The REAL reason behind China’s “Zero Covid” policy 22:40 Dec 07 0 comments August Socialist Voice is Out Now! 10:23 Aug 21 0 comments Vol 2 Issue 21 of New LookLeft magazine in shops now! 23:56 May 28 0 comments Media Condemn Presidential Insult but Not Austerity 00:22 Feb 02 0 comments It's a Wonderful Life 12:31 Dec 24 1 comments more >>Blog Feeds
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony Waiting for SIPO Anthony
Human Rights in IrelandPromoting Human Rights in Ireland
Lockdown Skeptics
Can Science Tell Us the Meaning of Life? Mon Dec 23, 2024 19:54 | Dr David Bell
Non-Crime Hate Incidents Surge in Half of Police Forces Despite Government Crackdown Mon Dec 23, 2024 17:46 | Will Jones
Reeves?s Simplistic Thinking Spawned This Budget from Hell Mon Dec 23, 2024 15:44 | David Craig
British Drivers Steering Away From New Cars In Their Droves Mon Dec 23, 2024 13:00 | Sallust
Britain on Brink of Recession After Growth Revised to Zero Following Reeves?s Horror Budget Mon Dec 23, 2024 11:09 | Will Jones
Voltaire NetworkVoltaire, international editionVoltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 17, 2024 06:58 | en Statement by President Bashar al-Assad on the Circumstances Leading to his Depar... Mon Dec 16, 2024 13:26 | en Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en |
Film Review: "The GAMA Strike: A victory for all workers"
national |
arts and media |
feature
Friday July 28, 2006 19:06 by cling film buff
Initially they stayed off camera but within time they found their voice. Review of a documentary on the struggle of the Turkish GAMA workers in 2005 which premiered to a packed house in Wynn's Hotel on Middle Abbey Street on Thursday 27th July.
Admittedly I've always been sceptical/suspicious of political parties and their motives, regardless of their place on the political spectrum, from one extreme to another. Its always in the back of my mind that any statement or action is being done simply for the goal of obtaining more seats at the next local/general/european election. Far left parties arent excluded from this either. The vista of a Leninist party sweeping into power isnt particularly attractive to me; having visited Castro's socialist "paradise" there were many aspects of that society which were deeply troubling and repulsive, most notably the censorship of all opposition as "counter-revolutionary", and the suppression of ideas and literature that didnt slot into the mono-view of one party Marxism. The bookshops were permitted to stock tomes praising Chavez, but you'd never realise that the Zapatista insurrection had taken place across the water. But that's another day's article... More Indy coverage: Downturn in Irish Construction Industry | Top Dublin Hotels displacing Irish staff | Aer Lingus privatisation exposes folly of partnership | GAMA: Company Forced To Pay ALL Workers Proper Union Rates | National Day of Protest Against Irish Ferries | Joe Higgins' Challenge to Irish Trade Unions: Protect Migrant Workers | Exploitation of Workers | Picket outside Dunnes in support of Joanne Delaney | Gama Workers' Strike Wins Back Stolen Cash
Mick Murphy, a Socialist Party councillor in South Dublin, picked up the baton and decided he was going to uncover the truth of what was going on. His first attempts to approach the building workers resulted in them running away in the opposite direction, which shows the fear and intimidation these workers were being subjected to. The builders had been brought over from Turkey on dodgy working permits, and were being paid 2 to 3 euro an hour, as well as working 80+ hours a week with no overtime. The company had isolated them as much as possible, and despite being members of SIPTU, Ireland's largest union, they had no idea of how to organise or improve their dire working conditions. But Murphy persisted, had a leaflet translated into Turkish explaining to the workers that they were welcome in Ireland, and constructed a small table laying out exactly how much the workers should be earning if they were on the legal union rates of pay. Murphy hurled a bunch of these leaflets over the fence to circumvent security's efforts to prevent them accessing the workers, they were collected and distributed, and the discontent spread from there.
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (16 of 16)
Jump To Comment: 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1the DVD costs a tenner - two pints in your local pub. Do the decent thing and send the SP a tenner to cover their costs. The film is very good and - shock horror - stuff like DV tapes, cameras, DVD cases, colour photocopying, and discs all cost MONEY. People these days seem to expect everything to be instantly accessible and free to them without giving anything back for it in return. Support this venture by sticking a tenner - slightly more than an hour and a half's pay on the minimum wage - in the post and get a nice DVD for yourself.
toecap:
The film is available in dvd format from a number of sources. I don't have the details of all of them to hand at the moment but it can certainly be obtained from the Socialist Party offices in Dublin or Belfast. Contact details can be found at http://www.socialistparty.net
maxminus:
It is the intention of the Socialist Party to make the film available on the internet for free at some stage in the relatively near future. However as the film cost a substantial amount to put together it is necessary to make some of that money back from selling it before it is made freely available. If we don't do that, we can't produce more material. The same applies, by the way, to the 64 page pamphlet on the Gama struggle which was released with the film - that too will be put on the internet in the future.
and the link to the bit torrent download of this film is here
www.????.????
sorry, only those 30 people at the screening are supposed to see the film!
as if rte are going to take it
as sting said - if you love something set it free.....
he meant bit torrent............
