International Solidarity

International Solidarity

First Hand Report from France from a Striker

Posted Thu, 10/21/2010 - 3:52pm by x344543

I'm exhausted.

I've spent the last three days going from road block to road block, together with teachers, railroad workers, truckers, nurses, etc.

So far, in our sector, we've managed the feat of keeping the Arnages oil depot totally closed since Friday 4 AM!

As a result, all the petrol stations in aradius of 70 kms are closed, completely out of gas.

I slept 4 hours on Friday night, 6 hours on Saturday, 2 on Monday ...

Today, we got the main Teachers' Union to call on all striking teachers to come and help block all the remaining fuel depots.

The police can't intervene, because the truckers have established road blocks on the major roads leading to the oil depot.

What is incredible is that despite the fact that there is no more oil available, and therefore that people are blocked at home, a resounding 71% of the population approves of the strike (according to today's opinion polls).

The movement is set to last at least another week. I spent the whole of Sunday night with transport (railway and truckers) workers playing cards and drinking beer. It was quite cold (2?C) around 4 AM, but the railroad workers brought several truck-loads of "palettes" (empty wooden containers) and we lit a might bonfire.

Striking workers from the neighbouring Renault factory brought firecrackers and we spent the wee hours of the morning lighting them.

Workers are determined to fight until the bitter end. Workers who chose not to go on strike are being encouraged to donate part of their salary to the workers of the most "strategic" sectors, especialy the Donges raffinery.

German IWW pickets against austerity measures outside the Frankfurter Stadtwerke [Municipal Services]:

Posted Tue, 09/21/2010 - 1:41am by x344543

Translated by a member of the British Isles IWW Regional Organizing Committee (BIROC)

Today the IWW distributed the following flyer (image not included) in front of the Frankfurter Stadtwerke [Municipal Services]:

Training outside working hours - "but can they do that?" They keep getting more impertinent!

Today, on Saturday, colleges at EUREST have to work, because by now so many people have been made redundant that trainings can no longer take place during regular working hours. The Compass Group has right during the crises made fat profits - on the backs of their workers. Reduced staff, reduced shifts and unpaid overtime, that's their trick.

So, it's not a surprise that trainings are now happening during the weekend. The location of the Stadtwerke is not the first one where this is practiced. But, no manager has put pressure on the workers quite so shamelessly. He doesn't care, that you have kids you need to care for. He doesn't even care if you're on holiday. You need to show up or proof that you already booked some trip. But time off is time off, and to force colleagues who have taken time off to go to work is, simply put, illegal.

A person like Tobias Engel does not seem to know, that the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany also apply to Eurest. Therefore, it's not surprising that the IWW Union learnt that he recently opened the locker of a worker. How long do you want to take such infringements?

If you don't resist, you'll soon need to show up every Saturday, for a training, or to clean. And the worst is, that it seems the shop steward agreed to this. Why do the NGG-shop stewards do whatever Eurest wants?

The problem, of course, are not just the cuddly unions and shop stewards, who don't represent the interest of the workers. As a union we can insist on the compliance with legal protections and rights of employees. But their implementation depends on whether the workers in the company resist the dismantling of workers' rights.

If you are ready, we'll support you in a big way!

International Solidarity Bulletin #3 - Sept. 2010

Posted Tue, 09/21/2010 - 1:31am by x344543

Greetings from the International Solidarity Commission (ISC) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and welcome to the second of our irregularly published international news letters.

The purpose of this newsletter is to keep our allies around the world informed of our activities, solidarity campaigns, and relevant international labor struggles. It is our hope that this newsletter will contribute to building worker-to-worker solidarity through strengthened communications and exchanges of information. If you would like to contribute story ideas or news for the bulletin, or wish to contact the ISC, you can email solidarity [at] iww.org.

Saludos de la Comisión de Solidaridad Internacional (ISC) de los Trabajadores Industriales del Mundo (IWW) y dar la bienvenida a la primera de la carta publicada irregularmente noticias internacionales.

El propósito de este boletín es mantener a nuestros aliados alrededor del mundo informados de nuestras actividades, campañas de solidaridad, y luchas obreras relevantes. Esperamos que este boletín contribuya a construir solidaridad entre trabajadores reforzando las comunicaciones e intercambios de información. Para contribuir con ideas o noticias al boletín, o para contactar a la ISC por favor escribir a solidarity [a] iww.org.

IWW International Solidarity Commission Resolution on Bangladesh

Posted Tue, 09/07/2010 - 2:18am by x344543

The International Solidarity Commission of the Industrial Workers of the World is deeply concerned about current repression and detention of workers and activists in Bangladesh. At the current moment, we especially highlight the situation of Kalpona Akter of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity NGO (BCWS), and demand that she be released from detention, all charges against her be dropped, and that the NGO status of the BCWS be immediately reinstated.

Responding to the government?s cruel and insulting offer of merely $43 a month minimum wage, in the country with the lowest garment wages in the world, Bangladeshi workers took to the streets for five days. The workers were met with the full force of the Bangladeshi police and security forces, in the service of the bosses.

Is the US Pulling the Plug on Iraqi Workers?

Posted Sat, 08/28/2010 - 11:03pm by x323510

By: David Bacon, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed, Friday 27 August 2010

Hashmeya Muhsin, head of the electrical workers union, talks with other union leaders at a meeting in Basra. (Photos by David Bacon)

Early in the morning of July 21, police stormed the offices of the Iraqi Electrical Utility Workers Union in Basra, the poverty-stricken capital of Iraq's oil-rich south. A shamefaced officer told Hashmeya Muhsin, the first woman to head a national union in Iraq, that they'd come to carry out the orders of Electricity Minister Hussain al-Shahristani to shut the union down. As more police arrived, they took the membership records, the files documenting often-atrocious working conditions, the leaflets for demonstrations protesting Basra's agonizing power outages, the computers and the phones. Finally, Muhsin and her coworkers were pushed out and the doors locked.

Shahristani's order prohibits all trade union activity in the plants operated by the ministry, closes union offices, and seizes control of union assets from bank accounts to furniture. The order says the ministry will determine what rights have been given to union officers, and take them all away. Anyone who protests, it says, will be arrested under Iraq's Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005.

So ended seven years in which workers in the region's power plants have fought for the right to organize a legal union, to bargain with the electrical ministry, and to stop the contracting-out and privatization schemes that have threatened their jobs.