International Solidarity

International Solidarity

Socialist bosses attack Scottish Wobblies

Posted Mon, 12/11/2006 - 2:52am by x344543

IWW Staff Report - Industrial Worker, January 2007 

As Christmas approaches, 11 workers at the Scottish Parliament face broken contracts and unemployment in the new year, courtesy of the self-proclaimed champions of the Scottish working class, MSPs Tommy Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne.

They are both Members of Scottish Parliament, Sheridan being the only candidate for the Scottish Socialist Party elected when the parliament was founded in 1999, and Byrne one of five more who joined him after the second election in 2003.

Their party has been torn by a bitter dispute, centred around Sheridan's leadership, and a legal action he took against the News of the World when the paper made allegations about his private life. The rancour ended in Sheridan and Byrne's resignation from the SSP to found a new party called Solidarity.

E-Mail Action: Tell Starbucks to Sign Ethiopian Coffee Farmer Agreement and Respect Right to Organize

Posted Wed, 11/29/2006 - 1:44pm by x344543

The meeting of Starbucks' CEO with Ethiopia's Prime Minister has not changed the company's mind on a licensing agreement which respects the cultural heritage of coffee farmers.  Starbucks says the coffee farmers don't need the licensing agreement just like baristas don't need a union- because the company is already so magnanimous.  Tell that to coffee farmers living in brutal poverty and baristas struggling to make ends meet often without health care.  More information about the proposed agreement is available on Oxfam's website: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/campaigns/coffee/starbucks.  Please take a moment to register your distaste for this extreme corporate greed from Starbucks:  http://starbucksunion.org/node/1127

Workers without bosses at a turning point

Posted Sun, 11/26/2006 - 11:06pm by x344543

By Marie Trigona - Znet, November 09, 2006.

In recent years leading up to Argentina's 2001 financial crisis, thousands of factories have closed and millions of jobs have been lost. Many workers have decided to defeat the destiny of unemployment, taking over their workplace and recuperating their dignity as workers. More than 180 recuperated enterprises are up and running, employing more than 10,000 Argentine workers at cooperative-run businesses, which were closed down by bosses and reopened by employees. In almost all cases workers took over businesses that had been abandoned or closed by their owners in the midst of a financial crisis.

Many worker controlled factories today face hostility and frequently violence from the state. Workers have had to organize themselves against violent eviction attempts and other acts of state violence. This impacts the workers and the enterprises as it means that employees have to leave the work place, invest energy in a legal battle and fight for laws in favor of worker recuperated businesses.

To counter oppose an uncertain legal future, many recuperated enterprises have mobilized to press for the government to resolve their cooperative's legal status. On October 27, workers from Renacer domestic appliance cooperative, CUC worker run shoe company, BAUEN hotel, City Hotel, Bahía Blanca ex-Paloni slaughter house, La Foresta meat packing cooperative and Zanon-FaSinPat worker run ceramics plant rallied outside a federal court to push for a national expropriation law.

EMERGENCY: IWW Member and Starbucks Union Supporter in Grave Danger in Oaxaca Tonight

Posted Thu, 11/02/2006 - 2:16am by x344543

Friends:

Eric Larson, an IWW member and long-time supporter of the SWU, is in grave danger along with many indigenous workers in a home in Oaxaca. Eric and his companeros could be seriously wounded or worse tonight and they're asking for help immediately. Eric is a thoughtful, kind, and generous unionist and his comrades are remarkable activists as well. I know you receive many e-mail pleas but I implore you to take the time to respond to this one immediately. The ruling party could lay siege to their home any minute now. We don't need anymore martyrs ripped from their families and friends in Oaxaca. The call for help from Oaxaca follows.

In Solidarity,

Daniel Gross

Please forward widely:

How to use Google to put pressure on a company

Posted Thu, 10/12/2006 - 4:35pm by x344543

Disclaimer - The following article is reposted here because it is an issue with some relevance to the IWW. The views of the author do not necessarily agree with those of the IWW and vice versa.  The IWW has not endorsed this campaign, and the inclusion of this article is intended to show workers how they can use the internet to fight back against the employing class.

If you live in Britain and you search Google this week for the website of the country's largest retailer, Tesco, you'll see the link to the company's website on top of the left side of the page.  If you look over to the right side, you'll see the following text: "Child labour: The latest union news from around the world, updated 24/7".