Hello, I'm Nadja, I work for
STMicroelectronics, a French-Italian company
that manufactures semiconductors
and I work in Isère, France.
Our union's action
began with a call from Palestinian unions.
A call for solidarity to take action in our workplaces
against the arming of Israel.
And since then, as a union,
we have been working on the issue because there was no transparency whatsoever
namely whether our company was working with Israel or not.
So we did our research and it turns out that STMicroelectronics
has many links with Israel:
to run research and innovation centres
working with Israeli universities and also with producers
of semiconductors such as power semiconductors.
So in fact, in June 2024
we wrote an open letter
to our CEO asking that our company not collaborate
in the crimes being committed in Palestine
and to cease all collaboration with Israel.
And then we also asked for more transparency
in the business dealings our company had with Israel
and even other countries regarding everything related to defence
weapons, or non-weapons.
Because surveillance, for example, drones,
that's not necessarily bombs,
but it's used by armies to locate people and kill them.
And finally, thirdly, it was also
to be able to control more
the end customer of our chips.
Because in the context of
the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
STMicroelectronic chips were found
in Russian drones, despite the embargo.
After
the CEO's open letter,
we will start working with ‘Urgence Palestine’
and we've had several meetings
and it came quite quickly
the idea of building
a collective initiative.
We held a rally in front of the company in Isère
and the union called for a strike on that occasion.
So that was 10 April 2025.
The three demands within the company
were:
the cessation of all collaboration with Israel,
having complete transparency
about trade with that country
and also to be able to control
the end customers
and so there were quite a few,
we were about 50 to 100 people.
In terms of strikers,
there were about thirty people, you could say.
So it was good, because
given that discussions on the subject of Palestine
are not easy given the media and political climate
which tends to avoid talking about Palestine.
We have rather seen in France
from the outset unconditional support
from our politicians towards Israel.
So we thought that the
employees would be rather negative given the atmosphere.
But then we received a very favourable welcome
in our leafleting campaign beforehand,
about the strike on 10 April and even the support continued.
So even if they didn't dare
volunteer to go on strike,
we still had quite a lot of support within the company.
In the aftermath of the strike
we are already trying to roll out initiatives
at other sites in France.
We've done it at the Pôle site, and we're going to take action
in front of the Grenoble site and maybe soon in Caen too.
And we're also trying
to take action on several fronts.
So on the one hand, we're trying to activate labour rights
to achieve transparency in business and to conduct
STMicroelectronics with Israel.
So we have asked a number of questions in the
staff representative bodies, in particular the Social and Economic Committee,
where we are waiting for the company to respond,
which it is not doing deliberately,
so we are trying to be proactive and if they don't respond,
we are ready to refer the matter to the labour inspectorate 88 00:04:57,147 and why not go to court to get answers. 89 00:05:00,049 And then on the other hand 90 00:05:02,818 also, in a recent open letter 91 00:05:05,620 that we wrote a few days ago,
at the end of May
early June 2025,
to the management of STMicroelectronics
we point out the responsibility of the company but also of the managers
regarding
the Convention on the prevention
and the repression of the crime of genocide
adopted by the United Nations General Assembly
in December 1948,
which in fact also applies to companies
legal personality to their leaders.
So these entities can be accused
of complicity in genocide.
It's not just states, so it's also a means of action
for trade unionists, because often
we call on our states to act, it must be done,
but also in our companies, when we know that there is a link
with a genocidal state,
it's a means of action,
because our leaders could find themselves in court
and be accused of complicity in genocide, too.
What we can see
for more than 18 months is that Palestine continues to be bombed
and Palestinians are dying, is that there is nevertheless a change
in political discourse because it is becoming untenable
this massacre and also
of public opinion.
So when we went on strike on 10 April,
we organised it in front of the company and not inside.
And we had widely communicated this in the city
and to our comrades, other CGT unions, other companies
and so a number of people, comrades,
came to support us and
This gives us hope
for the future of possible actions
between unions
between companies I would say, so that our action
be even more
impactful.
Because if there are several companies
and not just one taking action,
it's bound to be small steps.
And then we could also see, precisely
this domino effect that can occur
through the actions of the dockers in Marseille who blocked the
the shipment of weapons for Israel.
We know that it had already started in Morocco, in Tangier
which had refused to load it with weapons.
And then after that it continued.
The ship was transported to Genoa in Italy.
And so, in fact, all these small actions
give hope and desire
to other unions,
whatever the sector, to take part in the fight.
And so,
unity is strength.
And the struggle continues.