Anarchoblogs

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR IRAN:
SAVE ABDOLREZA GHANBARI:

Abdolreza Ghanbari is an Iranian university professor who has been sentenced to death by the regime basically for the "crime" of receiving unsolicited political emails. Here is his story and appeal for solidarity from the online labour solidarity site Labour Start.
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Iran: Stop the execution of Abdolreza Ghanbari


In partnership with the Education International, the world’s largest federation of unions, representing thirty million education employees in about four hundred organisations in one hundred and seventy countries and territories, across the globe.



Abdolreza Ghanbari, a 44-year-old lecturer of Payam e Nour University, was arrested at his home in Pakdasht on 4 January 2010. He was charged with Moharebeh (enmity towards God) for receiving unsolicited emails from an armed opposition group, to which he does not belong. While in detention at the notorious Evin Prison, Prof. Ghanbari was interrogated for 25 days in a row and forced to confess under duress to unproven charges. Nasrin Sotoudeh was his lawyer until he was himself condemned to a six year sentence in Evin prison for "propaganda against the regime" and "acting against national security". In 2007, Prof. Ghanbari had already been detained for 120 days and sentenced to a six-month suspension from teaching and exiled from Sari to Pakdasht. Prof. Ghanbari has no known political connections. He was previously involved in teacher union activities until his union ITTA was dissolved in 2007. Prof. Ghanbari's death sentence has been confirmed by Tehran's Appeal Court, Branch 36 in April 2010. He has since been waiting on death row. A request for pardon was rejected on February 28 by the Commission of Justice in Tehran. It means that authorities are allowed to proceed with the execution. The Education International calls on the Iranian authorities to stay the execution of Prof. Abdolreza Ghanbari and revoke the death sentence; to drop all charges against all detained trade unionists and release them immediately; to comply with the international labour standards and respect the rights of Iranian workers to freedom of association, assembly and expression.

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Your Excellency,

I am writing to you to condemn the death sentence pronounced against Prof. Abdolreza Ghanbari, a university lecturer. I urge the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately stay his execution. Abdolreza Ghanbari was arrested at his home in Pakdasht on 4 January 2010. While in detention at the Evin Prison, Prof. Ghanbari was interrogated for 25 days in a row and forced to confess under duress to unproven charges. He has been sentenced to death for "enmity towards God". His death sentence has been confirmed by Tehran's Appeal Court, Branch 36 in April 2010. A request for pardon was rejected on February 28 by the Commission of Justice in Tehran. I urge the Iranian authorities to:
- Stay the execution of Prof. Abdolreza Ghanbari and revoke the death sentence;
- Drop all charges against all detained trade unionists and release them immediately;
- Compensate the individuals for the damages suffered as result of detentions;
- Register the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA) and allow it to hold trade union activities and reach out to members;
- Stop the harassment and repression against teachers, unionists and human rights defenders;
- Comply with the international labour standards and respect the rights of Iranian workers to freedom of association, assembly and expression;
- Engage in a peaceful dialogue regarding the professional concerns of teachers in Iran.
I look forward to hearing about your positive intervention on this very serious matter.

The now independent Caucasus republic of Georgia is (in)famous as the homeland of Soviet dictator Josep Stalin. Sorta like being noted as the homeland of malaria. Living down to this "fine" tradition the present government of this republic is trying to supress the independent unions of that country. The economy may change but the urge to dominate remains the same. Here's an appeal from the onl;ine labour solidarity site Labour Start for solidarity with Georgia's unionists.

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Georgia: Stop attacks on trade unions - respect labour rights
An iconic example of the potential to build free unions in post-Soviet states, the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) is in serious jeopardy of being destroyed. Even as its fate hangs in the balance, the GTUC is the largest and most viable civil society organization in Georgia, with a reform-minded leadership that possesses an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the role democratic and representative trade unions play in the promotion of labour rights and democracy. Immediate action is necessary to combat the Georgian government’s concerted, intensifying efforts to dismantle the GTUC and take over the GTUC's teachers' union by violating international labour standards and actions aimed at starving it of financial resources.

