Union Busting In India.

     An appeal from IUF regarding illegal and brutal treatment of workers in India trying to form a union. Solidarity is our weapon.

     Earlier this year 162 workers out of 170 employed in three warehouses exclusively contracted by PepsiCo in West Bengal organized a union and submitted their demands. They were harassed, assaulted by company goons and then brutally fired.
    In May 2013, they were allowed to return to work, but under conditions that strip them of their human rights.
     They were told they can return to work if they declare they will never again join a union, made to sign false statements which they were told were legally binding, and told to cut up their union cards and step on them as they walked into the warehouses. Those who refused were told hey will never work again and that they will be blacklisted by all local employers.
    Despite threats, harassment, home visits by management and economic hardship, 28 of these unfairly dismissed workers have refused to surrender their rights. In August they formed the PepsiCo (Frito-Lays) Workers Action Committee and escalated the campaign.

CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO PEPSICO demanding unconditional reinstatement of the 28 workers with full back pay and full recognition of their trade union rights.

E-mail: iuf@iuf.org
Rampe du Pont-Rouge, 8, CH-1213, Petit-Lancy (Switzerland)
www.iuf.org
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Let's follow Our Dreams.

     Across the globe workers are treated like shit by the various corporate bodies. Conditions and wages are attacked to maximise profits, and if the workers dare to defend themselves, they can be booted out and face a life of poverty and deprivation. This is the system we tolerate, not by lack of imagination, but by the lack of determined will to change it to one that suits the needs of all our people. Pick a country, pick an industry, and the workers conditions are being savaged in the name of profit, for a bunch of parasitic shareholders. We can do better than this, we can follow our dreams and make them a reality.

This from IUF:

       Since June 2012 aviation workers in Turkey have been in dispute with Turkish Airlines (THY) over their right to strike and the dismissal of 305 workers who took industrial action on May 29, 2012 to protest the government's plan to ban strikes in the aviation sector. Turkish Airlines responded by sacking these workers via text message and email.
    The company refuses to reinstate the 305 and to accept any bargaining proposals put forward by Hava-Is, the aviation workers' union. On May 15, 2013, determined THY workers commenced an indefinite strike action.
     This is a crucial time for aviation workers in Turkey as the strike continues and the workers involved and the union representing them are under huge pressure.
     You can support the Turkish Airlines workers, CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO TURKISH AIRLINES, telling them to reinstate the dismissed workers and enter into good faith negotiations with Hava-Is, and to tell Turkey's Minister of Labour to act to ensure that THY respects its workers rights.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

World Wide Solidarity.

An urgent call for solidarity from Columbia by IUF, UITA, IUL unions:

    Trade union leaders and opposition politicians in Colombia have been the target of death threats in recent days.
      The Colombian national trade union centre CUT has denounced these threats against their leaders and leaders of the political party Polo Democrático and asks that messages be sent as a matter of urgency to the Colombian government, demanding that immediate action be taken to ensure their safety!

Click here to send a message Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Bitter Sweeties!!

 

An appeal from IUF:

 

    IUF 

 

Urgent Action

 

 

      For all the latest news, make sure to visit the IUF website - www.iuf.org
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         If you already responded, we thank you for your support. If not, please send a message to Mondelez!

Click here to send a message to Mondelez

      Ahmad Abdulghani Awad Abdulghani, 26 years old, worked at Cadbury Egypt, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mondelez, from 2008 to December 2011. He never had a permanent job, but was part of the army of precarious workers making chewing gum at the Alexandria factory. He lost half his thumb while operating a machine which should normally be run by three persons. Then he lost his job.

This is the same factory management that sacked 5 union leaders in June 2012 following a spontaneous protest over the company's refusal to pay a government-mandated private-sector pay rise.

      This is the same company whose management in Tunisia has dismissed and suspended union leaders and denies responsibility for these abuses.
     This is the company whose corporate management refuses to respond to communications to the IUF, the international union that represents these workers.

     The IUF has therefore filed a formal complaint for violations of international human rights standards with the relevant US government agency - and has launched a GLOBAL CAMPAIGN in defense of its members at Mondelez in Egypt and Tunisia.

     To learn about the campaign go to http://www.screamdelez.org – there you can learn more and download campaign materials for distribution to union members at Mondelez.

Click here to send a message to Mondelez - tell them to make time to rectify human rights abuses and to meet with the IUF NOW!

