Victimisation.

 

An appeal from LabourStart:

 

      A labour rights activist, Andy Hall, is facing the possibility of years in prison and a multi-million dollar fine because he helped write a report exposing rights violations, including the use of child labour, by a fruit processing company in Thailand.

      The charge against him is that he broadcasted "false statements to the media" -- which is untrue.

      Two global union federations have launched an online campaign through LabourStart to mobilize thousands of protest messages demanding that the charges be dropped.

 

Please take a moment to send off your message - click here.
And then please spread the word to your fellow union members.
 

Thanks very much!

 

Eric Lee

 

P.S. There's a 7 minute long interview with Andy on Radio Labour this week - click here to listen to it. 

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.

WE ARE ONE.

      In most Western countries being a union leader or activist, can cause you hassle, but seldom your life. However, the situation is different in other parts of the world. In the developing world to organise to try to improve your conditions can mean harrassment, beatings and death. It is unacceptable in this day and age, that when ordinary people come together to try to better their meagre living conditions, they should run the risk of death. The following is a call from Labourstart, please spend a few minutes of your time in an attempt to stamp out this brutal intimidation of ordinary working people trying to survive in an unjust and exploitive system.

       This is not the first time I've written to you about Iraq - but I need your help again.

      We have just learned that Jamal Abdul-Jabbar, a leader of the Iraqi oil and gas workers union, has been forcibly relocated in an attempt to destroy the union. Please take a moment to learn more and to send off your messages of protest by clicking here. And please spread the word to your fellow union members.

     Meanwhile, we've learned some terrible news from Guatemala, where the banana workers union leader Idar Joel Hernandez Godoy has been murdered. Thousands of us need to send urgent messages to the President of Guatemala telling him to bring the perpetrators to justice. Click here to learn more and to send off your message.

     Thanks for your continued support. Eric Lee.

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