Anarchist Radio Berlin.

          The latest episode from Anarchist Radio Berlin:
          As Anarchist Radio Berlin (aradio.blogsport.de) we had the opportunity of talking to a member of the anarchosyndicalist union FAU in Berlin. Until very recently he was involved in a worker's struggle concerning the dismissal of two workers from a vegan Pizzeria and tells us about the background of the struggle, the methods they used and the successful end of the campaign. Further topics are the situation of migrant workers in Berlin and the issue of self-organizing of those workers.

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

Union Official, A Dangerous Occupation!!!

        Most of us take it for granted that we can join a union and even be an official without fearing for our life. It is as it should be, but it is not like that in certain parts of this insane world. To actively participate in union affairs for the betterment of your fellow worker, can at times, be very dangerous, this should not be tolerated. The state will always protect its corporate bosses and their profits, at the expense of the workers, even to the point of death.

An appeal from Labour Start:

     Last month, the president of Gambia responded to trade union protests against customs tax increases and fuel prices by banning union activities. Three union leaders were arrested.
        One of them, Sheriff Diba of the Gambian National Transport Control Association, died in prison. This followed reports of brutal treatment at the hands of the National Intelligence Agency.
          At the request of the International Transport Workers Federation, we have launched an online campaign demanding justice for Sheriff and an end to repression.

Please support it by clicking here:

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

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

Thank you!



Eric Lee

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

   

Join A Union, Get Sacked!!

         Some good news and some bad news, that's the way of workers lives. The good news usually comes from solidarity between workers across the globe, the bad news invariably comes from the state and/or big business.

This from Labour Start:

2016 begins with news of yet another company responding to workers' attempts to organize themselves with mass dismissals. 

In this case, it's a company in Turkey that's sacked 30 workers who dared to join a trade union.  The International Union of Food Workers (IUF) has launched an online campaign demanding their reinstatement and a recognition of union rights.  Please take a minute and add your name here.
Meanwhile, two of our campaigns launched in December closed down fairly quickly -- and for good reason.
A campaign we launched on December 14th demanding the release of Iranian teacher trade unionist Mahmoud Beheshti Langroodi closed within a day after we learned that he had been freed. Mahmoud's hunger strike captured the attention of many human rights activists and trade unionists, and the more than 4,500 of you who sent off messages in that short time helped send a clear message to the Iranian government.
And just one day before that we learned that the deal between the Israeli and Chinese governments -- which would have led to the importation of 20,000 Chinese workers as bonded labour -- failed.  The collapse of the deal came after more than 6,300 of you supported the online campaign we launched with our partners in the Israeli and Hong Kong labour movements.  Full details are here.

These are both good news stories, and again I want to thank you for supporting our campaigns in 2015 -- as I hope you will do this year as well.



Eric Lee

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

Solidarity Has No Borders.

     By now it should be obvious to all working people, that business doesn't like workers organising to protect themselves. The word "union" can have CEO and their cohorts wetting their knickers at the thought that workers should be organising. From the Carlton Weavers Strike, 1787, to the Ludlow Massacre, 1914, and on to the Thacher era attack on the miners union, it has been the same story, crush any workers who dare to organise for collective security. They are still at it, day and daily we hear the same stories from all the smiling brands, whether it be in manufacturing or services, they see union busting is part of their business. The welcoming KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. put on that show of "welcome" to take customers money, but come down hard on any worker that tries to be active in any way in a union. Non-union, disorganised workers are much easier to exploit, more likely to be subservient to the demands of their employer, hence the need for all workers to be organised and unionised, you know it makes sense.

 This from IUF:

KFC, stop harassing union members!
      Only few days after her return from the 1st IUF International Fast Food Workers' meeting in New York (click here for more) a union representative has been summoned and threatened with legal action from YUM! BRANDS' managers, which owns famous fast food brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, for simply having attended that meeting.

SEND A MESSAGE TO YUM! BRANDS

This is not the first time that union members face brutal repression from the company. In 2011, three workers were terminated after they established a union and sought to bargain a collective agreement with KFC (read more here). The three workers were only reinstated (click here for more) by court order months later.

This harassment spanning three years demonstrates that Yum! Restaurant International (Thailand) does not recognize and respect the human right to freedom of association and collective bargaining and is in breach of its obligations under the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Click here to send a message to YUM! BRANDS - stop the anti-unionaggression in Thailand now!

 E-mail: iuf@iuf.org
Rampe du Pont-Rouge, 8, CH-1213, Petit-Lancy (Switzerland)
www.iuf.org
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Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The State, The Corporate World, And Union Crushing.

     As the military dictatorship in Egypt tightens its grip on the people, so does the Corporate world. Never ones to miss an opportunity to screw the workers, Cargill, the transnational agro-food corporation is attempting to smash the union at its plant, knowing full well that it will have the backing of the military junta.

An Appeal for solidarity from IUF

      Transnational agro-food giant Cargill is seeking to destroy a democratic union of workers at their factory in Egypt.
     Faced with arbitrary punishments and a deteriorating work environment, workers at the Cargill vegetable oil plant in Egypt held a sit-in in December 2013. Cargill sent in thugs with attack dogs to remove them from the factory and, in defiance of the law, has begun issuing dismissal letters. While management prevents them from returning to work, the workers maintain their picket in the factory parking lot. Read more here.
      Send a message now, calling on Cargill to withdraw the dismissals and put an end to anti-worker practices!

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

Victory For Solidarity.

     Solidarity wins again. Time and time again the solidarity of the ordinary people, turns back repression. The truth we must grasp, when we pull together we win.

