Occupation of factories
Encyclopedia
Occupation of factories is a method of the workers' movement used to prevent lock outs. They may sometimes lead to "recovered factories," in which the workers self-manage
the factories.
They have been used in many strike action
s, including:
Workers' self-management
Worker self-management is a form of workplace decision-making in which the workers themselves agree on choices instead of an owner or traditional supervisor telling workers what to do, how to do it and where to do it...
the factories.
They have been used in many strike action
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
s, including:
- the 1920-22 Biennio rossoBiennio rossoThe Biennio Rosso was a two year period, between 1919 and 1920, of intense social conflict in Italy. The Biennio Rosso was followed by the extremely violent reaction of the Fascist blackshirts militia and eventually by the March on Rome of Benito Mussolini in 1922...
(in particular the Turin factory occupation of 1920) - 1936 French general strike (see 1936 Matignon agreements)
- in the May 68 revolts, supported by the Council for Maintaining the OccupationsCouncil for Maintaining the OccupationsThe Council for Maintaining the Occupations , or CMDO, was a revolutionary committee formed during the May 1968 events in France originating in the Sorbonne. The council favored the continuation of wildcat general strikes and factory occupations across France, maintaining them through directly...
- in the 1970s in Italy (35-day occupation of the FiatFiatFIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
) - upper Clyde shipbuilder workers staged a work-in during 1971-72 with about 260 further occupations in Britain in the following decade
- the 1971 Harco work-in1971 Harco work-inThe 1971 Harco work-in was an action undertaken by workers at a steel plant in Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia. The work-in was the culmination of a protracted industrial dispute between the owners of Harco Steel and the workers at the Campbelltown site...
, Australia - 1973 Uruguayan general strike
- Lip factory in France in 1973
- the occupation of the ceramics factory formerly known as Zanon in Argentina starting in 2001, that under workers' control changed its name to FaSinPatFaSinPatFaSinPat, formerly known as Zanon, is a worker-controlled ceramic tile factory in the southern Argentine province of Neuquén, and one of the most prominent in the recovered factory movement of Argentina...
- the occupation of the Republic Windows and DoorsRepublic Windows and DoorsRepublic Windows and Doors was a Chicago, Illinois-based producer of vinyl replacement windows. The company was founded in 1965 by William Spielman. The company was declared bankrupt on December 2, 2008...
factory in Chicago in 2008 - A 77-day occupation of the SsangyongSsangYong Motor CompanySsangYong Motor Company is the fourth largest South Korean automobile manufacturer. The name SsangYong means double dragons.SsangYong was acquired by India's Mahindra & Mahindra Limited in February 2011, after being named the preferred bidder in 2010 to acquire the bankruptcy-protected company...
car factory in 2009
See also
- Sit-down strike
- Bolivarian CirclesBolivarian CirclesThe Bolivarian Circles are a loosely-knit political and social organization of workers' councils in Venezuela originally begun by President Hugo Chávez in 2001. They are named in honor of Simón Bolívar, the leader who transformed most of South America from Spanish colonial outposts to the...
- History of SolidarityHistory of SolidarityThe history of Solidarity , a Polish non-governmental trade union, begins in August 1980, at the Lenin Shipyards at its founding by Lech Wałęsa and others. In the early 1980s, it became the first independent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country...
- History of ArgentinaHistory of ArgentinaThe history of Argentina is divided by historians into four main parts: the pre-Columbian time, or early history , the colonial period , the independence wars and the early post-colonial period of the nation and the history of modern Argentina .The beginning of prehistory in the present territory of...
and "Dirty WarDirty WarThe Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
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