Right on cue, and exactly one year after the dispute of the 316 (see Revolutionary Perspectives 46 and 47), whilst they are talking about the closure of the whole plant and are preparing new layoff plans the indictment of the most politicised workers who led the struggle against expulsion from the factory has been issued.

The first thing that strikes you is that the 16 accused have been chosen with exquisitely political criteria; independently of the fact that they may or may not look like the photos issued by Police Headquarters at the time, the ones who have been accused are those workers who have been the most involved in union activity or in organising the pickets, or rather in

“the execution of a criminal design [which] with violence and threats constituted by placing cars in the public highway, setting fire to tyres and shouting, preventing the freedom of movement forcing those who intended to enter the FIAT AUTO plant to abandon their goal.”

According to the indictment, the four days of picketing are supposed to have cost FIAT millions of euros and the pickets prevented access to three plants with 10,000 workers in total. The accused workers risk a prison sentence of between one and four years.

We are at the side of all workers struggles always putting the workers on guard against union manoeuvres and we are therefore solidly with the victimised workers, and we will stand by them as we have done right up until now.