NESTLE, SERIAL ABUSER.

         

          Another appeal from LabourStart for solidarity in an attempt  to get Nestle to stop abusing workers as they try to organise into a trade union. One thing the corporate world does not like is organised workers, it is more difficult to exploit them, organised workers can stand up to the corporate greed merchants, individuals can be eliminated. 

      

            Nestlé is the world's largest food company. It is also a serial abuser of workers' rights.

This afternoon, the IUF - the global union federation for food workers - launched a major campaign calling on Nestlé to respect workers' rights.

         The campaign call comes in the wake of Nestlé sacking workers in both Indonesia and Pakistan for daring to organize themselves into trade unions.

          Last week, I asked you to help striking Suzuki workers in India. 96 hours after we launched the campaign, the company had reached agreement with the union and the strike was over.

This is going to be a longer and harder fight.

That's why it's so important that you not only send off your protest to Nestlé, but that you forward on this email.

Thank you!

Eric Lee

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NICE MEAL -- CRAP CONDITIONS!!

New York: Boathouse Restaurant workers strike against unfair labor practices

       60 employees of the Boathouse Restaurant in New York’s Central Park have walked off their jobs and were joined on the picket line by 37 of their co-workers who were illegally terminated in retaliation for organizing a union. In response to low wages, stolen overtime pay, long hours, no benefits, unsafe conditions, rampant favoritism, sexual harassment, ethnic discrimination, and management abuse 70% of the Boathouse staff signed union cards in January, and on January 27, the union petitioned the United States Government to hold a union representational election. Boathouse management immediately launched a campaign of terror against the employees.

        Management fired 37 workers for their support for the union and aggressively intimidated and threatened the remaining union supporters, many of whom are immigrants.

       The City of New York owns the boathouse; Dean Poll is the contracted operator. Under the terms of the operator's contractor, the New York City Parks Commission can cancel his contract and replace him with another operator. You can support the Boathouse workers by sending a message to the Parks Commissioner urging him to do just that! Click here to send a message.

For more information, read the full story here.

Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)

8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
website: www.iuf.org

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THE TORTURE OF TRADE UNIONISTS.

     

      As we here in the West struggle with the repression and exploitation inflicted on us by corporate capitalism, let's not forget those in the developing world who suffer  far more harsh exploitation and a far more brutal repression, sometimes even death for doing what we do,  fight for a better life. This brutality takes place on a daily basis across countless countries, below is just one more of this sickening onslaught against ordinary people, another case of brutal repression to safeguard the wealth and power of that toxic, festering marriage of state and corporate capitalism.

Solidarity.

       Basile Mahan Gahé, general secretary of the national trade union center Dignité (whose food and hotel section is affiliated to the IUF) has been transferred from detention in Abidjan to a prison in Boundiali, where he is reportedly only given one meal a day. The trade union leader was kidnapped from his Abidjan home on May 26 and held without charges. Amnesty International believes it has credible reports that he was tortured, particularly in the early days of his detention.

       On June 2, he was visited by an ILO mission which included Mody Guiro, ITUC African regional president/ITUC vice-president. For the mission, Gahé was transferred from his police cell to the Hotel Pergola (transformed into a detention center). The mission over, the prosecutor brought charges - reportedly involving sedition and armed action against the state. - and had him transferred on July 9 to the remote location in the northeast.

We all need a hand.

      Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has repeatedly called for national reconciliation - yet a trade union leader is being illegally held without charges. All of the country's trade union organizations, other national and international trade union organizations have called for his release. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner at risk of torture.

       Act now! - click here to send a message to President Ouattara (with copies to Ivory Coast embassies in France and Belgium) calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Basile Mahan Gahé.

Ron Oswald.

General Secretary, IUF.

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)

8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
web-site: http://www.iuf.org/

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IUF Uniting food, farm and hotel workers world-wide

      Four years after punishing lockout, one year after OECD agreement, Unilever Assam workers still waiting for their union to be recognized.

      Business is doing well at Unilever’s personal products factory at Doom Dooma in the Indian state of Assam. But nearly 4 years after management tried to destroy the union with a punishing 6-week lockout, and almost one year since the IUF and Unilever formally concluded an agreement to settle the dispute under the auspices of the UK government, the workers are still waiting for their union to be recognized as their collective bargaining agent. The workers’ mood is one of deepening frustration. How has this happened?

Read the full story here

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WORLD WIDE SOLIDARITY.

IUF:    Uniting food, farm and hotel workers world-wide

      Three union activists have been dismissed from their employment at KFC in Thailand after they established a union and sought to bargain a collective agreement with KFC management.

Send a message to KFC management demanding their reinstatement.

http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/938

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TURKEY TRYING TO CRUSH ALL TRADE UNIONS.

      

      States always try to stifle any working class organisation, whether it be trade unions or community organisations that seek some sort of autonomy. If it doesn't feel too threatened then the attacks are quiet, subtle and covert, but if it feels the threat is rising, then it can become very brutal, overt and bring into use all the bruteforce of all the state apparatus. At the moment Turkey is trying to smash all working class organisation in an attempt to create a subservient workforce suitable for its corporate friends in the EU. We cannot stand by and watch the state try to crush those struggling to improve their conditions. We are all in this struggle together to survive in an exploitive corporate capitalist greed machine which is backed up by the state.

       This following message is from IUF, International Union of Food Workers,   hopefully those reading it will take the action requested.  

    

       "The Turkish government has filed criminal charges against 111 union leaders, members and supporters, which carry prison terms of up to 5 years in connection with a 2010 demonstration in Ankara. The list of those indicted by the Ankara Public Prosecutor include TEKGIDA-IS President Mustafa Turkel along with 4 other national officers and twelve branch presidents, the current and former heads of the national centre DISK, two former leaders of the public sector confederation KESK and other prominent union and social activists."

      Click HERE, to learn more and send an urgent protest message to the Turkish government.
      An injury to one is an injury to all. Are you free if your brothers and sisters are in chains?

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