Who We Are:
The Industrial Workers of the World recognizes that solidarity is key to labor struggles in one's home community, country, region and the world.
The concentration of capitalist ownership in the hands of fewer and fewer owners strengthens their hand not only in contract negotiations but in how the world works.
For this reason, the Industrial Workers of the World formed the International Solidarity Commission to help the union build the worker-to-worker solidarity that can lead to effective action against the bosses of the world.
Contact information:
- Email: solidarity@iww.org
- Mail: ISC c/o PO Box 13476, Philadelphia, PA 19101, USA
- Telephone: (513) 591-1905
The 2008 International Solidarity Commission members are:
- Saku Pinta, chair
- Mike Pesa
- Daniella Jofre
ISC Updates Bulletin-Vol. 1, Issue 1 (April 2008)
Greetings from the International Solidarity Commission of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and welcome to the first digest of our monthly international newsletter.
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@iww.org.
Sign up to receive this monthly bulletin by email.
Greetings from the International Solidarity Commission (ISC) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and welcome to the first digest of our monthly international news letter.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@iww.org. You can also access the newsletter online at http://www.iww.org/en/projects/isc/
Saludos de la Comisión de Solidaridad Internacional (ISC) de los Trabajadores Industriales del Mundo (IWW) y bienvenidos a nuestro primer boletín internacional mensual.
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@iww.org. Para la versión en español, hacer clic aquí
In this digest:
ISC May Day and International Workers Memorial Day Statements
ISC Action and Events
- ISC Haiti solidarity delegation news and updates
- ISC rep exposes US spying in Bolivia
- Supporting KSS workers in northern Mexico
- Plans for Haiti solidarity delegation taking shape
Solidarity Campaigns and Statements
- Solidarity with Jorge Perez Salvo
- Condemning the Recent Assault on Basra
- Condemning murders and violence against banana union in Guatemala
- Iran global day of action
- Condemning violence against unionists in Cambodia
- Demanding Justice for Palestinians
May Day greetings from the International Solidarity Commission (ISC) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)!
May Day is the genuine Labor Day, a time when the workers internationally reflect on the struggles of the past and challenges for the future. The origins of May Day are intimately bound up with the struggle for the 8-hour work day in the United States, and specifically, the militant struggles and repression of the Chicago labor movement. In Chicago in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Assemblies had proclaimed May 1st, 1886 as the official launch of the 8-hour day. Tens of thousands of workers mobilized, carried out strikes and demonstrations and were met with brutal police repression. On May 4, 1886, a protest rally in Haymarket Square was called in response to the deaths of three strikers. The rally was attacked by police and an unknown assailant detonated a bomb, claiming the lives of several police and protesters. Union leaders were rounded up and convicted of false charges by a rigged jury. Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolf Fischer, and George Engel paid the ultimate price – executed by the state by hanging. These are the Haymarket Martyrs, tried and convicted for being unionists, and we remember them on this day.
From the scaffold, August Spies declared, as his last words, "The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today!" Indeed, May Day has become a day of joint action, resistance, and militant struggle for the working class internationally.
This May Day, we recognize the struggles of all our allies and fellow workers around the world. IWW members are organizing May Day events in many different cities. However, the International Solidarity Commission has chosen to focus our attention today on the people of Haiti, a small island nation in the Caribbean that suffers from extreme poverty and underdevelopment.
A former French slave colony that famously won its independence through a massive uprising, Haiti has long been ignored and exploited by the imperialist powers of the world. The country has endured brutal dictatorships, death squads, and frequent coups. While multinational apparel companies profit from Haitian sweatshop labor, many Haitians are dying of starvation, preventable illnesses, and poverty-related violence. In the past few weeks, Haiti has exploded into social and political turmoil as a result of rising food prices. Militant protests and riots over food shortages have become commonplace on the streets of Port-Au-Prince and throughout the various districts of Haiti. This wave of anger and panic has shaken the already weak government of René Préval and the Lespwa Party. Prime Minister Jacques-Édouard Alexis was forced to step down and the legislature has scrambled to make promises for reform.
The present crisis has revitalized the fading labor movement in Haiti. Independent unions like the Confederation of Haitian Workers/Confédération des travailleurs haitiens (CTH) and the Workers Movement/Batay Ouvriye, have experienced a resurgence in members and activity. The workers of Haiti are coming to realize that it is up to them to bring about the social and economic change that is so urgently needed in Haiti and in the world.
In this context of this crisis and the people's resistance, the IWW's International Solidarity Commission has sent a delegation of workers from the U.S. and Canada to Haiti to bear witness to the situation and to have a dialog with Haitian workers and union organizers. The four-person delegation arrived in Haiti on April 23rd and will remain there until May 5th. They have been traveling to various parts of the country with the CTH, the Haitian union that originally invited the IWW to come. The delegates also plan to meet with organizers from Batay Ouvriye and several other organizations.
