Austerity, Poverty, 21st. Century Capitalism.

      Austerity continues unabated in Spain, with the usual wage cuts/freezes, massive layoffs and the resultant poverty that ensues with such policies. Monday 4 November, saw thousands of the refuse collectors demonstrate in Madrid, it was a noisy and colourful affair, they set off fire crackers, chanted and started bonfires in the Puerto del Sol plaza. This was to mark the start, at midnight, of an indefinite strike by the refuse workers in protest against the plans to lay-off more than 1,000 staff. The refuse workers started to converge on the Puerto del Sol plaza in the late evening. Another city, another angry population, another country facing deprivation, the face of 21 century capitalism.

 Photo courtesy of Demotix.com

      This picture is repeated across the world, how do you keep silent, how do you keep calm, when millions die in poverty, while the few lavish themselves in unimaginable wealth. A wealth created by us, the ordinary people. As children die of hunger, the parasites grow fat on their blood. This system has nothing to recommend it to the ordinary people, it is a system of abuse and exploitation that favours the greedy.

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Driven By Unbridled greed.

      Large corporations are having a field day, most of them are holding large volumes of cash but are still using the "austerity" plan as a method of making more. It gives them the excuse to lay-off workers by what ever means possible, it can be out-sourcing or efficiency cuts, the effects are the same, spreading the load over fewer workers, and/or lower wages, but to them more importantly, higher profits.

This appeal from Labour Start:   

      The FNV Bondgenoten is taking action in support of their members' demand for decent transfer conditions for service workers scheduled to be outsourced. Their terms and conditions under the new employer, catering and service giant Sodexo, will be severely degraded. Many of these workers, employed in catering, cleaning, security, and reception are long-serving Unilever employees. The union is demanding safeguards and compensation for being tossed on the outsourcing scrapheap - support their struggle.  Sign up to the IUF campaign by clicking here to send a message to Unilever. 

       In another 8 days we're closing down the 3rd annual LabourStart survey of trade union use of the net.  Fillling in the survey will only take you a couple of minutes and will provide invaluable information not only to us, but to the international trade union movement.  Please fill in the survey here.

       Finally, we need just over 500 more of you to send your messages of protest to the Turkish government following raids that resulted in the arrests of over a hundred trade union leaders.  If 500 of you send off your messages today, that will bring the total up to 10,000 -- a number which we hope the Turkish government will not ignore.  Please help us grow this campaign and spread the word in your unions.

 

Thank you for your support.

 

Eric Lee

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Which campaigns have I missed?  Click here to find out.

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CREATING MYTHS.

    And so the myth is spread, the lazy Greeks are responsible for the state of their country, it has nothing to do with the financial mafia and the corporate greed machine.

This from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

Supporters of Greek trade unionists 

charged with assaulting German official await verdict

      German CDU MP, Hans Joachim Fuchtel caused uproar during a visit to Greece when he claimed that 1000 Germans could do the work of 3000 Greeks. The remarks sparked off fierce protests by Greek trade unionists already angered by the latest round of public sector job cuts.
      During a joint German - Greek conference local government tempers flared and a German official was briefly attacked by angry public sector employees. The police arrested three in connection with the assault but all three were found not guilty yesterday.

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