Friday, August 13, 2010
HUMOUR:
WAITING FOR THE RECOVERY WAVE:
Labels: American politics, Barack Obama, cartoons, economic crisis, humour, jokes, recession
Friday, July 23, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
CANADIAN ECONOMY:
A SHINY GLOSS ON A DIRTY REALITY:
If you were to believe the popular press these days you'd think that Canada is forging ahead economically while the rest of the developed world is falling behind. God, you'd think we were China. The reality, of course, is quite different. Perhaps it speaks to the desire for optimism. Or perhaps it speaks to the laziness of reporters who lap up government pronouncements and regurgitate them as the unvarnished truth without any need of examination. Such is the great "surge" in job creation trumpeted to the skies in the last week. the reality is quite different. pretty well all this job creation is in part time work, and the actual number of hours worked continues to decline. Here's an item from the Progressive Economics Forum about this.
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More Jobs, But Fewer Hours
July 9th, 2010
This morning, Statistics Canada reported that employment jumped by an incredible 93,200 in June. But the total number of hours worked actually declined. In effect, less work was divided up between more workers. (By contrast, a similar employment jump in April corresponded to a large increase in hours worked.)
Less Unemployment: A Central Canadian Story
The advantage of dividing less work among more workers is that it reduces unemployment. However, because the number of workers seeking employment also increased, 93,200 more jobs reduced total unemployment by only 31,200.
Furthermore, this welcome decrease in unemployment was entirely concentrated in three provinces: Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba. In the other seven provinces, both the absolute number of unemployed workers and the unemployment rate increased.
The New Jobs
Employment gains were evenly split between full-time and part-time work. There are 51,900 more private-sector employees, 25,600 more self-employed people, and 15,700 more public-sector employees.
Employment declined in goods-producing industries. All of the employment gains were in the service sector, especially retail and wholesale trade, support services and healthcare and social assistance.
Wages and Inflation
Perhaps reflecting job creation in lower-paid industries, wages were soft in June. Nationally, the average wage is up 1.7% over the past year, scarcely exceeding inflation (which was 1.4% in May).
Wages were anemic in Ontario and New Brunswick, rising only 0.8%, and almost completely flat in Alberta, edging up just 0.2%. Relative to inflation, workers in these provinces have taken a pay cut over the past year.
More Jobs, But Fewer Hours
July 9th, 2010
This morning, Statistics Canada reported that employment jumped by an incredible 93,200 in June. But the total number of hours worked actually declined. In effect, less work was divided up between more workers. (By contrast, a similar employment jump in April corresponded to a large increase in hours worked.)
Less Unemployment: A Central Canadian Story
The advantage of dividing less work among more workers is that it reduces unemployment. However, because the number of workers seeking employment also increased, 93,200 more jobs reduced total unemployment by only 31,200.
Furthermore, this welcome decrease in unemployment was entirely concentrated in three provinces: Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba. In the other seven provinces, both the absolute number of unemployed workers and the unemployment rate increased.
The New Jobs
Employment gains were evenly split between full-time and part-time work. There are 51,900 more private-sector employees, 25,600 more self-employed people, and 15,700 more public-sector employees.
Employment declined in goods-producing industries. All of the employment gains were in the service sector, especially retail and wholesale trade, support services and healthcare and social assistance.
Wages and Inflation
Perhaps reflecting job creation in lower-paid industries, wages were soft in June. Nationally, the average wage is up 1.7% over the past year, scarcely exceeding inflation (which was 1.4% in May).
Wages were anemic in Ontario and New Brunswick, rising only 0.8%, and almost completely flat in Alberta, edging up just 0.2%. Relative to inflation, workers in these provinces have taken a pay cut over the past year.
Labels: canadian economics, Canadian labour, current events, economic crisis, economics, jobs., labour, Progressive Economics Forum
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR- SPAIN:
CGT PROPOSES TOTAL GENERAL STRIKE:
As Molly mentioned earlier on this blog the turnout for the June 8 public sector general strike was generally considered poor despite the claims of the two major union federations, the CCOO and the UGT. This may have , at least partially, been because neither the CCOO nor the UGT had much real enthusiasm for the strike, and thus they were half hearted in their organization. It may also have been that a public sector only (one day) general strike was the wrong tactical decision, pitting non-public sector workers against the strikers. There may have been many other factors as well.
However that may be the anarchosyndicalist CGT estimated that it achieved an overall participation rate amongst its public service members of 50%, putting it far ahead of the rate achieved by the larger unions. The CGT has generally been estimated to represent about 10% of the Spanish workforce as measured by 'union elections' in the workplaces. Perhaps encouraged by this the CGT has ramped up its efforts to pressure the CCOO to call a real general strike earlier than the September 29 date that the CCOO has set forth in cooperation with the UGT.
The CGT has proposed a date of June 30, perhaps an unrealistically early date to organize such a thing but far better than waiting over three months by which times people are much more likely to have become resigned to the government's measures. Perhaps the best date would be somewhere in between. One might doubt that the UGT leaders have any honest disagreements with what the Zapatero government is proposing and that their opposition is pure showmanship. Any real general strike is from their point of view best put off as long as possible. The CCOO whose leadership is made up of Stalinists who kept their union positions even while the Spanish Communist Party was disintegrating are no doubt playing their own game, hoping to appear the "toughest" of the two major federations while also not having to accept responsibility for another failed strike like that of June 8.
Both unions are helped by the fact that while the so-called labour "reforms" have been passed by government decree they are still not law until they pass Parliament, This will be difficult and involve some compromise...the Socialists are 7 seats short of a majority, but there is little doubt that the measures will for the most part become law. All of this is in a context where it is likely that the EU and IMF are putting together contingency plans to bail out Spain should it go the way of Greece. Various European governments have been falling all over themselves declaring that there is no such plan (a sure sign that there is one ?) this week as borrowing costs for the Spanish government (a measure of investor confidence) have soared almost 45% in the course of a month.
The CGT's proposal, of course, has a snowball's chance in hell of being accepted by the CCOO, let alone the UGT, and the CGT is far too small to try and carry out such a thing on their own. What they are probably doing, however, is playing for the long term, trying to position themselves as the real opposition as workers become disillusioned with the attitude of the UGT and CCOO, especially as the government's present measures are unlikely to be either the last or the worst of the attacks on social rights that are coming. for some time now it has been the policy of the CGT to call for an unlimited real general strike. This proposal to the CCOO should be seen as one move in their long term efforts. What follows is the CGT press release from their website.
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The General Confederation of Labour proposes to CCOO the convening of a general strike for June 30
(10/06/2010)
The General Confederation of Labour has today addressed a letter to Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, Secretary General of the CCOO, proposing the convening of a unified general strike for June 30.
With the economic crisis of recent years, which is hitting the workers so cruelly, it is combined with the latest measures taken by the Government to reduce the deficit by sharply attacking the public employees, pensioners and a set of social benefits and rights that are going to disappear dramatically. Now the Government announces a new labor reform by decree in a purely authoritarian style .
The CGT union views these measures announced in the new labor reform as extremely negative. The CGT also believes that they justify in themselves a forceful response by all Spanish trade unions.
The CGT going to put forth, as it has done in the recent public sector general strike , all its organizational capacity and commitment to make the general strike of June 30 a success.
The General Confederation of Labour believes that the working class and the public will not understand if the unions will not give at this time a rapid response to this serious attack which once more is against labor and social rights.
PERMANENT SECRETARIAT COMMITTEE OF THE CGT CONFEDERATION
Labels: CGT, economic crisis, general strike, international labour, international politics, labour, Spain, strike
Sunday, June 13, 2010
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-SPAIN:
CGT ASSESSES GENERAL STRIKE:
Molly reported on the one day public sector strike in Spain on June 8. My opinion was that it was a failure, not the least because the two largest unions the CCOO and the UGT were merely going through the motions and wanted it to fail. Spain's largest anarchosyndicalist union confederation the CGT participated enthusiastically in the strike while, at the same time, calling for a broader and longer lasting real general strike. The response of the CNT was mixed, but many sections were also participants with demands similar to that of the CGT. What follows is the assessment of June 8 on the part of the CGT.