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INTERNATIONAL LABOUR COLOMBIA:

The other year workers in Ontario and Newfoundland were "treated" to an exhibition of just how hard hearted and tight fisted the international mining giant Vale is. But Canada and Brazil are only two countries that figure in the global assets of the company. In Colombia Vale goes even further in its disdain for workers and democracy. Here's a petition from the online labour solidarity site Labour Start asking people to protest Vale's tactics in Colombia.

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Colombia: Tell Vale no more union busting
As if it wasn’t hard enough for unions to operate in Colombia, now Vale wants to make it harder. Workers at global giant Vale’s El Hatillo coal mine in Colombia recently organized with the union SINTRAMIENERGETICA and presented modest bargaining demands. Rather than negotiate, Vale has attempted to dictate the process by which the union formulates its demands. Vale supervisors have threatened every worker with dismissal unless they renounce the union. Vale’s superintendent locked one union supporter in his office and threatened him to the point that the supporter showed symptoms of a heart attack and was hospitalized in serious condition. The majority of workers at El Hatillo are subcontracted which also limits their right to organize.

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Please go to this link to send the following message to the President of Colombia and the Vale management:

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Dear Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Vale Colombia CEO Zenaldo Olivera,

We demand that you respect the fundamental rights of workers employed at Vale’s El Hatillo coal mine in Colombia. Vale must cease its obstruction tactics and threats. It must recognize the union that these workers have organized with, SINTRAMIENERGETICA, and negotiate in good faith. The Government of Colombia must ensure that the fundamental rights of workers employed at Vale and those of all other Colombian workers are respected. Specifically, the Government must ensure that companies cannot use cooperatives or other subcontracting arrangements to deprive workers of their basic rights.

For over four years workers at Dole in the Philippines have been struggling against both the agribusiness company and the Filipino state for their right to unionize. They are now calling for an international support campaign to press for their rights. Here's the story and appeal from the online labour solidarity site Labour Start.

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Philippines: Dole must respect union rights
Since 2006, the company has been trying to weaken, if not eliminate altogether, the democratically-elected union in Dole Philippines - the Amado Kadena–National Federation of Labor Unions–Kilusang Mayo Uno (AK-NAFLU-KMU). Since 2006, the company has conducted a vilification campaign against the union to quash the legitimate workers’ demands for higher wages, job security and trade union rights. With support from the company, the Philippine military has been conducting anti-union seminars, accusing AK-NAFLU-KMU of being a communist front and urging the union members to withdraw support from KMU. The Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) 27th Infantry Battalion conducted a door-to-door campaign calling for disaffiliation from KMU. Union officers and active members are publicly accused as being "enemies of the state” – a very serious accusation amidst the extra-judicial killings in the country. The Dole management also supported the creation of a new union called UR Dole and on Feb 13, 2007, it conducted a bogus general election and "impeached" the legitimate union officials in a viva voce manner. The management refused to implement two orders from the Department of Labor and Employment ordering a status quo and nullifying the assembly and the "impeachment". It continued to recognize UR Dole and even released union dues to them in a clear effort to cripple the operations of AK-NAFLU-KMU. Several workers have also been fired, suspended, demoted or transferred as a result of their support for AK-NAFLU-KMU. Union president Jose Teruel and other officials have received death threats. Active union members are slapped with fabricated charges or subjected to overly-strict discipline; are threatened with non-renewal of their relatives’ contracts in the labor cooperative; and are being offered early retirement packages in another bid to cut back the union membership.

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For a long time now labour activists in Turkey have been fighting an uphill battle, hamstrung by repressive labour legislation. The following appeal for solidarity with the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey asks for international solidarity to pressure the government into reform. This appeal is being broadcast by the online labour solidarity site Labour Start.

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Turkey: Reform labour laws now
Although Turkey was earnestly criticized and warned by ILO committees in International Labour Conferences, she has not made necessary legal changes in compliance with ILO Conventions No. 87 and 98. Because of the legal prohibitions and regulations, millions of workers cannot exercise their fundamental rights. Thousands of workers are subject to various pressures such us being dismissed or being arrested. Since 2002, despite the ruling party AKP’s repeated commitments, reform on trade union law has not been realized yet. Industrial relations of Turkey are still being shaped by the laws enacted during the military coup of 1980. The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) is asking for your support, and believes that the messages to be sent to Prime Minister and Labour Minister will be very effective and that your efforts will create an international pressure on the government of Turkey and will force the government to reform the trade union law which should be in compliance with ILO Conventions and Revised European Social Charter.