....or just a coincidence? Did anyone notice that this was shown on the same night that an important anti-war public meeting -with some high profile speakers- was taking place, 100 yards up the road in the ATGWU hall? This meeting was organised well in advance of the GAMA screening. Coincidence, deliberate or more material for Monty Pyton part 2?
Where can I get a copy of the video?
Fair play to all involved. Great turnout on Thursday night. Very important work.
A highly informative documentary on class struggle within the working foreign community and the exploitation condoned by the government and implemented by business interests. It is important that people realize the race to the bottom needs to be defeated through working class struggle via active grassroots trade union membership and community groups. Solid anti-authoritarian class analysis and action is to the key to this. I hope to continue to work with my comrades on the left in the future on this. I suggest that the libertarian group, revolt video, show this documentary soon.
‘Worker’ seriously under estimates the importance of the GAMMA struggle.
The GAMMA struggle shows that
1 Militant action can win significant victories
2 Attempts by the bosses to isolate immigrant workers can be overcome
3 Attempts to use immigrant workers to undercut union organisation can be overcome
4 Positions in councils or parliament can be used effectively to support workers struggles
Until the GAMMA victory the reality was that trade unions largely accepted (with a few honourable exceptions) that the problems associated with a temporary workforces and language barriers made organisation of immigrant workers close to impossible. Post GAMMA that argument no longer holds water. The trade unions must learn the lesson of GAMMA and follow up with an aggressive militant strategy to organise immigrant workers. Such a strategy would not only benefit immigrant workers but would also undermine the ability of the bosses to use immigrants as a Trojan horse against workers terms and conditions.
The lessons of this dispute are extremely important. The production of the pamphlet and documentary should be welcomed.
Does anyone know if most/all GAMA workers are getting paid union rates now? Should be E14.83 for most labourers... I'm a primmo who was working on a GAMA site for a few weeks recently, and was talking to the turkish foreman about working in Siberia -
'So, did you get paid well for working in such extreme conditions?'
'Oh yes, GAMA always pay well'
How we laughed...
The GAMA documentary on DVD "The GAMA Strike - A victory for all workers" and the pamphlet "We are workers not slaves - The story of the GAMA struggle" can be bought by Paypal or by credit card at www.socialistparty.net or by contacting the Socialist Party at 01 6772592 or 02890 232962.
the workers ARE the central part of the film and pamphlet. their struggle is remembered and celebrated within these documents.
sheesh... the trolls are out this evening...
Maybe the workers should be remembered and not the pamphlet or the book?
Well worth watching. Excellantly produced. Excellant political message. A must see for all people interested in left politics and/or trade union issues. I was looking forward to seeing it. I expected a good film. But it is far better then I thought it would be. That muppet "worker" is most likely from an opponent party in D15. FF, FG and Labour will most likely to say Joe is not doing local work. He does. And he is a parliamentary leader. Hence deals with national/international questions. Bogus claims. Pathetic. Don't engage. The 'race to the bottom' is a matter for all workers. Irish and Migrant Unite and Fight against common enemy - Gov. and Bosses. I hope there are more showings of Documentary and it goes on sale as wide as possible.
It was the first major strike by immigrant workers in ireland, for this its historical. The documentary is just the documentry. If you have problems with the NAC feel free to contact the party either nationally or locally. But try to remember their are other people out in the world apart from yourself, and if these other workers have the balls to do something about their plight applaud them rather than whine, and maybe even do something similar. We'll await your call and assist you in your struggle.
It is surprisingly good. A little heavy on the SP sauce, but I suppose that's understandable.
Wudda been a good support to 'Enron'. Get it on the IFI? Or - on the SIPTU/Indymedia film club.
Suggestion: put identifying captions on Paul Hansard's very interesting contribution.
Please, you made a docusoap and the coverage for your candidate was great but a victory for all workers, give us a break. A scandal in the NAC and a Dublin 15 TD is quiet. Semi-state staff not paid national wage agreement same TD nowhere to be seen. WHY? WHY? WHY? The reason is simple, no TV, no hero of the workers, no poor Turkish men / bad builder, great sound bites. Actually helping the people that voted for you, that might be a novel idea. They might vote for you the next time.
Here's another report back to add to the above.
Last night the premiere of the new film: "The GAMA Strike -A victory for all workers" was held at 8:30pm in Wynns Hotel in Dublin City Centre. The film documents the GAMA strike and was produced with Frameworks Films and the Socialist Party who uncovered the initial scandal and followed it through.