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Press Release issued from the CGT (07/06/2010)
Evaluation statement from the Permanent Secretariat of the CGT of the public sector strike, and the Day of Struggle, convened by the CGT for June 8.
The General Confederation of Labour views the participation of workers and employees in the public sector strike and in the demonstrations of the Day of Struggle for the general strike called by the CGT positively.
The CGT called for a public sector strike on June 8, for those employed by public enterprises (Renfe, ADIF, AENA, Remasa, Mail, etc).
It also convened a day of action from other sectors of the workers for the whole population and society so they can make a combined clamour against the cuts in labor and social rights, against the brutal attack that markets are exerting, against the next labor "reform:. In short, against anti-social policy of the government.
Regardless of the data and statistics of acknowledged participation in public administration (15%),overall the CGT can be considered to have exceeded 50%. However, the important thing today was that after many years of demobilization, especially for the public employees, today was a positive step forward to take up a dynamic of mobilization and as always this effort is to be and more to the black perspective for social situations the labor market.
The CGT as a trade union convener made a significant effort to make this strike a success, and we believe that other convening unions have did not actually bet on the success of the strike. If they had, there would have been massive participation.
On the other hand, for the CGT this is only one more day of fighting in campaigns and demonstrations in favor of a general strike, an action that CGT sees as a priority and absolutely necessary to stop anti-social policy of the government. The CGT has called for the mobilization and participation of all the people and all those that are affected.
Hundreds of informational pickets, dozens of rallies, demonstrations and practical action in many cities of the Spanish state were called for a unanimous outcry against the aggressions of banks, politicians and employers against the working class and society as a whole.
We highlight some data in these demonstrations: 100% participation of the strike on the railways of the Generalitat , an important follow-up postal strike (70%) considering that the June 10 strike was specific to this sector, an important part of the strike in the Public Administration (75%), including particularly the centers where the CGT is present, where the incidence is even greater. Of course, we value greatly the massive participation in many of the events and actions performed.
On the negative side of the mobilization, we emphasize that workers are fed up with the official unions and their domesticated and wrongly timed mobilizations.
Finally, we express our absolute conviction that June 8 will be only the beginning of a social and labor unrest that will lead to an overwhelming response of citizens and the working class to the excesses and aggressions of the employers, governments and Banks:
Today more than ever, we need a GENERAL STRIKE
Permanent Secretariat Committee of the CGT Confederation
Labels: CGT, current events, economic crisis, general strike, international labour, labour, Spain, strike
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-SPAIN:
SPANISH PUBLIC SECTOR GENERAL STRIKE FAILS TO ACHIEVE OBJECTIVES:
As to the title, well maybe yes and maybe no. The general strike of the public sector in Spain yesterday was essentially "plotted" by the largest unions, the UGT (tied umbilically to the governing Socialist Party of Zapatero) and the CCOO (semi-reformed Stalinists who have forgotten everything about socialism but remember everything about bureaucratic manoeuvre). The general opinion in the mass media is that the public sector one day strike was a "test" to see if the idea of a real general strike would fly. The public workers of Spain face a general 5% cut in their pay in addition to other "austerity measures" such as a freeze in 2011, freezing pensions and an end to the Spanish equivalent of the "child bonus". If this was a test the bird didn't fly. This is in the face of an unemployment rate of 20%, the highest in the Euro zone.
Needless to say estimates of strike participation varies wildly. Union (CCOO and UGT) estimates gave numbers as high as 75% while government statements varied but hovered around the 11% range (see Irish Times, Earth Times ). Now long experience has taught me a method of "estimating" the truth in such contradictory claims, and I hold to it even when I am more in favour of one side than another. Double the low number...11% = 22%. Half the high number 75% = 37.5%. Average the two numbers. The probable participation rate by these numbers was 29.75% ie about a little less than 1/3rd of the public sector workers of Spain. This may overestimate the actual participation or at least the enthusiastic participation of public sector workers (ie those who didn't simply adjourn to home or the bar for the day). In Madrid the official CCOO/UGT rally at the end of the day gathered less than 4,000 participants.
I actually dreaded looking this up from the websites of the Spanish anarchosyndicalist organizations, the larger CGT and the much smaller CNT. Given my experience with North American anarchism, which all too often mirrors the idiocy of North American leftism in general I expected a great amount of flag waving and declarations of "victory" like the Communist and Socialist unions are claiming. I was pleasantly surprised.
Both Spanish anarchosyndicalist organizations were actually quite divided about the advisability of the public sector strike with the CNT actually taking pride of place for mentioning "reality" in their debates prior to the event ie mentioning how little support amongst the general Spanish population such a strike would have (or amongst public employees judging from the real participation). The CGT (and the CNT) have long campaigned for a real general strike encompassing both public and private sectors and a strike that was not just a one day symbolic demonstration. The CNT Andalucia joined with CGT Andalucia in reluctant support of the public sector strike. On the other hand the CNT of Badaloz (western Spain) rejected the idea entirely. Within the CGT there was a similar difference of opinion. This was especially prominent in the aftermath of the strike where the CGT of Zaragoza in Aragon republished the statement of the CNT of Aragon denouncing the CCOO and the UGT. the reason for this was the successful attempt of the UGT to exclude the CGT from the official demonstrations and speeches. In most of Spain the anarchists deliberately separated themselves from the official union demonstrations and presented themselves in separate contingents. probably a very wise idea when you are big enough.
The attitude of the CNT and CGT, despite the internal differences in their organizations, had generally two different "tones", connected no doubt to the different situation of the two organizations. The CGT is an organization of perhaps 100,000 members with the support of up to 2 million people in union elections in Spain. As such it is a "real union" and is more inclined to 'realpolitik' than the CNT which has perhaps 5,000 members and doesn't participate in the union elections. The CNT is more inclined to "denounce" the larger unions while the CGT is more inclined to both "pressure" them and present an alternative viewpoint which they hope will serve them in the future. Both organizations were united in saying that a real general strike was what was needed. They differed in how to get to it.
The point may be less than moot now. The underlying subtext of both the CGT and the CNT was that the CCOO and the UGT wanted no such thing as a real general strike. It would upset their cozy bargaining relationship with the socialist government. My brief browsing of the general public opinion in Spain (unconnected to anarchist opinion) is that this was a realistic estimate. Opinions such as "the unions were half-hearted" or "it was merely a show" come up over and over. The bottom line...the play has been acted out. Whatever the CCOO and the UGT claim they will hesitate to try and call a real general strike in Spain for fear of exposing their weakness even more. The government's plans will be carried out, and the great public shows (like in Greece) will give way to the usual backroom dealing - where the participants are more than slightly friendly with each other.
What this means is that even in Spain where perhaps 5% of the population has a favourable long term opinion of anarchism (contrasted to maybe 0.1% in Greece and 0.00001% in North America) that there is a very long term struggle ahead. There will be no magical "rebellion" to pull the country away from the austerity measures. Interestingly there is a little piece of truth in all this controversy about numbers, and it comes from the CGT who report the turnout for the public service sector strike in Barcelona which varied from a low of 20% to a high of 70% (interestingly enough the percentages were generally higher in the sectors where the CGT was strongest). These numbers seem to correlate with my own estimate of about 1/3rd. See here for the CGtT report. It does my heart good to see that my own comrades have a regard for truth.
Labels: anarchism, CGT, CNT, current events, economic crisis, general strike, international labour, labour, Spain, strike, tactics
Thursday, March 25, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR - QUÉBEC:
LAID OFF ABITIBI WORKERS BLOCKADE PLANT:
Since last Monday laid off workers at the AbitibiBowater plant in Beaupré Québec began a blockade of the mill that they say they will maintain until they get severance pay due to them. the blockade prevents the company from removing equipment and materials from the plant. The blockade is still on. Here`s the story from the CBC.
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Abitibi workers to maintain blockade
The 300 hundred employees of the AbitibiBowater paper mill in Beaupré say they will maintain a blockade at the plant, north of Quebec City, until they get their severance pay.
Abitibi workers to maintain blockade
The 300 hundred employees of the AbitibiBowater paper mill in Beaupré say they will maintain a blockade at the plant, north of Quebec City, until they get their severance pay.
