The Ferryworkers’ Strike

We wonder if the strike of 600 ferry workers in Calais would have been reported at all if it were not for the impact it has had on the UK economy and those of its citizens taking their cars to the continent for a holiday? From the perspectives of those quaint and loveable humanitarians – Daily Mail, Express etc. – the tragedy is that there are 8 mile plus queues of trucks looking to export goods on the M20. It is also a tragedy that people are having their holidays disrupted because of the problems relating to travelling across or beneath the Channel. It has been loudly announced that not only have these problems occurred regularly over the past few months but that they are costing around £750,000 per day of disruption, also that, of course, they are all the fault of striking French workers. But these are inconveniences (annoying if you are involved to be sure). The real tragedies are being experienced by the ferry workers who are losing their jobs, the asylum seekers who are desperate to get to Britain and the lorry drivers who are caught in the middle of this.

It’s true that the ferry workers are showing a degree of militancy which perhaps should be copied elsewhere. However they did not start this episode of class war. Before looking at the tactics of the strikers we should explain how this strike started. It started in May 2014 when the British Government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) deemed that Eurotunnel’s operation of both the Channel Tunnel and some ferries was a restraint of trade. Eurotunnel was forced to sell off two of the three ships it bought from the previous bankrupt French company SeaFrance. But the workers were part of a cooperative (SCOP SeaFrance) which also leased the ships Rodin and Berlioz under the new name MyFerryLink. They were not consulted about the new deal despite making a failed bid to buy or re-lease the ships themselves. MyFerryLink actually won a case in the British courts to overturn the CMA decision but Eurotunnel went ahead with the sale anyway. Their own profitability actually demanded it. Eurotunnel made it clear that they had not been offered enough by the cooperative before signing a binding contract to sell with the Danish company DFDS for an undisclosed sum. It soon became clear that the price of this sale would also involve the loss of about three quarters of the 600 jobs. When the cooperative found out that the ships had been sold to DFDS they were furious and their union Nord Maritime took the case to court. Unsurprisingly the French courts found against the cooperative at the beginning of June and this sparked the wildcat strike.

This has been no token action. After all, the alternative was to meekly accept the job losses. These workers are fighting for their livelihoods. Not only did they occupy the two ships but the Rodin also blockaded the harbour entrance at Calais. This started off the tailbacks which have been slow to decline ever since. And because the villain of the piece was Eurotunnel the strikers divided their forces, with several hundred picketing the port whilst a smaller number blocked the tunnel rail link with piles of burning tyres. Eurotunnel management have been loud in condemning everyone else from the striking workers (just getting drunk on the duty frees in the occupied ships according to their version) to both governments and demanding compensation. And it’s also the workers fault that hundreds of migrants have been trying to rush the ferry terminal or the queues of lorries which back up down the A16 motorway waiting to get the shuttle. Or is it? What the mainstream media didn’t say is that the police then decided to attack the pickets (there are videos of them pepper-spraying strikers) and whilst they were engaged in this the migrants camped in the area saw their chance and began to rush the lorries and the terminal in a desperate bid to get to the UK.

Tragedies of migration

We have written before about migrants being rescued at sea in the Mediterranean or losing their lives through sinkings[1]. So far this year the numbers dying at sea attempting to cross the Mediterranean stretches into the thousands. The numbers rescued from vessels barely afloat or simply set adrift goes far beyond that. Last year around 3000 died at sea attempting to reach Italy. This year around 153,000 migrants from outside the EU have been logged as making their way to the EU. This, of course, does not include those who have remained undetected as migrants.

Capitalism today has created a truly wonderful world. From Sudan to Syria, from Congo to Crimea, imperialist rivalry leads to the death, rape and displacement of millions of the poorest people on the planet. Some of the survivors then risk their lives and pay people traffickers small fortunes to try to get to the “rich” (for some) coun­tries. The traffickers take thousands of dollars from those seeking to move to the EU – what they regularly receive is being dumped in leaking vessels that can barely keep afloat and regularly do not. Sometimes it is just a case of being thrown onto a large inflatable dinghy and set adrift. Where the vessel is “seaworthy” their living conditions rarely include access to water, food, toilet or washing facilities. In many cases there have been deaths suffered on board – pregnant women, young children and the old.

It is often the case that the hopeful migrants are coming from Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Sudan and other parts of Africa and the Middle East. They have many different motives but nearly all relate to the disasters capitalism and imperialism have created around the world, especially in Africa and the Middle East. A few wish to escape intense poverty, but the vast majority are refugees seeking asylum from civil war, attacks from terrorists or just plain criminal groupings (and here we can include incumbent governments and totalitarian regimes).

