WEBVTT

00:00:01.066 --> 00:00:06.940
A Tool For Workers' Struggles 
Base Union SUDD Cobas in Prato

00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:15.406
My name is
Mohammad Shahbaz.

00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:17.573
I work as
a textile worker.

00:00:17.840 --> 00:00:19.146
And since when?

00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:21.293
I have been in
Italy since 2013.

00:00:21.400 --> 00:00:24.400
My name is Mohammad
and I work as a textile worker.

00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:27.406
My name is Ghulam
and I worked about

00:00:27.460 --> 00:00:30.000
six to seven years as a
textile worker in Pakistan.

00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:33.000
After that I worked for three to
three and a half years in Turkey.

00:00:34.053 --> 00:00:37.526
After that I worked
for a year in Greece.

00:00:37.726 --> 00:00:39.920
Then I came
to Italy.

00:00:40.120 --> 00:00:43.280
I learnt to sew
in my home country.

00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:45.646
I have been working here
for about eight years.

00:00:45.760 --> 00:00:49.746
I've been doing this
since I'm 12 years old.

00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:53.360
I went to school and then
I started working.

00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:56.733
In Pakistan I worked
in a small shop

00:00:56.853 --> 00:00:59.040
where clothes
are made.

00:00:59.146 --> 00:01:01.500
After that I worked
in a factory in Turkey.

00:01:01.553 --> 00:01:05.440
According to the law, there you work
12 hours and have 2 days off.

00:01:05.486 --> 00:01:10.493
Here in Italy you work 12 to 14
hours, if the employers wishes so.

00:01:10.659 --> 00:01:12.640
Like at L'Alba.

00:01:12.746 --> 00:01:17.366
It all looks legal on the outside,
but on the inside it's all fake.

00:01:17.720 --> 00:01:21.080
There are two types
of contracts.

00:01:21.240 --> 00:01:24.393
You get a contract
as a cleaner,

00:01:24.506 --> 00:01:29.066
but actually work as a
sewing machine operator.

00:01:29.986 --> 00:01:33.860
But you only get the
lower wage as a cleaner.

00:01:34.406 --> 00:01:38.006
We don't get the statutory
13th and 14th month's salary.

00:01:38.160 --> 00:01:40.520
We don't even get
holiday pay.

00:01:40.927 --> 00:01:42.327
We have to work

00:01:42.520 --> 00:01:44.320
20 minutes
longer, unpaid,

00:01:44.393 --> 00:01:46.413
not just one day,
but every day.

00:01:46.520 --> 00:01:48.820
Because you took
a toilet break

00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:51.640
Monthly
you earn

00:01:51.713 --> 00:01:54.713
1.000,

00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:56.720
maximum 1,200.

00:01:56.986 --> 00:01:58.866
This battle
begins

00:01:58.960 --> 00:02:03.000
in January 2025.

00:02:03.475 --> 00:02:08.875
A group of workers who
worked in this ironing shop

00:02:09.083 --> 00:02:12.382
for brands of the upper-
middle class companies,

00:02:12.551 --> 00:02:15.551
i.e. brands like
Patrizia Pepe, Grey Ven,

00:02:15.595 --> 00:02:17.688
Canadian...

00:02:17.830 --> 00:02:22.617
They pressed and
packaged mainly coats.

00:02:25.017 --> 00:02:31.351
They come to the union and
tell us that they are being forced

00:02:31.506 --> 00:02:35.591
to work under the collective
agreement for cleaners.

00:02:35.707 --> 00:02:39.587
They tell us that they are
forced to work every Saturday,

00:02:39.675 --> 00:02:41.915
to work for free.

00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:46.493
That they have to work
20 minutes extra unpaid

00:02:46.671 --> 00:02:49.551
when they go to the toilet
during their shift

00:02:49.788 --> 00:02:53.448
to make up for
the toilet break.

00:02:53.586 --> 00:02:56.253
In short, a whole series
of very serious things.

00:02:56.524 --> 00:02:58.844
Therefore, in January

00:02:59.022 --> 00:03:02.702
the strike at L'Alba starts,
and pretty quickly

00:03:02.786 --> 00:03:06.666
an agreement is reached,
with which all workers

00:03:06.897 --> 00:03:08.933
are employed
directly,

00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:13.537
so these fake
companies disappear.