The workers, who said they are owed a total of $12 million, set up a trailer blocking the road leading into the mill on Monday.
The severance pay is required according to the workers collective agreement, said union local president Mario Leclerc.
The workers are owed between $40,000 to $60,000 each, said Leclerc.
The company cannot afford to make the payments, because it is under bankruptcy protection, said AbitibiBowater spokesman Pierre Choquette.
Each worker must file a request for compensation through the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, he said.
"Already a package has been sent to them with forms, and all of these forms have to be completed by each of the employees, with the amount according to their personal situation," said Choquette.
The deadline for the forms to be submitted is April 7, he said.
Leclerc, however, said the workers have already submitted their claims.
The barricade will stay put until the workers are offered the full amount of their severance packages, he said.
Agreement with union
AbitibiBowater announced plans to shut down its Beaupré plant and to suspend operations at three other Canadian plants in September.
The company blamed the move on a worldwide drop in demand for all types of paper.
Earlier this month, AbitibiBowater reached a tentative deal with its union that could allow the company to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
The agreement, which includes concessions from workers, is currently going through the ratification process. Pension regulators in Quebec and Ontario must also give their nod.
The company has been operating under creditor protection in both Canada and the United States for almost a year. It filed to restructure after struggling amid slumping newsprint demand and debts approaching $5 billion.
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Here's some relevant comment translated from the french at the Voix De Faits blog in Québec City.
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Factory Blockade In Beaupré
According to regional media, hundreds of AbitibiBowwater workers have been blockading the entrance to the Beaupré plant since 6am this morning. The blockade is to prevent the company from leaving with the factory's equipment. The most recent report said that about twenty persons were still on the scene in the evening. Constant vigilance is maintained on the premises.
The factory is closed but the company still owes money to its former employees ($ 12 million in various bonuses!). As AbitibiBowater was placed under the protection of the Creditors Arrangement , the only guarantee that people have of the region to be paid one day is to prevent the dismantling of the machines. That is their ultimate balance of power.
The gesture is described by the symbolic local union president. It is indeed, however, direct action. Such blockades - sometimes embellished with threatening to destroy the material - have brought results around the world (from France to Ontario). Maybe it's not "legal" but it's perfectly legitimate! Don't let any piece go.
Note that the resumption of the plant under capitalist control is very unlikely (but not for lack of trying, including a revitalization committee supported by local elites!). Strangely (!), Nobody seems to have thought about a relaunch under workers' control, as in Argentina, at least until the payment of sums due. An idea to consider?
Labels: AbitibiBowater, Canadian labour, CBC, direct action, economic crisis, factory blockades, labour, Quebec, Voix De Faits
Saturday, March 20, 2010
AMERICAN POLITICS:
BANKER GUILTY AS CHARGED:
The following item is from the AFL-CIO Blog. It describes a recent action in the city of Madison Wisconsin where a mock trial of JP Morgan Chase executive Jamie Dimon. The action was part of an extended campaign to put pressure on American financial institutions to create jobs.
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JPMorgan Chase Greed Brings ‘Guilty’ Verdict
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was found guilty yesterday of conspiracy to wreck the economy, destroy jobs and the immoral use of taxpayer bank bailout money for millions in Wall Street bonuses.
JPMorgan Chase Greed Brings ‘Guilty’ Verdict
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was found guilty yesterday of conspiracy to wreck the economy, destroy jobs and the immoral use of taxpayer bank bailout money for millions in Wall Street bonuses.
The courtroom was on a Madison Wis., street in front a JPMorgan Chase bank branch and the jury included dozens of union and community activists. The street theater was part of the AFL-CIO union movement’s two weeks of action across the country to Make Wall Street pay to create jobs and fix they economy they ravaged.
Jim Cavanaugh, president of the South Central Federation of Labor, which organized the curbside drama, says:
We bailed out Wall Street now its time for Wall Street to bail out Main Street.
More than 200 “Good Jobs Now, Make Wall Street Pay” actions are planned through March 25. The rallies and marches will demand that the Big Six Wall Street banks–Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia-Wells Fargo–take the following actions:
**Pay their fair share to restore the jobs their actions destroyed.
**Stop their multi-million dollar lobbying blitz to kill financial reform.
**Start lending to communities, small businesses and others starved for credit.
Also yesterday, union members distributed leaflets in front of JPMorgan Chase branch in Baton Rouge, La., and rallied at a Bank of America office in Charleston, S.C. Today union activists in Butte, Mont., will march in the town’s St. Patrick’s Day parade carrying “Make Wall Street Pay” signs and banners. This afternoon, the West Virginia AFL-CIO, along with community allies, staged a rally in front a Wells Fargo/Wachovia Bank in Charleston.
Find out about events in your area here. If you take part in an event, be sure to send us your photo or video here.
You also can tell Wall Street executives to pony up and create good jobs by sending a letter urging them to do the right thing. Just click here.
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The Letter
I have to admit that I have my doubts about this one. Petitioning bankers to go against their self interest is something like petitioning the Devil to cease being the High Lord of Hell. Still, for what it is worth you can go to this link to send the following letter to assorted lords of finance.
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Dear [ Wall Street Banker ],
I am part of the fight to create the 11 million good jobs America needs--and I call on you and all the big Wall Street banks to:
I am part of the fight to create the 11 million good jobs America needs--and I call on you and all the big Wall Street banks to:
1. Pay your fair share to restore the jobs you destroyed.
2. Stop fighting financial reform.
3. Start lending to communities, to small business and to others starved for credit so they can create jobs.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]
Labels: AFL-CIO Blog, American labour, American politics, bankers, campaigns, economic crisis, events
Friday, March 19, 2010
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT- GREECE:
STATEMENT OF THE ESE:
The game of international chicken continues between the government of Greece, the EU, international markets and the working class of Greece. More strikes, general or otherwise, as well as more militant actions are undoubtedly on the menu in weeks to come. Meanwhile each of the statist and corporate players continues to play their hand in full knowledge that they simply can't get everything that they might want. They do, however intend to hold out for all that they can get. Here is the statement of the anarcho-syndicalist Greek ESE union on the present crisis. The following English translation appeared at the Anarkismo website.
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Everyone To The Streets!
We neither fear you nor will we pay for your crisis
Your financial system has failed
Capitalism and governments are the real crisis
Society in the hands of the workers!
Two worlds collide:
On the one hand, society, the world of labour, the unemployed, who are suffering the effects of the harshest attack in recent years (wage cuts, job losses and terrorism from the bosses), all of us who have to take loans to survive from month to month, all of us have been forced to survive in the galleys of modern cities by a rotten, corrupt and unjust system and quits to work to cope on profits of companies and enterprises.
On the other hand, the “socialist” government, PASOK politicians, New Democracy, the LAOS fascists, who along with the European Union and its bankers, businessmen, and everyone around them, who talk about crisis and aim to return to the Middle Ages.
They are the ones
*who ravaged our pension funds,
*who sunk to the scandals, interweaving (in the public and private sectors), all of them who were telling us tales about currency unification, loans, stock, banks, Olympic Games and Eurovision, subsidies, a strong Greece.
*whose descendants will not have to spend the next one hundred thousand years working and they are now talking to us about crisis and bankruptcy, asking us to tighten our belts because "the motherland is in danger"
*who forced us to work for the Tax Authorities, IKA, TEVE, etc., and the bankrupt, corrupt State, talking about social harmony and consensus. The frayed collars of the interweaving, the media, the fascists, the bosses, the so-called union of GSEE and ADEDY, politicians and businessmen... the crisis is all of them. They want us frightened into subservience, in a truly difficult situation where the financial and psychological burden of the attack that everyone is suffering is unbearable. We are not afraid of anything, except that all of them will continue to manage and affect our lives.
*who ravaged our pension funds,
*who sunk to the scandals, interweaving (in the public and private sectors), all of them who were telling us tales about currency unification, loans, stock, banks, Olympic Games and Eurovision, subsidies, a strong Greece.