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SOLIDARITY MEANS SUCCESS.

Solidarity and mass action does get results, a word of thanks from the IUF.

       THANKS to all the organizations and individuals who participated in the campaign in support of Yacine's release by sending over 11,000 messages in response to our appeals. Your immediate and unreserved response helped lead to the release of Yacine. We must now be vigilant to ensure that he remains free and secure and that the right to organize is respected all over the world!

See Yacine sentenced but free


Ron Oswald
IUF General Secretary

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INSULT YOUR POSTMAN, BUT NOT A POLICEMAN!!!

        If you insult a bank manager, a shop assistant, a lawyer, or a bus driver, you wouldn't expect to disappear, why should it be different if  you insult a police officer??
This appeal from IUF:

To those who already sent messages in response to our first appeal we offer a huge “thank you!”. Over 4,000 message in the first few hours cannot have gone unnoticed by Algerian authorities. With your support we were able to locate Yacine.

Yacine is being held in custody. On Monday October 8 after all that he has endured he will face the charge of "insulting a police officer".

We are asking you to respond again, this time to the Algerian President to call for his release from custody and proper medical attention.

Please send a message to the Algerian President and Justice Minister immediately to secure the safe release of Yacine Zaïd.
Thank you in advance.
Ron Oswald,
General Secretary, IUF

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STAFF TIPS GOING ASTRAY.

        The over the top opulence that our herd of pampered parasites live, is only possible by an army of low paid individuals trying to earn their bread. No matter how luxurious the lives of the parasites, those that manage this obscenity, still try to fiddle the workers out of their legitimate rights. To them greed is seen as a necessary prerequisite to their way of life and subservience a necessary prerequisite for the workers.

This from IUF:

      Guests at the Hilton Conrad Rangali Islands Resort in Maldives pay 1,000 dollars a night to stay in luxury villas located on two private islands, where they can choose from "seven world class restaurants including the world's first all-glass undersea restaurant serving contemporary cuisine". "For the ultimate dining experience" guests can order a private beach dinner with their own chef and waiter. But conditions are less than luxurious for the workers who serve them.

    Last year, some 350 workers held a peaceful work stoppage to highlight their longstanding demand for a clear reckoning of the service charge which makes up a crucial l part of their pay. Management responded by terminating union supporters - and refuses to comply with a court order ordering the resort to reinstate them.

Click here to send a message calling on Hilton management to reinstate these 22 workers who stood up for their rights and recognize their union!

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: www.iuf.org

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KRAFT PLAYS HARD BALL.

An appeal from IUF:

 

     Kraft Foods owns 49% of one of the largest biscuit factories in Africa, Societé Tunisienne de Biscuits (SAIDA).

    SAIDA workers are discovering what it means to be faced with Kraft's influence and a hostile management determined to limit or strip workers and their representatives of their rights.

     With negotiations over working conditions deadlocked, SAIDA management began harassing and provoking union representatives. Following an assembly held to discuss next steps with the membership, Zed Naloufi, the general secretary of the local union, was disciplined and summarily dismissed. His crime? Representing and meeting the members who elected him!

Act now! To send a message please click 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
web-site: www.iuf.org

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THE USUAL CORPORATE FASCISM.

   Bank scandals, corporate fiddling taxes, trampling human rights, all in the name of greed. It is the system that is corrupt, the individual  corporate bodies just play the game of profit before all else. People, their rights and their needs don't come into the equation.

An appeal from IUF: 

    Two years after signing an agreement with the IUF which it has never implemented, Unilever is on the verge of committing itself to 4 more years of violating the basic rights of a group of Indian workers. Does the company's signature signify nothing?
       The agreement signed under the auspices of the UK government in July 2010 committed Unilever to restoring to the workers in its factory in Doom Dooma, Assam (India) their right to freely choose the union they wished to adhere to and which would represent them for collective bargaining purposes.
    The last two years, however, have seen only evasions, provocations and management lies. Management is now preparing to sign a new, long-term agreement with the organization it created to crush the IUF's affiliate and confiscate their rights for yet another 4 years. The workers have never had the possibility to do what they were promised: freely choose their union in conditions of security and anonymity,

Act now! - click here send a message to company CEO Paul Polman telling Unilever to honor the agreement they have signed.