 This from IUF:

     Campaign success ! – Charges dropped against Fiji hotel leaders

    All police charges against leaders of Fiji’s National Union of Hospitality Catering and Tourism Industries stemming from a New Year’s Eve strike were dropped on February 2. Union President Dan Urai and five others, who had been free on tough bail conditions, were charged by the military dictatorship's police on January 9 with leading an “illegal strike” at Sheraton Fiji Resort and Westin Denarau Island Resort and Spa (both owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.) despite the fact that the union was negotiating with management following the brief industrial action.

   The union thanks all who supported the international campaign and will continue its fight against the unilateral withdrawal of benefits and for the elimination of the part-time work category which can deprive workers of retirement benefits

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

State Repression Of Unions.

  An appeal from IUF:

Fijian union leaders arrested after a strike at Starwood hotels

      Fiji is governed by a harsh military dictatorship which maintains a permanent crackdown on civil, political and trade union rights. Six leaders of the island’s hotel workers union now face trial on criminal charges – while their union is negotiating with the employer!

   
      We sent you this message two weeks ago, but the charges still hang over them. Please take a moment to respond by sending a protest message. Your voice makes a difference. On January 9, six union leaders from the National Union of Hospitality Catering and Tourism Industries were arrested and charged as a result of what the government claims to have been an "unlawful strike" that took place on New Year's Eve at Sheraton Fiji Resort and Westin Denarau Island Resort and Spa (owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.) at Narewa village, Fiji. Workers in fact held a spontaneous protest against the unilateral removal of their staff benefits.

     The military government declared the strike illegal and arrested the leadership of the union. Now they are out of jail but harsh bail conditions prevent them from exercising their role and their rights as union leaders.

       Although it is believed Starwood played no direct role in their imprisonment, the Company was responsible for workers taking action as a result of management's unilateral withdrawal of workers' benefits.

    CLICK HERE to urge Starwood management to use their influence to persuade the authorities to drop the case against union leaders.

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

Solidarity.

An appeal from Labour Start:

 

     Three leaders of the pilots union at Russian airline AEROFLOT -- Alexei Shlyapnokov, Valeriy Pimoshenko and Sergei Knyshov -- were arrested in October during a bitter fight to secure a collective bargaining agreement. 
      Their union believes that the three were framed as a retaliation for the union's recent success in a court battle. 
      The Confederation of Labour of Russia (KTR), a national trade union center affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation, and the Sheremetevo Trade Union of Airline Pilots have called for an international campaign to demand that the company negotiate rather than try to jail union leaders.

Please take a moment to show your support - click here.

Thank you -- and please spread the word!

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

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

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.

Let The Turkish State Hear Your Voice.

    Good news and bad news from Labour Start:

      A few weeks ago I wrote to ask for your support for more than 100 public sector trade unionists who were arrested in Turkey. Your response was magnificent: more than 11,000 of you sent off messages of protest. Today I have some good news and bad news.

      The good news is that 72 members of the public sector union  were released from jail last week, some after nearly ten months of detention. The bad news is that the charges were not dropped and they all need to appear in court again in July.

      Another 15 union leaders, all of them women, are due to appear in court today.

      We've been asked by the international trade union movement to ramp up the campaign, to flood the inbox of Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan with thousands of new messages.

If you have not supported this campaign, please go here today and send off your message:

http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1742

     If you have already done so, please share this message with friends, family, co-workers and your fellow union members.

     If every one of you who has supported this campaign recruits just one new person to our cause, it will be the largest campaign LabourStart has ever done -- and I am sure that our voices will be heard in Ankara.

Thank you.

Eric Lee

ann arky's home.

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.

ann arky's home.

SOLIDARITY WINS BATTLES.

The world is our battlefield, solidarity is our weapon. It is a weapon that can't be beaten. People power will change the world.

 

 

 

This from LabourStart:

       A month ago, I wrote to tell you about Said Elhairech, leader of the dockers union in Morocco. Said was arrested in June on unfounded charges relating to "national security". You responded in your thousands -- to be precise, 5,657 of you sent off messages of protest as part of a world-wide campaign coordinated by the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF). And last week we learned that Said has been released and all serious charges against him have been dropped. (Full details here.)
     And last week, I wrote to you about the case of IUF representative and human rights activist Yacine Zaid, in neighboring Algeria, who had been abducted by unidentified men. I asked you to support the IUF's global campaign to get Yacine released. Over 11,000 of you responded and the result was immediate: the Algerian authorities decided his crime was "insulting a police officer"; he was fined the equivalent of 100 Euros and let go. (Full details here.)
     Yacine and Said, who are both outstanding leaders of independent trade unions in their countries, are now free men thanks to the efforts of thousands of trade unionists around the world.
       This is therefore an opportunity to remind you of seven things you can do right now to keep up the momentum, and to help us build a global network of activists who can be mobilized at a moment's notice in cases like these.
        If you have the time, please do all seven. But if you can do even one of these things, you'll be helping.
       1. See which other campaigns are still live and show your support. Workers in Guatemala, Pakistan, Swaziland, Turkey and Zimbabwe need our help today. Click here to see the five current campaigns we're running.
      2.  The fastest way to learn about new campaigns like these is by following LabourStart on Twitter,
       3. You can also show your support for the campaigns by liking LabourStart on Facebook.
      4. Encourage your fellow trade union members to sign up to our mailing list.
      5. Make a secure online donation to LabourStart to allow us to continue with our campaigning work. Does your union support LabourStart? Find out and encourage your union to donate as well.
     6.  Get your union to show a list of live LabourStart campaigns on its website. Full details are here,
     Finally, spread the word to your fellow trade unionists -- pass on this message!

Thank you very much!

Eric Lee

 

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.