*whose descendants will not have to spend the next one hundred thousand years working and they are now talking to us about crisis and bankruptcy, asking us to tighten our belts because "the motherland is in danger"
*who forced us to work for the Tax Authorities, IKA, TEVE, etc., and the bankrupt, corrupt State, talking about social harmony and consensus. The frayed collars of the interweaving, the media, the fascists, the bosses, the so-called union of GSEE and ADEDY, politicians and businessmen... the crisis is all of them. They want us frightened into subservience, in a truly difficult situation where the financial and psychological burden of the attack that everyone is suffering is unbearable. We are not afraid of anything, except that all of them will continue to manage and affect our lives.
We must not become the victims of the crisis!
Kick them out!
Self-management in the workplace - indefinite general strikes!
Daily struggle for freedom and dignity
ELEFTHERIAKI SYNDIKALISTIKI ENOSI (ESE – Libertarian Syndicalist Union)
Thessaloniki, Greece
Related Link: http://www.esethessalonikis.gr/
Related Link: http://www.esethessalonikis.gr/
Labels: anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, economic crisis, ESE, general strike, Greece, international anarchist movement, international politics, strike
Saturday, March 13, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR- ALBERTA:
ALBERTA NURSES CONSIDER OPTIONS IN FACE OF ROLL BACKS:
There was once a bumper sticker current in Alberta that read (more or less) 'Oh Lord Grant Us another Boom And We Promise Not To Bugger It Away Again'. Well...this sticker was current before the most recent boom, and, of course, it was buggered away once again. In a last ditch effort the Alberta government tried to apply higher royalty rates on the oil industry just as the financial crisis was breaking. To say the least this didn't lead to increased government revenue, though how much was because of royalty rates and how much was because of the economic downturn may be a matter of eternal dispute. The hike in rates didn't work, and now Alberta has gone from flush to bust, and they have to live with the deficits that other provinces in Canada have had to endure for decades. In an attempt to recover financial probity the Conservative government of Alberta resorts to the usual mechanism of all conservative governments ie "make the working class pay". One recent victim of this strategy is the nurses of Alberta. Here's a story from the Edmonton Sun about what the Alberta government wants and what the nurses of Alberta think of it.
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Nurses reeling from proposed rollbacks
By SHAWN LOGAN and FRANK LANDRY QMI Agency
Alberta nurses say morale has flat-lined after a tough opening salvo in contract negotiations with the province’s health board.
By SHAWN LOGAN and FRANK LANDRY QMI Agency
Alberta nurses say morale has flat-lined after a tough opening salvo in contract negotiations with the province’s health board.
United Nurses Association president Heather Smith said while union negotiators had anticipated some rollbacks as talks began Monday, there was no way to anticipate the magnitude of proposed cuts that she said marks the most significant contract surgery she has seen in 25 years.
“This is an out of the blue punch in the gut,” she said Tuesday. “For whatever reason, Alberta Health Services wanted to be provocative and some would say insulting.”
The union, which represents 24,000 registered nurses, will see its contract expire at the end of March.
Smith said AHS has proposed rollbacks in all but 10 of 44 negotiating areas including: reducing time off between shifts from 15.5 to 10 hours, elimination of the requirement to have a nurse in charge of every unit, allowing casual workers to be terminated without cause, as well as trimming RRSPS, vision care, and long-term service retention payments.
Smith said it’s too early to consider the possibility of strike action with a second round of talks scheduled to begin March 17, but she noted miffed nurses will be mulling their options.
“If Alberta Health Services isn’t prepared to negotiate an agreement, the membership will have to decide what it’s prepared to do,” she said.
Ken Hughes, chairman of the Alberta Health Services board, refused to comment on the negotiations but told an Edmonton Chamber of Commerce luncheon that AHS will follow a number of “guiding principles” in talks. ( The dog speaks to its master- Molly )
The UNA has asked for a two-year deal with a 4% raise in each year while AHS’s four-year proposal calls for two years of no pay increases followed by two more cost of living raises.
Labels: Alberta, bargaining., Canadian labour, conservatives, economic crisis, labour, nurses, United Nurses Association
Thursday, March 11, 2010
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS- GREECE:
DEMONSTRATORS CLASH WITH POLICE IN ATHENS DURING GENERAL STRIKE:
Today's general strike in Greece was hugely successful as public service workers were joined by many in the private sector across the country. The one day general strike is the second in a series that will likely be continued and perhaps extended as the government shows no sign of backing down from its austerity measures. During the first strike last week considerable hostility was expressed towards the leader of the PASOK (socialist government) associated union federation. You can read more about this and the reasons behind it at this link at the LibCom website. Here, also from LibCom, is a report on what happened today.
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Battle Ground Athens: second general strike leads to pitched battles
More than 150,000 people took to the streets of Athens against the austerity measures in a mass protest marches that have led to extended battles in the Greek capital.
More than 150,000 people took to the streets of Athens against the austerity measures in a mass protest marches that have led to extended battles in the Greek capital.
On Thursday March 11 all Greece came to a 24h standstill as a result of the second general strike to be called within less than a month (not the third as reported by foreign media, as the first strike in February only concerned the public sector). As a result of the strike called by GSEE (private sector union umbrella) and ADEDY (public sector union umbrella) as well as PAME (the Communist Party union umbrella) no buses, trams, metros, trolley buses or suburban trains exited their stations, while due to air-traffic control workers’ strike no flights are being realised within or in and out of the country. Only the electric train will function for 4h in Athens in order to facilitate people’s participation in the mass demo at noon. In the health sector, all hospitals are functioning with emergency personnel only, as all doctors, ambulance drivers and nurses are striking. All banks are closed to the public, and all public and municipal offices and services have been shut by the strike. The Corinth Canal has also been shut by the workers controlling it, allowing no ships to make the vital crossing. All boats have been immobilised in the harbours and no inter-city trains are running. Post offices remain closed, while National Electricity, National Waters and National Telecoms workers are taking part in the strike with all offices and factories of the above industries closed for the day. All schools and universities remain also closed as teachers and academics are participating in the strike. Office workers, factory workers and construction workers are also participating en mass in the strike. Firemen and policemen are also performing walk-outs, with a policemen demo at the National Police HQ planned for the afternoon. Due to the participation of the TV, radio, electronic news websites, and the press in the strike, there are no news broadcasts for 24h. Thus the information gathered here will be completed by means of Comments after the end of the General Strike when more information become available. In total more than 3 million people (out of a total population of 11 million) are expected to having taken part in the general strike today.
Background:
The General Strike comes as a new climax to labour struggle against the new austerity measures the Greek government has announced in response to its notorious credit crisis. In the days before the General Strike, stage workers have occupied the Ministry of Labour on Peiraeos street, while the continuing occupation of the General State Accountancy by laid-off Olympic Airways workers has caused the intervention of the state persecutor who has demanded their arrest. No such move of repression has been made yet by the police, and Panepistimiou street remains cut in two by the protesters for more than a week now. In Salonica, the General Industrialists Bureau was occupied yesterday by workers, while radicals from the left dropped a huge banner in the Acropolis reading “take the measures back”. Throughout the week, tax officers performed a 48h strike, school traffic wardens in Northern Greece performed a 3-day strike, while judges and other judicial officers performed 4-h work daily stoppages. No garbage has been collected since last Saturday in Athens, Patras and Salonica as refuse collectors have blockaded the great garbage depot of the three major cities. Finally, in the city of Komitini ENKLO textile workers are mounting an ever more intense labour struggle, with protest marches and strikes: two banks were occupied by the workers last Monday.