We have just learned that the Haitian government is now imposing a ban on many of the planned May Day demonstrations in Port-Au-Prince and Cap-Haitien. According to an April 30th press release by Batay Ouvriye, the Haitian people know their rights and will still take to the streets on May 1st, "not only to denounce skyrocketing prices, unemployment and the corruption that accompany them, but also to denounce the handouts the government has decided on, supposedly to exit the crisis, and furthermore to denounce the decision to forbid our mobilization".
On May 1st, 2008, International Workers Day, the IWW stands—physically and symbolically—with the people of Haiti. We demand an end to the centuries of injustice and misery heaped upon this beautiful land by Western imperialism and the global capitalist system. We demand that the right to protest and free expression is respected. We insist that the wealthy nations of the world immediately do their part to relieve the current food crisis with no strings attached. We are inspired by the brave men and women of Haiti who, in spite of the dire situation they face, continue to fight for their rights and defiantly hope for a better world, a world run by and for working people and those who have been prevented even the "privilege" of employment.
122 years after the Haymarket Massacre and 103 years after the formation of the IWW, we believe as strongly as ever that an injury to one is an injury to all. For this reason, we can no longer ignore the gaping wound that exists in Haiti, covering the world in blood. That wound, like all the wounds caused by the violence of capitalism, will only be healed by the united solidarity of the global working class.
For a world without borders or bosses!
The International Solidarity Commission of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
International Workers Memorial Day Statement
The International Solidarity Commission of the Industrial Workers of the World – an international, independent labour union – sends its solemn and sincere condolences on this April 28th International Workers’ Memorial Day to the loved ones of workers killed on the job and solidarity with injured workers everywhere. In particular, we would like to send condolences to the friends and family of Fellow Worker Ryan Boudreau, a bike messenger and IWW Chicago Couriers Union member whose life was tragically cut short in a fatal collision on August 13, 2007.
We recognize that, according to statistics compiled by the International Labour Organization, each year more than two million men and women die as a result of work-related accidents and illnesses every year while occupational accidents claim over 270 million victims. Work kills more people than wars! Speed-ups, increased working hours, and short-cuts in safety procedures, designed to maximize production and profit, severely compromise the health and safety of the working class to the benefit of the boss class. Cutbacks and red-tape in workers compensation and precarious employment conditions with little or no benefits often drive injured workers into a downward spiral of poverty and destitution. Factories and workplaces are outsourced globally to regions with lenient labour regulations while workers’ rights are regarded as “barriers to trade”.
We also recognize that the basic, minimal rights that workers have gained were not granted by enlightened bosses or politicians. Rather, they were won through courageous struggle and direct action. One significant instance of this was the massive wildcat strike by uranium miners in Elliot Lake, northern Ontario, Canada in 1974. The strike was prompted by the abnormally high rates of cancer in uranium miners and led to major improvements in workers health and safety throughout the country. Countless other workplace struggles have contributed to the implementation of health and safety measures worldwide, often through work stoppages, slowdowns, and independent shopfloor action.
Only the vigilance, organization, and international solidarity of the working class can preserve and extend these basic workers’ rights against the bosses drive for growth, production, and profit at any expense. Ultimately, only the reorganization of economic life on the basis of production for use, and recognition of labour as a means towards the fulfillment of our collective needs and desires, will ensure the well being of workers everywhere.
AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!
ISC ACTION AND EVENTS
ISC Haiti solidarity delegation news and updatesThe ISC has sent an official solidarity delegation to Haiti. The delegation will take place April 23-May 5th with 4 delegates meeting with labour organizations and documenting their experiences through a variety of media. They will meet with the Confédération des travailleurs haitiens/Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH), the Batay Ouvriye (Worker's Movement), and possibly other labour and activist groups. The trip will include an observance of Haiti's annual May Day demonstrations, which are expected to be large and energized this year. Check out the IWW in Haiti blog for news, photos, and updates: http://iwwinhaiti.blogspot.com
ISC rep exposes US spying in Bolivia
ISC representative Alex Van Schaick, who has been meeting with workers' organizations in Bolivia on behalf of the IWW since October, recently made major headlines by exposing attempts by a U.S. Embassy official to illegally recruit Peace Corps volunteers to spy on Cuban and Venezuelan visitors doing humanitarian or political work in Bolivia. Van Schaick, who is volunteering with the Peace Corps as part of a Fulbright research scholarship, was approached by Assistant Regional Security Officer Vincent Cooper at the U.S. Embassy on the morning of Nov. 5, 2007 and asked to report on the presence of any Cuban or Venezuelan doctors or field workers he encountered during his visits to rural villages. Van Schaick immediately alerted the media and the story was reported by the New York Times, ABC News and other major media outlets around the world. The impact was immediate and massive. Cooper was called back to Washington, the U.S. Department of State promised a serious investigation, and Bolivian President Evo Morales denounced the spying and thanked Van Schaick for speaking out.