Calais

Calais has been a magnet for many migrants (overwhelmingly asylum seekers according to official figures) trying to get to the UK. This is already well-known. Many of them found shelter in the Red Cross Reception Centre at Sangatte until it was closed in November 2002. Since then squatters’ camps occupied by the migrants in and around Calais have sprung up. It is not simply one place or camp but a series of them. The original main camp known as the Jungle was attacked and largely destroyed a little while ago. This was a camp set up in the woods close to the Port of Calais following the closure of Sangatte. In 2009 French police used bulldozers and riot officers to destroy the camp. Further camps have been established including one in a landfill site. There are times when food, water and other help are provided to the camp and its various inhabitants – the main Jungle 2 regularly has at least 3,000 residents – given by a range of humanitarian organisations including the Red Cross. Others have taken over abandoned houses in various areas.

Local police regularly attack such camps and dwellings. It is often the case that people are detained. On one occasion police detained nearly 300 Afghans. The conditions for the people there are horrendous – there are no proper facilities and there are regular fights and other disturbances. In some cases there have been makeshift gangs in operation attempting to control aspects of so-called 'life' in the camps, the supply of food and water among other things. Recently there was a pitched battle between Sudanese and Eritrean migrants over control of a choice area around the Port terminal, which they believe is a key area for gaining access to transport into the UK.

Migration – A Consequence of Imperialism

Throughout the history of capitalism the working class has been a class of migrants. From our point of view we have moved to either find work or because pogroms and persecutions have driven us out of our original homes. And the capitalists have benefitted from this migration at every turn as they get a biddable workforce as a result. Now they play a double game publicly condemning these despised “economic migrants” who they say only come to claim benefits whilst quietly lobbying the Government to make sure that migrants can arrive to cheapen the cost of labour generally. It’s a double whammy. Public racism over the beauties of Britain to con workers here whilst ensuring private profit is not damaged. The Government and media have not been slow to rack up the nasty racist propaganda with references to the “hordes”, or as a “swarm” of insects waiting to pollute beautiful Britannia. It has much in common with Nazi propaganda used against the Jews in 1930s Germany even if the purpose is mainly to disguise the ineptitude of the Government response.

For many workers here the idea of enjoying the “benefits” of austerity makes the current attraction of the UK seem a bit of a mystery. In fact many European countries (Sweden, Germany etc) already take far more asylum seekers than the UK. However for some the UK is the target for more complex reasons than money. An individual asylum seeker is entitled to more per person from the French government in social security than from the British government. The attraction of the UK for many migrants relates partially to such things as differences in social policy such as benefits rules. It is easier for those with children than in France where there are no extra benefits payments for those with children. Some migrants do prefer to move towards Germany but often because of other migrant communities already established there – for example, there is a large Turkish minority in Germany. There is no doubt that the prospect of joining an existing community of a shared culture has always been an attraction for migrants. For many there is also the language factor as they already have some English but for most it is simply a case of the likelihood of finding work – the UK unemployment rate is a bit lower than in places such as France, Italy and Spain. For some the fact that the UK does not operate an identity card system provides a particular attraction so it is easier to avoid being hassled by police on a daily basis or to find a job in the black economy (now estimated to be worth 10% of GDP). Apparently too the UK (unlike France, offers asylum seekers accommodation whilst their claims are examined and you are approximately twice as likely to get leave to remain as an asylum seeker in the UK as in France (2 in 5 as against 1 in 5). For many who have risked everything crossing sand and sea to get to Europe the prospect of death on the final leg to the UK (9 have died since the beginning of June) seems a worthwhile gamble.

The composition of attempted migrants into the UK and other EU countries has also changed over the years. Some years ago it was the case that the majority of those making the journey were largely Afghan, with large numbers of Iraqis also travelling. Now it is very much the case that East Africans, Eritreans, Ethiopians, Sudanese as well as those from war torn areas of the Middle East are coming. For the Sudanese it is the problems in Darfur as well as the general problems in what is now South Sudan which have caused a lot of people to attempt to flee – from the fighting that has taken place, internal problems with the regime as well as general conditions of poverty. For those coming from Syria and Iraq, in particular the northern areas the reasons for getting out do not need to be stated. The tragedies in Assad’s Syria and the fallout from the Iraq debacle (now with the rise of IS) are well known.

It’s no accident that the migration patterns described above shift with new episodes of imperialist war. As the West keeps plundering these areas or supporting their various surrogates in the region the massacres and the mayhem increase across the world. Even where the West is not directly involved the “collateral damage” of the world economic crisis is increasing tension for scarce resources between people who have lived close together for centuries. The solution would be for the West to stop inflicting war on these areas so that they can become habitable again but that will never happen. The bestial imperialist appetites of world capitalism for control of resources and new areas for investment are central to how the world works. As long as an increasingly crisis-ridden capitalism exists the situation will only get worse for millions of human beings across the globe.

Cde/AD

[1] See leftcom.org