The Recent Italian Fares Strikes are a Model for San Francisco

AFTER A WEEK OF FARE STRIKE

After a week has passed, we feel that the fare strike
initiative has had a good response. The strike flyer
has been distributed in various cities (we have news
from the regions of Genoa, Savona, Milan, Turin,
Bologna, Padua, Venice, Trieste, Rovereto, Trento,
Bolzano, Catania and Lecce). The messages that have
been coming to the e-mail address created specifically
for this are pretty encouraging. Various commuters
have told us of the responses of solidarity from other
passengers and even from the ticket-checkers
themselves. In one case, the solidarity of passengers
was able to prevent a ticket-checker from calling the
railway police. In Bologna, engineers and conductors
have grasped the link between the fare strike and the
ongoing labor disputes of the railway workers,
speaking about it in assemblies and distributing the
flyer in their turn. Journalists have also started to
come out, hoping to “identify” the promoters of the
initiative, who have not released any interviews
because they wish to maintain the autonomy of the
strike committee from all the institutions (and from
the logic of spokespeople).

The more frequent interventions of the railway police
against the distribution of flyers in the train
stations (something that has provided the occasion for
flying rallies) and the attitude of controllers (who
have seemed more zealous in the last few days) make it
clear that Trenitalia does not appreciate the
initiative and the awful publicity it assures for
them. The flyering continues in various cities,
especially in light of the declarations of the
commuter committees of Milan-Turin that announced that
they would not renew their monthly travel passes for
February. Someone suggested creating assemblies of
commuters and strikers in various cities. Others
raised the question of what action to take against the
fines (there have been a few more servile
ticket-checkers). Meanwhile, railway accidents
continue.

To all those interested in expressing themselves about
this, making suggestions, organizing themselves.

What follows is the version of the flyer distributed
in the past week in some cities...

THE FARE STRIKE CONTINUES!
This society travels on two tracks: one for the rich
and one for the poor.

While the trains are not adequate for commuters, stops
are discontinued and discomfort increases. While
personnel, workers’ wages, maintenance and safety are
cut back, billions are spent on advertising and on
grandiose projects like the High Speed Train, a
gigantic devastation of the environment for moving
commodities and managers faster.

They would like to reduce us to nothing more than
voters and consumers, but a great force is in our
hands. It is up to us to use it.

The fare strike is spreading to various cities. Let’s
all participate. We invite commuters to come to an
agreement with those who regularly take the same train
on the methods of protest:

• Because what happened in Crevalcore (17 dead) is not
a tragic inevitability, but rather a product of
Trenitalia’s logic of profit. Any of us might have
been on that train. The accident at Peri (on the
Verona-Trento line) in the last few days is yet
another confirmation.

• In agreement with the protest of the commuters of
Milan-Turin.

• In solidarity with the mobilization of railway
workers, the first ones to suffer the consequences of
privatization. Users and workers together!

There is only one way to protest against the
Trenitalia enterprise: striking it in the profits. The
more widespread the strike, the more reasonable the
managers will be about the demands and the labor
disputes of the workers.
As soon as you get on the train, show the flyer to the
ticket-checker (generally, they are in solidarity).

Spread the discussion to other passengers. It is
everyone’s problem.
If you have already gotten a ticket today, refuse to
show it.
If you have a monthly pass, organize with other pass
holders for a monthly pass strike. The commuters’
committees of Milan-Turin have already announced that
in February they will all travel showing the January
monthly pass.

In order to get an idea of how widespread the strike
is, communicate (even anonymously) that you have taken
part by writing to senzabiglietto [at] libero.it, perhaps
describing the behavior of the ticket-checkers. If
they are zealous in enforcing regulations, lack
solidarity toward users and workers and try to issue
fines, we will respond by intensifying our protest…

Fare strike committee