The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.28           August 16, 1999 
 
 
Fish Workers Protest Job Losses In Iceland  

BY SIGURLAUG GUNNLAUGSDÓTTIR
THINGEYRI, Iceland - Ninety workers in this small fishing town of 400 residents have lost their jobs because their employer, the fish processing company Raudsída, has closed and its future is uncertain. Around 60 of the workers are young Polish immigrants who have been here less than two years.

Raudsída had operated fish processing houses in three other towns on the northwestern peninsula of Iceland that have now closed, leaving almost 300 workers unemployed. More fish processing workers will be unemployed soon as other companies begin annual shutdowns related to the fishing quota system. The "quota year" begins September 1, and by mid- summer the quota is filled. But this year several of those companies seem to have growing financial problems.

An unusually high percentage of the residents on the northwestern peninsula are immigrant workers, many from Eastern Europe. Over the last 20 years an especially large number of workers from Poland have come on one-year contracts. Many of them have settled and brought their families.

"We have tried this before," said Gunnhildur Elíasdóttir, a woman in her 40s who has always lived here. She said many people have moved away and the government doesn't seem to care whether people live there or not. When the crisis hit Raudsída at the beginning of June and workers realized they were not going to get paid, they organized to sit down in the cafeteria. "I was worried about all the Polish workers they brought here on contract, that they wouldn't stand with us," Elíasdóttir said. But "they were even more up in arms than we were. We wanted the owner to come and tell us what was going on and he said he would come the following day. We thought we would go back to work and have the meeting the next day, but the Polish workers said, `No! If he can come tomorrow, he can come today.' And he came."

But no salaries were paid and the plant closed. Workers are guarantied their salaries by the state in case of bankruptcy, but it always takes time. The union board decided that those workers who need it can receive loans from the union fund to buy food. "The Polish workers have no credit card and no bank grants them a loan," said Elíasdóttir. She criticized the media, which made a big fuss about the union fund and tried turn the situation on its head, claiming the union was lending the company money.

One Polish worker, Darek Bochra, responded to this reporter's request to meet with him by organizing about a dozen very young Polish workers to come to the apartment where he lives with his brother and cousin. They all hope to get their pay and unemployment benefits if production doesn't start up again, but are not sure what will happen. They are not planing to return to Poland. Joanna Eliza Wrona, who graduated from high school just before she came here, said, "There is no work to be found in Poland."

Apart from the question of whether these workers will be able to receive unemployment benefits, they have been working on a contract with this particular company and their immigration status is not settled.

Meanwhile, about 50 kilometers from here in I'safjordur, seven workers and the union Baldur were recently charged by the Central Organization of Employers with obstruction and damage during a six-week strike in May-June 1997. The bosses are claiming large compensation for the strike, during which the union organized pickets at harbors all over the western peninsula and down the coast to Reykjavík in the south.

One of the places the fishing companies involved in the strike decided to test was Thingeyri. "We were not on strike because there was no work at the time," said Elíasdóttir. "Then they sent a trawler that was originally from here, with several workers from here, to be unloaded. But we did not allow it."

This reporter also spoke with two of the workers who had been charged, Adalheidur Steinsdóttir and Trausti Agustsson. They were both laid off from where they worked before the strike. Steinsdóttir has two part-time jobs today. Agustsson has several jobs and his wife was illegally fired from the same plant during maternity leave.

Steinsdóttir explained the charges are based on news reports and newspaper articles on picketing at harbors where the local unions were not involved by formal decision. "No industrial union supported us formally. We were even attacked by leaders of big unions for receiving and making public declarations of support from members of their unions," said Steinsdóttir. Although many companies closed shortly after the strike and many have moved on to other parts of the country, both workers said that few regret having gone through that strike.

Three Young Socialists visited the area July 24-25 and spoke with Sigrídur Bragadóttir, one of the workers who was charged. "We have to win this case," she said, "or the right to strike will be hurt." She stressed that they received a lot of material and moral support during the strike. She gave the example of an older woman who had gotten a little extra for her pension, so she sent the check to the strikers.

Young Socialists Ólof Andra Proppé and Ogmundur Jónsson contributed to this article.

 
 
 
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