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: www.iuf.org

     If you wish to receive regular news from the IUF in addition to our urgent action appeals Click here to subscribe to the new IUF News Service

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FIGHT A WAGE CUT - LOSE YOUR PASSPORT.

An appeal from IUF

         In April, 2,000 migrant workers in a factory in Thailand that processes shrimp for a major supplier to Walmart revolted against their abusive and degrading conditions. The workers, from Cambodia and Burma, protested the seizure of their passports by factory owners in Thailand. Police were called. Shots were fired.
          It wasn't just the passport seizure that incited the workers' anger - it was management slashing wages again. Their wages already failed to cover the most basic needs, and this latest action put workers deeper into the factory's debt. Many of them are still legally and financially trapped at the factory, victims of human trafficking. This is not an isolated incident. Also in Thailand, workers at a pineapple factory recently held similar protests over wage reductions. There are now reports of human trafficking involving children under 15, bought and sold to work there. More than 73% of this factory's shipments to the USA go to Walmart.

Sign the petition to Walmart's VP of Ethical Sourcing, calling for him to demand these factory owners end human trafficking immediately and allow independent monitors to audit all of their factories.

For more information, and to sign the petition, click 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
web-site: www.iuf.org

ann arky's home.

NASTY NESTLE.

       An appeal from IUF, a reminder that in some countries to be in a union can be a very dangerous situation. Yes, this is the 21st century.

        As Nestlé shareholders prepare for the annual shareholder meeting on April 19 Nestlé watchers should note that on April 6 a court in Kabirwala, Pakistan issued an arrest warrant for a manager named Jahangir at the labour contractor which has been supplying hundreds of contract workers under abusive conditions to Nestlé's milk factory in the town.

       Abuses by the labour contractor - a crucial component of the Nestlé 'supply chain' - are part of a pattern of lawlessness and lies which have also seen the human resources manager at the plant cited for contempt by the Punjab High Court for repeatedly failing to comply with court orders to reinstate the unfairly terminated President of the Nestlé Kabirwala Workers Action Committee, Ashfaq Butt.

       Throughout the ongoing struggle for employment rights at Nestlé Kabirwala, Nestlé has shown contempt for the courts and for the truth. Nestlé management in Vevey has gone through similar contortions in attempting to explain the arbitrary firing of 53 union members at the Nescafé factory in Panjang, Indonesia, including alleging that the strike by the union was "illegal" (it was not). The handful of union members who survived the wave of arbitrary firings have come under enormous pressure to surrender their rights.

       While the shareholders prepare for their celebration, click here to send a message to Nestlé calling on the company to reinstate unfairly dismissed union members in Indonesia and provide permanent employment to contract workers in Pakistan who have claimed their legal rights.

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

ann arky's home.

1,000 NEW ZEALAND LOCKOUT.

          It is not just in Europe that the corporate bully boys are flexing their muscles, it is world wide. In every country the corporate gaints are ripping up contracts, in doing so reducing wages and taking away conditions that have been fought for with blood, sweat and tears. Workers across the world have to show solidarity with each other, it is one big battle, a fight against world wide corporate fascism.

This from IUF:

      Talley’s/AFFCO has locked out 1,000 meat workers in an attempt to force them and their union, the New Zealand Meat Workers’ Union, to accept changes to their collective agreement - changes which will make it easy for the company to impose individual contracts on workers and thereby to set wages unilaterally. Changes which will eventually destroy the Core Collective Agreement now applicable to AFFCO’s 8 plants in New Zealand’s Northern Island. More...

Click here to tell AFFCO and its parent company Talley’s to lift the lockout and return to the negotiating table!
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: www.iuf.org

 ann arky's home.

THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUAL RIGHTS.

An appeal from IUF, for solidarity.

       On International Women's Day, women workers at Nestlé are fighting discrimination and unequal treatment and providing vital support to the fight for justice at Nestlé in Pakistan and in Indonesia.
Send a message to Nestlé management calling for Equality Now and No More Nespressure!

        Nestlé workers and supporters rally in Indonesia and Pakistan as global support builds - Stop Nespressure!Read here about how support at home and abroad continues to build for the struggle for trade union rights at Nestlé factories in Indonesia and Pakistan.
Visit Stop Nespressure! on the IUF website
Join Stop Nespressure! on Facebook

Click here to subscribe to the new IUF News Service

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: www.iuf.org

ann arky's home.