The Demos:
The first demo in Athens was performed by PAME, the Communist Party union umbrella, just before noon. PAME allied workers first formed small demos across Athens, then marched to Omonoia square and all together in a 50,000 strong march to the Parliament. At the same time, people started gathering at Patision and Alexandras junction for the demo called by GSEE and ADEDY. The demo which soon gathered over 100,000 people set to march to the Parliament at 12:30 when just outside the Polytechnic riot police forces tried to cut-off a large anarchist block from the march by brutal force. Clashes ensued with extended use of tear gas and molotov cocktails. Despite the air being thick with smoke and CS gas, the march continued its way along Patision avenue and on to Stadiou street where many corporate shops came under attack. After reaching the Parliament, the march turned to Panepistimiou street where renewed clashes erupted at the height of Propylea. With the march coming to its final destination, protesters who continued their way to Omonoia where attacked by Delta team motorised forces. The Delta-team thugs tried to hit the protesters in full speed sparking more pitched battles with police squads encircled and beaten by the angry crowd and several Delta-team motorbikes destroyed. At the time of writing, the battles have moved to Exarcheia where protesters have erected flaming barricades and are confronting riot police and Delta force cops by means of rocks and molotov cocktails. Many protesters have sought refuge at the Polytechnic from which they are confronting police forces on both Patision and Stournari street. During the clashes many protesters have been wounded with one reported to be in intensive care with heavy wounds on the chest. The number of people arrested remains unclear but there are about 16 people detained and 13 cops hospitalised.
In Salonica 6 different marches took place by different unions and umbrella unions. Protesters of the Worker’s Centre march, which numbered 7,000 people in total, attacked corporate and church-owned shops on Egnatia avenue, while two super-markets were looted with the commodities distributed to the people. Despite the police firing tear-gas, the march continued and attacked the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace with paint and rocks before reaching the Worker’s Centre.
In Ioannina despite the pouring rain around 1.500 people marched against the measures with no news of clashes. Similar protest marches took place in Sitia, Naxos, Veroia, Patras and other cities. In Heracleion, Crete, shops that did not allow their workers to strike were blockaded and several banks came under attack by protesters. In Volos, protesters blockaded the gates of the METKA factory not allowing security-staff (i.e. scabs) to enter the premises, with many more corporate chain shops that did not allow their workers to strike blockaded and shut by the protesters. The official union-bosses of Volos were forced to leave the march after mass heckling by the workers.
Despite anti-strike war waged by the bourgeois media, amongst which the more bloodthirsty ones like Kathimerini is urging the government to crush the protests “even if some protesters die”, the Athens march is estimated to be the largest in 15 years, and has demonstrated the resolve of the working class to fight back against the capitalist onslaught.
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Here's how the matter was reported by the Wall Street Journal. There seems to be very little difference between this and the anarchist report, aside from the usual differences in estimating crowd size.
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Greece Grinds to a Halt Amid General Strike
Demonstrations by Unions Against Government Austerity Measures Hobble Transit Services, Spark Clashes With Police
By ALKMAN GRANITSAS
ATHENS—Flights were grounded and trains suspended amid a nationwide general strike Thursday, as Greek police fought running street battles with anarchist youths in fresh and violent signs of anger at the government's austerity plans.
Greece Grinds to a Halt Amid General Strike
Demonstrations by Unions Against Government Austerity Measures Hobble Transit Services, Spark Clashes With Police
By ALKMAN GRANITSAS
ATHENS—Flights were grounded and trains suspended amid a nationwide general strike Thursday, as Greek police fought running street battles with anarchist youths in fresh and violent signs of anger at the government's austerity plans.
Unions called a strike to protest wage and benefit cuts being put in place to trim Greece's swollen budget deficit as the country draws closer to a financial reckoning. An estimated 50,000 people took to the streets.
Greece must refinance a chunk of its giant debt next month, and Greek leaders are leaning hard on counterparts in richer European states to provide some measure of support that could ease those debt sales. Eyes are on European Union finance ministers' meetings early next week.
In the capital city Thursday, masked and hooded youths went well beyond protest—throwing rocks and bottles, smashing shop windows, setting alight trash cans and burning at least one private car. Police fired tear gas and detained more than a dozen people.
There were also separate clashes outside the Greek parliament, Agence France-Presse reported. Greece has a history of sometimes-violent anarchist protesters, though they are well outside the mainstream.
Greece's two umbrella unions, for private- and public-sector workers, called the strike to protest the €4.8 billion ($6.55 billion) package of spending cuts and tax increases that the government announced March 3, which was voted into law days later. The communist-backed PAME union held a separate protest that drew an estimated 15,000 people.
"There is a big turnout today and that shows people are concerned," said Dimitris Papageorgiou, a 49-year-old worker at the Bank of Greece. "Today's protest is because of the austerity measures. Why do the people always have to pay? Who is at fault? It's the foreign speculators and the useless policies of previous governments."
Recent polls show that the Greek public is divided over the austerity plan. While the public opposes some measures, such as an increase in Greece's fuel and value-added taxes, analysts say there is a broad acceptance that something must be done.
"No one really expects the measures to be withdrawn. They were adopted by the government to avoid even worse consequences," said Lefteris Eleftheriadis, 48, a biologist who works in Greece's agriculture ministry and participated in Thursday's protest.
The strike affected public transport, government ministries and state-owned companies. All flights into and out of the country were grounded and all ferry and rail services suspended.
On the streets of Athens Thursday, normal workday activity was muted. Street lights and road signs were festooned with strike posters.
Usual morning news shows on local television were replaced with alternative programming. Many businesses were shut amid fear of violence, and police blocked main thoroughfares around the city center.
Just off the city's central square, a group of about 200 police and fire officials also staged a sympathy protest, challenging the government to fulfill its pre-election promises to protect workers' salaries.
Under pressure from the EU and financial markets, Greece's socialist government last week presented the latest in a series of austerity packages to trim the budget deficit to 8.7% of gross domestic product this year, from an estimated 12.7% last year.
Among other things, the package raises Greece's top value-added tax rate to 21% from 19%, freezes public-sector pensions, cuts civil-service entitlements and bonus pay, and also raises taxes on fuel, alcohol and cigarettes.
The general strike follows several days of escalating labor actions by a variety of smaller unions including those representing tax collectors, teachers, sanitation workers, court workers and local-government officials.
"The latest measures are unjust and everyone has the right to strike," said Sophia Papadopoulos, a 55-year-old office worker who wasn't participating in the strike. "But I think the economic situation will remain difficult. It's always the people who pay."
"In this country there is no follow-through and no respect from the government," said Antonios Mantalvenos, a 56-year-old former Olympic Airlines pilot. "But this is not new, it has always been that way.
"It's going to get much worse. When the civil servants actually see the cuts showing up in their salaries, there will be chaos."
This week, staff from Greece's interior ministry occupied the premises of the Greek government printing office for several days in an effort to prevent the new measures from being published—and thereby becoming law—in the government gazette.
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Though not really connected with the strike nor the demonstrations there was another incident the other day where an anarchist, Lambros Foundas, was shot dead by Athens police. Though unlikely to stimulate the same sort of outrage that the killing of teenager Alexandros Grigoropoulos did (which brought about the revolt of December 2008) it is one more symptom of the increasing tensions in Greece. Here's the story, once more from the pages of LibCom.
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Anarchist killed by Greek police
In the midst of mass working class struggle against austerity measures, 35 year-old anarchist Lambros Foundas was murdered by police on the morning of 10 March in Athens.
In the midst of mass working class struggle against austerity measures, 35 year-old anarchist Lambros Foundas was murdered by police on the morning of 10 March in Athens.
The police claims that he was a “terrorist” and that he was shot while trying to steal a car in the suburb of Dafni, south Athens, and that he was carrying firearms.
Fountas was one of the over 500 anarchists arrested at the Polytechnic riots of 1995 in Athens.
For more information, see:http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1141761http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn690f5sq2M&feature=player_embedded#http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1141819
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While the death of an anarchist who chose the rather pointless fashion of 'armed struggle' is unlikely to bring about great public outrage there was another incident during earlier demonstrations that might have such consequences. This was the tear gassing of 88 year old national hero Manolis Glezos. This remarkable man, who has accumulated more death sentences and imprisonments in his life than I have fingers and toes first came to prominence by carrying out the first act of the Greek resistance to the occupying Nazis during World War II. He and another man, Apostolos Saulos, tore down the swastika that the Nazis had been flying at the top of the Acropolis. Since then he has had a long and distinguished career in not just politics but in linguistics, geology and civil engineering. What I find most intriguing about the man was his attempt in 1986 to create a community of direct democracy in the town of Aperathu. See the Wikipedia article for a truly inspiring story. He is widely respected by the majority of Greeks whether they agree with his politics or not. After the incident described below he was ruched to hospital. Should the 88 year old die from future complications the public response would probably dwarf that which resulted from the death of Grigoropoulos. The following story which mentions the incident comes from the Occupied London Blog.