Molly has given some prominence recently to the general strike in northern provinces of Spain, mostly because the driving force behind this strike was the anarchosyndicalist Spanish CGT. The CGT, however, alone in this effort, supported as it was by other libertarian and leftist unions especially in Catalonia, by various civil society groups and, most importantly, by a collection of Basque nationalist unions in the Basque countries. The latter was despite the neutral to hostile attitude of the major Basque nationalist party which is acting as a prop for the Zapatero government in Madrid, the very government whose policies the latest general strike opposed.

While I think the CGT can be credited with the initiation of the idea of a second general strike it was in the Basque countries where local unions predominate over the treacherous UGT and CCOO that the strike seemed to have received its greatest support. This is in contrast to Galicia and Catalonia where, insofar as I can determine, the results of the strike were quite mixed. I would be surprised if the CGT was under any illusions about exactly how much the strike could achieve. The CGT is a mass organization not a collection of vaguely "anarchistic" black blockers more interested in showing off and making "statements" about their purity than in results. I must admit, however, that I am unclear about exactly what the CGT hoped to achieve, but much more on that later. For now the simple achievement on the part of an anarchosyndicalist union of actually being able to call a general strike that drew large if not massive support is something that the libertarian left elsewhere in the world is far from being able to achieve.

To be honest the support in the Basque countries, non-anarchist as it as, was undoubtedly key to the CGT's plans. It leaves at least one area of Spain where the so-called "socialists" of the Zapatero government can't depend on bribing the bureaucrats of the UGT and CCOO in order to decrease opposition. What follows is mainly drawn from the extensive reports on the general strike published at the Spanish anarchist news service La Haine. I caution the reader that what follows is one sided as little about what happens in the Basque countries hits other media even in Spain, and I am unable to give the "other side" ( ie not the one I support ) like I am in the case of Catalonia. This can be important as estimates of support are obviously biased by one's likes and dislikes. I use La Haine mainly because it is a good site in Spanish as opposed to Catalan which I often miss even the general sense in.

Here are some salient points about the strike in the Basque countries:

# The leaders of the Basque unions, ELA, LAB, STEE-EILAS and HIRU EHNE have expressed their satisfaction with the "very broad support" shown for the strike, especially in the industrial sector.

#The unions involved actually claimed "majority" support.

#The unions claim a "practical shutdown" of the chemical and metal industries.

#The cooperative sector achieved a "high degree" of compliance with the strike.

#The situation in ports and airports is unknown, but the unions expect that the Port Authority will essentially have been shut down.

#In education the compliance with the strike ranged from 50% to up to 90% depending upon the area.

#10,000 people marched in Bilbao, the same number claimed by the unions in much larger Barcelona. Speakers denounced the role of the UGT and CCOO in supporting the government's pension plans.

#In Iruña people occupied a building to support the general strike. This occupation is similar to what has been occurring in Barcelona in the last few weeks with the dispute about CGT headquarters.

The following appeal for solidarity with imprisoned Bangladeshi labour activist Moshrefa Mishu comes from the online labour solidarity site Labour Start. There is also a Facebook site devoted to this cause.

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Bangladesh: Free Moshrefa Mishu
Moshrefa Mishu, President of the Garment Workers Unity Forum (GWUF), a trade union of the ready-made garment sector, was illegally arrested on 14 December 2010. The arrest occurred after mass protests of garment workers demanding the implementation of the increased minimum wage. While there was no warrant at the time of her arrest, Mishu is now facing three fabricated criminal charges. She has been ill-treated and threatened with death while in detention, and the police did not allow her to take necessary medicines with her. Mishu's health has deteriorated as a result of ill-treatment and the subsequent denial of adequate medical treatment by politically-motivated doctors while in detention. It is urgent to intervene by insisting that the Government of Bangladesh immediately release Mishu Moshrefa and to drop the fabricated charges.