GLOBAL SOLIDARITY IS ESSENTIAL.

        We should never forget that our struggle is global, it has to be, those who are exploiting the ordinary people are organised on a global scale. It is no longer the boss who lives up the hill, it is the boss who works in marble halls somewhere thousands of miles from your workplace. Only when we link up and organise on a global scale can we hope to win a decent life for all our people.

SOLIDARITY.

This fromIUF:

        The human resources manager at Nestlé's Kabirwala dairy factory has been ordered to appear before the Punjab High Court for repeatedly showing contempt for court orders to reinstate the unfairly terminated President of the Nestlé Kabirwala Workers Action Committee, Ashfaq Butt. The HR manager's contempt citation is one in a long series of violations committed by Nestlé over the course of more than 2 years as part of management's brutal response to the contract workers' struggle for their rights.

       Nestlé has not only repeatedly violated court orders, Pakistan law and international standards and Conventions in its ruthless drive against the contract workers and the union which is supporting them. The company has falsely implicated Butt in four fabricated police cases, and he is only free on bail. Nestlé continues to pressure workers into withdrawing their legal claims for reinstatement, has created over 100 permanent positions for workers who do not support the Kabirwala workers' struggle for their rights, and is promoting a rival group of contract workers with an eye to provoking clashes in order to fabricate still more criminal cases.

Click here to send a message to Nestlé, telling them to Stop Nespressure and respect trade union rights in Pakistan!

Read the full story here.

Join the Stop Nespressure! campaign on Facebook

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

ann arky's home.

MORE RIPPING UP OF CONTRACTS.

          Like I keep saying, your problems are not national, they are international. Just as governments across the globe are ripping up contracts, pension agreements, benefit policies, health care, and education, just to mention a few, so the private sector is following suit. Here in the UK the Electricians have been in a long running battle with Balfour Beattie who have torn up the negotiated contract it had with electricians and handed them another, with a take it or leave the site, message. The new contract apart from hitting the electricians with a 30% wage cut also introduces cheap casual labour to do skilled jobs. Sound familiar, if not it soon will, it's coming to an employer near you.

From the IUF:

          In an attempt to drive workers back to the dark ages of casualization and destroy their union strength Auckland Ports has made a “take it or leave it” proposal to the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) that would do just that and threatened to replace them with contractors if they refuse.

          The IUF is standing with the MUNZ, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and with the International Transport Workers Federation (our sister Global Union Federation) in refusing to be bullied into accepting this ultimatum. You can read more here or you can simply help by taking a few moments to sign on to the union’s petition by clicking here

Thank you in advance for your support.

Ron Oswald,
IUF General Secretary

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AN INJURY TO ONE---!!!

     The struggle is global.  An appeal from IUF.

      Grenada, an island in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, can be heaven for tourists but Grenada Breweries Company turned it into a hell for workers as 125 of them were locked out just before the Christmas on December 19, 2011.

CLICK HERE to send a message to Grenada Breweries Company telling them to stop violating workers' rights and end the lockout!

For more information, read the full story here.

NEW IUF News Service!

Click here to subscribe to the new IUF News Service

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: www.iuf.org

ann arky's home.

THE MANY SHAPES OF VIOLENCE.

         Brutality and violence comes in many shapes and some capitalist bastards are worse than other capitalist bastards. 

From IUF.

Over 100 workers have been locked out from the CPM Rangitikei plant for 2 months by a vicious employer trying to starve them into accepting huge pay cuts and unacceptable changes to terms and conditions. Their union, the New Zealand Meatworkers Union, has requested the Employment Relations Authority to provide facilitation services.

To learn more and to send a message to ANZCO Foods urging the company to enter into facilitation and demanding an end to the lockout and a return to the bargaining table, click 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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ANOTHER PROFIT BEFORE WELFARE.

        An appeal from IUF for your show of solidarity. Unfortunatly these types of brutal attacks on the living conditions of the ordinary people will continue in all countries across the world until we get rid of the capitalist system of exploitation.

        The New Zealand lamb processor, CMP, has brutally locked out 111 workers at its plant in Marton in order to force them and their union, the New Zealand Meatworkers Union, to sign off on pay cuts and unacceptable changes to terms and conditions.
To learn more and send a message to CMP's parent company, ANZCO Foods, demanding an end to the lockout and a return to the bargaining table, click 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

ann arky's home.