DailyRadical

The Movement of the Occupied Factories in Brazil is a
glorious chapter in the struggle of the working class. Last year the courts and
the police intervened in an attempt to smash the movement. In spite of
everything it still survives at the Flaskô plastics factory in Sumaré, Sao Paulo. Here we
provide an account of the struggle of the Flaskô workers and background to the
movement as a whole.

Spanish translation of Brazil: a brief history of the Flaskô workers’ struggle and the Movement
of Occupied Factories (brief-history-movement-occupied-factories-brazil.htm) (May 9, 2008)

Portuguese original of Brazil: a brief history of the Flaskô workers’ struggle and the Movement
of Occupied Factories (brief-history-movement-occupied-factories-brazil.htm) (May 9, 2008)

Letter from Pedro Santinho, coordinator of the Occupied Factory Council at Flasko:
“This is a serious threat to jobs and the struggle of the workers, which has lasted for more than five years and is an international example of struggle against capital.”

Last Thursday, July 1, Judge André Gonçalves Fernandes, of the 2nd Civil Court of Sumaré, declared Flaskô bankrupt. This is a serious attack on the workers of Flaskô, which effectively may result in the plant's closure. We call on our contacts and supporters, activists from various social struggles and political currents, to be on the alert for any emergency.

We call on our readers to urgently send to the Brazilian authorities resolutions supporting the Flaskô workers, with the following basic content.

The labor leadership needs to mobilize the workers to demand an
economic recovery plan to re-open and capitalize closed factories, to
nationalize them under public control, to be run under democratic
workers’ control.  And as they say in the occupied
factory movement in Latin America: “A Factory Closed is a Factory
Occupied!” A new leaflet (http://www.socialistappeal.org/flyers/factory_closed_factory_occupied.pd...) from the WIL. Also available in Spanish (http://www.socialistappeal.org/flyers/fabrica_cerrada_fabrica_ocupada.pd...).

On Friday,
November 21, as part of a protracted conflict, 360 workers of Vivex
occupied their factory in the industrial district Los Montones in
Barcelona (Anzoategui). The plant makes windscreens for the car
industry,
and the workers are demanding of President Chavez that he should
nationalise it. Now the national government must intervene in a bold
manner and nationalise the plant under workers#8217; control.

On Tuesday, March 17th, a group of 80 workers in the industrial town of Windsor, Ontario, occupied the Aradco auto parts plant. This occupation marks the re-awakening of the occupied factories movement in Canada and is an important turning point in the ongoing crisis of the North American auto industry.