McDonalds workers resistance news.

[Matthew X]

________________________________________________ A - I N F O S N E W S S E 
R V I C E http://www.ainfos.ca/ http://ainfos.ca/index24.html 
________________________________________________ OCTOBER 16TH 2002... 
"Slaves who are ready to put up with anything are spared nothing by the 
tyrants" - Georges Darien On October 16th 1918, the people of Hungary began 
to establish councils in their workplaces and communities. They seized land 
from wealthy landowners, occupied factories and freed prisoners. Within a 
month Budapest was run by ordinary people for the benefit of the many. Like 
too many courageous struggles for freedom, the Hungarian councils republic 
was eventually repressed and destroyed, only the vision lingers on... On 
October 16th 2002, a small proportion of the 1.5 million people employed by 
McDonalds around the world will take our first tentative steps towards a 
better world. This is an attempt to explain what's going to happen, where 
this day of action came from, why it's taking place and what we hope to 
achieve. WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN ON OCTOBER 16th? Hundreds of McDonalds 
workers, concentrated in the UK, but also across continental Europe, 
Russia, North America and Australasia, will take direct action against our 
employers. We are not necessarily expecting to see strikes, but definitely 
sabotage, go slows, partial walk outs, 'phone in sick days', etc. It will 
be the first ever co-ordinated, international, worker led mobilisation by 
the McDonalds workforce. October 16th was chosen because since the mid 
1980s it has been the date of world anti-McDonalds day. So, simultaneous to 
our actions, people who do not work for McDonalds but are opposed to its 
labour practices, cruelty to animals and destructive environmental impact, 
will also be engaged in actions at McDonalds restaurants all over the 
world. We hope that all actions can be mutually supportive. WHERE DID THIS 
DAY OF ACTION COME FROM? The idea for co-ordinated workers action on 
October 16th was originally developed by the Glasgow branch of McDonalds 
Workers Resistance over a year ago. If you would like to know more about 
MWR, please visit http://mwr.org.uk The Glasgow branch proposed action 
around the following demand: "That all those employed by McDonalds, 
anywhere in the world, be allowed to organise themselves as they wish and 
that they be allowed to conduct the business of their chosen organisations 
on company premises, be allowed to display notices in staff areas and 
generally circulate information without hindrance. That this right to 
organisation and free expression is not dependent on the number of people 
involved in the organisation and that no person shall be prejudiced against 
for involvement in such an organisation. This demand applies to those 
employed directly and indirectly by McDonalds and so includes, for example, 
those employed to make happy meal toys or company packaging. Our lives may 
be very different but our struggle is the same. Finally, we ask McDonalds 
to make explicit that they do not own their employees and that they have no 
right to dictate what we can and cannot believe or express at any time." 
WHY ARE WE TAKING THIS ACTION? By using myriad tactics, legal and illegal, 
to deny us the right to organise, McDonalds ensures they can pay us the 
lowest wages possible to work in bad conditions with a total absence of 
employment rights. This ensures that their profit margins are maximised- in 
other words, a few people get obscenely rich while those who do all the 
work struggle by on minimum wage. But even more than that, by denying us 
the right to organise, they take away our ability to transform the world- 
our ability to change this crazy, destructive, profit driven system into a 
society built in everybody's interest- not just on the terms of the rich. 
WHAT DO WE HOPE TO ACHIEVE? We want to show the world and ourselves that we 
are capable of organising internationally and that we will not be divided 
by lines on a map. We want to show ourselves and the world that we re not 
powerless in the face of multinational corporations, that in fact it is us 
who make their billions and we are able and willing to organise and fight 
back. We want to show ourselves and the world that there is a young 
generation of workers, passionate and rebellious, who refuse to live like 
past generations- we will not surrender our lives to an idiotic pursuit of 
wealth on behalf of those who already have too much. We want to take our 
first tentative steps towards a world designed for the many, not the few. 
WHAT CAN YOU DO? BE PART OF IT!!! Take action on October 16th. It doesn't 
have to be anything spectacular- you could just phone in sick... or... 
break a machine, steal from the till, stop work in the middle of lunchtime, 
turn the power off at a busy period, give away free food, work especially 
slowly, follow every procedure exactly, inform customers about what's going 
on, turn the freezer off before you leave, hide the keys to locked areas, 
go on strike, refuse to smile (yeah, like we ever do), become very clumsy, 
etc. PRINT THIS AND HAND IT OUT, GET YOUR WORK MATES INVOLVED, DO SOMETHING 
AND PLEASE, PLEASE, TELL US ABOUT IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! On the morning of 
October 16th we will deliver a single crysanthemum flower to McDonalds head 
office. The crysanthemum was the symbol of the revolution in Hungary that 
began on October 16th 1918. We will deliver it as a token of our intent to 
build a world that puts people before profits. But the crysanthemum is also 
a symbol of death, so we deliver it as a harbinger of the imminent 
destruction of the McDonalds empire and all wage labour- we neither need it 
nor want it. There is a new world growing in our hearts and we are taking 
our first tentative steps towards it. If you would like more information 
about the October 16th action, please visit: http://mwr.org.uk/proposal.htm 
For more on the ideas that inspired this action, please see: 
http://mwr.org.uk/faqs.htm http://mwr.org.uk/heavy.htm If you still have 
questions or would like to let us know that you are planning an action, 
then please contact: info at mwr.org.uk This text was produced by Greater 
London McDonalds Workers Resistance (2) and approved and amended by the 
other regional groups. "The enthusiasm for destruction is also an 
enthusiasm for creativity" - Michael Bakunin ===== "If you think you are 
too small to make a difference try sleeping with a midge" 
http://www.mwr.org.uk MWR, PO Box 3828, Glasgow, G41 1YU