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“How would it feel if a foreign policeman was beating you up in Athens?
(the Greek uprising is truly going European!)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
(article written by an Occupied London author for our friends at Last Hours, on the eve of tomorrow’s general strike. Continuous updates and photos, on both websites, tomorrow!)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
(article written by an Occupied London author for our friends at Last Hours, on the eve of tomorrow’s general strike. Continuous updates and photos, on both websites, tomorrow!)
It is early in the morning of Tuesday, March 9th. Bemused audiences tuned in to an Athens news station to listen to an evidently uncomfortable police spokesperson. How could he not be?
He must explain a rather embarrassing incident: days earlier, on March 5th, the police had tear-gassed Manolis Glezos in the face for trying to prevent a youth’s brutal arrest [photo].
Glezos is 88 years old today; it was almost 70 years ago, on May 30 1941, in Nazi-occupied Athens that he and Apostolos Santas climbed up the Acropolis and tore down the Swastika – an action for which he was arrested and tortured the following year.
Trying to justify the police’s action and to show that things must stay under control at any cost, the spokesperson made quite a revealing statement: “if the local police fail at their task”, he claimed, “the EU and the Greek government are ready to dispatch a 7,000-strong European police force to repress what might seem like an upcoming revolt”. “Imagine it!”, he added, “how would it feel if a foreign policeman was beating you up in the streets of Athens?” A funny question, that one. You would imagine police baton blows feel similar regardless of the passports of those holding them. Whether or not his statement was a slip-of-tongue, it definitely seems to hold some validity: a supra-national police force, the “European Gendarmerie Force” (EGF) does exists already and is prepared to take operations in countries where local governments invite it [http://www.statewatch.org/news/2007/oct/eu-gendarmerie-treaty-sept-2007.pdf]. The Greek government have so far declined to answer questions on the issue in parliament. I don’t think Manolis Glezos was expecting to see German public forces on the streets of Athens again in his lifetime. But then again, if they tear-gas the way the Greek cops do, there won’t be that much for anyone to see…
General strikes are more common in Greece than in most European countries – but still, they tend to come in the rate of one or two per year – not per calendar month. Thursday’s general strike is the country’s third (two full-day and one half-day) in the few weeks alone.
Panepistimiou Avenue, part of the main protesting route – and one of Athens’ major thoroughfares – has been closed off for a week by strikers of Olympic Air; on March 10th, an attorney general ordered the police to disperse the crowd of about 2,000 who have gathered there.
The country’s official printing-house (where state laws are printed in order to come into effect) is currently occupied by employees in protest against the newly-introduced austerity plan. The general accounting office (this, ironically, in charge of monitoring the effects of the implementation of the austerity plan) is also under occupation by its employees. In the small northern city of Komotini employees at a local troubled company went straight to the source and occupied two of the city’s main bank branches.
December’s revolt had been a strong warning sign. The “700 euro generation” (in a country where everyday living expenses closely compete to the UK’s) had every reason to revolt. The death of a 15-year old boy? Cities smash and burn for days. An “austerity plan” pushing labour rights back by a few decades overnight; severe wage cuts, VAT increases, pension-freezes…
It is Wednesday, March 10th – the eve of the third recent strike in Greece. “I don’t really earn enough to get a cab to tomorrow’s demonstration”, writes a commentator on Athens IMC. “And there’s no public transport, as everyone is participating in the strike. Good for them. We are driving down there tonight, staying with a friend. And we’ll be using the car’s engine oil to wash the streets, our little gift to the thugs of the police’s motor-cycle Delta force.” There is anger building up in Athens’ streets and many expect to see it outpouring in the event that multi-national force descends in the city, if not before… Whether national or international, next time Manolis Glezos takes on the security forces he most certainly will not be alone.
Labels: Alexandros Grigoropoulos, anarchism, economic crisis, general strike, Greece, international politics, Manolis Glezos, police brutality., riots, strike
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS-GREECE:
GENERAL STRIKE IN GREECE ON THURSDAY:
As the Socialist (PASOK) government in Greece weaves between the demands of international finance and the resistance of its own people the Greek working class continues to up the ante. This Thursday a general strike in the public sector has been called. Here's the news briefly from the Associated Press.
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Greek strike to shut down services Thursday
(AP) – 19 hours ago
ATHENS, Greece — Greek unions say nationwide strikes will shut down all public services, closing schools, customs and tax offices, halting public transport and grounding flights for 24 hours.
(AP) – 19 hours ago
ATHENS, Greece — Greek unions say nationwide strikes will shut down all public services, closing schools, customs and tax offices, halting public transport and grounding flights for 24 hours.
Greeks have been protesting the Socialist government's harsh austerity measures, designed to curb the country's massive debt and pull it out of an unprecedented financial crisis that has hammered the euro. The measures have cut civil servants' salaries, frozen pensions and increased taxes, including on fuel and general sales tax.
Workers are to walk off the job from midnight Wednesday night.
Journalists, teachers, state hospital doctors and air traffic controllers will be among those striking, while officers from the police, fire service and coast guard plan to join protest rallies.
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The Strike has actually already begun, as the following from the other side of the world ie the Sydney Morning Herald reports. What is significant about the present protests is that sections such as the police are actually planning to join other workers in protesting the government's measures. Here's the story.
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Greece hit by strike over austerity plan
Debt-plagued Greece faces a new wave of labour discontent against painful spending cuts, with a nationwide strike on Thursday closing hospitals and schools while stopping all flights and most public transport.
Debt-plagued Greece faces a new wave of labour discontent against painful spending cuts, with a nationwide strike on Thursday closing hospitals and schools while stopping all flights and most public transport.
Workers walked off the job at midnight Wednesday, in the second major strike called by the country's two largest unions in a week. Demonstrations are planned in Athens and other major cities.
Under intense pressure from the European Union to quickly show fiscal improvement, the centre-left government has announced an additional 48 billion euros ($65.33 billion) in savings through public sector salary cuts, hiring and pension freezes and consumer tax hikes.
The cutbacks, added to a previous 11.2 billion euros ($15.24 billion) austerity plan, seek to reduce the country's budget deficit from 12.7 per cent of annual output to 8.7 per cent this year. The long-term target is to bring overspending below the EU ceiling of three per cent of GDP in 2012.
The government says the tough cuts were its only way to dig Greece out of a crisis that has hammered the common European currency and alarmed international markets - grossly inflating the loan-dependent country's borrowing costs.
But unions say ordinary Greeks are being called to pay a disproportionate price for past fiscal mismanagement.
"They are trying to make workers pay the price for this crisis," said Yiannis Panagopoulos, leader of Greece's largest union, the GSEE.
"These measures will not be effective and will throw the economy into deep freeze."
Journalists, teachers, state hospital doctors and air traffic controllers are among those striking, while officers from the police, fire service and coast guard plan to join protest rallies.
Most public transport in Athens will be idle, as will ferry and train services nationwide.
A general strike last Friday was marred by violence during a large protest march. Riot police used tear gas and baton charges against rock-throwing protesters, who smashed banks and storefronts, while left-wing protesters roughed up Panagopoulos as he was addressing a rally.
Labels: demonstrations, economic crisis, general strike, Greece, international politics, strike
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
AMERICAN LABOUR-ILLINOIS:
SAVE WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION JOBS:
This might be one of those rare instances of "truth in advertising". Down illinois way the 'Whirlpool Corporation' very much lived up to its name as it sucked up $19 million in bailout money. Ah, but now this great sucker seems poised to spit out jobs, to the tune of 1,100 workers. To say the least this is not the only corporation that has violated the spirit if not the letter of the US Adminisration's economic bailout. So far the US government has done little than wring its hands at the many instances. The Jobs With Justice Coalition hopes to do more. Here's their appeal.
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Save Jobs in America's Heartland:
Americans are angry, and for good reason.
Save Jobs in America's Heartland:
Americans are angry, and for good reason.
