the
workers of Cipla and Interfibras in Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
The purpose of the picket was to bring to the attention of the Ambassador the
serious situation that has developed in two of the occupied factories in Brazil.
There was a lively picket of about twenty trade unionists
and Labour Party members, shouting "Hands off Cipla" and other slogans. The
Embassy staff had agreed prior to the picket to receive a delegation to discuss
the issues that concerned us. Jorge Martin, International Secretary of the
Hands Off Venezuela Campaign and Fred Weston were received by an embassy
official to hear what we had to say.
We explained the background to the situation that has
emerged in Joinville. We gave a brief exposition of how the workers had
occupied the factories and had been successfully running them under workers'
control. The workers have had to constantly fight off attempts of the courts to
seize the assets of the factories to pay off the debts of the previous owners.
 But most of these debts are actually with the state itself. Therefore the
demand of the workers that these factories be nationalised makes sense even
from a purely financial point of view: the state would recover its debts and
the workers could continue to produce, conserve their jobs and actually create
wealth.
We also handed over a letter explaining our position,
together with a petition signed by about 200 trade unionists at various union
conferences where the question had been raised and campaigned on.
Our request was that the workers should be allowed to run
the occupied factories without any threats from the state, that the factory
councils be allowed to return to the factories and carry out their
democratically elected mandate. We were assured that our concerns would be
transmitted to the relevant authorities in Brazil.
 We will continue our campaign until justice is assured.
Here we provide the text of the letter that was handed in to
the Embassy:
His Excellency José Mauricio Bustani,
Ambassador of Brazil to the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
Embassy of Brazil in London,
32, Green Street,
London W1K 7AT, England
June 12, 2007
Dear Sir,
We would like to bring to your attention a serious event that took place
in Joinville, Santa Catarina, on May 31. On the orders of Judge Dr. Oziel
Francisco de Sousa, 150 heavily armed members of the Federal Police invaded the
CIPLA factory and took over the installations, with a mandate to arrest the
members of the factory committee. The same happened at the Interfibras factory.
The Judge imposed a special administrator, who proceeded immediately to
dismiss 50 workers, among them the whole of the elected Factory Committee. The
Federal Police have since been replaced by private guards, who we understand
have been pressurising the workers to accept the intervention of the Judge. The
latest news we have is that the sacked workers have now started receiving
official letters announcing their dismissal for "just cause", which would mean
that these workers would lose all their rights.
CIPLA has been run by the workers after the old owners had abandoned it
leaving a mountain of debt. The workers took over the plant, thus saving over 800
jobs and have been successfully running it ever since. But they have been under
constant pressure from the authorities to pay off the debt of the old owners.
To do so would mean bankrupting the factory with the subsequent loss of over
800 jobs. The workers have been demanding that the Lula government nationalise
the plants, as the debts are mainly with the state. Instead we now have a
situation as outlined above. The debt was accumulated by owners who we
understand are being investigated for corruption and other misdemeanours.
As British trade union members, trade union leaders, members of the
Labour Party, including John McDonnell MP, we are very concerned about what is
taking place in Joinville.
We request that you transmit our concern to the authorities in Brazil and ask
them to intervene and immediately put an end to the persecution of the workers
and the management of the CIPLA and Interfibras factories. We request the
withdrawal of the private security guards from the factories and allow the
elected management to enter without threat of arrest, that the dismissals be
withdrawn and that the workers be allowed to meet in an assembly and freely
determine their own fate.
The Federal Police should not be used against the workers who are doing
nothing but defending their jobs and livelihood. They are not criminals!
We have already taken this question up at several trade union congresses
in Britain,
as the attached list of signatures testifies. We will continue to campaign on
this issue until the workers are rightly reinstalled in their place of work.
Greetings,
Jorge Martin,
International Secretary of the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign,
John McDonnell MP Hayes & Harlington
Jeremy Dear General Secretary National Union of Journalists
Rob Sewell NUJ Central London Branch, Vice Chair
Steve Jones NUJ Central London Branch Treasurer
Sylvia Sharpe NUJ Book Branch Vice Chair
Rachel Heemskerk Regional Secretary PCS, East of England
Martin Page Branch Chair Leicester PCS
Matt Wells PCS Defra Assistant Organiser
Councillor Phil Waker, Dagenham
Any Blake CWU Secretary No 7 Branch, London
Andy Viner ASLEF Steward, London
Ron Grave UNISON Branch Secretary East Anglia NHS Branch
Mark Turner UNISON Secretary, Cardiff Branch
Mike Gaskell AMICUS Secretary Construction Branch, Merseyside
Ian Woodall TGWU Official, Southampton
Some videos of the picket:
Athens
There was also a protest outside the Brazilian Embassy in
Athens, Greece. Here we provide some photographs.
Denmark
 Today June 12, Socialistisk Standpunkt and Hands off
Venezuela protested outside the Brazilian embassy in Denmark against repression
at the CIPLA factory in Brazil. At the end of the protest a letter was handed
to the Embassy, which we reproduce here with a photo.
To the Ambassador of the
Brazilian Embassy in Denmark
We write this letter to inform you about,
and protest against, some events in Brazil that we find very disturbing. We
hope you will read this and take it up with the people in charge in Brazil.
The workers of the occupied CIPLA factory
were surprised on the morning of May 31 by 150 heavily armed men of the Federal
Police, who invaded the factory in order to arrest the members of the factory
committee.
After almost five years of struggle to
save their jobs and protect their rights, all the time calling on the federal
government to nationalise the factories as proposed by the BNDES (National
Social and Economic Development Bank) the workers now find themselves
threatened by the Federal Police and with the risk of losing their jobs.
The only "crime"
of the CIPLA workers was to fight for the right to work and to earn a crust of
bread for their families. The owners had brought the factory to the point of
bankruptcy and ruin, making closure inevitable. The workers saved the factory
and have kept it running under democratic workers' control. Their fight was an
inspiration to workers in the whole of Brazil and the rest of the Americas.
They established model conditions for the workforce, including a 30-hour week,
while continuing production with great efficiency.
We want the persecution of the workers and
the management of the CIPLA factory to stop immediately. We request that the
Federal Police be withdrawn from the factory and allow management to enter the
factory without threat of arrest, and that the workers be allowed to meet in an
assembly and freely determine their own fate.
The Federal Police must be directed
against the corrupt and the narco-traffickers and not against the workers!
Greetings,
See also:
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