Workers' Communist Party of Norway (AKP) - Clabecq site
Clabecq is a small town, some 20 km in the south of Europe's capital, Brussels. The steel factory employed 2.500 workers until 1996. It turned out to be one of the targets of a large European restructuration of the steel industry. Steel barons stated that over 60.000 jobs should be sacrificed in this sector. The unionists of the Clabecq steel factory had experienced a former wave of restructurations, which costed more than 20.000 jobs in this sector, between the late seventies and the nineties. They had a long tradition of union struggle and they pleaded for a common defence with the unions of all the Belgian steel factories. It remained a call in the desert and soon the owners of the Clabecq factory left the ship. They were replaced by the regional Walloon government. The latter agreed to ask permission to the European Parliament for public subsidisation. This was refused by the, then socialist, commissioner. The Clabecq unionists started weekly general assemblies in the factory, commenting the events, discussing every decision and concluding by vote. They announced being prepared to fight until the end, for the defence of the factory, and the jobs depending from it.
The answer came in 1996, on December 19th the board of administration (under presidency of the Walloon Regional Administration) literally abandoned the factory, left all doors open and not a single measure for security. They even stopped paying the worker's wages and benefits. This caused an explosion of anger. On December 20th, about 2.500 workers went to the local town hall of Clabecq. Traversing the municipality they smashed all the windows of the banks along the trajectory of the demonstration. At the municipality house they were filmed by police officers from a window in the local police station. The workers asked to have the film, because they doubted being spied and intimidated. This being refused, they invaded the local police station where all the furniture was smashed. Later, this will become one of the major events being treated by the court, some ten months later.
January 3rd 1997, the court of Nivelles adjudicated the Clabecq Steel Factory in bankruptcy. The weekly assemblies turned in moments of action. Every day, workers gathered and then spread out to explain, in every factory and every town throughout the country, their struggle and their willingness to start a general movement against injustice, restructurations and exclusions.
In the same period, the automobile factory of Renault, in Vilvoorde - another suburb of Brussels - was shut down, evenly figuring in a large restructuration plan of this sector. The workers wanted to join both struggles, but at national level the unions decided to negotiate an escorting policy for the massive job loss.
February 2nd the Clabecq rank and file workers succeeded in gathering over 70.000 people for a mass-demonstration in this small town. Unionists, parents of murdered children, artists, teachers, activists and democrats met in this event. A never seen phenomenon in Belgium since the last 50 years.
The trusties in charge for Clabecq bankruptcy still didn't pay the workers. More and more of them got summoned by bank offices to pay their debts, or even got bailiffs sent to their homes. One day, one of the trusties was seen in a 'chic' restaurant near the factory. He was beaten by some offended workers. He decided to use this against the local union leaders of the factory. Later he has described how he was sustained then by a huge press campaign in order to divide national and local union leadership. Once the job done, national guards entered on stage.
On March 28th, the workers of Clabecq intended to occupy a highway about 10 km from the factory. The occupation was authorised and the workers made the 10 km traject with bulldozers in front. Once arrived they were ambushed by the 'gendarmerie' forces. To the arrogant violence displayed by these forces of order, the workers replied with evenly violent resistance, with bulldozers coping tear gas and water guns. It was an historical defeat for the police forces in Belgium, that is threaten also in court.
On April 5th, again Clabecq unionists mobilised for a mass rally in Namur, the capital of the Walloon Regional Administration: it was a never seen "March against the Liars". 15.000 people - essentially rank and file unionists - assembled at this demonstration. Meanwhile the Belgian media focussed on the violent character of the workers struggle at Clabecq and an emergency committee composed of Socialist Party members and union leaders was installed. They succeeded in dividing the union coherence and got finally the closure of the Renault factory. They had to insult still further the unionists of Clabecq in order to meet the dictates of national and European financial groups in the steel producing sector.
On May 6th, the Clabecq workers still rejected an offer, set up in a negotiation between the Walloon Administration and some national union representatives, by 55%. It is only when an overtaker was found for the factory they could make up a plan accepted by the workers, on July 4th, 1997. The factory started up again on the condition that the core of "terrorists" should be laid off. The Regional Administration, backed by union leadership, imposed this choice by a postal referendum. The Clabecq unionists maintained their solidarity, appealed to accept the upstart of the factory and criticised their being outlawed. All voted and finally accepted the proposal by 95%.