Corporate greed and reckless Wall Street speculators created the worst economic crisis in a generation -- and big businesses like Whirlpool are continuing to put their profits ahead of the needs of workers and our communities.
Sign the petition to save 1,100 jobs in America's heartland.
Whirlpool Corporation took $19 million in economic recovery funds -- but now plans to eliminate 1,100 good jobs by shutting down a world-class plant in Evansville, Indiana.
JwJ is joining the AFL-CIO and IUE-CWA in mobilizing against this plant closure, and petitions will be delivered to Whirlpool this coming Friday, Feb 26 at a major march led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
Sign the petition today! And forward to your friends to sign!http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/U1_xDw71HQLy/
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If you are in the area near Evansville, IN and can come to the rally on Friday, Feb 26, please click here to let us know:
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Whirlpool is one of many examples of the jobs emergency faced in our country. Toyota, Hugo Boss and other big companies are threatening closures. Public services our communities need and the jobs to provide those services are being cut.
JwJ and our allies have called for mobilizations across the country during March to send a wake-up call to Congress demand bold action to save and create jobs. Check out the JwJ blog for more info:
Sign this petition either via email (please see directions below) or via the web at:
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
We encourage you to take action by March 1, 2010
Save Jobs in the Heartland-Whirlpool
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Petition:
We the undersigned call on Whirlpool Corp. to reverse its decision to close its Evansville, Indiana, plant, send work toMexico and eliminate 1,100 good jobs. With record profits and economic recovery funds that should be creating jobs in this country, Whirlpool should not turn its back on America.
Labels: American labour, demonstrations, economic crisis, financial bailout, Illinois, Jobs With Justice, labour, petitions, solidarity., Whirlpool Corporation
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
AMERICAN POLITICS/ECONOMICS:
"CORNERED"-THE BOOK:
Here's a little book plug for something the people at Wake Up WalMart consider well worth reading.
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New Book Cornered Discusses Walmart, Destructive Monopolies:
Do you want the real story about who destroyed America's REAL economy?
We wanted to recommend a new book that just hit the shelves. In Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism And The Economics Of Destruction, New America Foundation's Barry C. Lynn takes an explosive look at how Wall Street financiers took advantage of the overthrow of our anti-monopoly laws to consolidate unprecedented powers.
They use these powers in ways that destroy jobs, degrade safety, crush independent businesses, forestall innovation, harm our environment, and threaten the political foundations of our democratic republic.
Not surprisingly, Walmart is a major player in this disturbing story. Lynn discusses Walmart as one of the quintessential examples of the destructive monopoly, arguing that Walmart needs to change its ways not just for the benefit of workers or communities, but for the entire economy.
Endorsements for Cornered:
Cornered has changed my view of what's gone wrong with American capitalism. Brilliantly argued and meticulously reported, it confronts with the age-old enemy of both progressives and libertarian conservatives -- the power of monopoly.
-Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed and Brightsided.
This book is essential to understanding how we got into our current mess.
This book is essential to understanding how we got into our current mess.
-Michael Mandel, chief economist, Business Week.
This is a truly groundbreaking and eye-opening work that everyone interested in understanding how the world really operates should read.
This is a truly groundbreaking and eye-opening work that everyone interested in understanding how the world really operates should read.
-Ha Joon Chang, winner Leontief Prize in economics, author Bad Samaritans.
Best Wishes,
The Team,
Best Wishes,
The Team,
Labels: American labour, American politics, books, Cornered, economic crisis, economics, labour, monopoly, Wake Up Wal-mart, Wal-Mart
Thursday, February 04, 2010
CANADIAN POLITICS-ONTARIO:
PRE-BUDGET "CONSULTATION" IN ONTARIO:
Every once in awhile governments get the strange urge to pretend that they are actually listening to the people that they rule. This perverse desire usually passes fast enough, but sometimes it becomes ritualized, with all the all the pageantry and comprehensibility of the Latin Mass. The government of Ontario is now engaged in such a ritual. Here's what the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) thinks of the process.
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On the Provincial Pre-Budget Consultations: Call to Action:
This article is available at:
This article is available at:
And soon to be available on Rabble.ca
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A Call to Action Against the Cuts to Come:
Submission on the Ontario Provincial Pre-Budget ‘consultations’
Liisa Schofield and John Clarke
The Ontario Government’s pre-budget consultations are currently underway at Queen’s Park. The Federal budget is set to be released at the beginning of March (that is unless Harper decides for another spontaneous vacation), with the Ontario Budget, and most Provincial budgets, then set to be released by the end of March or beginning of April.
It will, no doubt, be the same tired old routine. Agencies, services, and organizations will line up to sing for their supper in front of the all-party Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. The committee will be sent the same message that the government has gotten and ignored time and time again – that people in this province are suffering, that the people of Ontario cannot handle further cuts to programs or cuts to jobs, that their poverty reduction strategy is failing and that this province desperately needs to see a raise in funding for social assistance, childcare, and education.
Poor and working class people living in this province have a lot to worry about in this year’s budget. We are in an economic crisis and both the Federal and Provincial governments have made more than thinly veiled threats of cuts to come in the name of reducing bloated deficits.
With so much to lose, we cannot afford to put our faith in the pre-budget consultations process. Instead of playing their game and politely pleading our case behind closed doors, we are making our submission to the poor and working class people in Ontario – the vast majority of people in this province. This is our call to action.
The ghosts of Flaherty’s past:
Dear rest-of-Canada: take it from Ontario, with Flaherty at the helm of Canada’s economy we can be sure that some brutal times are ahead. Our old friend, Mr. Jim Flaherty was the man wielding the ax in Ontario’s Tory Regime in the 90’s – slashing all services and attacking the public sector without blinking. We should be terrified of his plans on the Federal level because Harper appointed him to do to Canada what he already did to Ontario.
Flaherty will be working hand-in-hand with the newly appointed President of the Treasury Board Stockwell Day – a man who is known not only for his belief that dinosaurs and humans walked the earth together, but also for his ‘Say No’ attitude when it comes to social spending. Harper has stated that “it is essential that the government limit public spending,” and that “the provinces will have to make some of the same difficult decisions we are making…”(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-warns-provinces-will-be-cutting-back-too/article1439826/).
Harper, Flaherty, Day: this is an all-star line-up from neo-liberal hell. We should be under no illusions that they will ‘play nice’ this time around. Dwight Duncan fills Flaherty’s shoes: What Flaherty and Harper have called ‘belt-tightening’, is what Ontario Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan calls “difficult choices ahead" (http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/714276--ontario-deficit-billions-more-than-expected).
In October, Dwight Duncan announced that Ontario was facing a deficit of $24.7 billion dollars. Immediate speculation began on where cuts would be made. Will it be Healthcare? Will it be the Public sector? Will it be Social Assistance? Will it be ‘Dalton Days’? Clearly, the option of NOT making cuts to the basic needs of poor and working people was never on the table. On December 7, 2009, the Ontario Provincial Auditor’s report was released.
A major section of the Auditor’s report was dedicated to Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program. The report launches one attack after another on social assistance recipients from claims of massive overpayments to fraud. These attacks are all too familiar - we see them every time capitalism is in crisis. Nobody is surprised when the governments looks to blame poor people for the Province’s financial woes –it’s the perfect distraction from the fact that the deficit was caused by tax cuts to the rich and bailouts for banks and big business.
The Auditor’s report fits perfectly within this ‘blame the poor’ plan and this supposed ‘external and independent review’ has become the primary tool of the Provincial government to legitimize cuts to services in the name of ‘efficiency’ and ‘fiscal responsibility’ (See: http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/reports_2009_en.htm).
How did we get here?
In 1995, Ontario Works was slashed by 21.6% by none other than Jim Flaherty, then Ontario’s Finance Minister under the leadership of Premier Mike Harris. The Common Sense Revolution in Ontario saw significant tax cuts for the rich while social programs and public services were being devastated. In 2003, the Liberals were elected to power on the promise of an end to the poverty regime. These empty promises have done nothing to end poverty.