Supporting KSS workers in northern Mexico
The ISC wrote two letters to global airbag and seatbelt manufacturer Key Safety Systems (KSS) and its corporate customers, including Ford and General Motors. The letters called upon KSS to respect their workers right to organize, rehire illegally fired workers, and address the unsafe conditions and poverty wages that characterize their factory in Valle Hermoso, Mexico. The ISC also helped to organize the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras' international speaking tour in March. One event on the tour included a demonstration outside of KSS headquarters in Sterling Heights, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan.
Plans for Haiti solidarity delegation take shape
The ISC has solidified its plan for an official delegation to Haiti. The delegation will take place April 23-May 5th with 5 delegates prepared to make the trip. They will meet with the Confédération des travailleurs haitiens/Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH), the Batay Ouvriye (Worker's Movement), and possibly other labour and activist groups, documenting their experience through a variety of media. The trip will include an observance of Haiti's annual May Day demonstrations, which are expected to be large and energized this year.
SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGNS AND STATEMENTS
Solidarity with Jorge Perez Salvo
The ISC sent a letter to management of the Arta Plast corporation in Sweden demanding reinstatement or full retirement compensation to Jorge Perez Salvo, a member of the Central Organization of Swedish Workers (SAC). Salvo, a senior employee who has worked for Arta Plast for 11 years, was notified that he will be dismissed without compensation, in August 2008, only two years before he would have received a full retirement package.
Condemning the Recent Assault on Basra
The ISC sent a letter to government officials in Great Britain, the United States, and Iraq, condemning the recent assault on the Iraqi port city of Basra. Residents report that coalition forces have cut off electricity supplies, food and water to this city of 1.5 million people. According to the General Union of Oil Employees in Basra (IFOU), hundreds of civilians were killed or injured by occupation forces in the first 48 hours of the siege, which begun at midnight on March 24th. The ISC called for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Basra. Furthermore, echoed the IFOU’s demands that occupation forces not use this siege as an opportunity to privatize Basra’s port and replace its militant workforce with nonunion workers—which may be one of the motives behind this suspiciously-timed and extreme show of force. There is strong opposition in Basra to union busting and the proposed privatization of the port, which is part of a larger trend of privatizing Iraq’s lucrative oil industry.
Condemning murders and violence against banana union in Guatemala
The ISC sent a letter to the government of Guatemala expressing alarm and outrage at recent murders and other acts of violence against members of the recently-formed SITRABANSUR banana-workers union. Miguel Ángel Ramírez was shot to death on March 2nd, 2008. Ramírez was involved in an intense struggle for workers’ rights on the Frutera Internacional Sociedad Anónima plantation. Before his murder he was illegally detained by company security guards and forced to sign a letter of resignation from the union. His murder is part of an increasing trend of violence against banana-workers in Guatemala and comes on the heels of the September 2007 slaying Marco Tulio Ramírez Portela, a member of SITRABI, another banana-workers union. In July, the SITRABI headquarters was raided by uniformed soldiers and the daughter of the General Secretary of SITRABANSUR was raped by armed men. Other family members of union organizers have received death threats by armed men who have shown up at their house. In its letter, the ISC expressed its support for the demands of banana workers and called on the government of Guatemala to investigate and take action to stop this violence and repression.Iran global day of action
The ISC issued a statement declaring support for the March 6 global Day of Action for Iranian Workers, which featured major protests, meetings, video screenings and more around the world in solidarity with imprisoned union leader Mansour Osanloo and many other Iranian unionists who are facing serious repression. The statement is available online at http://www.workers-iran.org/News/IWW%20Statement%20for%20March%206%20International%20Day%20of%20Action%20in%20Solidarity%20with.htm
Condemning violence against unionists in Cambodia
The ISC sent a letter to government officials, international agencies, factory owners and NGOs condemning an ongoing wave of violence against union organizers in Cambodia. At least three members of the independent FTUKC union have been brutally murdered in the past four years, the latest occurring in 2007. On February 28, another FTUKC organizer was viciously attacked in an apparent attempted murder. The ISC demanded that the notoriously corrupt Cambodian government seriously investigate these still unsolved crimes and take action to protect the safety of union members. The ISC also called upon the factory owners to guarantee an environment of safety, respect and freedom of association for all their workers.
Demanding Justice for Palestinians
The ISC signed on to a statement demanding the release of 8 Palestinian union organizers who are being unjustly detained by Israeli authorities on charges related to a series of industrial actions and protests that took place in 1999. The ISC also signed on to a statement written by the Twin Cities General Membership Branch of the IWW condemning the severe repression of working class Palestinians by the Israeli government in the wake of recent attacks by Palestinian militants. The statement further denounced repression and violence toward working class communities everywhere by any government.