Afterwards, 500 of the core rank and file unionists were refused to cross the gateway of their factory. They created the Movement for the Renewal of the Unions, aiming a debate to recenter the Unions on determinate struggle and unconditional support to the needs of the workers.
The final 95% vote showed a face to face position existing within the unions. National leadership chose the way of negotiation in the Renault conflict. They lost all of the jobs and the factory was shut down definitely. All the workers saw how the Clabecq workers maintained their factory and their jobs and at the same time they saw how the leaders were sacrificed by this same national leadership. But the battle within the unions was not centred on this behalf. National leaders criticised Clabecq unionists as being violent, terrorists and Mafia minded scoundrels (with a racist component towards the Italian origin of the leaders). They were excluded from the union and this was accompanied by a warning to all those who dared to try to defend them.
It was already known that a trial against Clabecq workers was pending, but since the exclusion turned into a real excommunication of the tradition of class struggle of the unions, a real rightist offensive by state and law was staged.
National Guards accused 11 workers of Clabecq, 1 worker of Renault and 1 unemployed 27 year old youngster, member of the Workers' Party of Belgium. The process showed quickly to be one of the most important against trade-unionism in Belgian history.
During a whole year in Nivelles, a town at 20 km in the south of the European capital, every week a trial was going on. It took twelve month to the accused and their supporters to fustigate it as a real travesty of justice and a danger in fascisation and anti-union policies.
The lawsuit was based upon a law edited in 1886, an age where there was no right to vote, nor to organise for the workers. It was formulated to overcome general strikes and riots of the workers against misery and for democracy. It allowed to condemn leaders of the workers not on the basis of established law break, but by establishing a link between words they spoke and law breaks committed by others in the same event. The leader of the union of Clabecq is sued in all the 43 accusations, but not one establishes a proof of his guilt. "We'll see what comes out all along the sessions of this process", stated the judge. Until today, this law has never been executed. Some trials have been started, but never came to an end.
Moreover, this trial was held behind closed doors. Even the Belgian president of human rights presenting himself at the court was not allowed to enter. Even in Turkey this doesn't exist. Every session brought out irregularities like false testimonies, a judge influencing witnesses, insulting a defending lawyer. Disguised as victim, National Guard came out to be accuser, investigator and judge. Documents proving innocence appeared and disappeared. Finally, the accused of Clabecq succeeded to stop the lawsuit. On January 3rd 2000, the court of Nivelles was disavowed for further lawsuit, not for its political, rightist content but because of an error in the procedure: one of the judges was acquaintance with another judge, figuring as a witness on charge against the 13. In fact, she was his wife.
It was a first victory, but the machinery on the other side didn't withdraw. They composed a new court with new judges. The trial is going to restart April 25th, at 14 h in Nivelles.
Only when the excluded workers of Clabecq will get back to their place in the trade unions the arrogance of justice and forces of order will be stopped. Only the cancelling of the trial will bring back to the union the right to fight for progress and justice for the workers.
Some union leaders made a petition amongst other unionists and got verbal approval of their president. He promised to go to action if ever the trial should start anew. Artists in Brussels and Antwerp organised events in support against the lawsuit.
It is all welcome, because last year, the more the process advanced, the more the union workers on the floor in other factories were threatened by dismissing and penalties. Today, maximum profit is sought by means of restructuring, outsourcing, sell-outs, privatisation etc, to conquer the global market. This means tens, hundreds or thousands of jobs to be destructed.
Some resist, others lost their jobs. Strikes against unionist firings and job losses are being countered by immediate judgments and penalties up to 1 million BFR a person prevented to cross a picket-line. Some win, some lose. But national union leadership still doesn't answer with a general action against this type of fascisation in Europe.
In Belgium, we are on the eve of an all over offensive against jobs. More than two thousand in the steel factories, over 6.000 in the bank sector, 10.000s in post offices, train and telephone companies and civil servants. It is the workers of Clabecq who continue to show how to resist against attacks when factory owners, financial groups and their profiteered mobilise the institutional violence of National Guards, Justice and Media. That's why financial groups, State and government want to smash this trump. That's why all progressive forces must unite and make the accused of Clabecq win.
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