00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:17.106
All of them are now
contracted directly by L'Alba,

00:03:17.191 --> 00:03:20.440
all with permanent full-time
contracts and the application

00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:22.433
of the national collective
labour agreement.

00:03:22.657 --> 00:03:26.857
So finally they have the pay and
conditions that they are entitled to.

00:03:27.133 --> 00:03:30.640
We used to
work a lot.

00:03:31.417 --> 00:03:35.382
Sometimes six days, sometimes seven
days, nine hours, ten hours.

00:03:36.160 --> 00:03:39.359
Then we got in contact
with SUDD Cobas.

00:03:40.071 --> 00:03:42.711
Six or seven
months ago.

00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:47.417
After that
we got our rights:

00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:49.760
Eight hours of work,
five days a week.

00:03:49.826 --> 00:03:53.226
In the course of the summer,
however the workers notice,

00:03:53.426 --> 00:03:56.431
that some of the orders
are not coming in.

00:03:56.493 --> 00:04:01.293
Some machines disappear, and
when they return from holidays

00:04:01.449 --> 00:04:05.009
at the end of August, they find
a notice on the door of the company

00:04:05.427 --> 00:04:08.371
which states that due to
a summer thunderstorm

00:04:08.569 --> 00:04:13.177
all machines were damaged and
the workers should stay at home

00:04:13.347 --> 00:04:16.911
until the company
has repaired the machines.

00:04:17.137 --> 00:04:20.617
Then, after 3 or 4 months,
he founded a new company,

00:04:20.840 --> 00:04:24.240
a fake company,
in Via Lecce.

00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:28.400
He has closed the factory
and opened two new factories.

00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:30.640
He recruited the
workers from Naples.

00:04:30.640 --> 00:04:33.600
He promised them
eight-hour contracts.

00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:36.480
They came here
for eight hours.

00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:40.400
But then it was
12 hours and seven days.

00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:44.000
You are being controlled and
not allowed to talk to anyone.

00:04:45.018 --> 00:04:47.218
Of course that seems
strange to us.

00:04:47.440 --> 00:04:51.280
We find this very suspicious,
and we try to find out

00:04:51.373 --> 00:04:53.240
what is going on.
We realise

00:04:53.418 --> 00:04:56.418
that the owners of the
company opened two new plants

00:04:56.537 --> 00:05:02.257
The one we are
standing in front of now,

00:05:02.470 --> 00:05:06.350
and another one here in the
neighbourhood, also in Montemurlo.

00:05:06.653 --> 00:05:10.520
For two fake
legal reasons.

00:05:10.693 --> 00:05:13.773
They are registered to
the operators of L'Alba

00:05:14.315 --> 00:05:18.075
and they have recruited
people from other cities

00:05:18.231 --> 00:05:21.231
to force them again
to work 12 hours,

00:05:21.386 --> 00:05:25.231
to live in houses
managed by the foreman

00:05:25.408 --> 00:05:29.208
with the same orders that were
previously processed at L'Alba.

00:05:29.679 --> 00:05:33.275
He has not paid our salaries
and does not respond to anything.

00:05:33.390 --> 00:05:35.830
This is not only
the case with L'Alba,

00:05:35.892 --> 00:05:37.315
but a general
situation.

00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:39.280
The employers
close a factory

00:05:39.479 --> 00:05:41.412
and open a new one
under a new name.

00:05:41.590 --> 00:05:44.808
"I'm making losses here,
so I'm building a new factory."

00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.542
Then he began to curtail
the rights of the people.

00:05:47.640 --> 00:05:50.600
Like us and others before,
they work 12 hours a day.

00:05:50.735 --> 00:05:52.280
They work seven
days a week.

00:05:52.373 --> 00:05:54.512
He has opened
a new factory

00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:58.560
and treats people
like animals again.

00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:00.240
That's the system.

00:06:00.327 --> 00:06:03.196
But we are raising our voices,
that this system is abolished.

00:06:03.320 --> 00:06:04.748
Not only at L'Alba.

00:06:04.880 --> 00:06:07.600
This system should be
abolished in all factories.

00:06:07.872 --> 00:06:09.552
Beginning
of September

00:06:09.666 --> 00:06:12.706
the strike begins,
which is now ongoing

00:06:12.830 --> 00:06:15.830
for more than a
month and a half.

