Manslaughter.

      Work is glorified in this capitalist system, it is spouted as giving meaning to your life, to give you dignity and to give you a decent standard of living. Of course experience tells us none of this is near the truth. Under the capitalist system, work is exploitation, maintained at the lowest wage rate the employer can get away with.There is also the fact that health and safety is seen as eating into their profits, so will be by-passed when and where possible. One thing that is never mentioned, under these conditions, work is often a killer, not just from avoidable "accidents" but also from industrial diseases. The corporate powers are without doubt, in many cases, guilty of corporate manslaughter, all in the name of profit. Under no circumstances should your occupation be a possible death sentence. However, not until all manufacturing and distribution is under the control of the those who work their, will this corporate manslaughter stop. The interests of the corporate bosses and those of the workers are diametrically opposed, the circle can't be squared. 

         IndustriALL Global Union’s Korean affiliate the KMWU believes that POSCO workplaces will only become safer when union representatives are able to participate fully in safety structures. Instead, POSCO recently dismissed three union activists for exposing union busting, and failed to reinstate them after the National Labor Relations Commission ruled that the dismissal was unfair.
       The KMWU argues that large-scale industrial disasters happen at POSCO due to management decisions to not upgrade aging facilities and equipment, to downsize subcontracted workers, and to outsource risks instead of eliminating them.
      POSCO blocks the KMWU from accessing accident sites and refuses to allow union safety experts to participate in accident investigation. The company fails to disclose the true cause of an accident after an investigation is concluded, leaving workers to face the same risks that killed their colleagues.
      South Korea has the highest occupational fatality rate among OECD countries and every year 2,400 workers die in industrial fatalities. In 2018, trade unions and civil society launched a campaign for a Corporate Manslaughter Bill after a young worker in his twenties was found dead in a power plant after the company violated standard operating procedures.
       The signatures of 100,000 citizens placed this bill before the Korean National Assembly. The intent of the bill is to impose heavy penalties on employers who cause the death of workers, and to ensure that they adopt comprehensive preventative measures.
         The KMWU believes that if the bill becomes law, POSCO CEO Jeong-Woo Choi should the first person to be held accountable.
        Accidents in November and December at POSCO’s Gwangyang steelworks in Korea resulted in the deaths of five workers. On 24 November, an explosion near a blast furnace lead to the deaths of three workers. In further incidents on 9 and 23 December, another two POSCO workers lost their lives.
      The lastest is the 18th accident in the past three years at the company’s Pohang and Gwangyang plants. POSCO workers have been killed by asphyxiation, explosions, fires, physical crush injuries, fatal falls, and overwork. The accidents have continued despite the plants being subject to an inspection conducted by the labour ministry.

       In this society we work to survive, that shouldn't mean we face death for our daily bread.work 

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Solidarity.

       That blood soaked part of the planet that goes by the name of South Africa, where millions of lives were brutally blighted, for generations, by the colonialist regime of Apartheid, may have, through a bloody and savage battle broken the chains of that particular shackle, but like the rest of us, in this capitalist system, is still struggle for justice and freedom. At present the workers there are in the midst of a general strike, fighting the usual capitalist malaise, greed, corruption, violence, state repression and corporate bosses slashing at conditions and wages. They deserve all the solidarity and support that we can muster, their struggle is our struggle. In the battle for justice and freedom from exploitation we see no borders.

The following from IndustriALL Global Union: 

       8 October, 2020Thousands of workers took to the streets of South Africa’s main cities and towns to protest corruption, gender-based violence, and to protect jobs and collective bargaining agreements from arrogant employers.
     The national strike, on 7 October, which coincided with World Day for Decent Work, was called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) with support from the other main federations: the Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA), the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), and the National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU).
      IndustriALL Global Union’s five affiliates in South Africa belong to three of the federations. The combined membership of the federations represents millions of workers. The unions say the law should be used to deal with corruption through prosecution, and anti-corruption strategies should be put in place.
       The unions wanted an end to gender-based violence and for the government to ratify Convention 190 on curbing violence and harassment at work, and to develop an implementation plan. The gender pay gap must also be closed.
       On health and safety, unions want employers to comply with labour laws and not leave the burden on workers and their families.

 André Kriel, SACTWU general secretary said: 

“The COSATU strike is significant because it is unifying. It confirms concretely that all South African workers, irrespective of union federation affiliation, are crystal clear about common core issues which they must fight in the current conjuncture: corruption in the public and private sector, job losses, attacks on collective bargaining and gender-based violence”.

IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches said:

“We are in solidarity with the millions of South African workers who are fighting for jobs, against gender-based violence, and for the protection of collective bargaining. These are issues at the core of union activities, and employers should not be allowed to destroy what the union has gained through years of struggle.”

Read the full article HERE:

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Solidarity Wins Again.

 

        One of the best weapons the ordinary people have against this repressive and exploitative capitalist system is solidarity. Time and time again solidarity wins battles, we may lose a few but we also win some and solidarity is the weapon that can deliver.

This victory from Labour Start:

         Erlan - now free. A little more than two weeks ago, I wrote to tell you about the sentencing of Erlan Baltabay, a trade union leader in Kazakhstan, to seven years in prison. Over 7,000 of you responded and sent off messages to the government of Kazakhstan demanding Erlan's release. Yesterday, we got the good news that the LabourStart global campaign launched by the International Trade Union Confederation and IndustriALL Global Union worked.
      Erlan was pardoned, and released from jail. Here is more information about his release from IndustriALL Global Union. And here is the statement from the Confederation of Labour of Russia (KTR) which first broke the news.
       Thank you very much to everyone who sent off a message, who shared news of this campaign by email and across social media, and to our volunteer translators who very quickly made this campaign available to trade unionists around the world in 18 languages.
        We don't always win these campaigns, but when we do it's a cause for celebration. But it's also a reminder of the five other campaigns we're currently running in support of trade unionists in Cambodia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland and Turkey. If you've not yet done so, please make sure to support these today:

Turkey: Reinstate municipal workers in Aliağa
Cambodia: Solidarity with workers at the West Mebun temple
Poland: Hutchison Ports must reinstate union activist Marek Szymczak
Philippines: Holcim workers demand justice
Pakistan: Reinstate the Karachi 8

        And please share this message -- and this good news -- with your friends, family and fellow union members.

Eric Lee

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Solidarity Is Our Weapon.

A call for solidarity from IndustriALL Global Union: 

       Trade unions and NGOs rallied outside Cambodian Embassies around the world on 10 February demanding the release of Cambodian garment workers detained since the beginning of January. The campaign is set to escalate as they were not freed at the court hearing on 11 February.
     In a show of global solidarity, demonstrations took place in Brussels, Canberra, Dhaka, Geneva, Honduras, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Manila, Seoul, Sri Lanka, Tokyo and Washington D.C.
      It follows a call by IndustriALL Global Union, UNI Global Union and the ITUC to show international support for 23 people arrested in the capital Phnom Penh during demonstrations by garment workers fighting for a fair and living wage.
     In the past few days, two workers have been released. Of the remaining 21 detainees, 16 began a hunger strike on Sunday.

Read the full article HERE:

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800 Workers Replaced By Scabs.

    The corporate world will do anything to crush any organising by their workforce. Everything from blacklisting union activists, to sacking those who speak out about wages and conditions. In some countries, and it could happen here, employers simply fire all the work force and start new, non-unionised workers in their place. What the employer doesn't want is for this to get out and create a backlash against their products, so please, spread the word on this one. Well Ansell makes medical gloves and condoms, we as members of the general public might not be able to boycott one, but sorry friends, solidarity, there are other brands.

This from Labour Start.

800 striking workers in Sri Lanka need our help.

    They are employed by Ansell, an Australian-based manufacturer of medical gloves and condoms. Ansell has replaced them with scabs in an attempt to break the union.

    They’ve also sacked union officials and even assaulted the branch union president.

    We’ve been asked by IndustriALL Global Union to mobilize thousands of people around the world to send messages of protest to Ansell.

Please take a moment to do so — click here.

It will make a difference.

Thanks very much.



Eric Lee

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

Union Struggles In Iraq.

       All the news we get from Iraq, that country that the "coalition of the willing" bombed, brutalised and destroyed, in the name of so called "Western democracy", is of death and roadside bombings. Our view gets distorted by this single line "news" that we get from that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. However, the people of Iraq are not all blowing each other up. People are working and fighting for better conditions, unions are organising to protect their members from the same exploitation that we get in the "Western democracies", they show the same solidarity in those struggles, the working class is universal, just as is the exploitation.

This from Industriall Global Union:

 

      According to the reports from FWCUI and the union of leather workers around 200 employees, including both daily- waged and contracted workers, have been dismissed without due notice by the administration of the State Company of the Leather Industries. Many of the workers have had at least six years long service by the time of dismissal. Workers and their union are mobilizing to pressure the administration to rescind this decision.
      As a state-owned company the employer responds to the Ministry of Industry, however when the workers contacted the Ministry they were told that it was the decision issued by the administration and not the Ministry.

Read the full article HERE:

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