There was a strong turnout of about 160 people with obviously members of the Socialist Party and many activists. The SP have also produced a pamphlet on the GAMA strike which clearly goes into more detail than the film due to the time constraints that is inherent in any such production.
The film was put together using a wide range of footage from various sources from the Socialist Party itself and contributions from activists to RTE news clips and the Dail.
At the opening of the night Kevin McLoughlin welcomed everyone and provided a quick overview of the GAMA strike and stressed the importance of this struggle and the lessons that are to be learned. Then Mick Murphy spoke for a few minutes and described how the initial scandal where the Turkish workers were being only paid 2 to 3 euros per hour with many of them doing 80 weeks and yet the agreements signed with the government and unions indicated they were supposed to be getting just over 12 euro per hour. He also pointed out that GAMA are still fighting dirty in the courts in Anaraka, Turkey, where some of the other Turkish workers had since decided to take their case.
The film is 73 minutes long and has been put together very professionally in terms of the video clips used, voice-overs and background music and the overall presentation of the story itself. The film documents the beginnings of the scandal and how official after official rubbished any claims that there was anything wrong with the company. After all they had been invited to Ireland back in 1998 by the Minister for Entreprise and Employment, Mary Harney and had a number of very high valued and prestigious projects including the building of 2 ESB power stations, and various roads and by-passes, all running to several hundred millions and over the years probably well in excess of a billion euro.
As people will recall the story really caught the imagination of the people when Joe Higgins and other members of the Socialist Party along with 4 Turkish workers went to Amsterdam to visit a bank, where GAMA had secretly deposited other monies of the workers pay, where 2000+ accounts were found with a value of approximately 30 million. The workers had known nothing about this and a scam was in place to transfer the money out of here back into GAMA holding companies. This is what really broke the story and one would imagine that GAMA who had been caught red-handed stealing the workers wages would have owned up and paid it out, but instead they went on the offensive. The film goes on to detail how for over 10 days, GAMA cut off the food supply of its workers who were housed on site, in order to crush resistance.
What clearly comes out in the documentary also is that the government even when the evidence was presented to them had no real interest in investigating this and correcting the wrong doings. Instead the moved very very slowly and only when under pressure and in that way gave GAMA a lot of leeway, never apply the law that is there and GAMA were able to use the time to try and wear down the workers and the strike through attrition.
Overall, I would have to say its a truly epic story and there is a lot to be learned and it contains many warnings about the future that awaits us all, if we just let it happen.
Other Information:
The Socialist Party and Frameworks Films Present a new documentary on an historic Struggle:
The GAMA Strike -A victory for all workers
This 73-minute documentary is available from the Socialist Party for 10 euros from http://www.socialistparty.net
The pamphlet on the struggle is titled: We are Workers not Slaves -the story of the GAMA struggle
And here is a press release that the Socialist Party have released in conjunction with the premiere:
Socialist Party Press Release 27/07/2006
----------------------------------------------------------
New documentary: "The GAMA Strike - a victory for all workers" to assist the struggle to re-claim the trade unions.
It shows migrant workers can be organised, that "a race to the bottom" and the potential for division amongst workers, can be resisted
Endorsement by trade union leaders of "Towards 2016" shows the real lessons of the GAMA strike not learnt.
"Irish Ferries and countless other examples, most recently the allegations about TCD, the company used by Bus Eireann, confirm the truth that first emerged in the GAMA strike, that migrant workers are being systematically abused in Ireland.
This new documentary "The GAMA Strike -a victory for all workers" shows how globalisation has strengthened the economic link between governments, states and big business internationally and demonstrates how the system is geared to facilitating big business rather than safeguarding workers' rights.
The Socialist Party is in favour of legislation that re-enforces workers' rights but this documentary clearly shows that on its own legislation cannot defend workers. Above all, trade union organisation and action are the only way to fight for the rights of migrant workers.
This documentary poses a real alternative to the bosses' policy of "a race to the bottom" (of using the underpayment of migrant workers to undermine the wages and conditions of all workers). By organisation and militant action, the GAMA workers were brought up to and re-enforced the trade union rates and conditions.
The documentary deals with the key challenge facing the trade unions. Are they going to resist the attacks on pay and conditions and the dangers of divisions amongst workers, both organised and unorganised and Irish and migrant? That would require the unions to launch a major recruitment campaign to turn a majority of workers into union members. Unfortunately the endorsement by the main trade union leaders of the "Towards 2016" social partnership deal illustrates that they have learned none of the real lessons from the GAMA struggle.
This documentary shows how the Turkish workers and the Socialist Party were able to turn around trade union inactivity and organise a successful struggle. It is vital that all those who believe that workers' rights must be defended get organised to re-claim and re-build the trade unions as campaigning, fighting organisations.
The Socialist Party believes that the production and widespread distribution of this new documentary "The GAMA Strike -a victory for all workers" can play an important role in re-arming workers and the trade unions for future battles."