Workers at the Huerta de Peralta company in the Basque Country who have been on indefinite strike since December 26th as part of an attempt to demand the full readmission of their sacked fellow workers.
The Basque trade union LAB has said that workers have been working under a strict regime of what can only be described as labour exploitation bordering on slavery, a reality that extends to the majority of agricultural workers in the region. However, workers have decided to fight back against this dire situation and have organised to fight for their rights which has led to considerable improvements in their labour and economical conditions.
Nonetheless, it seems that the company hasn’t taken too well the unity of workers involved in such a syndicalist victory. In turn they have retaliated with further repression, dismissals and sanctions to an effort to further intimidate the work force.
To date, trade union activists have commended the workers’ strike protest and their continued attempts to highlight the fact that working in such exploitative conditions is a way to generate plus value at the cost of workers labour as well as being a form of domination towards the workers collective.
In this sense, trade unionists have pointed out that this struggle does not only correspond to the workers of this company but to all workers collectively. A spokesperson for the LAB trade union stated that, ”We all must make this fight our own because as a society we can not allow a situation were any worker find themselves in a place where they are exploited or working in slavery conditions”.
The workers involved have vowed that they will continue their strike until all dismissed workers are reinstated and all sanctions are immediately withdrawn.
The Industrial Workers of the World wish to extend our international solidarity at this time of struggle.
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