00:06:16.153 --> 00:06:23.273
We demand that the work
come back to L'Alba,

00:06:23.493 --> 00:06:25.933
that these two
fake companies,

00:06:26.067 --> 00:06:29.067
that were only founded to
reduce labour costs,

00:06:29.260 --> 00:06:34.172
are closed,
and of course

00:06:34.246 --> 00:06:36.852
the responsibility of the main
contractors is paramount.

00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:40.920
And therefore
they have to make sure that

00:06:41.153 --> 00:06:46.226
these relocations
stop and

00:06:46.432 --> 00:06:51.559
that their orders are processed
by workers with guaranteed rights.

00:06:51.953 --> 00:06:55.553
Since August the company
has stopped paying wages.

00:06:55.806 --> 00:06:59.926
During the strike
we also found out

00:07:00.059 --> 00:07:01.360
that the company

00:07:01.606 --> 00:07:04.580
since the signing of
the agreement in January

00:07:04.827 --> 00:07:09.146
had stopped paying the rent for
the plant and was evicted.

00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:15.153
And that is why we are currently in
a situation of great confusion.

00:07:15.380 --> 00:07:21.806
What we are trying to do
and what we are working towards

00:07:22.047 --> 00:07:26.567
is a plan that we have worked out
and presented to a round table

00:07:26.613 --> 00:07:29.226
which we opened with
the province of Prato

00:07:29.293 --> 00:07:31.866
and on which some of the
main contractors participate.

00:07:31.953 --> 00:07:37.186
We want a new company
that is ready to employ

00:07:37.353 --> 00:07:43.399
all workers from L'Alba
to the same conditions

00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:46.840
and that processes the orders
of these contractors

00:07:47.100 --> 00:07:49.900
and that therefore has
the possibility,

00:07:50.033 --> 00:07:53.033
to receive
new orders

00:07:53.273 --> 00:07:57.828
to expand its own production,
by processing these orders

00:07:57.853 --> 00:08:03.753
with the protection of the jobs
of the L'Alba workers.

00:08:23.320 --> 00:08:25.424
We like SUDD Cobas
very much.

00:08:25.528 --> 00:08:29.168
They help us a lot. Also
our friends help us.

00:08:29.280 --> 00:08:32.197
It's difficult when
we're not getting paid.

00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:36.200
You have to pay for rent, for food,
you have to pay for everything.

00:08:36.640 --> 00:08:38.157
It's difficult.

00:08:38.191 --> 00:08:41.560
But SUDD Cobas and
our friends are helping us.

00:08:42.093 --> 00:08:44.053
The struggle of the
workers of L'Alba

00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:47.600
was the first fight that managed
to bring the main conctractors

00:08:47.737 --> 00:08:50.857
to a negotiating table
about the supply chain.

00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:54.160
And for us that is already
an enormous result.

00:08:54.248 --> 00:08:56.128
Of course we have
to see it through

00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:58.840
to the end,
and the end means

00:08:58.973 --> 00:09:02.853
the protection of the jobs and the
rights of the workers at L'Alba.

00:09:02.964 --> 00:09:05.164
But the fact that

00:09:05.364 --> 00:09:08.444
the strength
of these workers

00:09:08.482 --> 00:09:12.122
has forced the contractors

00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:15.239
to negotiate under the premise:
"Hey, you have to take care of it.

00:09:15.417 --> 00:09:18.857
It's your responsibility how
your supply chains works

00:09:19.156 --> 00:09:23.124
and you must do something
to protect our jobs."

00:09:23.276 --> 00:09:26.742
That's a huge thing,
a historic result.

00:09:27.095 --> 00:09:30.295
When I came to Italy, I had
no contact with Italians.

00:09:30.430 --> 00:09:32.927
because I worked in
a Chinese company.

00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:36.688
So I didn't work that
much with Italians.

00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:40.840
I only worked with Italians when
I came into contact with SUDD Cobas.

00:09:41.004 --> 00:09:44.004
These people have life
and humanity in them.

00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:46.617
Without any
self-interest.

00:09:46.751 --> 00:09:49.440
And they help us.

00:09:49.662 --> 00:09:54.415
They are not only here with us
during the day, but also at night.

00:09:54.675 --> 00:09:57.431
We would like to thank everyone
who have supported us.

00:09:57.640 --> 00:09:59.608
We have reached
a point,

00:09:59.742 --> 00:10:03.280
where we were able to raise
our voice for our rights.