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April 25, 2023
Labour Court Berlin

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Today I would like to talk about
talk about why we are here

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and why we will continue
until we, as we call it,

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have won a victory for the working class
have won, especially for those,

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who are the most vulnerable in this class
in this class: the migrants and the precarious.

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Our struggle and with it
also we, the workers,

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who strike without a union
have been forced through an archaic

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and shameful detail
in the law.

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It is not the Constitution itself,
but the 70-year-old case law,

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that criminalizes us, while it itself
has a criminal background.

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We will talk shortly
about it again.

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So why are we
criminals again?

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Because we are on a wildcat strike
against the continuing exploitation

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at our old workplace,
Gorillas.

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We said no
to an unruly one,

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computer-generated
shift system,

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which violated the rest period between
the shifts was violated.

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We said no

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to an obvious crime,
namely, theft in the workplace.

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I don't know what the law calls it,
but I call it non-payment

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an obvious
Form of theft.

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Wage theft, which, unlike
to other types of theft.

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in no way
justifiable.

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Our bosses did not steal,
to get something to eat,

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but out of greed for expansion
At the expense of our livelihood.

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My boss is not
my friend,

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my boss is not
my family

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and my workplace is not mine
and is not my home.

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I do not lend anything to my boss.
I don't owe him anything.

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Then how come that,
what you are doing is not a crime,

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but that we,
if we are in favor of that,

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what rightfully belongs to us,
are criminalized?

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I repeat what I
said last year:

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Without the right to strike,
without union representation

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our work is
nothing but slavery,

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legalized by the
Law of some judges,

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who decades ago created
Jurisprudence created.

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I name him again
Hans Carl Nipperdey,

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who enforced the Führer 
principle in the factories,

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who participated in the drafting of the 
Labor Code during the Nazi era,

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was of course not a criminal,
because it was punishable,

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if in those years
not a war crime

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or crimes against
Humanity committed.

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- This is a very interesting
Way to read,

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what is a crime against
Humanity and what is not.

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This is the bourgeois reading of
Crimes against humanity,

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the same ideology that is now
criminalized instead of the bosses.

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This is the bourgeois
democracy.

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More cannot be expected,
but only be fought for.

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All strikes were forbidden according 
to Nipperdey's expert opinion,

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if they are not organized by a
organized by a trade union

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and apply to collective 
bargaining agreements.

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We often say that the German
right to strike is restrictive.

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Let me define it more precisely:
It is non-existent.

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It is slaughtered.

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The current so-called right to strike
does not concern the essence of the strike.

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It would be better to call it
Law of Negotiation.

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It is better called 
the negotiation law.

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How are we supposed 
to negotiate not getting paid?

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How to negotiate 
Illegal shift system?

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How to negotiate getting fired
on the last day of your probation?

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These workplaces are dancing so 
smoothly with crime and non-punishment,

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walking on the 
very lines of it

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and even stepping into it,
but still getting away with it.

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Whereas for us, striking is 
punishable by losing our jobs.

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And we are blamed to be 
"anti-unions" in some arguments.

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"Radical left", "leftist bubble".

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These were the adjectives
and some nouns that were given to us.

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It's not that we are 
against the trade unions,

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but one thing has to 
be understood perfectly:

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The transitions in these workplaces,
the temporary contracts,

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the frequent turnover, the dependencies
such as residence, visa, etc.

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do not make it possible
for long term unionizing.

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Our conditions are precarious,
but so are these workplaces themselves.

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They run on investors money
and their life is dependent on

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if their PR can create a need for them
in society or not.

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And in the
if not scenario, poof, they're gone.

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Today, long term unionizing,
speaking for food delivery sector

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has only been possible,
amplified only in some cities

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because differential as a company
is the most solid when it comes to existing.

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But today we can talk about gorillas anymore
as it is bought by another similar company.

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We have no choice
but wildcat strike against the spontaneity

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of the exploitation.

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It doesn't wait for trade union brokers see.

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It keeps growing and expanding.

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And one word for they get bad trade unions,
social partnership positions, positions

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them as a bridge, whereas they must be
without a shadow of doubt.

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The workers representatives.

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It shifts their focus on the more stable
workplace workplaces.

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It is not the transience of the workers.

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It is the instability of the companies
or the stability of the companies.

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What attracts them?

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If they are stable, they are worth
their focus, not the other way around.

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Social partnership is another way
of bourgeois ideology which criminalizes

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our struggle and us to tame the working class
because they are well aware

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it is only our label Labor
which they are deadly dependent on.

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In a scenario where it is withheld
without control, like in a wildcat

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and or political strikes,
it is not only a financial

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but also an existential
and ideological catastrophe for them.

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I repeat again, without our right to strikes,
with our trade unions,

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it is nothing but modern and legalized
by the law itself, sort of slavery.

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That's why and for many other reasons,
we have to fight for a comprehensive

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right to strike. Thank you.