Who Rules, People Or Markets?

         What happens in Greece will impact on us, here in the UK, and the rest of Europe, if not the world. Today, the economic system is a world wide ponzi scheme, if one part crumbles, the rest shudders.

      Our struggle is from job centres, to housing schemes, from local issues, to international issues. The Troika, (EU, European Union, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) control Europe and the financial Mafia is tightening its grip on our world, we have to fight it on that international battlefield.

From Labour Start:

      Leading figures in the German trade union movement have issued an appeal for solidarity with Greece following the resounding election victory of the leftist Syriza party.
      It's an extraordinary statement and trade unionists around the world are being asked to add their names to those of the German trade union leaders.  Thousands have already done so.
       Please read the appeal and add your name here:

http://www.labourstart.org/go/greece

     Please share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members.

Thank you!
Eric Lee

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

Solidarity Has No Borders.

 

        An appeal for solidarity from Labour Start:

      Tomorrow is Human Rights Day -- and I'd like to ask for your help to get our brother Huber Ballesteros released from prison.
       Huber Ballesteros is one of Colombia's best known trade union and human rights activists. He is also one of the most threatened.
He was arrested on 25th August 2013 and accused of 'rebellion' and 'financing terrorism'.
He has still not faced trial.
     Huber is vice-president of FENSUAGRO, Colombia’s second largest union and one of the most persecuted, having had over 1,000 members assassinated in recent years. We believe it is because of his activism that Huber is being targeted, and are calling for his unconditional release, along with that of all other political prisoners in Colombia.

Please take a minute to send your message of protest to the Colombian government:

http://www.labourstart.org/go/freehuber

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

Eric Lee 

Copyright © 2014 LabourStart, All rights reserved.  our website (http://www.labourstart.org) Our mailing address is: LabourStart 27 Muswell Hill Place London, England N10 3RP United Kingdom Add us to your address book Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Army And Police Against Strikers.

An appeal from Labour Start:

 

Striking workers at one of the world's largest paper mills need our support.

      In March, Indonesian paper workers went on strike to demand that management return to negotiations, and to discuss the minimum wage rate established in the district Governor.
     Four rounds of negotiations failed and the company called in the army and police against the strikers and declared the strike illegal.

       These workers are asking for each of us to take less than a minute of our time and send off messages calling on management to reopen negotiations, to stop criminalizing the strike and to end repression. 
Please click here to do so:

http://www.labourstart.org/go/app

     After you've supported the campaign, please share it with your friends, family and fellow union members.

Thank you!

Eric Lee

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

State Repression.

An Appeal from labour start:

Imagine if this happened to you:

        Your union is in a dispute with your employer.  You call a strike.  The employer agrees to negotiate.  The strike ends, the workers return to work. And then the government steps in, announces that what you have done is illegal, and arrests the leaders of your union.
     That's exactly what just happened in Fiji.
Among those arrested was Daniel Urai, who is also President of the Fiji Trades Union Congress. I met Daniel (pictured above left) at the LabourStart Conference in 2012 in Sydney.
      This is outrageous -- which is why the International Trade Union Confederation and the International Union of Foodworkers have launched a joint global protest campaign on LabourStart here:
http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=2169&src=lsmm
       We're demanding that the government release the jailed union leaders now. This is one of those campaigns that has a really good chance of having an effect because Fiji is dependent on tourism and goodwill from overseas.
    Every protest message we send can help ensure that Dan and his colleagues are freed.

Please make sure to share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members.

Thank you!

Eric Lee

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

Government Crack Down On Trade Unions.

An appeal for solidarity from Labour Start:

      Two weeks ago I asked for your support as Korean railway workers were about to launch a strike.  They were concerned back then that their government might attempt to break the strike.  They wanted the solidarity of workers around the world.  They wanted a clear message sent to their government and nearly 9,000 of you sent off messages of protest.

Today, their worst fears are coming true.
     Just a few days into their strike, the Korean government has launched a savage crackdown. 

• A few hours ago, the offices of the railway workers union were raided by dozens of police.  Computers and other equipment were seized.
• Arrest warrants have been issued for the top union leaders -- who are currently hiding in a safe place.
• Korean media are reporting that the military is prepared to send hundreds of soldiers to work as strike-breakers.
• Tomorrow morning, the subway workers in Seoul are set to launch a solidarity strike, shutting down the capital.
  