The reality is that today people in Ontario in many ways are worse off than 15 years ago. Social assistance rates have been raised by a total of 6% since 2003. The government may try to fool us into thinking they have made positive changes, but the truth is that today, people on social assistance are living on rates that have been reduced by 40% when you take into account the cost of living increase. Six percent is such a small increase that it does not even account for inflation on, say, vegetables. 700 000 people in Ontario live on Social Assistance, the vast majority of that number are children. The basic amount for a single person living on social assistance is $572/month (which is meant to break down to $356 for shelter and $216 for basic needs), for a single parent with one child it is $920/month ($560 for shelter and $360 for basic needs).
Disability income rates are only slightly higher, and ODSP is a purposefully difficult program to qualify for – gaining access usually requires appeal processes and long waiting periods. In 2005, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty launched the Raise the Rates campaign to demand a 40% raise in Welfare and Disability rates and a living wage (See: http://update.ocap.ca/rtr).
Not long after, people on Welfare and Disability became aware of the now well-known Special Diet supplement. The Special Diet supplement is extra money (up to $250) that people are entitled to on top of their monthly cheque if a health care practitioner determines that this extra money is required to buy food for medical reasons. Many health care providers were eager to sign people up for extra money because they understand that poverty is a social determinant of poor health. Nobody living on welfare and disability can afford to eat properly and they are therefore all at risk for serious health problems. This has led many health care providers to argue that there should be nothing ‘special’ about the special diet - everyone on welfare and disability needs this money for health reasons. These healthcare providers were determined to push for access to better income levels for people on social assistance.
The Special Diet became a phenomenon – word spreading like wildfire in poor communities resulting in ‘Hunger Clinics’ being held across the Province . Many poor people in Ontario gained access to desperately needed resources and were able to put food on the table using the Special Diet money. Everyone knew, of course that it was only a matter of time before the government targeted this vital program.
It is no surprise that this year’s Auditor’s report took aim at the Special Diet. The Auditor focused on the fact that the Special Diet spending in the Province increased from $5 million in the 2002/03 fiscal year, to $67 million in the 2008/09 fiscal year(http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/reports_en/en09/311en09.pdf).
This is a fact that the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty is proud of – advocacy for the supplement forced the government to spend millions feeding poor people in Ontario. Of course, the Province and the City treat the Special Diet increases as an embarrassment – a blight on their otherwise outstanding record of denying poor people access to a decent standard of living. They have seized on the Auditor’s Report and cried ‘welfare fraud’ in order to justify steps that will be taken to ensure that poor people are denied access to the Special Diet.
It is important to understand the Special Diet within the context of the welfare system where people are forced to apply for ‘extra’ funding to cover basic necessities that are not covered by appallingly low OW and ODSP rates. People apply for the Special Diet allowance in order to eat, in the same way that people apply for transportation money to access public transit, for Community Start-up to try to avoid evictions or move after having faced an eviction, and Burial money for a family funeral.
These ‘extra benefits’ are just that – they are extra meaning that not everyone has access to them. For years, many of these benefits were on the books, but were not publicized and therefore not accessed. We have worked hard to ensure that people on disability and welfare are made aware of, and fight for access to all the benefits, however inadequate, that they are entitled to. In the face of the government’s accusations of widespread fraud, we must emphasize that it is not fraudulent for hungry people to apply for the Special Diet – it is a necessity in a system that forces people to live in poverty and to have to decide from month to month whether to pay the rent or put food on the table.
The dramatic increase in people accessing the Special Diet is not an indication of fraud: it is an indication of a hunger problem and a looming health crisis in this province. It should raise alarm bells for the Health Care system that people living on Social Assistance in this Province are living with poor health as a direct result of poverty conditions. There are huge health consequences when people cannot afford to buy healthy and nutritious food, when they cannot afford to avoid the foods that they are allergic to and when thousands are living with the extreme stress of trying to survive and support their family in dire circumstances.
Poor people suffer from poor health – this is a fact that the government ignores at their own peril. The government can either choose to pay the cost of providing proper income levels for everyone on OW and ODSP, or they can pay the higher human and financial cost of the inevitable health care bills that result from forcing people to live in poverty Neither the health nor general well being of poor people in this Province is a line item in the upcoming budget. If anything, their health and well-bring is up on the chopping block.
It is no coincidence that Ontario’s Minister of Community and Social Services, Madeleine Meilleur, is the co-chair of the Treasury Board Panel charged with ‘reducing the deficit’. Who better to determine how to best erode social services than the Minister in charge of providing them? Why such little faith in the Poverty Reduction strategy?
At the time of publishing, the Province has issued a ‘memo’ giving front-line OW and ODSP workers the authority to reassess ‘the legitimacy of any Special Diet claim’ (See www.ocap.ca/rtr for a copy of the memo).
Workers with no medical training are being given the power to
a)second-guess and question the diagnoses of a medical practitioner, and
b)to deny people access to the Special Diet on a totally unaccountable and arbitrary basis.
In what is clearly a move to quietly cut services and save money in the midst of the deficit, Social Services workers are being asked by the Province to, play doctor by overriding medical decisions in order to deny peoples’ legitimate claims. Using the Auditor’s Report as justification, this new provincial directive is laying the groundwork for eliminating the Special Diet, without the government having to explicitly say that is what they are doing.
Already,we are seeing the denial of the Special Diet on a massive scale, along with a general escalation of abuse against people on social assistance. Although no cut to Ontario Works has been officially made on paper, denying thousands of people the Special Diet, is in fact a significant cut to social assistance, or worse, the pre-cursor to more brutal cuts to come. The Province is creating an atmosphere of criminalization, and in the case of the Special Diet, facts on the ground from which to justify very serious cuts. For those of us who lived on social assistance through the Harris days – this atmosphere is all too familiar. It is a return to the days of ‘Workfare’, ‘welfare fraud’, ‘criminals’.
In the City of Toronto, Welfare is administered by Social Services -overseen through Janet Davis’ Committee on Community Development. City officials are playing their part in cutting social assistance by doing the Province’s bidding and denying access to the Special Diet and other programs. They are administering devastating cuts at a time when they should be standing up against the Province. It is under their watch that entire families are being denied the Special Diet benefit.
In this city, the process for applying for all benefits – basic and ‘extra’ – has become so riddled with suspicion and accusations of fraud, that qualifying is almost impossible.
We didn’t create this crisis Politicians and economists alike somehow believe that staying the course of a neo-liberal model will keep their heads above water in this failing economy. Dwight Duncan, Ontario’s Minister of Finance, boasts that new corporate friendly measures “…brings our total corporate tax cuts over the next three years to more than $3 billion.” (Dwight Duncan, State of Ontario’s Economy, March 3rd, 2008http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/media/2008/sp03-economy.html)
When the economic crisis first hit, and as it has deepened, billions of dollars of public money have been poured in to the financial system through the form of bailouts and tax cuts. That is where the deficit comes from, not from ‘overspending’ to create jobs and public services, and certainly not from ‘fraudulent welfare claims’. The government is looking now to get that money back, and we can be sure that it is not the financial elite who will be paying the price.
The method of deficit reduction is clear – to privatize public holdings, and to cut public and social services. When they say that ‘tough times are ahead’, they mean tough times for us. In a climate where the public sector and social services have not even recovered from the Tory era, we know that any further cuts will most certainly be devastating. For people on social assistance it will be a very serious crisis.
We are in a crucial time period where nothing will be provided for the needs of poor and working class people unless we fight and especially unless we fight together. The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) is renewing our commitment to the Raise the Rates campaign in demanding a dignified and livable income for Unemployed people and working people across this province. We intend to mobilize local communities to take the action necessary to challenge and defeat the abuses they face at the hands of the social assistance system. We will act to defend the right of people to obtain the Special Diet and other benefits that are being held back.
We will also work to bring together this locally based resistance into a general ‘Raise the Rates’ movement that can take up the fight for decent income in this province. This will be taken forward on April 15th, 2010 with a major OCAP mobilization against the Liberal Government that will demand a 40% increase in welfare and disability rates. Governments intend to impose this crisis on us but, through our resistance, we must create for them a political crisis and fight for lives free of poverty.
Liisa Schofield and John Clarke are organizers with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
OCAP can be reached at ocap@tao.ca .
Labels: Canadian politics, economic crisis, Ontario, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, poverty
