Two centuries ago our gloried ancestors fought with blood and iron to safeguard the prosperity and safety of the Caldari State that we all citizens now enjoy with their sacrifices and hardship. The war of liberation of the State was not fought for power, glory, or wealth but for the simple love of our people and our own way of life and traditions free from the oppression and privations of foreign interference and power.
Today Upwell has offered the Caldari State a demon’s bargain. The prospect of profit and opportunity to our citizens with the promise of a new life and a new beginning but it is patently obvious this is a false promise. What is offered is not freedom but indenture to a foreign consortium and where human life is commodified and turned into nothing but a financial instrument for technological slavery to indifferent masters.
The choice to accede to the bargain and terms of Upwell by the CEP was a mistake. The citizens of the State are more than mere chattel to be bought and sold on nullsec markets to labour for the sake of foreign masters and capsuleers.
The citizens of the State are the blood in its veins, the strength in its arms, the fist that grips the sword against oppression. We lift us all upwards towards our manifest destiny of prosperity and a new and shining future for our own people, our own citizens, our own State.
It is up to us who look to our fellow Caldari as our brothers and sisters in blood and arms to reject the false song of the Upwell siren and do our duty as ever to our State: with fire and steel.
While I understand the grievances expressed are common with the people of Combine TNR, it is important to remember that the CEP did not agree to Upwell’s offer, it agreed to a uniquely revised model negotiated by Sukuuvestaa.
The power of work transfers now lies, rightfully, at the hands of one’s megacorporation, as it always has. One may apply for transfer, but the decision ultimately lies on the executive class determining where one may best serve State interests.
None of this is new, nor are extraterritorial assignments or work leases. I understand there are some concerns over the cloned bodies provided by Upwell, but with the responsible executives and the workers themselves fully informed on the subject, I am confident that all transfers would ultimately serve everyone’s mutual interests.
It is also important to note the primary target demographic of Upwell’s programme, the sick, the elderly, the invalid- even before the oversight of the megacorporations was written in, Upwell was focused on people who lead less-than-useful lives, and could benefit from new bodies.
My grievance lies not with JSL for both SuVee and KK have a proven record of placing the welfare of the State and its people before all else.
It becomes a slippery slope with PKN when those deemed unfit or invalid approaches a broader scope than would be legitimately mandated by other Megacorporate members of the CEP.
The mistreatment of Caldari labour and workforce was a primary contributor to the civil unrest and protests that lead directly to the rise of the Provist populist movement.
It is evident to me that certainly PKN would desire to retain its more valuable employees but I fear they have learned nothing from recent history and the negotiation so ardently advocated by the Forest fiends is just another thinly veiled attempt to try and divest themselves of labour they deem undesirable instead of adjusting to reasonable reforms that will affect their bottom lines and their foreign institutional investors.
They can try to spin it how they want but TNR at least can see that all that PKN wishes for is an Upwell labour farm to outsource into nullsec instead of implementing the necessary structural changes to guarantee that their workers are cared for and not just turned into another financial instrument.
At first glance the agreement with Upwell to only permit workforce transfers at the approval of the parent mega-corporation is a far cry from these expectations. However, having the specific terms of workplace transfers and final approval held by mother mega is probably the best deal we could reasonable expect given the situation. We may not be able to pull direct sway with the Upwell Consortium but the State Workers Union does have pull with some policies concerning labour and workforce transfers within the megacorporate structure. I still believe that an active and rigorous labour movement capable of asserting themselves can work with mother mega to our mutual benefit by cooperating to define when why and how workforce transfers are approved. We can accomplish almost all of the objectives we sought out this way without additional concessions from Upwell, so I see no reason to not support the deal SuVee was able to negotiate.
I do share some concern that these workplace transfers might be used as a pressure release valve to dispose of dissidents and hardliners who might otherwise be reformed through organized caldari labour and create positive change within the State. I agree that PKN in particular should be watched like a hawk for abusive transfer practices. But that is why I will continue to advocate for a strong and ideologically rigorous State Workers Union, and for JSL to become the axis around which the union spins. We have the honor and duty of assisting our comrades who aren’t as fortunate to be born into an environment that values the contributions of organized labour, and our rights as Caldari workers.