        It is our job now to mobilize the widest possible support for the Korean railway workers.
  
       Those workers are on the front lines today of the fight against neo-liberal policies such as privatisation -- and they are defending the basic human right to have independent trade unions with the right to strike.
  
        If you've not yet done so, please send off your message of protest today: http://bit.ly/1c8Uao8
  
  If you've already supported the campaign -- thanks.  But let's do more: 

• Post this link to your Facebook page: http://bit.ly/1c8Uao8  Tell your friends there that you support this campaign and urge them all to do so.
• Tweet this: Hands off the Korean railway strikers! http://bit.ly/1c8Uao8 @labourstart
• If your union has a mailing list of its members, make sure they are all informed about this important struggle.  There are many millions of organized workers out there who aren't aware of this fight.  Please email your fellow union members.
         Finally, LabourStart is being continuously updated with news about this strike and others.  Make sure it's the place you start your day on the net:  http://www.labourstart.org
  
  Thanks.
  
  Eric Lee
  
   Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

There Is No Compassionate Corporatism.

 

     An appeal for solidarity from Labour Start:

What kind of employer locks out 150 of its workers three days before Thanksgiving? 
      FirstEnergy Corp., one of the largest energy companies in the USA, did just that to 150 of its workers in Pennsylvania. Their union, working together with their global union federations, has today issued a call for a massive online protest campaign.
      Please take a moment to send off your message:

http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=2070&src=lsmm

Thanks very much -- and please spread the word.



Eric Lee

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

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

Protect Our Right To Organise.

      Across the globe, the corporate fascists that control the various governments are working towards the destruction of organised labour. They are pushing their puppet governments to bring in ever more draconian anti-union legislation, while they rip up contracts, abolishing hard won rights that the workers have struggled for decades to achieve. It is a relentless onslaught. Cameron at the recent Tory Conference, announced that they would be bringing in more "de-regulation" in the work place, this translates as more anti-union laws. This is the twin prongs of the same attack on the ordinary people of this world, austerity measures, to reduce the wages, and the destruction of organised labour, to create that corporate world dream, a world of unorganised sweatshop labour. Every attack on our working conditions must be repelled, as they will not stop until we have nothing and they have complete control of a mass of unorganised, subservient, desperate, cheap labour.

 This from Labour Start:

     If your union allowed retired workers, or workers who were fired from their jobs, to be members -- would your government delegalise your union?
    That's exactly what's happening in South Korea, where both the government employees union and the teachers' union face the imminent threat of deregistration.
The teachers have been given until October 23 to change their constitution or else face delegalisation.
    This is a flagrant violation of international labour standards and represents yet another attempt by the South Korean government to break public sector unions.

They will not succeed.
    The Education International, representing teachers unions around the world, together with Public Services International, the International Trade Union Confederation and three Korean unions have called for a massive global online campaign of protest.
     This is very urgent -- if we don't act, the Korean teachers will no longer have a legal trade union by October 23.

Please click here to send off your message today:

http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1995&src=lsmm

     If you share this link with your friends, family and fellow union members on email, Twitter and Facebook, it will help spread the word.
Let's send thousands of messages today to the South Korean president and let's stop the attempt to crush public sector unions.

Thanks very much.

Eric Lee

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

An Appeal from LabourStart.

     Solidarity is how we can change the world and create that better world for all. An appeal from LabourStart:

 

      Crown Holdings is a company you probably never heard of. But it's huge -- producing metal containers in 149 countries. And it's highly profitable -- doubling its profits in 2012.
      But Crown is also attacking its own workers in Toronto, Canada, eliminating their cost of living allowance, creating a two-tier wage system, and continuing a nine-year freeze on pensions.
     Crown workers, members of the United Steelworkers, have had enough, and are walking the picket line, forced to strike by an employer that refuses to negotiate seriously.

Their slogan is "Take-Backs No More" and they've gotten the support of unions around the world including Unite (UK), the International Association of Machinists, and IndustriALL Global Union.
     Now they have a LabourStart campaign and they're asking all of us to send off messages to the company CEO with a simple message: "get back to the table to negotiate a fair agreement now".

Please support them by sending off your message today.  And please spread the word.

Thank you.

Eric Lee

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

Ruthless Suzuki.

