Today at 9:30 more than 300 workers occupied the administrative building of Kherson Engineering Plant. The workers demand payment of wages, nationalization of the plant without compensation to its owner and are decisively inclined to occupy the building until complete fulfillment of their demands.  

During occupation no worker has injured. Factory guards did not resist seriously. The situation is controlled by yesterday elected workers council. The police has not yet appeared near the building.

At this moment the council is meeting in the former cabinet of a technical director. Leonid Nimchinov, the chair of the workers council, says that these events must be widely spread and calls workers from other plants throughout Ukraine to display solidarity and support each other. In the near future he is going to address this call to workers of Lviv Bus Plant and other factories.

The main demands of protesting workers:

- payment of wage arrears (near 4.5 million Ukrainian hryvnias);

- nationalization of the plant without compensation to its owner;

- the state-secured plant’s production distribution – high-quality farm machinery

In case of ignoring their demands workers are ready to turn to the toughest forms of protest.

Background: on February 2, 300 workers of Kherson Engineering Plant started protest action against non-payment of wages since September 2008 and actual destruction of the plant by its owners. During one of the previous meetings with the workers Ms. Pugacheva, the alternate director, said that the owners were not going to save the plant. “Why did you stick to this plant so much?” she said. The workers hold a meeting near the entrance and elected 5 representatives to the Workers Council and its chair Aleksey Nimchinov who will lead the future struggle and negotiate on behalf of the workers.

For legal advise try the Free B.E.A.G.L.E.S site (last updated 2004):

 http://www.freebeagles.org/articles/Legal_Booklet_4/lb4-contents.html

From the Intro: ‘This booklet is intended to provide advice to activists in dealing with some of the more common pieces of law, which you are likely to encounter during the course of protests. It does not deal with every possible law you might encounter but instead focuses mainly on police powers to control public order and how these can be challenged.

This is the fourth edition we have made of this guide and takes in to account the relevant changes to the law under the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003. These give substantially new powers to the police in relation to public order law and to police powers of arrest, detention and bail as well as new powers to take fingerprints and DNA.

This edition takes account of recent rulings in the High Court on the application of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and police powers to detain for breach of the peace. It now includes a briefing on police powers under the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992, as this legislation is still used against activists. Also included are notes on new powers and laws now being used including civil injunctions, anti-social behaviour orders and penalty notices.

The advice contained in this booklet is correct to our knowledge as of August 2004. Nothing is this booklet is intended to encourage you to break the law. Please seek further legal advice before acting on the contents of this booklet. It is not guaranteed in any way, and is not a substitute for proper legal advice.’

On 31 December, 2008 over 50 unemployed and precarious workers blocked the checkout of a Monoprix supermarket in the suburbs of Paris with 13 trolleys full of food. After distributing a leaflet, demanding a “self-reduction appropriate to this time of crisis, which will allow for the precarious to celebrate New Year’s with dignity”, negotiations with the supermarket management resulted in them leaving without paying. A portion of the food was distributed to the undocumented immigrants who have occupied the Parisian labor hall.

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