      All those shiny Suzuki cars are not quite that shiny, they are stained with the sweat, hardship and poverty of thousands of ordinary people. Like all corporate bodies, Suzuki is ruthless in its quest for increased profit. If that means crushing any attempt by the workers to organise for better conditions, and intimidation backed up by the state, then that's OK in their rule book.
     This is an appeal from Labour Start for solidarity in support of the workers' struggle at Suzuki.





     Workers at the Maruti Suzuki auto factory in India have decided to escalate their ongoing struggle for justice by launching an indefinite sit-in demonstration and hunger strike starting on 18 July.
     The are protesting the continued jailing (for a full year) of 147 workers, the arrest warrants targeting 66 more, and the sacking of 2,300 workers by the company.
     The workers have asked for our help to send messages of protest to India. It will take you just a few seconds to send off your message. Please click here to do so.

Thank you -- and please spread the word.



Eric Lee

ann arky's home.

The Price Of Resistance.

    Most of us take belonging to a trade union as a safe activity, but there are parts of this corporate world where you could pay with your life if you are an active trade union member. The state and the corporate world don't like organised people, and overt and covert dirty tricks will be undertaken to discourage the ordinary people from coming together to improve the living conditions.

     This is an appeal from Labour Start on behalf of one of the many trade unionists who have paid with their lives for attempting to be organised.

    Antonio "Dodong" Petalcorin, the leader of a transport workers union in the Philippines, was shot dead on 2 July 2013 right in front of his home.

      The gunman was caught on a CCTV camera calmly escaping in a motorcycle. Dodong was the fifth transport workers union leader killed during the current presidency. We are calling on the Philippines' president, Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, to ensure that Dodong's killers are caught and brought to justice.

Please help - it will take you just 30 seconds to send off your message of protest:

http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1879&src=lsmm

     And please share this message with friends, family and fellow trade union members.

Thank you.



Eric Lee

ann arky's home.

Pepsi Stinks.

An appeal from Labour Start.

     Four months ago, PepsiCo workers in the company's West Bengal warehouses formed a trade union. The company's reaction was to threaten the workers with dismissal. They then hired some local union-busting thugs who assaulted the workers. Fifty workers were sacked. The workers reacted with a one-day strike and complained to the police about the attacks. The police did nothing. 

      Then, PepsiCo fired another 112 union members. So far, 162 out of 170 union members have lost their jobs, replaced by scabs. The International Union of Food workers has launched a major global campaign to put pressure on the company to stop this vicious attack and to recognize the workers' right to join trade unions.

Please take a moment to show your support:

http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=750

And then please share this email message with other members of your union.

Thank you!



Eric Lee

ann arky's home.

Protest And Rally, Turkish Embassy, London.

Another appeal from Labour Start for solidarity with the Turkish protesters, a rally at the Turkish Embassy in London Friday 20, June.

     The world's unions have called for two days of protest against police violence and repression in Turkey.

       In London this Friday at 3 PM we'll be demonstrating at the Turkish Embassy, 43 Belgrave Square, SW1X 8PA.  (Nearest tube: Hyde Park Corner.)

I'll be there.  Can you join us?

If you use Facebook, please sign up there saying you'll come:

https://www.facebook.com/events/673431279340973/

     If you've not yet signed up to support the online campaign, please do so now:

http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1840

Please share this email message with other trade unionists in the UK.

Thanks -- and see you on Friday.



Eric Lee

ann arky's home.

An Appeal For Solidarity.

      An appeal from Labour Start for solidarity with the protestors in Turkey.

 

 Police Brutality in Turkey. Photo From Policymic.

     Two national trade union centers in Turkey have announced general strikes in the wake of police violence and widespread arrests of protestors.

    The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which represents 175 million workers in 156 countries has called for union members to support our brothers and sisters in Turkey by signing up to the online campaign we launched yesterday.

You can read the ITUC statement here.

      I know that thousands of you reading this message have already sent off your messages -- to you I say, thank you, but let's do more. Please get your union on board -- help us get the word out that we need thousands more supporters.

     This is the web address we should be sharing with all our members:

http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1840

     In addition to the nearly 7,000 of you who responded in the last twenty-four hours, I want to make a special appeal to the more than 70,000 who will read this message but have not yet responded. It will take you only a minute to show your support for our brothers and sisters in Turkey.

Please don't wait -- do this right now.

    The workers on strike, the young people behind the barricades, the hundreds of protestors now in jails -- they all deserve our support right now.

I know I can count on you. Thank you.



Eric Lee

ann arky's home.